The seemingly unshakable influence of the Catholic Church got a rude shock in Ireland on Saturday as an overwhelming 62 per cent of people voted to approve gay marriages in a nationwide referendum.
Indeed, the Catholic Church, which has always abhorred gay sex and gay marriages showed signs of reflecting on the need for a “reality check” to keep in touch with changing times.
This in a country where until 1993 being gay was a crime. Gay supporters are now pointing out that this is the first time anywhere that gay marriage has been approved by popular vote.
Once the necessary legislation is approved, Ireland will become the 19th country in the world to legalise same-sex marriages. It goes to show that young people are not prepared to accept old norms of societal restrictions unquestioningly as they have done in the past.
Significantly, all of Ireland’s 43 constituencies except one voted in favour of the measure. Pollsters said the 60% turnout in the referendum was primarily because thousands of expatriates returned home on packed ferries and planes to cast their ballots.
The referendum asked voters whether or not they approved the statement: “Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.”
Doubtlessly, the new mood threatens the huge influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. If the church fails to see the writing on the wall, it may well spell the decline of the church influence even more precipitously than is visible at present.
Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin, summed up the mood well when he told national broadcaster RTE: “It’s a social revolution that didn’t begin today.” The Archbishop voted “No” and had argued that the rights of gay people should be respected “without changing the definition of marriage”.
In India, the gay community got a rude shock when five years after gay sex was decriminalized by the Delhi High Court the Supreme Court overturned that verdict a few months ago and made homosexuality a criminal offence again. Though the concerned section is hardly ever used, it was a big setback for proponents of gay sex.
The Ireland referendum will perhaps unleash fresh initiatives in India to push for legalizing gay sex.
