DCU’s LGBTA, Drama and Amnesty Societies held mock same-sex marriages as part of DCU’s Equality Week. The mock marriages were held outside the Henry Grattan on Thursday November 15th.
The marriages were held between members of DCU Drama and LGBTA, and the Drama society providing actors for the weddings. Timothy O’Brien and Cormac O’Broin were ‘married’ in the morning, and Julie Ann O Connell Kent and Sarah McCormack later in the afternoon. LGBTA Secretary, Stuart Anderson officiated both ceremonies.
The marriages were held to highlight the discrimination between heterosexual and homosexual marriages and to show support for same-sex marriages in the societies.
Mina Ilhan, Chairperson of DCU Amnesty, believes that it is unfair to discriminate a love between two people based solely on their gender. She said: “Gay people should not be excluded from the traditions and advantages of marriages just because they are gay.”
LGBTA also ran a number of other events during Equality Week, which was hosted in partnership with the Students’ Union. A marriage equality discussion with Labour TDs Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and John Lyons and Marriage Equality Board member & political consultant Ronan Farren was held on November 13th to inform students of where government legislature stands on the issue.
Timothy O Brien, who is a member of both societies and took part in the marriages, believes it was a good way of getting students to think about the possibility of same-sex marriages becoming legal. He also believed that while there were some negative remarks made towards it, the experience was positive on a whole.
Ilhan told The College View that until same-sex marriages are legalised in Ireland, the event will run in DCU on an annual basis.
Aoife Bennett
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