One of Ireland’s most senior Catholic clerics has called for the Church to take a “reality check” following the country’s overwhelming vote in favour of same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n
The first gay marriages are now likely to take place in the early autumn.<\/p>\n
Diarmuid Martin, the archbishop of Dublin, said the Church in Ireland needed to reconnect with young people.<\/p>\n
The referendum found 62% were in favour of changing the constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.<\/p>\n
The archbishop told the broadcaster RTE: “We [the Church] have to stop and have a reality check, not move into denial of the realities.<\/p>\n
“We won’t begin again with a sense of renewal, with a sense of denial.<\/p>\n
“I appreciate how gay and lesbian men and women feel on this day. That they feel this is something that is enriching the way they live. I think it is a social revolution.”<\/p>\n
The archbishop personally voted “No” arguing that gay rights should be respected “without changing the definition of marriage”.<\/p>\n
“I ask myself, most of these young people who voted yes are products of our Catholic school system for 12 years. I’m saying there’s a big challenge there to see how we get across the message of the Church,” he added.<\/p>\n
Ireland is the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage through a popular vote, and its referendum was held 22 years after homosexual acts were decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n
Among those voicing their approval of the outcome was UK Prime Minister David Cameron who tweeted: “Congratulations to the people of Ireland, after voting for same-sex marriage, making clear you are equal if you are straight or gay.”<\/p>\n
In total, 1,201,607 people voted in favour of same-sex marriage, while 734,300 voted against.<\/p>\n
Out of 43 constituencies, only the largely rural Roscommon-South Leitrim had a majority of “no” votes.<\/p>\n
The government will now introduce a bill to enact the people’s will, and it says it hopes it will become law by the time the Irish parliament breaks up in the summer.<\/p>\n
This means the first actual marriages are unlikely to take place until September.<\/p>\n
Same-sex marriage is now legal in 20 countries worldwide.<\/p>\n
What the ‘yes’ vote means<\/strong><\/p>\n The Republic of Ireland has a written constitution which can only be changed by referendum.<\/p>\n Now that the proposal has been passed, a marriage between two people of the same sex will have the same status under the Irish constitution as a marriage between a man and a woman.<\/p>\n They will be recognised as a family and be entitled to the constitutional protection for families.<\/p>\n Civil partnerships for same-sex couples have been legal in Ireland since 2010, giving couples legal protection which could be changed by the government.<\/p>\n However, married gay people will now have a constitutional standing that can only be removed by another popular vote.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of Ireland’s most senior Catholic clerics has called for the Church to take a “reality check” following the country’s overwhelming vote in favour of same-sex marriage. The first gay marriages are now likely to take place in the early autumn. Diarmuid Martin, the archbishop of Dublin, said the Church in Ireland needed to reconnect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":118838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[14],"yoast_head":"\n