Inside Ireland's marriage makeover

The outcome of an Irish national referendum to redefine marriage was stunning in a land once deeply Christian and solidly Roman Catholic. Ireland narrowly voted to legalize divorce just 20 years ago. The final tally in the marriage vote last week was 62 percent in favor of redefining marriage by constitutional amendment, 38 percent against.

“In the privacy of the ballot box, the people made a public statement,” Prime Minister Enda Kenny said. “We have disclosed who we are, a generous, compassionate, bold, and joyful people.”

The vote makes Ireland the first nation in the world to provide for the legalization of same-sex marriage by popular vote.

Austin Ruse, president of the Center for Family and Human Rights, said Ireland was under international pressure to approve the change.

“They were overwhelmed with millions and millions and millions of American dollars and threats from major American corporations that the Irish economy would be hurt if they didn’t go the right way,” Ruse said. “Even the conservative parties are stripping their members of their positions if they did not uphold this idea of faux marriage.”

Strained relations between the Irish public and the Catholic church contributed to the decline of traditional marriage in the country, Ruse said.

“Good, conservative, faithful Catholics say that Ireland really was a priest-ridden society. And so a kind of bitterness can grow up about that,” Ruse said, adding:

“In the United States, it’s a different situation. The Catholic church still has a fair amount of legitimacy, even though it has gone through similar trials and tribulations with regard to aberrant homosexual behavior from priests. But still, it maintains so much credibility that it is able to go toe-to-toe with the Obama administration on healthcare, for instance. And I think that has a fair amount to do with the fact that the church has never attempted to run American society the way that the Catholic church in Ireland ran huge portions of Irish society.”

Ruse said those who campaigned against the redefinition of marriage are already congratulating the other side on it’s victory.

“So it looks as if they are going to be crying, ‘Mercy! Please don’t hurt us now that you’re in power,’” he said.

Listen to Joseph Slife’s interview with Austin Ruse about the Irish marriage referendum on The World and Everything in It.