http://themilitant.com/2015/7923/792352.html
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Vol. 79/No. 23 June 22, 2015
Ireland gay marriage vote
a victory for equal treatment
BY PAUL DAVIES
MANCHESTER, England — Thousands celebrated in Dublin May 23 as the
results of the Marriage Equality referendum were announced. The
constitutional amendment makes Ireland the 20th country where same-sex
marriage is legal, and the first where it has been adopted by popular vote.
The “yes” vote carried with 62 percent. It included people across
generations from both urban and rural areas, reflecting broad opposition
to anti-gay prejudice and support for equal treatment under the law. All
major capitalist parties supported the amendment.
“We changed forever what it means to grow up lesbian, gay in Ireland,”
commented Michael Barron, a leader of one of the coalitions that
campaigned for a “yes” vote.
“The referendum forced a discussion on something that people often don’t
want to talk about,” Kate Brennan Harding, a radio producer and “yes”
campaigner from Sligo, told the Militant. “Local priests didn’t instruct
people how to vote, but said to vote with their conscience.”
Around 85 percent of the Irish population is Catholic. While the church
hierarchy called for a “no” vote, some priests refused to back that call
and publicly announced they would vote in favor. This registers a big
change to the hierarchy’s aggressive campaign against the 1995
referendum on divorce that narrowly passed.
Pope Francis did not intervene in the debate. In response to changing
attitudes among working people, he has sought to recast the church with
a more inclusive image. In contrast to his predecessor Pope Benedict,
Francis told reporters in 2013, “If a person is gay … who am I to judge?”
“I remember gay classmates being bullied out of school. I would never
have imagined this happening,” said Micheál Hughes, a 25-year-old “yes”
campaigner from the rural area of Monahan, in a phone interview. He
added that just because gay marriage is legal “doesn’t mean that all the
prejudice has gone.”
Advances in the fight against anti-gay discrimination are bound up with
the gains made in the fight for women’s rights internationally and the
growing place of this struggle in politics.
In Ireland homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993 and civil unions for
same-sex couples legalized in 2010. Opponents of the amendment argued
this made gay marriages unnecessary. However, civil unions don’t cover
all the same legal rights as civil marriage.
Prime Minister Edna Kenny argued for a “yes” vote as a way to counter
the declining influence of the family, an institution the capitalist
rulers are keen to foist greater social and economic burdens on.
In Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, same-sex
marriage is still illegal, unlike in the rest of the U.K.
Campaigners for abortion rights have seized on the victory to step up
pressure. In the Irish Times, Anthea McTeirnan wrote that the “yes” vote
showed “we love equality,” but without the right to control their own
bodies, there can’t be full equality for women. “The eighth amendment to
the Constitution is the first obstacle. It needs to go.” The amendment
bans nearly all abortions.
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