62% - Village Magazine

June 2015 21

N May nd when the Irish

people voted an overwhelming

% Yes to marriage equality for

LGBT citizens they gave an emphatic

‘Yes’ to equality. Ireland now joins 

other countries where marriage equal-

ity has been introduced and is the ﬁrst

to do so by popular vote.

This referendum was all about

belonging – Irish lesbian and gay citi-

zens had to ask the Irish people if they

too can belong to Ireland and belong in

Ireland. In their deep generosity the

Irish people have said ‘Yes’, yes, we

belong.

The result of % Yes means that,

having been branded and isolated for

decades, all lesbian and gay persons

knows now that they too belong in Ire-

land, as full, equal citizens.

To the Irish people who voted Yes,

including readers of Village Magazine,

you have done something that should

make you forever proud. Do not forget

that moment, that moment when you

were at your best self, when you chose to

make a mark for an Ireland that could

be a better and fairer place.

For those who did not vote with us, I

hope that as lesbian and gay couples

marry, you will see that we seek only to

add to the happiness and the security of

the diverse national family.

That over . million people voted for

equality tells a lot about Irish people.

For some years now there has been a

narrative that Irish people are tired of

equality – tired of conversations about

those who are not treated equally by

society. What this huge vote tells us is

that this simply is not true. It tells us

that Irish people care deeply about

equality. They care deeply about the

lives lived by minority groups and have

shown the world this in voting so loudly

for marriage equality for same-sex

couples.

The campaign for civil marriage

equality – Yes Equality was a coming

together of ICCL, GLEN and Marriage

Equality. For about  days Brian

Sheehan of GLEN and myself took on the

roles of Co-Directors of the Yes Equality

campaign. At the campaign launch I

spoke of the campaign as a people’s

campaign – a call coming strongly from

the people at the Constitutional Conven-

tion in  when % called for the

Government to hold a referendum to

allow for marriage equality. And then

going back to the people in the referen-

dum. It was also a people’s campaign as

it sought to mobilise civil society to lead

that campaign, unlike previous referen-

dum campaigns led largely by political

parties or politicians.

The mobilisation of civil society has

been inspiring – volunteers travelled

around Ireland on the Yes Bus – ,

kilometres, stopping at  locations

across  counties in  days. Each

stop was a support to the  local Yes

Equality teams who were working away

canvassing and having conversations,

each stop was an opportunity to see the

Yes Equality campaign in action in local

communities across Ireland, each stop

was a further request to Ireland to just

say Yes!

There are other statistics which

convey the scale and the output of the

campaign by staﬀ and volunteers and by

Irish civil society – the Facebook page

was viewed , times a day through-

out the campaign; Yes Equality Twitter

had . million impressions in the ﬁnal

month of the campaign and #MarRef

had a reach of .. And then there was

the Yes Equality shop! The shop team

began their work because the postal

system would not allow them to get

materials to supporters fast enough.

The team in Yes Equality in St Stephen’s

Green shopping centre made a huge con-

tribution to the campaign. Financially,

no doubt, but also as a space for infor-

mation for citizens, for campaign

materials – some of the statistics tell the

scale of the success: , t-shirts, 

hi viz vests, , tote bags and

,+ Tá and Yes badges. The iconic

badges will be the cherished object of

the campaign in years to come, and

they tell just some of the story of the

eﬀorts and supports of Irish people

mobilising for equality.

Has Ireland been changed by the

campaign for civil marriage equality

Yes Equality? I believe it has.

I believe it leaves a model of civil soci-

ety mobilisation that can be replicated

and shows that contrary to the anti-

equality narratives which were around

in recent times – equality is alive and

well and lives in the hearts and minds of

Irish people. •

I believe it

leaves a model

of civil society

mobilisation

that can be

replicated

“

NEWS Marriage Referendum

62%

What we did and why. By Grainne Healy