By an overwhelming margin, voters in Ireland have chosen to legalize marriage equality in the country, making it the first nation in the world to do so by popular vote.
Support for marriage cut across age, gender, income and region; out of 43 districts in the country, only one voted against the measure. (Even Ireland has its Alabama.)
While the vote has no legal implications beyond Ireland’s borders, the victory will still have an impact on U.S. politics.
Here are five reasons why today’s win in Ireland will make a difference in this country.
1. Ireland is one of the most Catholic nations in the world. The vote was a thumb in the eye of Irish bishops who made a last-ditch appeal to the faithful, who haven’t forgiven the bishops for the Church’s child-abuse scandals. The bishops’ failure shows how frayed the Church’s hold is on those in the pews. Worse still, it’s not as if pro-marriage Catholics felt that they were bucking the Church. In fact, many believed that they were following Church teachings that demand fairness. The power of the Catholic Church isn’t what it once was in Ireland. But what diminishes the Church’s hold there will inevitably hurt the hierarchy in the U.S. as well. After all, the Church is a global corporation.
2. Support cut across party lines. Amazingly, the entire Irish political establishment lined up for marriage equality. That’s not likely to happen any time soon in the U.S., at least as long as the Mike Huckabee-Ted Cruz wing of the GOP is around. But it is a harbinger of the future. At some point, it’s inevitable that marriage equality simply fades as a political football. You can still be a conservative and be pro-marriage equality. There are plenty of other ideological battles that liberals and conservatives can fight. As Ireland showed, marriage equality doesn’t have to be one of them.
3. The pro-family argument was on the side of marriage equality. Here’s a nice twist: in Ireland, marriage equality was seen as the pro-family position. Family is important both culturally and legally in Ireland, with the constitution explicitly protecting family as “a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptable rights.” This is a lesson for the U.S., where conservative Christians have misappropriated the mantle of family values. As the definition of family expands, opposition to marriage equality can only be seen as anti-family.
4. Demographics are on the side of equality. The vote in Ireland proved yet again that young people are overwhelmingly supportive of marriage equality. Some 66,000 young people registered to vote in advance of the referendum. At some point, that lesson can’t be lost on recalcitrant Republicans in the U.S., at least some of whom know in their hearts that they are on the point of losing a generation of voters.
5. There go the St. Patrick Day’s parade bans. Perhaps the most immediate impact of the marriage vote in Ireland will be on St. Patrick Day parades. Parade organizers have had a hard time maintaining their outright ban on gay groups in the parades, but they are going to look especially silly now that Ireland itself has vaulted into the forefront of LGBT rights. If the country itself can overwhelmingly support marriage, how can the once-a-year Irish in the U.S. prevent gay groups from marching in the parade? That’s going to be a tough question to answer without looking stupid, but we’re confident that the parade organizers can do it.
Look stupid, that is.
Photo credit: YesEquality Facebook page
martinbakman
Will the girls at the Vatican stop downloading their gay porn long enough to pay attention to this voting data?
But really, does anyone care what comes out of the mouths of priests anymore? Perhaps a majority in Ireland don’t.
jwtraveler
It’s going to be a lot harder for the Fat Old Homophobes (FOH) who run NY’s St. Patrick’s Day parade to justify their exclusion of gays now that they’re celebrating their heritage in a country that provides equal rights to gay people. But I’m sure they’ll try their damnedest to keep up the bigotry.
Paco
I’m really happy for our brothers and sisters in Ireland. However, having civil rights voted on by a majority can cut both ways and is not something that should be set as precedent. What is given by one generation can be taken away by the next. Still, I hope there are good things in store for us in the States.
Giancarlo85
Finally they post an article about this, and it’s a piss poor one like this. This site really does need new writers. Perhaps you could go into the details of the vote and by which margin it has passed. I don’t think voting on civil rights should occur, but am nonetheless pleased with the result.
America’s republican party has and always be stuck in the past.
And lets not try to do phony political comparisons either. Even Ireland’s “conservatives” are more left wing than democrats. This same applies to most other European and developed countries. America’s entire political systeme, democrats included, are right wing compared to other developed countries. There are NO real left wing political parties in America (at least none that carry any sway).
“There are plenty of other ideological battles that liberals and conservatives can fight.”
Another poor point… in other developed countries it isn’t “liberal” versus “conservative”.
I’m happy for Ireland, but this is one terribly written article!
hobnob
@Paco — a referendum is the only way to change the Irish constitution hence the popular vote.
Kieran
Good news indeed from the small island where some 40 million Americans trace their ancestry. But happy news tempered nonetheless by the sad reality that Irish people living behind the British imposed partition, in Northern Ireland, cannot celebrate this happy triumph of democracy and human rights. The British Protestant minority in the north of Ireland, infamous for their bigotry, have blocked all efforts to give gays equal rights, including the basic right to marry the person they love in Northern Ireland. If Ireland were United, as it should be, ALL of the Irish people on the island of Ireland would have marriage equality today.
Free Ireland! ALL of it.
john.k
@Paco: In principle you are right. Many lawyers thought that as the constitution does not specify that marriage could only between a man and a woman the law could have been changed by parliament. However the government feared that if they did that it would set off a string of challenges to the law in the courts. You can imagine what a mess would have ensued had the courts, 5 or 10 years down the line, decided that the law was unconstitutional. So they decided to put it to the people to explicitly make same sex marriage constitutional. The Irish constitution can only be amended by referendum. So to change what has been decided today it would have to be put to referendum again.
@Giancarlo85: the margin was 62% for and 38% against. Only one of 43 constituencies voted no – although in another the winning margin was 33 votes!
Giancarlo85
@john.k: I know that. And I mentioned that one constituency that voted no only did so by a slight margin (52-48% if I recall correctly).
The article was terribly written and making bad political comparisons isn’t going to help America. America’s entire political system is right wing compared to every other developed country.
Realitycheck
Congratulation to the Irish folk, according to CNN, gay marriage won by
slightly over 60%, considering how usually liberals don’t go to vote, and conservative do, to oppress and impose on everyone, this is a great victory.
Saint Law
@Giancarlo85: Word!
There is no one in Eire or The British Isles – not even Northern Ireland – who could support the Duggars against ‘vindictive gays’ as Huckabee did and still expect to have a chance of holding high office.
The American left, in government anyway, is policies-wise largely equivalent to the European right – and not the center-right either – and the American right out-and-out fascism.
Saint Law
And yeah it’s a terrible article. Too little and too late.
Danielgould Gould
Where. Sun. And 80sð??³
rmthunter
@Paco: That’s a function of Irish law: one man/one woman marriage is written into the Irish Constitution, and the Constitution can only be amended by plebiscite. The US has a very different system: marriage is not mentioned in the US Constitution, although it has been held by the courts to be a fundamental right; and marriage has been historically a state issue.
elvis2001
This should have been reported when it happened, not 12 hours after every news website in the world had already reported on it. As usual you seem more concerned about promoted a naked straight actor on the cover of Attitude Magazine. Shame on you Queerty. This was a day for the global LGBT to celebrate and have hope for similar equality reforms across the world.
Giancarlo85
@elvis2001: The sad part of this site is that this article isn’t actually a direct report on the results and reactions. It was just a poor attempt to compare apples and oranges. They had to talk about the US (a right wing country) in an article that should be about Ireland.
Sweetie Pie
Bitches gonna bitch…..
Giancarlo85
@Sweetie Pie: Thanks for sharing that self reflection.
Sweetie Pie
@Giancarlo85: Oooops…I apologise for stepping on your toes, I never thought you would take it as a hint
Projecting much?
onthemark
In case anyone thinks St. Patrick’s Day parades are an Irish “tradition” that was exported like Guinness, think again. They started in New York City in colonial days (1766) and always had a peculiarly Irish-American spin to them. St. Patrick’s Day is a much different holiday in Ireland than it is in the US (MUCH less drunken, for one thing!). So there’s not necessarily any reason why this vote would have any “immediate” effect on Irish-American parades.
GayEGO
@martinbakman: Well I would rather see the priests have it put where they like it – up their arse! :>)
GayEGO
Come on guys, let’s give the Irish a welcoming congratulations, and be more inclusive of the publishers here. Boston, MA did include gays in the St. Patrick’s Day parade this year. There are also some Christian churches that do perform same-gender marriages as they learn to catch up with us about the meaning of love and civil, equal rights.
kevininbuffalo
@onthemark: St. Patrick’s Day parades are an American invention, that’s true.But in recent years they have been holding parades in Ireland to cater to U.S. tourists. And some of the celebrants do get rowdy and there are arrests.
Saint Law
@Sweetie Pie: You don’t sound bitchy at all.
wpewen
Its great for Ireland but for us? Try thinking comparatively. The U.S. has had a real strong gay rights movement since the 70’s, Ireland didn’t They had to contend with Irish Catholicism and won. A very quick, decisive victory by the entire country.
Here, we have to constantly step around millions of wingnuts, bible belt idiots, to try to get anything. Yes, somethings (St.Pats parades) will change. But all and all, the U.S.is totally behind the rest of the developed world on social evolution, including feminism, people of color, you name it. When Reagan came in 1980 he and his malevolent friends pushed us back years. If you are not old enough, ask anyone who lived through the 60’s and 70’s. We froze in the 80’s not just because of AIDS.
We were really on track for a while here-this just shows what the GOP has been up to all these years, along with born again nutjobs, etc. Now we are WAY behind schedule and there are so many gay men who don’t care-as long as they can have sex or whatever. We could have done what Ireland did-think about it next time you hear the term “gay Republican.”
Sluggo2007
@Giancarlo85: Perhaps YOU should write the articles for Queerty since you live your so-called life on this blog anyway.
Giancarlo85
@Sluggo2007: Oh go fuck yourself, you loser. You are on my case all the time. I don’t even comment in over half of the articles on here anyways. What fucking life do you have? Asides from insulting someone you don’t even know and then running away like a little coward?
russellhm
While the article does touch on significant relevance for us, what struck me, knowing the intent of some ultra-right wingnut evangelicals and radical bible-bangers, is that Ireland has been, in essence, a theocracy for eons. The Roman Catholic church controlled. Ted Cruz’s father, Raphael, a preacher, has blatantly called for a theocracy to replace our current form of government, and Ted is right there; Huckster Huckabee is insisting the politicians who don’t agree with a potential Supreme Court ruling approving same-sex marriage as legal throughout the nation, may ignore the Supreme Court as it is not the Supreme Being. It will definitely take some wind out of some sails to show that contraception–a fight in Ireland as they must cross the border into Northern Ireland just to buy condoms–and abortion will likely become legal in Ireland now that a new equality has been established and women will be elevated just by the nature of the vote. The Vatican is perturbed and I suspect American bishops and cardinals have soiled their robes over the results. Knowing that the priesthood’s rampant pedophilia changed thousands of views the religious bigots here, excusing the Duggars failure to report their son, a pathetic excuse for a human being, and his molesting of his sisters and other young girls in the “family,” claiming that he had prayed and sought forgiveness and god had forgiven him and so had the girls. (Amazing! These people likely believe that homosexuality can be “cured” but sent their boy to a different kind of “camp” where he was in construction and daily prayer. Since when do god’s laws override our laws? I suggest that the way they knew god had forgiven the boy is the no one who knew about his criminal behavior leaked the info, as reporting on this is stringent everywhere in the U.S. And since we now know that children reared in the Quiverful sect must always smile–to show a different face is considered an insult to god–these family portraits are more than photo-shopped; they’re the result of insidious propaganda passed off as religion. And I am confident, like Hobby Lobby, those beliefs are sincerely and closely held. Why am I reminded of the Branch Davidians in Waco, land of biker criminals, when all of these aspects are revealed. Janet Reno, the Attorney General under Clinton, was demonized by the right over her policies with regard to the Davidians. Jim Jones anyone?
russellhm
While the article does touch on significant relevance for us, what struck me, knowing the intent of some ultra-right wingnut evangelicals and radical bible-bangers, is that Ireland has been, in essence, a theocracy for eons. The Roman Catholic church controlled. Ted Cruz’s father, Raphael, a preacher, has blatantly called for a theocracy to replace our current form of government, and Ted is right there; Huckster Huckabee is insisting the politicians who don’t agree with a potential Supreme Court ruling approving same-sex marriage as legal throughout the nation, may ignore the Supreme Court as it is not the Supreme Being. It will definitely take some wind out of some sails to show that contraception–a fight in Ireland as they must cross the border into Northern Ireland just to buy condoms–and abortion will likely become legal in Ireland now that a new equality has been established and women will be elevated just by the nature of the vote. The Vatican is perturbed and I suspect American bishops and cardinals have soiled their robes over the results. Knowing that the priesthood’s rampant pedophilia changed thousands of views the religious bigots here, excusing the Duggars failure to report their son, a pathetic excuse for a human being, and his molesting of his sisters and other young girls in the “family,” claiming that he had prayed and sought forgiveness and god had forgiven him and so had the girls. (Amazing! These people likely believe that homosexuality can be “cured” but sent their boy to a different kind of “camp” where he was in construction and daily prayer. Since when do god’s laws override our laws? I suggest that the way they knew god had forgiven the boy is the no one who knew about his criminal behavior leaked the info, as reporting on this is stringent everywhere in the U.S. And since we now know that children reared in the Quiverful sect must always smile–to show a different face is considered an insult to god–these family portraits are more than photo-shopped; they’re the result of insidious propaganda passed off as religion. And I am confident, like Hobby Lobby, those beliefs are sincerely and closely held. Why am I reminded of the Branch Davidians in Waco, land of biker criminals, when all of these aspects are revealed. Janet Reno, the Attorney General under Clinton, was demonized by the right over her handling with regard to the Davidians. Jim Jones anyone?