The Moral Case for Marriage Equality: A Perspective from Religion
by Linda Hogan
Professor of Ecumenics, Vice-Provost Trinity College Dublin
Protecting and securing rights for LGBT persons has proven to be a tremendously difficult task, right across the world,
Approximately 80 countries criminalize consensual homosexual sex, and although we have seen the gradual extension of civil rights to LGBT persons, in some countries in the last decade unfortunately in parallel, in other jurisdictions we have seen the draconian enforcement of existing laws and the introduction of even more punitive regimes.
Moreover although rarely presented as the explicit rationale for the introduction of punitive laws, religions often play a crucial role, both in providing the justifying belief as to why homosexuality is wrong, and also being vocal champions of regimes that discriminate against LGBT persons.