Ireland legalizes same sex marriage.

[Ser Gregor]

Not necessarily. The Irish constitution does have a section about family and marriage, but there's nothing that I know of that specifically references marriage being one man and one woman. The closest it comes to doing that is mentioning protections for women who choose to be caregivers/homemakers (which in and of itself is a weird thing to have in a constitution). So it could be legally interpreted to say that same-sex marriage is allowed without the need for an amendment to the constitution. I would imagine, though, that a referendum was the safest route to prevent court challenges.

Either way, voting on rights is not something that should be encouraged unless it's absolutely necessary. It can be fine if it turns out well, but there's a serious and ugly downside to that avenue as well - i.e. if it fails, and rights are therefore dictated by the whims of the electorate.

I'm pretty sure he's referring to the way the Irish Constitution has to be amended. The only way to do so is through referendum, per Irish law. While they could have, like you said, argued a specific legal interpretation of the non-explicit stance the constitution takes, they would still have had to go to referendum in order to explicitly amend the Irish Constitution.

 

[Kaeb]

Actually, a lot of the Yes campaigners, myself included, stated throughout their campaigns how ridiculous it is that we've had to vote on this in the first place. We shouldn't be voting on whether not people should have rights and yet, this time it worked out in our country's favour.

 

[Shiuzu]

It's just been made official, we're the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote.

I rarely ever feel patriotic, in fact I can't even remember the last time I did.

So yeah, this is pretty incredible.

Kaeb loves a major blockbuster film, AND he's feeling patriotic...WHAT'S HAPPENING!!

[youtube]VyFpOp8Ft0Q[/youtube]

 

[KrakenDaWhip]

THANK GOD. Holy crap another part of the world came to their senses. Too bad it even needed a vote, I don't understand why gay marriage is even an issue, I have yet to hear one plausible argument against it.

 

[Lucid]

This is insane. Ireland is insane. This will only damn their country forever. They'll burn in the ambiguous fires of contravercial politics hell along with Canada.

 

[ItsUhTrap42]

It's sad this is even an issue. Everyone has the right to be miserable with another human being, forever.

 

[OhNoesBunnies]

The Apocalypse is happening! Soon everyone will have free healthcare and there will be lesbunnies everywhere! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!