The Dáil is to resume its debate on the Civil Partnership Bill 2009 this Wednesday, 27th January 2010. (It is scheduled to take place at some point between 11:29am and 1:30pm, although first to be debated in that time-slot will be two other bills.) A Live Blog has again been set up, and we hope to embed the stream to the live Oireachtas video to allow readers to follow the debate.

The Dáil is to resume its debate on the Civil Partnership Bill 2009 this Thursday, 21st January 2010. (It is scheduled to take place at some point between 10:30am and 3:30pm, although first to be debated in that time-slot will be the Adoption Bill.) A Live Blog has again been set up, and we hope to embed the stream to the live Oireachtas video to allow readers to follow the debate.

The Portuguese government yesterday approved proposed legislation to remove references to gender in respect of marriage. Yes, Portugal looks set to soon remove any prohibitions on same-sex marriage. The proposals, however, exclude such couples from being considered for adoption, with some saying that this enshrines further discrimination.

The Dáil is to debate the second stage of the Civil Partnership Bill today 6:45pm. As you may recall, the Bill was published the day before the Dublin Pride march in June of this year. A couple of weeks ago we wrote that An Taoiseach said the Bill would be debated, “Hopefully, in the first week of December.” And so it has come to pass.

I came across crazy Christians, Renew, thanks to recent posts on MamanPoulet. MP has also been writing about the religious fundies lobbying for a religious “opt-out” to the Civil Partnership Bill. The misses tried to extract some reasoned discussion from the un-speak and scare-mongering by dropping them an email..

Pink Training is a weekend event for LGBT students from all over Ireland consisting of talks, workshops and a night out or two. The aim is to educate LGBT students on the issues they will face, how to deal with them, to learn about sexual health and to learn about LGBT history

Our friends at MarriagEquality have been working away at trying to make some sense out of the Civil Partnership Bill and so decided to ask a barristor to have a look. They asked important questions like what the Bill will mean for same-sex couples and those with children if it becomes law in its current state?

I’m sorry.. Last time that I checked, I was sure that Seán Brady was not an elected representative of this country, nor is he a member of government. And yet, he seems to think that he can stick his oar in concerning how the law of the land is shaped.

Recent years have seen gay rights activism in Ireland gathering momentum and a new wave of advocates has pushed the rights of LGBT people to the fore of the equality agenda. One such advocate, Lisa Connell, has now thrown her hat into the ring for a seat on Dublin City Council. Lisa took time out from her busy campaigning schedule to answer a few questions for us…

Last night in Dublin city, Pantibar on Capel Street was packed to the rafters with eager punters. But the customers weren’t there to watch Barcelona trounce Manchester United, they were avidly listening to a distinguished triumvirate of legal experts expounding the legal and social nuances of civil partnership and marriage.