An American’s Take on Ireland Legalizing Same-sex Marriage

On Friday, May 22, 2015, a referendum was held in the Republic of Ireland on the topic of same-sex marriage.?The next day?same-sex marriage was legalized?in the Republic of Ireland.

same-sex marriage
Image via IrishCentral.com

The Republic of Ireland now holds the distinction of being the first nation in the world to legalize same-sex marriage via popular vote, sending a powerful message to the rest of the world, especially the United States, where marriage equality will ultimately be judged by the Supreme Court within the next few weeks.

The legalization of same-sex marriage in Ireland comes only 22 years after homosexuality was decriminalized in the nation. Conversely, homosexuality was decriminalized in the United States via Lawrence v. Texas, only 12 years ago.

same-sex marriage
Image via Pixabay

Unfortunately, the United States has drastically fallen behind Europe in the arena of marriage equality and has been grossly standoffish toward the issue. Instead of taking positive steps toward ensuring that all Americans are treated equally under the law, states like Louisiana, Indiana, Arkansas, and Texas have gone out of their way to ensure LGBT Americans continue to live as second-class citizens.

Ireland, a nation that boasts a Catholic population of over 80 percent has achieved something we in the United States should have done already ? tossed aside antiquated conservatism for something greater than our individual religious ideas.

Ireland has set a precedent, joining a steadily-growing group of nations that have extended equality to a group of people well deserving of it. In the United States, we are still fighting equality tooth-and-nail. Why? Whatever happened to natural rights? Whatever happened to all men are created equal?

This writer would like to tip his hat to the Republic of Ireland, for doing something that the United States should have done years ago, for putting individual prejudices aside for the greater good of their people. No one is deserving of being a second-class citizen. Ireland made that statement today. Even though the Supreme Court is scheduled to comment on marriage equality within the next month, America still has not made that same statement.

We can learn a lot from Ireland on how to treat our own citizens. Perhaps, it’s time we pull our heads out of Uncle Sam’s ass and start listening.

 

Robert could go on about how he was raised by honey badgers in the Texas Hill Country, or how he was elected to the Texas state legislature as a 19-year-old wunderkind, or how he won 219 consecutive games of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots against Hugh Grant, but those would be lies. However, Robert does hail from Lewisville, Texas, having been transplanted from Fort Worth at a young age. Robert is a college student and focuses his studies on philosophical dilemmas involving morality, which he feels makes him very qualified to write about politicians. Reading the Bible turned Robert into an atheist, a combative disposition toward greed turned him into a humanist, and the fact he has not lost a game of Madden football in over a decade means you can call him "Zeus." If you would like to be his friend, you can send him a Facebook request or follow his ramblings on Twitter. For additional content that may not make it to Liberal America, Robert's internet tavern, The Zephyr Lounge, is always open