My postal vote for the referendums arrived after my mother posted them up to me, so on my next day off May 12th, I went to the nearest Garda Station to me and got the required form stamped, so I could vote. Once I voted in both the Marriage equality and Presidential referendums I posted it soon afterwards at the GPO, to the Returning Officer in County Clare. I felt great being able to do my part for the cause.
With days to go to the Referendum, everyone was doing their part to get everyone involved. Especially the national and local groups of YES Equality, political parties and even certain companies such as +Ben & Jerry's who were promoting the yes vote with free ice cream at various locations around Dublin every day beginning with the One Family Day at Wolf Tone Square. A big help in the national canvassing by the YES Equality group was the bus that was raised by donations from ordinary people, which toured 66 locations around 26 counties with 27 days in the lead up to the vote. The amount of hard work that was undertaken during the campaign showed the heart and passion from all groups and both sides in this referendum. What got us to this moment, has only been possible thanks to people such as David Norris, Colm O'Gorman, +Katherine Zappone, +Panti Bliss, Grainne Healy, Brian Sheehan, Eamon Gilmore and various other politicians.
A pleasant break from all the referendum talk, was watching the +Eurovision Song Contest semi finals that was held in Vienna Austria, even if some of the acts were good, bad and plain weird. I somehow ended up in +TheGeorgeBar watching the results of the 2nd semi final on Thursday. Unlucky poor Molly didn't qualify for the final although it was a good laugh being out. It was surreal waking up to seeing and hearing about all about the #hometovote and the thousands coming home from abroad to vote especially on the most important civil issue of our generation. I was near tears reading all the hashtags and stories on social media, the extent people were going to vote. Waking up Saturday morning to all the buzz and excitement across every news outlet that there was such an early indication of a Yes result from referendum and that even the no side had conceded was amazing. After enquiring how my only local polling station at home in Clare did, I was beyond thrilled to hear that it was passed by 57.7%.
I decided after lunch to make my way towards Dublin Castle, where the crowds were gathered for the final official result was being announced. Soon after I arrived despite a mishap involving my water bottle bursting, I soon made friends with various people especially after the arrival of Panti and her interview by the press which was done just in front of me which itself was an unreal moment in time.
During the wait for the result, the atmosphere within Dublin Castle was getting more and more excited. Throughout the afternoon various important politicians and people arrived to be interviewed by the international press in particular Colm O'Gorman, Senators Katherine Zappone and David Norris who had such a warm welcome from the crowd when he arrived as none of this would have been possible without his 40 year struggle towards this day. +Niamh got the bus up from Clare at lunch time and was trying to make it up and into Castle before the big moment. Luckily enough there was a slight delay, my phone died but people I was with were nice enough to let me use their phone to contact her. She was waiting to get in, as soon as she was off the bus with her suitcase and all, as she got nearer the phone coverage went into meltdown. Even from outside the castle, Niamh could hear the crowds from within booing when Roscommon-South Leitrim turned red on the map meaning they had voted against the amendment. I hugged her with relief and joy to see that she got in before the announcement. The poor thing had been queueing for over 70 mins trying to get into the castle. Come 6 O'Clock and even after the arrival of Minister Leo Varadkar, the most prominent gay minister, we were still waiting on the results from 3 Cork constituencies. The crowd were getting restless and antsy waiting for the announcement, when someone started singing the National Anthem Amhrán na bhFiann, soon everyone joined in the singing including the politicians. Finally at 18.50, Returning Officer Ríona Ní Fhlanghaile declared that Ireland had passed the Same-Sex Marriage referendum by 1,201,607 votes (62.1%) to 734,300 (37.9%). We all within the grounds of the castle descended into cheers and celebration. It was an amazing moment and feeling to being actually present when such an important announcement was made and even more so that I was able to celebrate it with my sister. That moment cemented Full Citizenship to all gay Irish citizens.
After the announcement, the crowds started to disperse to continue the celebrations, however it was finally time to get Niamh home with all bags and charge our phones. However soon as I got home realised it was almost time for Eurovision, so decided to finish off the perfect day, rushed to get a bottle of wine and watch it. Even though neither of us went out, we were still up drinking celebrating at about 3 am and finding pictures of me in the background of the crowd during the Panti interview from around the globe. Finally getting up about midday, we decided to continue the celebratory tone of the weekend by going to +Brasserie Sixtysix for Sunday Brunch where I had Espresso martini, sure needed the cure as I was #hungoverforequality, when I noticed the Sunday papers and had a browse, what did I notice within the Sunday Independent, was one of the picture of me in the crowd. It was really the perfect end to such an amazing weekend, one that I will remember for years to come and where I was on the 23 May 2015 when the referendum was announced and passed.
During the wait for the result, the atmosphere within Dublin Castle was getting more and more excited. Throughout the afternoon various important politicians and people arrived to be interviewed by the international press in particular Colm O'Gorman, Senators Katherine Zappone and David Norris who had such a warm welcome from the crowd when he arrived as none of this would have been possible without his 40 year struggle towards this day. +Niamh got the bus up from Clare at lunch time and was trying to make it up and into Castle before the big moment. Luckily enough there was a slight delay, my phone died but people I was with were nice enough to let me use their phone to contact her. She was waiting to get in, as soon as she was off the bus with her suitcase and all, as she got nearer the phone coverage went into meltdown. Even from outside the castle, Niamh could hear the crowds from within booing when Roscommon-South Leitrim turned red on the map meaning they had voted against the amendment. I hugged her with relief and joy to see that she got in before the announcement. The poor thing had been queueing for over 70 mins trying to get into the castle. Come 6 O'Clock and even after the arrival of Minister Leo Varadkar, the most prominent gay minister, we were still waiting on the results from 3 Cork constituencies. The crowd were getting restless and antsy waiting for the announcement, when someone started singing the National Anthem Amhrán na bhFiann, soon everyone joined in the singing including the politicians. Finally at 18.50, Returning Officer Ríona Ní Fhlanghaile declared that Ireland had passed the Same-Sex Marriage referendum by 1,201,607 votes (62.1%) to 734,300 (37.9%). We all within the grounds of the castle descended into cheers and celebration. It was an amazing moment and feeling to being actually present when such an important announcement was made and even more so that I was able to celebrate it with my sister. That moment cemented Full Citizenship to all gay Irish citizens.
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