Hooray! Ireland just became the first country to legalize gay marriage by popular vote!
Today in BEAUTIFUL news, with all the results in, a referendum will pass in Ireland legalizing gay marriage. This is going to make Ireland the first country in the world to legalize gay marriage by popular vote.
As the New York Times reports, 60% of the country’s 3.2 million citizens turned out to vote, and as the Guardian reports, the vote passed by 62%.
There are some gorgeous stories behind this historic moment. Irish expatriates from around the globe returned home to vote for equality. Tens of thousands of social media users documented their journeys on social media with the hashtag #hometovote. Here are a couple of our favorite shots:
In the ramp-up to the election, artist Joe Caslin showed his support for marriage equality by painting ginormous same-sex love murals on the sides of a Dublin building and a Galway castle.
“The images that I wanted to show are things that are dignified…” Caslin explained to the Irish Times. To show love, that’s essentially what it is, the equality that people should have no matter what sort of a relationship they’re in.”
Hooray for marriage equality in Ireland!
