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JOURNALIST AND NO vote campaigner Bruce Arnold has said that homosexuality was never a crime in Ireland.
He was appearing on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme as part of a debate with leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, when he made the claim.
In a discussion on whether or not former President Mary McAleese had been correct in coming out in support of a Yes vote in Friday’s same-sex marriage referendum, Arnold said that she had certain obligations as a former head of State.
Statement
On the issue of same-sex marriage, Arnold said that, “when I first arrived in Ireland sixty years ago, homosexuality was not penalised, it was not illegal. Homosexuals lived a reasonably open and happy life.”
I remember particularly Micheál Mac Liammóir and Hilton Edwards strutting through St Stephen’s Green, hugely admired and known as a gay couple.
“During the period since then, largely by invention, a penalised, unhappy, disfavoured, disadvantaged interpretation of homosexual couples has been developed.
“And it is not either consistent with the truth or consistent with the law. Several people have repeatedly said homosexuality was illegal and was decriminalised by Máire Geoghegan Quinn in 1993,” he said.
This simply isn’t true. Homosexuality was never a crime in Ireland. Homosexual acts were, and through David Norris’s work with Mary Robinson in Europe the edict was really created that made the government here reluctantly, and with disagreement, decriminalise homosexual acts.
Mary McAleese taking a stand
He said that as an “officer of the State”, former President McAleese had certain obligations and that she should not have spoken out in favour of a Yes vote.
“She has been the head of State. And it is convention followed by heads of State all through the years that they do not speak out after their term ends. Any matter that affects the public,” he said.
In response to this, leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, said, “I didn’t vote and support Mary McAleese to be President of Ireland, as a member of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, for her to forever be silent in the aftermath of her becoming President.
The idea that we would silence a woman of the passion and intellect of Mary McAleese, and who has precious insights into what it means to rear a gay child – and from a Catholic perspective – I think it is quite absurd.
I totally believe and trust them, that’s fantastic news!!!
@Stephen Duggan: not sure why you think this is good news, they found that only 40% of people who were infected developed neutralising antibodies, which prevent reinfection. It means 60% were still vulnerable to reinfection. It shows that herd immunity isn’t possible with SARS-CoV-2, and there’s the additional fact that immunity wears off after 6 months. This agrees with research in the Denmark (before the new variants arrived) that found that immunity to reinfection was just 47% for people over 65, about 6 months after recovery from COVID-19.
Ref.:
@David Jordan: i believe it was sarcasm, David. Anyway, if only 40% of people develop long lasting antibodies, and if protection from second infection was due to antibodies only, there would have been many thousands of second infections in this country alone by now, which there has not been. From what I have read, it seems that the answer is that the presence of long-lasting T-cells is the reason that so few people get reinfected. The study referred to here did not look at T-cells, yet they confidently announced that mass vaccination is needed die to low levels of antibodies. Why? Indirect links to vaccine manufacturers may explain some of this.
@Jason Shortt: I know it was sarcasm, but it did no favor to the findings of the research which are quite serious.
The findings inform the debate on whether we can cocoon and attain herd immunity (Sweden and early UK approach) or we have to socially distance and flatten the curve to prevent excess deaths and wait to escape restrictions via vaccination (which offer much more robust and longer lasting immunity than natural infection).
“T-cells is the reason that so few people get reinfected.”
No. T-cells do not prevent reinfection, antibodies prevent infection. T-cells fight an infection after it is established. T-cells, for example, prevent infected cells from infecting neighboring cells, they help reduce vial levels. It is proposed that T Cells may increase the odds that a Reinfection will be milder than the first.
However, this is not what we are seeing.
The ongoing outbreak in Brazil is reinfecting people in areas previously measured to have attained “herd immunity” e.g. Manaus (Sabino et al., 2021), and the fatality rate / severity is not ameliorated by the hypothesised existence of T Cells from previous infection.
In fact, there’s evidence that that 2nd infections are more severe (Dos Santos et al., 2021). Increases virulence (lethality) and infectiousness is why Brazil is now experiencing it’s most severe outbreak yet.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=brazil+covid
“Recurrent episodes tended to be more severe, with one fatal infection.”
Ref.:
Sabino, E.C., Buss, L.F., Carvalho, M.P., Prete, C.A., Crispim, M.A., Fraiji, N.A., Pereira, R.H., Parag, K.V., da Silva Peixoto, P., Kraemer, M.U. and Oikawa, M.K., 2021. Resurgence of COVID-19 in Manaus, Brazil, despite high seroprevalence. The Lancet, 397(10273), pp.452-455.
Dos Santos, L.A., de Góis Filho, P.G., Silva, A.M.F., Santos, J.V.G., Santos, D.S., Aquino, M.M., de Jesus, R.M., Almeida, M.L.D., da Silva, J.S., Altmann, D.M. and Boyton, R.J., 2021. Recurrent COVID-19 including evidence of reinfection and enhanced severity in thirty Brazilian healthcare workers. Journal of Infection.
‘ The extraordinary rapid, and effective control measures implemented in Wuhan………..’
@Padraic O Sullivan: Like welding apartment block doors shut, that’s some lockdown
Ah the Chinese, a great bunch of lads
I stopped reading at “a Chinese study said….”
@TonyB: China publish half the papers on Pubmed your realise….
Finally, a totally independent research body with no links to the WHO (an organisation partially funded by the pharmaceutical industry) declares that “mass vaccination” is the only way out of the pandemic. Oh….wait a minute….they run six ‘WHO collaborating centers ‘ and they are a member of the M8 Alliance, the main advisors to the World Health Summit, which is run by the WHO. Vaccinate the vulnerable and leave the rest of us alone.
Can it be trusted? Would u trust them?
@Bart O Brien: What about all the different strains that has developed after Wuhan? Of course I want to Believe!
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