It Should Never Be Put To A Vote

Human rights by definition are inherent to all human beings and should never be voted on.

That being said, I am glad with the outcome of the vote on marriage equality in Ireland.

Ireland votes for gay marriage
BBC
May 24, 2015

People living in the Republic of Ireland have voted in favour of same sex marriage.

It's the first country in the world to hold a vote on the issue.

Up until now two men or two women were not allowed to marry each other but now that's changed.

Almost two million people voted, with 62% voting yes.

It is nice to see so many people realize that people should not be denied a basic human right because they are different. Most of the time human rights are voted down by those in power. We would probably still have slavery if Congress didn’t act, we probably would still have segregation if Congress did step up and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and women would probably not have the right to vote when they did if Congress didn’t give them the right to vote.

So I am very happy to see the people in Ireland vote for marriage equality, because how many times here in the U.S. did we see ballot initiatives pass state constitutional amendments banning marriage equality.

Update 11:00AM

Ireland still does not allow trans people to change their birth certificates.

Una Mullally: Transgender rights are human rights and new Bill needs to recognise this
While the Gender Recognition Bill is welcome, there are huge shortcomings
Irish Times
January 26, 2015

Last week, the Seanad debated the Gender Recognition Bill. Ireland is the only country in the EU that has no provision for legal gender recognition, so if we’re going to make a Bill, let’s make it a good one. There’s an incredible amount of ignorance surrounding trans issues. Most people grapple with the basic vocabulary. But at its simplest, transgender refers to people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex assigned to them at birth.

The Bill goes some way to making trans people visible in a society which has up until now rendered them invisible. It’ll provide the formal recognition of trans people, a gender recognition certificate, that will allow trans people to change their birth certificate, the foundational document of all of our lives. Dr Lydia Foy, an Irish heroine, has been fighting for nearly 20 years for her gender identity to be recognised, beginning legal proceedings in 1997. In 2007, the High Court ruled that Irish law in her case was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. Like much positive social change in Ireland, it takes brave people to put their head above the parapet to get things done. Still, trans people wait. The Bill has yet to be enacted. At the moment, there is no legislation that protects trans people, and now is the time to change that.

Let’s hope that with this vote on marriage equality that the Irish legislature gets off their butts and passes the bill.