Thursday, May 28, 2015
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Ulster Would Say No
Irish voters on May 22nd voted yes to extend the right to marry to same sex couples, by a two-to-one majority.
Several people contacted me to show their approval, to say "isn't that progressive?" and so on. But I had to point out that the referendum was held in the Irish Republic. I am from Northern Ireland, which is a separate jurisdiction. There are two Irelands on the island:
If that doesn't clear things up, the Guardian put it like this:
After Friday’s historic referendum, in which the Irish Republic’s voters endorsed same-sex marriage by 2-1, Northern Ireland remains the last country in western Europe where LGBT couples are barred from getting married.
So there! Had they been voting in the referendum on Friday, it's likely that a majority of voters in Northern Ireland would have voted no.