Irish Catholic politician writes touching letter about gay son

Irish politician Tom Curran has come out in favour of the country’s upcoming same sex marriage referendum, citing the experience of his own gay son, and crucially – his Catholic faith.

Curran, who is the general secretary of Ireland’s current government party Fine Gael, has recorded a video, and written a letter for the Irish Independent in which he urges his fellow Catholics to vote yes in the vote on 22 May.

Speaking about his son Finnian, he writes, “Since my youngest boy came out, I have been on a journey that showed me being a Christian is about loving all equally.”

Recounting the story of how his son came out in 2011, he says he and his wife Noeleen were sad at the life of prejudice they felt their son would be subjected to – including the inability to marry. Despite describing himself as a “card-carrying, practising Catholic”, he says that equalising such a fundamental institution for gay people is “the moral thing to do”.

“I’m jettisoning the privacy, the anonymity of a lifetime to publicly affirm my son, and more importantly, to affirm his equality as a citizen of Ireland and a member of a loving family.”

Ireland will go to the polls in a referendum on same sex marriage on 22 May. Read Irish TV presenter Darren Kennedy’s exclusive piece for Attitude about the historic choice the country has to make.