Official: 62.1 percent vote in favor of same-sex marriage in Ireland

UPDATE: The official tally shows that 62.1 percent voted “yes” in Ireland’s same-sex marriage referendum.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (9:05 a.m.): Ireland has voted resoundingly to amend its constitution to redefine marriage as between “two persons without distinction as to their sex,” observers say. Though the ballots are still being counted, leaders on both sides of the issue say it’s decided; the only question is how large the “yes” majority in favor of same-sex marriage will be.

The referendum makes Ireland the first country in the world to put the question to a popular vote instead of legalizing same-sex marriage with governmental or judicial action.

Polling going into Friday’s vote indicated the measure was likely to pass, and the government reported processing 68,000 new voter registrations within the past few weeks.

Irish same-sex marriage proponents, including many government and party leaders, aggressively supported the measure leading up to today’s vote via their “Yes Equality” campaign. Religious leaders of the predominantly Catholic nation united with other evangelicals to encourage Irish citizens to “Vote No” instead.

A cabinet minister who personally watched the votes being tabulated at the County Dublin ballot center said the Irish capital looks to have voted around 70 percent in favor of gay marriage, while most districts outside the capital also were reporting strong “yes” leads. Official results are expected later today.

Homosexual activity was illegal in Ireland until 1993. But in 2011, Parliament legalized civil partnerships. Under that law, “civil partners are treated in the same way as spouses under the tax and social welfare codes,” according to the Citizens Information Board, an arm of the Irish government. That bill didn’t allow homosexual couples to adopt children jointly; if they were raising a child, only one person was considered that child’s legal parent. But the Children and Family Relationships Bill, which passed in Ireland earlier this year, allowed partners who have cohabited for three years or more—including homosexual couples—to each have the legal designation of “parent” to any children also living in the household.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, a member of the liberal Fine Gael party, campaigned in support of the same-sex marriage referendum. He spoke Wednesday at an event for the “yes” campaign, saying, “There is nothing to fear for voting for love and equality,” The Guardian reported.

The amendment, if passed, would not require the church to perform or recognize same-sex marriages. But opponents remain concerned it could threaten religious liberty. Earlier this week, a baker in Northern Ireland (a member of the United Kingdom) was found guilty of discrimination after refusing to bake a cake that read “Support Gay Marriage.” Same-sex marriage is legal in the United Kingdom, but not recognized in Northern Ireland.

The Iona Institute, a conservative Catholic public policy organization run by religious commentator David Quinn, urged Ireland to vote “no” on the referendum for more reasons than religious liberty concerns. “[The referendum] will introduce a false understanding of equality in the law,” the organization published on its website. “It will lead to the systematic cutting of the biological ties between children and their natural parents; it will lead to the imposition of a new theory of gender which says there are no real differences between the sexes.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.