What’s next on the rights agenda?
IT WAS a very Good Friday. Saturday was even better. Shortly after 9am, the marriage equality and presidential age ballot papers (white for the weddings; green for the Park) poured from the boxes and the Yes Equality team held its breath.
I stood behind tally counter Rhonda Donaghy and counted silently while she called each vote: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes… no… yes, yes, yes… Every softly- spoken no felt like a little death, but there were so few that before Rhonda was even halfway through I could feel my heart lift. When she stopped, that first box from Dublin Central told a story we had barely dared believe could be true: Yes, 332; no 88. Maybe it was a rogue box, an aberration? It wasn’t, of course. All around hall 8C at the RDS, broad smiles were emerging as it became clear that Dublin, at least, had voted yes by an overwhelming margin.
