Views On LGBT Rights
During her time as Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Coughlan became involved in a number of LGBT rights controversies. In March 2004, Coughlan introduced the Social Welfare Amendment Act 2004 in response to a case involving same-sex partner benefits. Under the Equal Status Act, 2000, a gay pensioner successfully petitioned the Equality Authority to allow his male partner to travel as his 'spouse' using the pensioner's travel pass. The legislation which Coughlan subsequently produced limited the meaning of the word 'spouse' to include only married couples; this was regarded by the Opposition parties and LGBT rights campaigners as discriminatory towards same-sex couples as there is no legal recognition of same-sex unions in the Republic of Ireland. Two months later, Coughlan caused comment at a European Union conference on family and social policy by stating that Ireland would never be ready for same-sex marriage or gay adoption.
During her time in Social and Family Affairs, Coughlan did, however, produce a report discussing new definitions of 'the family' which recommended a more progressive approach to the matter. This influenced the Government's 2008 civil union legislation.
Read more about this topic: Mary Coughlan (politician)
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