BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / YesVote Ireland

**Posted by Ivy** May 23, 2015 5:46 pm

How cool is that! for a country where homosexuality was forbidden 20 years ago.

One of my favourite quotes about that topic is from Ricky Gervais

"Same sex marriage isn't gay privilege. It's equal rights. Privilege would be something like gay people not paying tax. Like churches don't."

And a lovely pic from Andrew from today

I hope Germany follows suit asap, that civil partnership is ridiculous.

Last edited by Ivy (May 23, 2015 5:50 pm)

**Posted by Vhanja** May 23, 2015 5:48 pm

This is great news, and awesome that Andrew was part of that!

**Posted by Russell** May 24, 2015 12:20 am

That's awesome! And yeah… for a country that was very Catholic too… and heard Ricky's quote… love it.

**Posted by Yitzock** May 24, 2015 2:24 pm

That is a good quote. Another quote I like (not directly related to this, but still good) is "It always seemed to me a bit pointless to disapprove of homosexuality. It's like disapproving of rain." - Francis Maude. Although of course, same-sex marriage is not just about gay people, but other non-hetero people.
It's nice to see that Andrew was there, I was hoping he would tweet or be in a photo relating to it. I hope one day anyone can marry anyone, everywhere. Great to see that even a Catholic country is making positive change.

**Posted by tonnaree** May 24, 2015 6:12 pm

*runs through the thread in her rainbow knickers tossing purple confetti*

**Posted by Harriet** May 24, 2015 6:26 pm

And it looks like that might change german policy now as well

**Posted by SusiGo** May 24, 2015 6:45 pm

Congrats, Ireland! And I hope many other countries will follow, including mine.

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** May 24, 2015 6:54 pm

I was so happy to hear that this was the outcome, I was so nervous following this.

In my opinion it should never have been up to anyone to decide, it should be a simple human right from the very start. But this is amazing progress!

Congratulations, Ireland!

**Posted by mrshouse** May 24, 2015 6:58 pm

I know that this is not a representative opinion but concerning my daily work I face so many unhappy families and adolescents, and I sometimes think we discuss in all honesty if same sex pairings are allowed to raise kids and then some kids are born into really awful familiar circumstances......

**Posted by Davina** May 24, 2015 7:19 pm

I am really pleased that it was a yes vote but a little uneasy at it being put to referendum as, if this is followed as precedent, the result will, inevitably, be the complete opposite in some countries.

**Posted by Yitzock** May 24, 2015 7:20 pm

Are you saying that some people think it's a bad environment for same-sex couples to adopt kids, while there are kids born out of opposite-sex couples that are born into bad environments? Yes, I think this is a valid point. So-called traditional families can have kids without wanting them, or be in poverty, but same-sex couples always want kids, and they have to do so much to finally have them (long process, paperwork, etc.). It's a different problem than the marriage inequality problem, but I guess it is somewhat related. There have been studies that show that children of same-sex couples are very happy, so I think people need to stop trying to police who can and can't raise a family (at least in this context, obviously there are ciccumstances when someone shouldn't be raising kids, but two dads or two moms is not inherently one of them).
Anyone should be able to marry whoever they want, and if they want kids should be allowed to adopt.

Last edited by Yitzock (May 24, 2015 7:21 pm)

**Posted by mrshouse** May 24, 2015 7:46 pm

Agree wholeheartedly.
If children are raised happily doesn't depend on the sex of the parents.

**Posted by Ivy** May 24, 2015 8:49 pm

Harriet wrote:
And it looks like that might change german policy now as well

Really?

mrshouse wrote:
Agree wholeheartedly.
If children are raised happily doesn't depend on the sex of the parents.

Amen to that. At least they are are loved and wanted. That's not always the case with heterosexual parents.

And I find it irritating how the people against it always say they're trying to protect the normal families. What normal? There are a lot of single parents and blended families (in German we call that patchword family)
And honestly "normal" is the stupidest word ever.

**Posted by tonnaree** May 25, 2015 12:18 am

Keep your fingers crossed for us here in the states. We are hoping that the Supreme Court will hand down a positive ruling on this sometime in June.

**Posted by ukaunz** May 25, 2015 2:54 am

It's not looking good in Australia for same sex marriage unfortunately. Our prime minister is against it. I hope we can vote this guy out soon.

Leaders dismiss same sex marriage referendum in Australia