Not quite the 25th anniversary of decriminalisation of homosexuality June 24, 2018
Posted by Tomboktu in Bits and Pieces, LGBT.trackback
My pedantry genes are causing a fierce itch this morning in reaction to some of the various tweets, to Fianna Fáil’s YouTube film, and to the media getting it wrong.
Today is not the 25th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality. It is the 25th anniversary of the final Dáil debate on the bill that decriminalised homosexuality. But that bill was not signed into law until 7 July 1993, and between the Dáil debate on 24 June and that signing, the Seanad dealt with the Bill (on 29 and 30 June 1993).
To prove I’m not a complete crank, here’s an interesting nugget of history from that day 25 years ago.
The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 1993 proposed two main changes to Irish law: the decriminalisation of male homosexuality and the criminalisation of male prostitution.
Fine Gael’s parliamentary party had decided to propose an amendment to the Bill to set a higher age of consent for gay sex than for hetero-sex, and an amendment was put on the order paper. Some in that party and in the PDs were not happy with that proposal. There was a fear that if it went to a vote, some FF TDs might break the government whip and cause the bill to be amended to set a higher age of consent.
The debate for the Dáil Report and Final Stages on 24 June was guillotined, meaning that if the Dáil had not dealt with all proposed amendments in the time allocated, the debate would be ended on a single motion by the Minister proposing that the amendments which she agreed with be accepted and that the Bill be amended in line with them.
Some of the FG and PD TDs took advantage of the guillotine and of the second main change in law that the Bill introduced, the criminalisation of male prostitution.
The committee stage of a bill deals with detailed amendments, and the first two amendments to be debated dealt with the prostitution elements of the Bill. The second of these concerned the publication of advertisements for prostitution. Fine Gael TDs Alan Shatter, Nora Owen, Austin Deasy (who had sent a party of school children away first), and Mary Flaherty, with assistance from PDs Mary Harney and Michael McDowell and Labour’s Jim Kemmy, kept the debate on prostitution and advertisements for male prostitution going so long that there was no time left to deal with the Fine Gael amendment on the age of consent. In the context of (male!) prostitution, Mary Flaherty mentioned a gift she had recently received of a free aromatherapy massage with the Bach flower remedies: “I hope I am not in for any major surprise.”
A further twist occurred after the vote on the PD amendment on advertising prostitution was held. The formality of the guillotine then kicked in, and the Minister, Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, proposed her catch-all motion to cover the amendments she was accepting, to conclude the Committee, Report and Final stages in one procedure. A vote was called by the independent TD, Johnny Fox, but he could not get a second TD to serve as a teller for the Níl, so a vote was not held and the motion passed.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
Another nugget from this week.
When offering an apology to men criminalised for their homosexuality, Varadkar had this to say:
“It’s no secret that a number of patriots who were involved in the founding of the State were homosexual. However, the people I want to pay a special tribute to are the unknown heroes, the thousands of people whose names we do not know, who were criminalised by our forebears.”
I have to confess to being peeved when somebody whose politics I dislike gives us soundbites that come across as ever so clever. There’s no doubt that Varadkar is very bright, or so too are his script writers perhaps.
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“It’s no secret that a number of patriots who were involved in the founding of the State were homosexual.”
Far too clever by half. Roger Casement didn’t give his live for a twenty-six county Free State, and the well-known (queer) Republican women rejected it as their Republic to the end.
Odds on Leo/FG trying to claim the Treaty as the foundation of the ‘Republic of Ireland’, and claiming that this was the fulfillment of 1916…?
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And an hour ago, the government’s media handlers added themselves to the list of those getting the facts wrong
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Can I out-pedant you on this one Tombo. “the decriminalisation of homosexuality”. Homosexuality per se was not criminalized but sexual activity between men was. Am I right?
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True. But that line was straight out of the Family Solidarity playbook at the time, and I’m like hell not going to give them any ground, even a quarter century after they’ve been beaten and whatever-it-is years since they slinked of the pitch totally.
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Today is not the 25th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality. It is the 25th anniversary of the final Dáil debate on the bill that decriminalised homosexuality. But that bill was not signed into law until 7 July 1993, and between the Dáil debate on 24 June and that signing, the Seanad dealt with the Bill (on 29 and 30 June 1993).
I would strongly suspect that this week being Pride was too strong a temptation for the Taoiseach’s of-course-disbanded media image team and the social media-conscious Leo himself.
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