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Mother of gay son berates Irish minister over civil partnerships

posted by Tiffany Rauch-Dickson

on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 2:12 pm

(via Pink News)

When Declan Doody wrote to Irish justice minister Dermot Ahern about the inequality of civil partnerships, he was dismayed to receive no response. However, when he posted a copy of the letter on his Facebook account, his mother Helen was spurred into action to write her own.

Recalling his fear of bullies at school and her temporary shock when he came out, she wrote: “Your Civil Partnership Bill is not good enough for my family, and hundreds, thousands of other families in this country.“ Writing on queerid.com, Declan revealed he burst into tears when he read the letter she sent, which asked Ahern to “revise this bill so everyone can be equal”. The letter is fast becoming a hit on the internet.

Below is the letter in full.

Dear Mr Ahern,

My name is Helen Doody, you have already received and failed to reply to a letter that my own son Declan sent to you a week or so ago. So like any good and decent parent I am now trying to get you to listen to and protect my child – it is the very least that any mother would do for her own children.

I read Declan’s email and everything he said to you in the e-mail was true. He had a very tough time growing up in Abbeyfeale, I can still picture him crying in the mornings before he went to school because he was afraid of the people who were going to be waiting for him – bullies who would beat the living daylight out of him, people who crushed the very spirit within him. I tried numerous times to help him, I spoke to teachers, to the parents but the problem got a quick-fix but a weeks later it just continued on.

READ THE ENTIRE LETTER

UPDATE: Mother’s letter inspires gay marriage protest outside Irish parliament (Pink News)

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