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UCC Library and UCC researchers have made this item openly available. Please let us know how this has helped you. Thanks! Title Not thinking straight? A critical discourse analysis of the 2006 Irish High Court ruling in Zappone and Gilligan v. Revenue Commissioners and Attorney General Author(s) Mullins, Jackie (Gertrude Jacqueline) Publication date 2013 Original citation Mullins, J. 2013. Not thinking straight? A critical discourse analysis of the 2006 Irish High Court ruling in Zappone and Gilligan v. Revenue Commissioners and Attorney General. PhD Thesis, University College Cork. Type of publication Doctoral thesis Link to publisher's http://library.ucc.ie/record=b2073900 version Access to the full text of the published version may require a subscription. Rights © 2013, Jackie Mullins http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Item downloaded http://hdl.handle.net/10468/1128 from Downloaded on 2021-10-05T06:48:22Z TITLE PAGE Thesis Title: Not Thinking Straight? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the 2006 Irish High Court Ruling in Zappone and Gilligan v. Revenue Commissioners and Attorney General Author: Jackie Mullins (Gertrude Jacqueline Mullins) Thesis submitted for PhD Thesis submitted to National University of Ireland, Cork Research conducted under School of Applied Social Studies, UCC Date of Submission: May 2013 Head of School: Professor Fred Powell Supervisors: Dr. Máire Leane and Dr. Jacqui O’Riordan 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................. 2 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 10 What’s the Story? Interrogating the Constitutional and Legislative Position on Same-Sex Marriage in Ireland ............................................ 10 Background to the High Court Ruling .................................................... 12 Research Questions and Rationale .......................................................... 14 Relationship and Family Recognition: Irish and International Developments .......................................................................................... 16 Introduction to Trajectory ................................................................... 16 Aspects to the American Trajectory ................................................... 18 Aspects to the Wider European Trajectory ......................................... 20 Aspects to the Irish Trajectory ............................................................ 21 International Perspectives on Relationship Recognition .................... 23 Further Aspects to the Irish Trajectory ............................................... 24 Further Aspects to the American Trajectory ....................................... 26 Further Aspects to the Irish Trajectory ............................................... 27 Further Aspects to the Wider European Trajectory ............................ 34 Further Aspects to the American Trajectory ....................................... 36 Current Aspects to the Irish Trajectory ............................................... 37 Conclusion to Trajectory ..................................................................... 39 Chapter Outline ....................................................................................... 40 Introduction: What’s the Story? Interrogating the Constitutional and Legislative Position on Same-Sex Marriage in Ireland ...................... 40 Chapter One: Text Messages and Baggage Claim: Method and Methodology ........................................................................................ 40 Chapter Two: In Theory: Theoretical and Conceptual Considerations ............................................................................................................. 41 Chapter Three: Nuclear Options: Conceptualisations of Marriage ... 42 Chapter Four: Irish Ways and Irish Laws: Aspects to Marriage, Family and Sexuality ........................................................................... 43 Chapter Five: The Love That Dare Now Speak Her Name: Critical Discourse Analysis of the High Court Ruling in Zappone and Gilligan ............................................................................................................. 44 Chapter Six: Pen Pals, Parish-Pumps, and Putting on an Act: ‘Letters to the Editor’, E-Mails from Politicians, and Oireachtas Debates Pertaining to Civil Partnership........................................................... 45 Conclusion: The Last Word: Concluding Thoughts ........................... 46 CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................... 48 Text Messages and Baggage Claim: Method and Methodology ............ 48 Introduction ............................................................................................. 48 Language, Social Cognition, Discourse, Critical Discourse Analysis.... 49 The Linguistic Turn ............................................................................ 49 Social Cognition .................................................................................. 52 2 Discourse ............................................................................................. 53 Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) .................................................... 55 CDA: Important Considerations ............................................................. 57 Discourse Access Profile of Elites: The Judiciary .............................. 58 Discourse Access Profile of Elites: Expert Witnesses ........................ 59 Discourse Access Profile of Elites: Politicians / Legislators .............. 60 Access to Discourse: Non-Elites / ‘Ordinary’ People ........................ 61 Letters to the Editor ............................................................................. 63 Legitimation ........................................................................................ 64 Negative Representation of the ‘Other’ .............................................. 65 Framing ............................................................................................... 67 Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) .............................................. 69 Other CDA Considerations ................................................................. 70 Further Methodological Considerations ................................................. 71 Reflexivity ........................................................................................... 71 Marriage Equality................................................................................ 72 Marriage and Family as Institution ..................................................... 73 Heteronormativity ............................................................................... 73 Heterosexism ....................................................................................... 74 My Politics .......................................................................................... 75 Intellectual Baggage ............................................................................ 76 The Importance of Our Constitution ................................................... 76 My Evolving Perspective on Relationship Recognition ..................... 78 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 80 CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................ 83 In Theory: Theoretical and Conceptual Considerations ........................ 83 Introduction ............................................................................................. 83 Theorisation of Equality / Inequality ...................................................... 84 Theorisation of Difference ...................................................................... 87 Biological Difference .......................................................................... 87 Difference as Disadvantage ................................................................ 89 Difference as Social Relation .............................................................. 89 Difference To ...................................................................................... 91 Difference as Deficit / Defect / Deviance ........................................... 92 Difference as Deployment .................................................................. 94 Equality of Respect and Recognition ...................................................... 96 A Way Forward ....................................................................................... 99 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 100 CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................... 102 Nuclear Options: Conceptualisations of Marriage .............................. 102 Introduction ........................................................................................... 102 Historical Construction of Marriage ..................................................... 104 Order and Stability ................................................................................ 108 Procreation ............................................................................................ 108 Additional Marriage Laws .................................................................... 110 3 The Criminalisation of Homosexuality ................................................