Looks like Ireland's referendum on gay marriage is a Yes.

Well the results are not in yet but exit polls have suggested that they have voted Yes and want people who are gay to be able to get married.
Sends a clear message across the world this does.
Good on the Irish.
www.bbc.co.uk...

a reply to: boymonkey74

85% Catholic and quite a conservative culture. Still they manage to vote in a 'landslide' decision to legalise gay marriage.

Progress! Progress! Progress!

a reply to: Kandinsky

Sure is.
I hope this helps other places in the world progress.

originally posted by: boymonkey74
Sends a clear message across the world this does.

Well, only in so much as this the latest liberal democracy to agree.

en.wikipedia.org...

Trying to get those counties who are constrained by religious and cultural intolerance will be harder, notably in all Muslim countries where homosexuals are usually persecuted and in some cases face capital punishment and / or imprisonment.

Regardless, this is another small, but positive step towards a better world for all of us.

Great news! Another win for rationality and tolerance. Good for Ireland

a reply to: boymonkey74

I think that historically the main problem has been the Catholic Church. The recent outrage over the clergy raping children, has allowed many Irish people to see beyond the Church's influence and come to a more modern stance on many things.

This is happening world wide.

P

a reply to: boymonkey74

Well it shines a light on some of our ATS friends who are resistant to such changes!

"No! No! The gays shouldn't be allowed to marry! It devalues the sanctity of marriage! I'm not homophobic, I just think the gays have an agenda to turn us all queer!"

It appears that a Catholic nation feels otherwise. To be honest, I wouldn't have expected such an apparently overwhelming vote in favour. I mean, our Protestant bishops wet their manly robes when gay clergy and gay marriage was raised in the rest of the UK.

I'm not surprised by this vote. I used to work with a few Catholics from Ireland when I lived in Alabama. They said that the laws of the country are antiquated Catholic laws and that most of the people are trying to be rid of them. Good on Ireland.

Yay Ireland

Good to see another country give us the sense of normality we desire.

I love Ireland!

I go over at least twice a year to Dublin honestly the best place in the world, the people are so friendly, its just such a chilled out little country.

They might be mostly strong Catholics but they don't get preachy or shove it down your throat and they are very tolerant of others.

So really I am not surprised it passed.

Just read this in the link,

Now as a Catholic I was proud to read this.

If the measure is passed, 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.

So obviously the Catholic Church were opposed to it, and for religious reasons and traditions in the Catholic Church two persons of the same sex cannot be married in the eyes of God through the religious sacrament of marriage.

However, I think it is a testament to the progressiveness of the church in Ireland that they have even said they would conceder still having ordained Catholic Priests still preform the civil side of the Marriage ceremony. This despite being strongly opposed to the the legalisation of gay marriage.

A sense of normality ? So that's what is at stake here, conformity ? This is sad. They scream "We want to be like everyone else !". So instead of screaming "the state has no business in my life!", they scream "I want the state to rule my life because I need its approbation!". From my point of view, this is no progress but merely stagnation.

It's like women asking equality with men, basically screaming "We are as good wage slaves as men can be!", instead of asking for the abolition of wage slavery.

a reply to: gosseyn

There are those who share your point of view and then there are those of us who simply want to be seen and treated as the same as everyone else.

It's not so much about the piece of paper or a state record as it is about having the same life options as anyone else.

Nobody is going to hold a gun to gay people's heads now and force them to marry. But for the many Irish men and women who have long dreamed of this, it's now a real possibility at long last.

a reply to: boymonkey74

About time.

Good for the Irish. Perhaps this will go a long way to dispelling all those 'stupid Irish' jokes..they obviously ain't stupid any more.

With all the talk of the nwo rigging elections in order to get their nwo world government, it might be well to consider that they would like to end christianity, and rigging this outcome would be a logical step

I'm also remembering the convoluted electoral process which got Ireland into the Eu when it really looked like they didn't want to be there, and also how its come out most of the "political/religiously" motivated bombings were actuallty done not by the political Irish, but by British "intelligence" sevices"

so, are the Irish actually in control?

a reply to: boymonkey74

Yay!

I've been over there several times and while I always found it to be extremely Catholic... the Crucifix is everywhere and strangers in passing will say to you God Bless and every conversation ender like "see you later/tomorrow" is returned with God willing... but they are very socially liberal. I've never seen a place that live and let live was embraced more.

I'm not surprised that freedom won out on this.

originally posted by: Danbones
With all the talk of the nwo rigging elections in order to get their nwo world government, it might be well to consider that they would like to end christianity, and rigging this outcome would be a logical step

I'm also remembering the convoluted electoral process which got Ireland into the Eu when it really looked like they didn't want to be there, and also how its come out most of the "political/religiously" motivated bombings were actuallty done not by the political Irish, but by British "intelligence" sevices"

so, are the Irish actually in control?

The things is they don't have to rig anything. They are smarter than that. They use people's legitimate demands to advance their own agenda. They manipulate, just like they manipulate the legitimate desire of women to feel equal to men, just like they manipulated the "Arab springs" in which there were legitimate demands, etc..

But all this is just a smokescreen to hide the real shackles, to make people feel like if there is progress, to put to sleep any real demand of change. Real change in politics, economics ? Pff forget it.

a reply to: gosseyn

... or it may have been as simple as a country holding a referendum to get the peoples opinion on a contentious matter.

In this case, the people rightly agreed that under the law, marriage should be available to any consenting adults, regardless of gender.

No, no... you're right... "They" are controlling everything!... it's a huge conspiracy to let gays marry, thusly undermining the social norms of society, leading to a breakdown in morals and increasing crime, so the powers that apparently run countries can instigate even greater measures of control, causing civil unrest and religious disharmony, creating an atmosphere of war, all to fuel their aim of transcendence through black arts, using the energy of the deaths of millions through suffering and war!!! It's all been planned!!!... Mwahaahaaa...

Much more likely.

a reply to: Kali74

I agree with you. I've been to Ireland three different times. Each time I was impressed at how laid back and accepting everyone is. This doesn't surprise me either.