Irish and living in Australia? Help Ireland vote “yes” for gay marriage

IRISH citizens currently living in Australia are being urged to help Ireland’s Yes Equality campaign by making donations and by encouraging their families and friends to vote in the May 22 referendum.

Yes Equality is an independent Irish campaign working to secure a “yes” vote in the country’s marriage equality referendum on May 22.

A successful vote in the referendum will mean that Ireland would become the first country in the world to introduce marriage equality by a vote of the people.

The local offshoot of the campaign that was established on April 19, Irish Yes Equality Australia, has said that although Irish citizens may be living abroad, they can still help make marriage equality a reality.

“Within two days we’ve reached over 1000 followers on Facebook which convinces us that there’s a big need for this forum for Irish people living in Australia who want to contribute from afar,” a spokeswoman said.

At the time of print, Irish Yes Equality Australia’s Facebook page had garnered almost 1500 “likes” in the space of five days.

Irish media has lately been flooded with campaign advertisements on the referendum, while on YouTube, several video blog posts encouraging people to vote in favour have gone viral.

One of the most notable posts came from Irish singer/songwriter Hozier— whose song Take Me Church has not only topped charts worldwide, but its chilling music video was a commentary on anti-gay violence.

“To anyone in my generation, like me, who feels that their values have long gone unrepresented by the word of law, and want to be proud to live in a nation that does not discriminate or implicitly condemn, I strongly encourage you to vote,” Hozier said in his video (scroll down to watch), which was published earlier this week as part of Ireland’s Straight Up For Equality campaign.

“So, to anyone who feels that the love between two people is not to be belittled or othered or developed or undermined, I would encourage you to vote.”

If Ireland’s referendum is a success, Australia would become the only majority English-speaking nation that is yet to enact marriage equality. However, Northern Ireland is the only jurisdiction in the UK to not yet have marriage equality, while only about two thirds of US states have enacted it.

For more information on the Irish Yes Equality Australia campaign, visit: facebook.com/yesequalityaus

Watch Hozier’s marriage equality video blog post in full:

Watch Hozier’s Take Me To Church music clip: