Why the bad science of the no campaign shouldn't sway Ireland's voters

In the run-up to the referendum on marriage equality, there has been a considerable abuse of research to bolster arguments

The Irish marriage equality referendum on 22 May is a truly historic moment. For an island once considered the last vanguard of the Vatican, this is a seminal moment. Polls indicate high levels of support , and every political party bar none is advocating a vote for marriage equality. This is an incredible shift for a country that only decriminalised homosexuality as recently as 1993 . Yet the last remnants of Catholic Ireland die hard, and a predictable war of words has erupted, with some considerable abuse of research used to bolster bad arguments.

Catholic think-tank the Iona Institute are amongst the loudest voices on the no side. Along with other no campaigners, their main argument has been a rather cynical attempt to reframe the referendum as about children rather than marriage equality, a misconception the referendum commissioner has taken pains to dismantle. This hasn't discouraged Iona and their fellow no campaigners from attempting to emotively and dishonestly reframe the discussion, however.