Ireland said ‘Yes’ to marriage equality in 2015
On this day in 2015, Ireland overwhelmingly said yes to introducing same-sex civil marriages.
Voters approved marriage equality with over 60% of people who voted supporting a change to the country’s constitution.
The history making vote made Ireland the 20th country to allow same sex couples to wed, and the first to make the change through a popular vote.
Earlier in the day campaigners behind the ‘no’ vote conceded defeat as those who wanted marriage to remain strictly between a man and woman were outvoted at a rate of almost two to one.
The Iona Institute, a leading organisation in the no campaign, released a statement congratulating their opponents.
“We would like to congratulate the Yes side on winning such a handsome victory in the marriage referendum.
“They fought a very professional campaign that in truth began long before the official campaign started.
“For our part, The Iona Institute is proud to have helped represent the many hundreds of thousands of Irish people who would otherwise have had no voice in this referendum because all of the political parties backed a Yes vote.
The ‘Yes’ vote was supported by all political parties and the successful campaign saw many politicians celebrating.
Health Minister Leo Varadkar, who came out as a gay man during the campaign’ told RTE radio that it was a great day for Ireland.
“It’s a really great day for Ireland… Ireland is shining.
“If you think about it really is historic… it’s something really special.” Varadkar said. Varadkar would later go on to become the first gay leader of the nation when he became Taoiseach from 2017 until 2020 and then served a second stint as leader from 2022 until 2024.
The landslide result has been described as a generational shift in what was once one of the most conservative and religious countries in Europe.
