Meanwhile on the other side of the pond, Ireland is having a national referendum on gay marriage on May 22nd. That isn't news but what is interesting is that the anti-gay marriage supporters are not trotting out the usual discredited slippery slope arguments you have in this country - that it will lead to legalized pedophilia, polygamy, incestuous marriages and Rick Santorum's famous "Man on dog" prediction.
Instead the opposition is taking the unusual tact of attacking surrogate mothers and surrogacy saying that every child should be raised by its biological mother. Doesn't sound like a winning argument to me, but who knows? A copy of the poster the "Mothers & Fathers Matter" group is circulating is found at the link.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/families-hit-out-over-no-campaign-poster-criticising-surrogacy-31165662.html
News Irish News
Families hit out over 'No' campaign poster criticising surrogacy
A No campaign poster declaring that a child needs its mother "for life, not just nine months" has raised the ire of parents of adopted children, who said its message was "deeply offensive".
The poster from the "Mothers & Fathers Matter" campaign group appeared in areas of Dublin this week, and shows a photo of a toddler along with the banner "Surrogacy?" and the message "She needs her mother for life, not just for nine months - vote No".
Speaking to Independent.ie, mother-of-two Teresa Byrne said she had been "deeply insulted" when she saw the posters.
"To say that just because you carry a child for nine months makes you their mother is an absurd suggestion... and one that is deeply offensive to anyone that has raised children not biologically their own."
"The poster is nonsense it implies that surrogacy is simply for same-sex couples. There are many parents, myself included, that have had children thanks to the help of other people."
"To say that I am not the mother of my children because I could not biologically carry them is an insulting suggestion, and one that is clearly aimed at shaming families that do not conform to this groups narrow view of what constitutes a family."
Defending the poster, a spokesperson for "Mother & Fathers Matter" said "if the referendum passes same-sex married couples will likewise have a constitutional right to procreate."
"[As] they can only procreate through donor assisted human reproduction and, in the case of men, surrogacy... it is very possible that surrogacy will be seen as part of a same-sex couples constitutional right to procreate."
"In such case the Constitution will endorse as a 'right' a child having a biological mother and a birth mother but being left legally and socially motherless for the rest of her life."
The group said its volunteers would be erecting posters over the next two weeks in every constituency.