May 24, 2015 10:48 AM

Today's lesson comes to us from across the pond

DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland’s citizens have voted in a landslide to legalize gay marriage, electoral officials announced Saturday — a stunningly lopsided result that illustrates what Catholic leaders and rights activists alike called a “social revolution.”…. Friday’s referendum saw 62.1 percent of Irish voters say “yes” to changing the nation’s constitution to define marriage as a union between two people regardless of their sex…. “With today’s vote, we have disclosed who we are: a generous, compassionate, bold and joyful people,” Prime Minister Enda Kenny proclaimed as he welcomed the outcome. Beside him, Deputy Prime Minister Joan Burton declared the victory “a magical moving moment, when the world’s beating heart is in Ireland.”

What have I learned today? Well, how about this: If a deeply Conservative Catholic country like Ireland can declare itself to be OK with same-sex marriage, then we here in the Yew-Ess-of-@#$%&^)-A should be capable of to doing the same, amiright? Or are we so worried about the sanctity of our third marriage that we’d deny others the same rights we demand- repeatedly- for ourselves? What is it about the idea of same-sex marriage that sends so many good, God-fearing Christian patriots into paroxysms of righteous outrage? Why are so many so concerned with how others choose to live their lives…and who they wish to share it with?

We’re a nation filled with millions who demand that government off our backs…unless it can be used to enforce our pet agenda, which is primarily about hatred, homophobia, and intolerance. We demand respect, yet we’re loathe to reciprocate. We demand our religious faith be respected without question or reservation, yet we harbor beliefs totally inconsistent with that faith. We expect to be left alone to live our lives as we choose, and yet we refuse to grant that same right to those we view as “less than.” That the LGBT community pays the same taxes only to be allowed fewer rights is something that should be considered abhorrent by anyone committed to liberty and freedom…and living free of hypocrisy.

Human rights should never be subject to a popular vote, yet there’s something in the Irish vote that’s heartening. The idea that a very Conservative Catholic country can express a generosity of spirit and acceptance of those whose sexuality and lifestyle may veer from the “norm” is a sign that religious faith doesn’t have to be camouflage for homophobia and discrimination, and in fact shouldn’t be. It’s a victory for those who actually endeavor to lead Christ-like lives and model love, tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion.

Analysts credited the “yes” side with adeptly employing social media to mobilize young, first-time voters, tens of thousands of whom voted for the first time Friday. The “yes” campaign also featured moving personal stories from prominent Irish people — either coming out as gays or describing their hopes for gay children — that helped convince wavering voters to back equal marriage rights.

Both Catholic Church leaders and gay rights advocates said the result signaled a social revolution in Ireland, where only a few decades ago the authority of Catholic teaching was reinforced by voters who massively backed bans on abortion and divorce in the 1980s.

Voters legalized divorce by a razor-thin margin in 1995 and now, by a firm majority, have dismissed the Catholic Church’s repeated calls to reject gay marriage. Abortion, still outlawed, looms as the country’s next great social policy fight.

A people truly committed to liberty and freedom- especially of the religious variety- would accept that not everyone fits into their narrow little box. They’d practice tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion- all things preached by the same Jesus Christ they claim to revere and whose teachings they follow. They’d lose the hypocrisy, the homophobia, and the willingness to deny those they consider “less than” the very same rights they see as their due.

Ireland certainly has its problems when it comes to social issues. The Emerald Isle’s brand of Conservative Catholicism has fostered generations of pedophile priests and created untold suffering among many who don’t fit into Catholicism’s narrow confines. It certainly has a long ways to go in order to be considered a place which respects and protect individual rights and choices. That said, the convincing outcome of the same-sex marriage plebiscite shows that Conservative religious faith is by no means inconsistent with respecting, accepting, and tolerating individual differences.

This may seem simplistic, but if Ireland can do it, no convincing argument is available to be made for why we here in the good ol’ Yew-Ess-of-@#$%&^)-A can jump on the live-and-let-live bandwagon.

It’s time we recognize and accept that freedom and liberty isn’t (and shouldn’t be) something available only to those who think, believe, live, and love as the majority do. American was founded by people looking for freedom from religious tyranny; isn’t it about damned time we stopped denying basic human rights to those whose only crime is living outside our tiny little box?

Full credit to Ireland for doing the right thing for the right reasons; would that those of here on the left side of the pond could see our way clear to doing the same thing.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on May 24, 2015 10:48 AM.

If you're against same-sex marriage because of religion, how about doing some research? was the previous entry in this blog.

Coexistence: Just do it is the next entry in this blog.

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