Referendum puts Ireland in the vanguard of global change

Marriage equality will perform a function of socially anchoring those who although previously criminalised, must now be anchored effectively within society, writes Gerard Howlin

NEXT Friday’s decision to accept or reject a constitutional amendment on marriage equality to the Constitution is essentially about power, not morality. Ostensibly there will be no radical departure if we do, as I hope, vote yes. The existing institution of marriage will continue unaffected, and the numbers of same sex couples marrying will be relatively small. Amending the constitution as proposed will, in any event, only allow the substance of what has been provided legislatively in several other European countries and in some American states. What is significant then, is not the provision of same sex marriage itself, but the process by which it is arrived at. In constitutionally crystallising here, what is an already accruing change abroad, Ireland would become a benchmark for wider change.

READ MORE: Marriage Equality Referendum: Answering key questions .