Coveney: Y vote a statement that ‘’s okay to be gay’ Ireland – The Irish Tim

Contents:

• LEO VARADKAR: IRELAND SET TO HAVE FIRST GAY PM
• COVENEY: Y VOTE A STATEMENT THAT ‘’S OKAY TO BE GAY’ IRELAND
• FE GAEL MISTER BACKS GAY MARRIAGE REFERENDUM
• GAY MARRIAGE
• FE GAEL OUT FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• FE GAEL PARLIAMENTARY PARTY TO DISCS GAY MARRIAGE
• FE GAEL WILL TAKE STANCE ON GAY MARRIAGE, SAYS KENNY
• IRISH GAY MARRIAGE REFERENDUM: FE GAEL POLICIANS DID NOT MPAIGN FOR 'Y' VOTE, ADMS ENDA KENNY

LEO VARADKAR: IRELAND SET TO HAVE FIRST GAY PM

Image source, RtersImage ptn, At 38, Leo Varadkar is set to bee Ireland's youngt ever prime misterLeo Varadkar is set to bee the Republic of Ireland's next taoiseach (prime mister) after wng the learship of the Fe Gael 38-year-old will bee the first gay taoiseach and will also be the untry's youngt ever Varadkar beat his rival, Hog Mister Simon Coveney, wh 60% of the vot to lead Fe Gael - the biggt party the aln will succeed Enda Kenny as lear of the centre-right party wh Varadkar is to ntact Mr Coveney to discs what posn he will hold ernment and the future of the is also expected to hold talks wh Fe Gael's partners ernment and wh Fianna Fáil next source, PAImage ptn, Leo Varadkar waved to supporters as he accepted the Fe Gael learship DublThe former GP is the son of an Irish nurse and a doctor om India and much of the media verage of his victory has foced on Mr Varadkar's background, age and former first mister of Northern Ireland, DUP lear Arlene Foster, has spoken on the phone to ngratulate Mr Varadkar.

"Mr Varadkar also paid tribute to Mr Kenny for passg on a party and untry " a much better place than he found " learship was cid an electoral llege system that gave 65% of the vote to the Fe Gael parliamentary party - ma up of 73 TDs (members of the Irish assembly), senators and party's 21, 000 rank-and-file members had 25% of the vote, and 235 lol reprentativ had ptn, Mr Varadkar said he wants to build a 'republic of opportuny'Mr Varadkar, who me out as gay the n up to the 2015 same-sex marriage referendum, has been charge of the welfare has e to personify the liberalisatn of a untry which was once regard as one of Europe's most socially nservative natns - homosexualy was illegal until 1993. Saturday's strong Y vote is a statement that "'s okay to be gay" morn day Ireland, acrdg to Mister for Agriculture and Fe Gael director of electns Simon Coveney.

“And was also down to, parents who for many years would have been alg wh the emotnal prsure of supportg a gay son or a lbian dghter for many years but didn’t speak about .

COVENEY: Y VOTE A STATEMENT THAT ‘’S OKAY TO BE GAY’ IRELAND

”Mr Coveney said that while the referendum was ostensibly about extendg the rights of civil marriage to gay and lbian people, was also a statement about Ireland as a he said reflected well on the untry and s young people and he highlighted the fact that some 66, 000 emigrants had returned home om as far away as Atralia to vote Y. “That is bee so many people have seen gay people their own fay or peer group stgglg to fd acceptance their fay and their muny and their own md.

“In many ways, the statement that Ireland is makg today is that ’s okay to be gay, ’s okay to be who you are, ’s okay to love who you want to love and your untry accepts you for who you are.

”Meanwhile, leadg marriage equaly mpaigner and Fe Gael TD Jerry Buttimer has hailed the anticipated Y victory the marriage equaly referendum as heraldg a new era for Irish Buttimer, who reprents Cork South Central which is on urse to return a near two to one Y majory, said was “a fantastic day” not jt for gays and lbians but all of Irish society. ”Mr Buttimer said that great cred was due to so many people cludg Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste Joan Burton and former Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore for holdg the great cred was also due to the untls ordary men and women, both gay and straight, who had gone knockg on doors and brgg the msage of marriage equaly to the people, he said.

FE GAEL MISTER BACKS GAY MARRIAGE REFERENDUM

”Mr Buttimer, one of a handful of openly gay TDs, said great work was done to get people register to vote earlier the year and those people livered by turng out and votg their stanced one young man who got stuck traffic travellg om Dubl to Cork and had to sprt to the pollg statn to get wh jt mut to spare to register his vote and have his say. Dowl and Gollogly are the first gay uple to marry Ireland.

REUTERS/Cathal McNghton The first gay uple got married Ireland today followg the g to force of the Marriage Act 2015 yterday, Monday, 16th November. In addn, if a majory of the electorate had voted agast the proposal gay and lbian cizens would undoubtedly have felt a profound sense of public rejectn.

GAY MARRIAGE

And he jos Jtice Mister Alan Shatter and Transport Mister Leo Varadkar sayg he would vote y a gay marriage nstutnal nventn[/url] of cizens and policians set-up to nsir a wi-rangg natnal reform agenda voted by nearly four-to-one to hold a referendum on gay marriage equaly, and the Cabet is due to make a formal rponse to the proposal Hay said the equaly move had his support.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has so far refed to say where he stands on the matter, even though Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has brand gay marriage the “civil rights issue of this generatn” the Fe Gael learship fear a referendum uld e ictn wh the party after the turmoil provoked by the Protectn of Life Durg Pregnancy is keen for a poll to be held next year to bolster s social jtice crentials as heads to an uphill stggle to stem major loss the lol and Euro electns next rervatn of the Fe Gael learship is not shared by backbenchers who overwhelmgly back the ph for a referendum.

A survey of 43 of the 50 non-misterial Fe Gael TDs found 79% favour of holdg a poll, wh 19% was also a near two-to-one majory on the Fe Gael backbench favour of grantg full parental and guardianship rights to same-sex upl, wh 56% supportg the move, while 30% were opposed and 14% had no opn, acrdg to the Newstalk Breakfast senr Fe Gael figur have floated the ia of holdg a referendum on the and England and Wal recently legalised extendg marriage rights to same-sex upl, and the volved ernment Stland is set to do so the near TD and chairperson of the Fe Gael Lbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgenr group, Jerry Buttimer, said was time for Ireland to follow su and that a marriage equaly referendum should be held as soon as possible after the issue of parental and guardianship rights has been alt wh by the jtice mister. And he says he ed to have "rervatns" about gay upl marryg.

FE GAEL OUT FOR GAY MARRIAGE

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn.

FE GAEL PARLIAMENTARY PARTY TO DISCS GAY MARRIAGE

” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups.

Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years. In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

FE GAEL WILL TAKE STANCE ON GAY MARRIAGE, SAYS KENNY

Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs. That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S.

Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v.

IRISH GAY MARRIAGE REFERENDUM: FE GAEL POLICIANS DID NOT MPAIGN FOR 'Y' VOTE, ADMS ENDA KENNY

The state fally troduced the untry to gay marriage (m the feral benefs) when began issug same-sex marriage licens on May 17, that year, the U. Bh—that would outlaw gay marriage across the untry. 2004 was notable for upl many other stat as well, though for the oppose reason: Ten typilly nservative stat, along wh Oregon, enacted state-level bans on gay marriage.

Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire.