This is our first Speak Space.
Speak Space is where we bring two people together who have different views on a sensitive topic. Not to debate. Not to persuade. Instead, we bring them together to listen and understand in good faith.
Our guests today are Dr Patricia Casey and Dr Peter D’Lima.
Patricia is a consultant psychiatrist and writes a column in the Irish Independent. She is a patron of the Iona Institute, which is a Christian advocacy group that promotes the place of marriage and religion in society and emphasises that marriage should be between a man and a woman.
Peter is an educational psychologist and co-founder of Not The Easy Way. He has completed his thesis on ways to reduce extremism in society and is interested in how we create unified and tolerant societies. He has co-written an article about the importance of free speech for children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development. Peter is also gay, which is relevant to the statement up for discussion:
Gay couples make just as good parents as straight couples.
The principles of our Speak Charter underpin the conversation: https://nottheeasyway.org/Speak%20Charter%20(1).pdf