Ireland looks set to pass gay marriage referendum.

[Póg mo 1,749]

Proud to be Irish today☺

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/22/irish-voters-travel-home-around-world-vote-same-sex-marriage

reland is on course to become the first nation in the world to legalise gay marriage by popular vote, leaders on both sides of the historic referendum campaign said on Saturday.

Early tallies from open ballot boxes across the Irish Republic indicate a strong showing for the pro-same sex marriage proposition. The trend suggests that there will be at least a 2-1 majority for the yes side.

A huge yes vote from the republics electorate would mark another major milestone in Irelands journey from a Catholic church-dominated state to a more liberal, secular society. Gay rights campaigners say it will also bolster their struggle for equality across the world.

In some parts of Dublin the yes vote was running at more than 80% while the first box to be tallied from the rural eastern coast Wicklow/East Carlow constituency indicated a pro-gay marriage majority of 67% to 33% against.

Based on the early tallies the overall result could be at least 60% in favour of gay marriage.

Confident of securing a yes vote across the republic on Saturday, Irelands prime minister, Enda Kenny, declared that the result was sending a message of pioneering leadership from the Irish people.

Just after the taoiseachs remarks, it emerged that out of almost three-quarters of the ballot boxes opened in his own Mayo constituency an area of western Ireland normally regarded as conservative and religiously devout there was a 55% vote in favour of gay marriage.,

His cabinet and Fine Gael colleague Leo Vradkar, Irelands first openly gay minister, said the huge support for a yes vote made him think the Irish people had their minds made up on this some time ago.

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Varadkar said: Were the first country in the world to enshrine marriage equality in our constitution and do so by popular mandate. That makes us a beacon, a light to the rest of the world of liberty and equality. Its a very proud day to be Irish.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáine, the quality minister, earlier told Reuters: I think its won. Ive seen bellwether boxes open, middle-of-the road areas who wouldnt necessarily be liberal and they are resoundingly voting yes.

Opponents of gay marriage had also conceded by mid morning that the yes campaign had triumphed.

Dave Quinn, one of the most prominent lay Catholic opponents of same-sex marriage, tweeted: Congratulations to the yes side. Well done.

Later Quinn, the director of the religious-traditionalist Iona Institute, said: Obviously theres a certain amount of disappointment but also Im quite philosophical about the outcome.

On the sunlit cobblestones of Dublin Castle, the former seat of British power in Ireland and the location for the overall national result, 27-year-old Emily Glen held up a picture of her parents wearing vote yes badges.

I wanted to show people that parents in Ireland love their children whether they are gay or straight. My dad even put a yes sticker on the back of his wheelchair when he and mum went into the polling station yesterday to demonstrate his support for our cause.

Glen added: Ive been meeting up with older gay people who have told me about what life was like in the dark days of the 70s and 80s in Ireland. I want this yes vote to be for them as much for my generation. Its their day and they deserve it.

Senator David Norris, one of the key figures in having homosexuality decriminalised in the 1990s, said a yes victory would be a wonderful result.

I believe that by the end of today gay people will be equal in this country. I think its wonderful, he said. Its a little bit late for me. As I said the other day, Ive spent so much time pushing the boat out that I forgot to jump on and now its out beyond the harbour on the high seas, but its very nice to look at.

I believe that by the end of today gay people will be equal in this country

Senator David Norris

A pro-gay Irish Christian campaign group urged the leaders of the main churches in Ireland to embrace the change. Dr Richard OLeary, an Anglican member of Changing Attitude Ireland, also appealed to the churches hierarchies to support gay marriage in Northern Ireland the only part of these islands were same sex couples still cannot get married.

OLeary said: We hope that the Catholic bishops and Protestant church leaders in Northern Ireland will notice how so many ordinary people of faith in the Republic of Ireland have voted yes and that they too might be encouraged to support the extension of civil marriage equality to same sex couples in Northern Ireland.

The proposition drawn up by the Fine Gael-Labour government asked Irish voters to amend their 78-year-old constitution, which originally defined marriage as purely between a man and a woman.

Voters were offered the chance to amend that constitution to: Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.

A yes result would provide fresh evidence of waning church influence in a country that, in the 1980s, voted forcefully in referendums to outlaw abortion and reject divorce.

Currently 17 countries, including the UK, Spain, France, Argentina and Denmark, along with several states in the US, allow same-sex couples to marry.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

Hey, what about Canada, we allow it and we speak English, list of nations!

But seriously. It says something pretty serious when one of the most notoriously Catholic Ireland can legalize human rights by popular vote and America, the land of the free, can't.

Grow up, America.

[VOL 425]

Government and states need to get out of the marriage deal.

As long as it is between consenting adults there is no need for any type of government regulation on marriage....

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

Government and states need to get out of the marriage deal.

As long as it is between consenting adults there is no need for any type of government regulation on marriage....

Then you'll give up your tax benefits from marriage and all that jazz?

[Póg mo 1,749]

Government and states need to get out of the marriage deal.

As long as it is between consenting adults there is no need for any type of government regulation on marriage....

What about marriage involving close family relations? Personally, I don't think society in general should be facilitating incestuous relationships.

[VOL 425]

Then you'll give up your tax benefits from marriage and all that jazz?

In a heartbeat.

[LibCampFireClub 635]

Yippee kay yay, or top 'o the cake to ya!

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

In a heartbeat.

Then you are one of a small minority and I find myself, oddly enough, saluting you.

[Póg mo 1,749]

Government and states need to get out of the marriage deal.

As long as it is between consenting adults there is no need for any type of government regulation on marriage....

No more green cards through marriage?

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

No more green cards through marriage?

Oooh, good one. Don't know why I didn't think of that. Hats off to you, friend. Waiting anxiously for VOL to answer.

[VOL 425]

Oooh, good one. Don't know why I didn't think of that. Hats off to you, friend. Waiting anxiously for VOL to answer.

Anxiously you say.

I don't think the US Government has any say on whom I marry, and once married I should be able to bring them to the USA.

The way it is now most people in the world, have zero chance getting a visa to the USA to even visit their boyfriend or girlfriend

[GandD 5,966]

Wow, sounds like a val, take off the doors, approach to immigration.

[LibCampFireClub 635]

Liberal obsession with sex. Word: no one cares what you're doing in your bedroom!

[Operator 1,925]

Yippee kay yay, or top 'o the cake to ya!

Just saying that I would eat this right after I finished the burger in the other thread.

Damn I'm hungry.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

"The people in this small island off the western coast of Europe have said to the rest of the world: This is what it is to be decent, to be civilized, and to be tolerant! And let the rest of the world catch up!"

~Sen. David Norris