What Next After Ireland’s Same-Sex Marriage?
On Friday, May 22, 2015 a majority of The Republic of Ireland’s residents voted overwhelmingly for the controversial same-sex marriage. Since then, pressure has started to mount on neighboring country of Northern Ireland. Politicians from the country of the Republic of Ireland are estimated to face intense pressure from rights campaigners allied to LGBT to expedite reforms on the matter that will see their country catch up with the rest of the region. The region referred here is Western Europe. In fact, a rally has been slated for the June 13, 2015. The organizers of the rally are Irish Congress of Trade Unions, The Rainbow Project, a gay rights group, and the Amnesty International among other major stakeholders of the planned mass action. There are even reports showing that the concerned groups have litigated and that the matter is in the Belfast courts.
For some time now, efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in the devolved assembly of the Republic of Northern Ireland have proved futile. But after the massive vote for the endorsement of same-sex marriage in Ireland on Friday, all eyes are focused to the Republic of Northern Ireland since it is the only country that has not legitimatized the same-sex marriage among countries of Western Europe. According to ICTU spokesperson, Northern Ireland was one of the most conducive places in Europe so as in the world where human rights were respected by 1998. In fact, the spokesman says, “the Good Friday agreement and particularly Section 75 shows that the rights of all citizens should be equally treated in The Public of Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, since that year, it has been very hard for gay couple to get married since Northern Ireland slipped back leaving it way behind among other countries that respect the rule of the Good Friday Agreement in Europe. When the rally time comes, we will be united in solidarity for not only the gay community in Northern Ireland alone, but also for those around the world.”
On their part, the Catholic church led by the Dublin archbishop Mr. Diarmuid Martin expressed their aggression saying, “After this landslide win, the church needs a reality check. Most of those that voted Yes to the referendum are products of our school system most of whom have been with us for 12 years! There challenge lies on how we pass the message into their hearts” However, former Vatican diplomat and a senior catholic cleric warned that it is high when the church accepted the reality. Out of about 3 million voters, only 684,616 voted No while 1,149,390 voted Yes for the same sex marriage in Ireland.
