Dear Editor, One of the questions connected with the idea of same-sex marriage is that of same-sex couples raising children. This, I suggest, is an issue where the sexual orientation of the adults can be quite irrelevant.
Unusually perhaps, my father and his brother married twin sisters. At one time in my childhood, my mother was ill and I was temporarily in the care of my uncle and aunt.
It might, however, have been the case, depending on circumstances, that I could have been cared for temporarily by the two men, or by the two women.
But in the long term, the real question is not the sexuality of the child’s guardians but which combination provides the best environment for raising children; firstly from babyhood to puberty; then from pubescence through teenage years; but always in the context of the different needs of boys and girls?
In my view, two men no matter how decent they were would be the least useful; two women would be much better; but, other things being equal, best of all by a long shot must be one man and one woman.
And even if that is not so, (I would be interested to read any claims to the contrary), who decides in the case of adoption and/or guardianship which child goes to which couple and on what basis? Has the child any rights in this?
Yours etc.,
Gerald Murphy,
Marley Grange,
Dublin 16.
