Ireland is isolated in many ways, as an island tucked in Europe’s far northwest corner.
But on Saturday, it became the focus online of many worldwide — due to same-sex marriage.
Specifically, the Internet attention centered around Irish voters’ decision on whether or not to allow gay and lesbian couples to have civil marriages. A “yes” vote in the referendum would make Ireland the first country, anywhere, to legalize such marriages through a popular vote.
The social media buildup started with Friday’s polling. Many citizens who live abroad returned home to Ireland to vote, and demonstrated their support not just at the ballot box, but online with tweets using the #HometoVote hashtag.
“Seeing the amount of people here in the airport who are #hometovote has me in floods!” wrote one woman. “I feel very proud to be Irish right now.”
Such pride transformed into joy as early reports indicated the “Yes” side had succeeded, and that same-sex civil marriage was coming to Ireland, many of whom used the #MarRef (for marriage referendum) hashtag.
Kevin Humphreys, Ireland’s minister of state for Employment, Community and Social Support, showed off the overwhelming support in one swath of Dublin.
And Health Minister Leo Varadkar called a win for same-sex marriage backers, asking on Twitter whether any constituency would in fact vote “no.”
Even those on the other side of the issue — like David Quinn, a director of the Iona Institute, a conservative Catholic think tank — conceded the outcome.
Folks in the “Yes” camp offered gracious and amusing comments to those on the other side.
Comedian Eleanor Tiernan jokingly offered “good luck to the no side in dealing with all the changes this won’t bring to their lives.”
Cian Murphy, a faculty member at the law school of King’s College London, thought about the mothers out there who now have reason to pester their gay and lesbian children, much like they might have bugged their heterosexual sons and daughters, to put a ring on it.
You didn’t have to be in Ireland, though, to share in or appreciate the moment.
Alastair Campbell, once a spokesman to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, noted Ireland’s role in leading the way internationally.
“Ireland led world on smoking legislation,” Campbell tweeted. “Now looks like being first country to deliver gay marriage with specific popular consent.”
Author Cecelia Ahern gave her own shout out to Ireland, tweeting her love to “the little island with the big voice.”
Another acclaimed author, J.K. Rowling, quoted Martin Luther King Jr. about “the arc of the moral universe (bending) toward justice” in reference to what she called an “extraordinary and wonderful” vote.
The Scotland-based author of the wildly popular Harry Potter series even used a meme featuring three pop culture characters — Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, The Lord of the Rings’ Gandalf and Ted, the dude from “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” whose face was pictured with the words, “What if Dumbledore and Gandalf were gay together.”
And Dumbledore and Gandalf aren’t the only imaginary couple who can now get hitched in Ireland.
Still, it’s the thousands of real couples — not to mention all their families and friends — who have the most reason to celebrate.
For them, the vote means they can have not just a wedding day like opposite-sex couples have had for centuries, but many of the same rights that go with marriage.
Reflecting on what he called “serious history being made” in his homeland, Irish Times communities editor David Cochrane said the vote wasn’t just about one’s definition of marriage; it was how the Irish see themselves.
“I thought #MarRef would be about gay identity,” he wrote. “I was so wrong. It became about Irish identity. So proud of the Ireland I live in.”