posted May 23, 2015 08:56 PM
Exciting news! The fact one of the most traditionally Catholic countries has passed legalization of same-sex marriage legislation shows the progress we have made. Although we have a long way to go, these sort of moments remind me there is still beauty left in a perhaps ugly world at times. Eh, this might be more of a DD/AR topic, move if necessary. Here is part of an article summarizing the vote.
What the 'yes' vote means
The Republic of Ireland has a written constitution which can only be changed by referendum.
Now that the proposal has been passed, a marriage between two people of the same sex will have the same status under the Irish constitution as a marriage between a man and a woman.
They will be recognised as a family and be entitled to the constitutional protection for families.
Civil partnerships for same-sex couples have been legal in Ireland since 2010, giving couples legal protection which could be changed by the government.
However, married gay people will now have a constitutional standing that can only be removed by another popular vote.
'Social revolution'
"I appreciate how gay and lesbian men and women feel on this day, that they feel this is something that is enriching the way they live. I think it is a social revolution."
Voters were asked whether they agreed with the statement: "Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex."
In 2010, the Irish government enacted civil partnership legislation, which provided legal recognition for gay couples.
But there are some important differences between civil partnership and marriage, the critical one being that marriage is protected in the constitution while civil partnership is not.
Catholic churches will continue to decide for themselves whether to solemnise a marriage.
The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Eamon Martin, has said the church may look at whether it continues to perform the civil side of solemnisation if the change comes in.
A separate referendum, on whether the eligibility age of presidential candidates should be lowered from 35 to 21, was held at the same time.
The referendum was defeated with 73.1% voting no and 26.9% voting yes.
A total of 1,412,602 people voted against, while 520,898 people voted in favour.
Check this out too: here are the current (not updated Ireland) same-sex marriage status rulings in Europe:
The 40% Irish in me is proud, but the 50% Italian and 10% German sides are very disappointed. ¯\_("/)_/¯
I mean Italy is not surprising because of the Catholic church, but if Ireland can do it, why not (would be tougher though).The CDU/CSU is why Germany, despite efforts, cannot get legislature to pass. It is crazy though-70% of Germans support gay marriage yet politicians keep preventing any action from being taken.
Kudos to Ireland!