Ulster says Yes to marriage equality.

Local poet, theologian, group worker and Leader of the Corrymeela Community , Pádraig Ó Tuama, wrote this blog about yesterday’s Marriage Equality march in Belfast and with his permission has allowed us to re-post on Slugger. Here is his story.  So yesterday was a beautiful day. Sun. Celebration. Support. Story. Hope. I gave a cúpla focail at the marriage equality gathering in the city. It was organized by the wonderful people at the Rainbow Project, Amnesty and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Over 10,000 …

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Losing the armour after decades of hurt

Paul Francis Quinn is a singer and in this heartfelt piece he describes exactly what the recent marriage referendum result meant for him and many others. In 1986, near the end of a long, balmy and sleepless summer, a heterosexual male friend and I took the DART from the suburbs of Bray. Into the city we went and once there he promptly deposited me in a dingy, beer stained bar called “The George”. A third of the size it is …

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Whatever Sen Power says now, Fianna Fail’s Leadership took a strong stance

Averil Power’s announcement this morning that she is resigning from Fianna Fáil is bad news. It will hurt the party and hurt the many people in Fianna Fáil who have supported her over the past few years. Though I doubt Averil would have counted me as a particular friend, we did serve together as Ministerial Advisers for about six years. In that role I got to see her working up close. I saw how committed and dedicated a worker she …

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My thoughts on how @yesequality2015 won #MarRef so convincingly

These are early thoughts only. They are some crude (and at times rambling) musings penned on the morning after the night before, but it is based on reviewing some notes put together back in late February for the Yes Equality campaign. Though this list is by no means exhaustive, here are four key elements which I see as essential to the success of the Yes Equality ground and air campaigns. My analysis, though that is an over glorified to describe this, …

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Five thoughts on the #MarRef (including what next for fortress Norn Iron?)

A few personal thoughts on yesterday’s referendum, and then five more… One, this was a victory for middle Ireland, not just its radical edges. 80% in some working class areas of Dublin and majorities in plain if slender majorities each of the two Donegal constituencies (last time we’ll see that happen before the next general election probably) suggest this was genuine and popular vote, from more than the metrosexuals of D4. Two, for once political parties and the people where …

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In a week of Big Gestures, ‘Yes’ Vote trumps all

In a week of Big Gestures, the southern Irish electorate seem to have saved the best and biggest of gestures for last. According to every early indication from the tallymen and women, the Yes campaign is going to emerge victorious in the Marriage Referendum by day’s end, meaning that the Republic will become the first state internationally to legalise gay marriage through a popular vote. The significance of that should not be underestimated. Ireland’s international reputation as a predominantly conservative …

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#MarRef15: Tallies and Results Live Blog…

Live Blog #Marref Tallies and Results Live Blog   Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

#MarRef: Homophobia has adapted to a changing Ireland; we cannot let it win

And our penultimate pitch comes from reader Oisín Hassan in favour of a Yes vote tomorrow. By Friday night the long slog of months of campaigning will be over, and by Saturday afternoon the outcome of one of the most momentous decisions the Irish people have ever been asked to make will be known. Opponents present marriage equality as a demand too far, dreamt up in the heads of ‘gay agenda’ pushers to force alternative ‘lifestyle choices’ on society. In …

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The right side of truth – Saying No to Same Sex Marriage

James D. is well known to many people on Twitter as @jdtips . Apart from reading odds and giving many betting tips he is also an advocate of a No vote in the upcoming referendum on same sex marriage.  Having heard the case for the ‘Yes’ vote he now lays out his case for people to hear. I believe that a vast majority of people who support same-sex marriage are well intentioned and people of good will. They are upstanding …

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#SluggerSoapbox: A compassionate plea for a NO vote in the #MarRef…

The following essay is from Kate Bopp, who makes a passionate pitch for voting NO in this week’s Referendum in the Republic. There is not a single jurisdiction on the planet that alters its constitution on the basis of emotive arguments that relate to adult romantic relationships. Constitutional change follows us and envelops aspects of our lives that go far beyond sentiments like love and sexual attraction. The melodrama being played out by the YES campaign is quite bizarre. There …

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#Marref Soapbox: Séamas’s story – ‘Can we talk?’

Séamas de Faoite writes in favour of the Marriage Referendum and relates his own experience to illustrate the ongoing anguish faced by young gay people in their decision in how and when and to whom they can ‘come out’.  ‘Can we talk?’ – it was the refrain of one of my preferred comedians, the ever polemic Joan Rivers, before her untimely death in 2014. She used it as an opener to her more controversial sketches; almost asking the audience’s permission to push the …

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#SluggerSoapbox: Marriage Equality and the creation of families by same sex couples

Nick King is a former business man, councillor on Bournemouth Borough Council, chairman of Dorset Conservatives, member of Police Authority Board. Watching the #marref debate as an Englishman is an interesting experience. In common with so many things in Ireland it seems in part an exaggerated version of what has gone before here in England. At other times it’s like watching our own experiences through a slightly distorted mirror. And as the comments made last week in South Down by …

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