Tag: Ireland

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News Round-Up: November 16, 2015

Uzo Aduba as “Glinda The Good Witch” in The Wiz Live! (Photo: Scott Gilmore)

Some news stories you may have missed:

• Get your first look at the stars of The Wiz Live!

• Hacker group Anonymous declares war on ISIS following the terrorist attacks on Paris.

• 1,500 Mormons officially leave LDS Church after announcement of new policy that children of same-sex couples cannot be members of the faith until they reach the age of 18, leave their parents home and disavow the practice of same-sex relationships,

• Ireland’s marriage equality law takes effect today. Marriages begin tomorrow after the normal mandatory 24 hour waiting period.

• Pastor Steven Anderson spent Sunday sermonizing that when you go to a rock concert in Paris – “somebody might get killed,” because you’re “worshipping death.”

• 19 states say they will not accept Syrian refugees following Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

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Irish President Signs Marriage Equality Constitutional Amendment

Irish President Michael Higgins on Saturday officially signed an amendment to his country’s constitution that extends marriage rights to same-sex couples in his country.

Higgins amended the Irish Constitution roughly three months after Ireland became the first country in the world in which same-sex couples received marriage rights through a popular vote. The Irish Times reported Prime Minister Edna Kenny’s government next month will introduce a bill that would allow the amendment to officially take effect.

“We are all delighted,” Tiernan Brady of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, an Irish advocacy group, told the Washington Blade on Saturday in a statement. “This is a historic moment for LGBT people and everyone in Ireland. After the joyful scenes that followed the resounding yes vote last May it is wonderful that President Higgins has signed the act and made the result official.”

Irish lawmakers in July approved a bill that will allow transgender people to legally change their gender without medical intervention.

Same-sex couples are able to legally marry in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Iceland, Scotland, England, Wales, France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, South Africa, New Zealand, Mexico City and several Mexican states, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba, Martinique and Guadeloupe.

(from the Washington Blade)

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Ireland Lawmakers Approve Gender Identity Law

Following a historic vote legalizing same-sex marriage in May, Ireland now becomes the fourth country in the world to allow transgender people to legally change their gender without surgery or other medical intervention.

“This is a historic moment for the trans community in Ireland,” said Sara R. Phillips, chair of the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, in a statement after lawmakers approved the Gender Recognition Bill. “Today is the first day we will be seen as who we truly are.”

Wednesday’s vote caps off more than two decades of efforts around the issue that began in 1993 when Dr. Lydia Foy tried to change the gender on her birth certificate.

Irish President Michael Higgins is expected to sign the Gender Recognition Bill into law in the coming weeks.

“This is a great moment for trans people living in Ireland,” said ILGA-Europe Executive Director Evelyne Paradis in a statement.

Activists note, however, that the new law will not apply to transgender people under the age of 18.

Ireland will become the fourth country to allow trans people to legally change their gender without surgery and other medical interventions, joining Malta, Argentina and Denmark.

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Colin Farrell: “All You Could See Was Literally Rainbows Everywhere”

“It was really funny because one of the arguments when the vote went through was that the church came out and said, ‘You know, this was a dark day for Ireland,’ and all you could see was literally rainbows everywhere, posters of rainbows, T-shirts of rainbows, men and women hugging, men and men hugging, women and women hugging, and yet cut to, ‘This is a dark day in the history of [Ireland].'”

“A dark day in the history of a country is internal civil conflict and war and bloodshed…It was a great day.” – Colin Farrell talking to E! about the recent passage of same-sex marriage in Ireland

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Marriage News Watch – May 26, 2015

Matt Baume for the American Foundation for Equal Rights:

• Alabama has sent a minister to jail for 30 days for defying a local judge and marrying a lesbian couple.

• Irish voters support marriage equality in a landslide, but marriage could still start in America before they start in Ireland.

• And one more study shows support for equality on the rise.

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Ireland: Panti Bliss Is Drunk On Yes

Irish drag celeb and LGBT activist “Panti Bliss” (aka Rory O’Neill) writes for the Independent:

“Yes. It’s such a little word but today it feels so big. YES. Has one simple syllable ever meant so much before? Not to me anyway. I’ve never asked anyone to marry me, but today it feels like I asked a whole country to marry me and they said Yes. And I’m delighted. Ecstatic.

“I’m over the gay moon and drunk on Yes, and like any happy groom on his wedding morning, I’m truly, deeply, madly in love. I am in love with the whole country.

“On Friday, Ireland agreed with that simple proposition. Forty years after those first brave men and women stood up and said, “no more”, the people of Ireland said Yes, and what must have seemed impossible all those years ago has been achieved: Ireland’s LGBTI citizens are full and equal citizens under the law.”

(h/t JMG)

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BBC Reports On The Big Celebrations In Ireland Over Marriage Equality

Watch all the shiny, happy people celebrate in Ireland – from the BBC:

The Republic of Ireland has voted overwhelmingly to legalise same-sex marriage in a historic referendum. More than 62% voted in favour of amending the country’s constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

It is the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage through a popular vote.

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Official Results Of Ireland’s Marriage Equality Referendum

With 60.5% of voters making their way to the polls (higher than any other Irish referendums), the official numbers for Ireland’s nationwide vote on same-sex marriage were 62.1% voting Yes and only 37.9% No.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: ‘This vote will give hope to millions of same-sex couples around the world who want to marry the person they love.’

Polls showed strong support for the Yes to Equality vote, with the last survey revealing 74% of Irish people were in favor.

(source)

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Same-Sex Marriage Heading Towards Landslide Win In Ireland

From the Associated Press:

Leaders on both sides of Ireland’s gay marriage campaign say advocates of legalization have won a resounding victory with the ballot count still underway.

Senior figures from the “no” campaign, who sought to prevent Ireland’s constitution from being amended to permit gay marriage, say the only question Saturday is how large the “yes” side’s margin of victory will be from Friday’s vote.

An Irish Cabinet minister, Leo Varadkar, who came out as gay at the start of the government’s campaign, says Dublin looks to have voted about 70 percent in favor of gay marriage, while most districts outside the capital also were reporting strong “yes” leads. Official results come later Saturday.

Varadkar said: “We’re the first country in the world to enshrine marriage equality in our constitution and do so by popular mandate. That makes us a beacon, a light to the rest of the world of liberty and equality. It’s a very proud day to be Irish.”

There’s whole lot of happy dancing going on here at The Randy Report – half-Irish here don’t you know 🙂

Ireland becomes the 21st country in which same-sex couples can marry, and the first to do so via nation-wide referendum.