To rally Irish voters here and ask is anyone voting No tomorrow?

[LayMeDown]

I know there's lots of Irish on MN. I don't know anyone in RL voting No. But polls indicates it's tightening a lot. I'm getting scared it won't pass and my lovely brother and his partner will be left out in the cold again. What are you all hearing in your circles?

FYI for any non Irish there is a referendum tomorrow on introducing same sex marriage in Ireland.

If they said gay people should be locked up, or barred by law from living together that would be different, as that genuinely is intolerance.

Denying them rights given to the straight members of society is genuinely intolerant.

No need to be so touchy about it ApocalypseThen

You said you were very passionate about it but also said you were registered far from where you are. You can see why I would say I didn't understand that. You don't need to explain yourself to strangers on the internet of course, but you can't expect them to understand it either.

Another yes here but also worried about the silent "No". I do think this has galvanised the (overwhelmingly pro) youth vote massively though, so hopefully a surge of younger voters saying "yes" will help tip the balance.

I read an article which I tend to agree with that said the Catholic church is in a lose lose position. If Yes wins they will have lost a moral battle and if No wins they'll face a backlash against all those who voted Yes.

'backlash FROM all those who voted Yes' that should say.

"If they care strongly about children, let them argue about surrogacy, or about parenthood, or about all the Irish children in care; this referendum is nothing to do with children"

Absolutely. And they clearly don't think about gay children, or the children of gay parents. One of DS1's friends has two mums and I'm heartbroken thinking about that little girl seeing posters all over the place telling her that her family is inferior and "wrong".

I'm pissed off that I can't vote YES!!! as I'm not Irish, but I do live in Ireland.

I'm hetero and married but have no belief in god so we got married in a (very nice) registry office.

AFAIAK, marriage has nothing to do with children, religion or god but is about defining specific rights in law.

I think it's a huge shame that the NO campaign is scaremongering the undecided or religious persuasion folk with spurious lies about surrogacy and 'think of the children' crap.

Marriage is simply a contract between two people and has been around as a concept eons before the religious buggers nicked it and tried to claim it for themselves.

Yes, I fear that people who plan to vote 'No' are afraid to say that they plan to vote 'No' so there might be more 'No's than expected.

I'm living in Ireland, but not an Irish citizen.

I've come across a LOT of no voters. I'm getting a lot of no voters telling me that they aren't telling anyone (I'm apparently not 'anyone') but I can tell you there's a lot of them around me than I've come across Yes voters.

for what it's worth, if I were voting it'd be yes.

Paddy Power are giving odds on how they expect each county to vote. Interesting to see if they'll be right.

Bookies are generally more accurate than pollsters.

In your view. Regardless of the way the voting goes tomorrow, I respect the right of people to feel they don't want the definition of marriage to be changed

Do you respect the right of people to prevent others getting married? Do you respect the right of people to decide that some families matter more than others? Do you respect the right of people to make a section of our population second class citizens purely because of who they love?

I don't. And I'm very proud of my intolerance on these matters. I fundamentally do not respect your right to be intolerant to gay people. I do not respect your opinion on my life.

Maryz, thanks for that link. What a load of bollocks indeed. The section entitled 'Every child deserves a mother's love' is some of the most nonsensical, sentimental drivel I've ever read

Chaletdays I wouldn't ignore these people, didn't think my post came off as that. I'm one of the most tolerant you could meet. I would see one of these people 5 days a week, that still won't change.
I do think they are a bit blinkered to be honest, going on all about what about childrens rights and surrogacy but that is their right even though they are ill informed regarding the referendum.
I do believe in equality which is my main issue, if any of my children were gay and felt they wanted to be married then I would support them 110%.

Your DD is right. My mother is a poisonous nasty narcissist - I'm still in therapy trying to come to terms with her legacy. There are plenty of crap mothers around, just as there are great mothers around and every other kind of mother in between! Exactly the same for fathers

People who spout this crap about how inherently different men and women are boil my piss no end. They probably also think that childfree women like me are circus freaks with no heart

Marriage is a civil contract - nothing to do with the Church. The Church only started getting involved in marriage one thousand years after the birth of Christianity. As I understand it, the referendum is about extending this civil right to same sex relationships, so nothing to do with religion.

Why has no-one mentioned the fact that Article 40.1 of the Irish Constitution guarantees "Equality Before the Law" to ALL citizens?

Even asking the question should gay people be allowed the same protections under the law regarding marriage and family is unconstitutional.

Exactly Maryz you have it in one. The no vote propaganda have frightened people, they are believing the posters.

A lot of No voters will be aware that No are talking a lot of crap, but it suits their prejudices not to admit that.