1. Marriage Equality works fine in the countries and places where it is already legal. It is legal in Canada, the UK, New Zealand, France, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil, most US states and elsewhere - and legalising it has not led to the collapse of civilisation in any of these places. If it is legalised in Ireland it will work just fine here as well.
2. The Right to Marry is A Basic Human Right In years to come marriage equality will be as normal and uncontroversial as votes for women or racial equality or the abolition of slavery - a basic human right. Do we only support the human rights campaigns and victories of the past, but then hypocritically vote to deny people human rights in our own time? Or do we have the moral courage and wisdom to really stand up and promote human rights today in our own society? Voting Yes is a small way to apologise to gays for thousands of years of discrimination, bullying and persecution. Think how devastated, disappointed and hurt most of the gay people you know will be if there is a No vote - voting Yes really is the humane and decent thing to do.
If there is a Yes vote then Ireland will go down in history as the first country in the world to vote Yes for marriage equality in a national referendum - it will be something to be proud of. If we vote No it will be shameful and in the future it will be looked back upon as a humiliating moment in Irish history.
3. A Yes vote will be good for Irish society and for the Irish economy. We should want our country to be a vibrant, open, diverse and welcoming place. Dynamic centres of innovation and creativity like London, San Francisco and Silicon Valley are invariably open and diverse - and therefore they are welcoming to people of all sexual orientations. Ireland needs to aspire to be in this category. A No vote would be a step towards making Ireland a meaner, static more narrow-minded place. It would not be good for either our society or our economy.
4. A No vote would actually be a disaster for the Catholic Church If there is a No vote I predict that a new generation of young Irish people will turn against the Catholic Church with renewed bitterness and venom. A No vote might look like a short term tactical victory for Catholicism but it would actually be a strategic catastrophe. This may seem counter-intuitive but it is in fact true. It would be far better to find ways to promote the nuclear family and other forms of social traditionalism within a framework that permits same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriages are going to be less than 1% of civil marriages and 0% of Catholic marriages - this is not actually a big deal.
(A peculiar corollary of this: if you hate the Catholic Church more than you love gay members of your family, or more than you love your gay friends, then I think you should vote No this Friday for strategic reasons).
5. Voting No is a Terrible Way to Try to Defend the Family Many potential No voters are not bigots - they are justifiably concerned about the future of the family. But attempting to promote the traditional nuclear family by denying rights to gays or anyone else is no longer realistic or feasible - it is counterproductive. There are ways to make life easier and better for traditional nuclear families that do not entail denying rights to others - ways that genuine conservatives and genuine liberals can both agree with: tax breaks and child benefits for young parents and families, better and cheaper childcare, secure jobs for parents and families, policies that make it easier for young families to buy houses or to have secure accommodation. These are positive ways to defend the family that do not involve oppressing or marginalising anyone. One of the great strengths of Irish society is our strong family life - there is a pro-family agenda that all Irish people can all get behind. Doing this does not require discriminating against any group of Irish citizens.
6. Denying Rights to Gays is not a Good way to Sock it to the Government. There is a theory that Ireland's elites are using the issue of same-sex marriage to detract attention from other more important issues such as poverty, wealth inequality and water charges. I actually think there is considerable merit to this theory but I still think this is one vote where we should not vote No just to stick it to the government - we need to keep our nerve and vote on the substantive issue. If you want to stick it to the government then vote No to the ridiculous referendum about the Presidential age, and vote against the government in the next general election. But don't punish homosexuals for the sins of our government. A Yes vote will NOT be a victory for the government - it will be a victory for the decency and good sense of the Irish people.
7. Daniel O'Donnell is Voting Yes. If it's good enough for Wee Daniel then it's good enough for me. Would Daniel be supporting a Yes vote if this was a bad idea? I don't think so! Trust Daniel - and let's do the right thing this Friday.
Look, many genuinely nice people are conflicted about his vote. If you really can't bring yourself to vote Yes then consider abstaining - please don't vote No. Best of all would be to do the good thing, the right thing and - yes - the heroic thing, because progress happens when ordinary people act together in small ways to conquer injustice and to make the world a kinder, better, gentler, more loving place. That is true heroism. Vote Yes.
