Equal Marriage Campaign!

As a gay man, who has lived very comfortably in the countryside, more than any city, for most of my life. I’d like to talk about the Equal Marriage Referendum.

I closely watched the Scottish Independence Referendum, not as a supporter of either side, but as an observer.

The “yes” campaign offered a very big change and had very big emotions attached to it, the idea that this was the right way to go, it was just, fair and historically laden.  While, the “no” side was very clear; change could lead to the breakdown of Scottish society and with it being unchartered waters, who could say whether or which.

Now, I don’t want to get bogged (or even blogged) down about Scotland, but just to draw some parallels to our own marriage referendum and trying hard to keep emotions out of this. 

Giving Gay people the right to marry is the way to go, I know it and if you’re reading this, you know it.  Yet, being just and right has it’s drawbacks, we have more to lose, not just the right to marry, but being endorsed by this beautiful Celtic country, that I’m so proud of.

Whereas, the NO side has just to appeal to peoples “it’s alright as it is” button, with a few more arguments thrown in.

But, let me be clear, the No side have every right to exist, I’m all for free speech and freedom of religion, it’s when those rights impinge on my rights, that it gets problematic.  Anyway, the No side have their part to play in all this and here’s where I’d like to make a few suggestions for the yes side.

Very district in Ireland has more than it’s “only gay in the village” and if these people with their supporters came together, I’m not asking for every gay man and woman to be a Lady Godiva, but start meeting, talking, mobilising. These pockets could come together to form a strong grassroots network through out the country, some maybe very strong, others might be slightly weak, we’ll work on that. 

This network would be the blood stream of the campaign, carrying support to a national centre point and feeding back information, posters and the tools to campaign back to the people. Posters alone would be easily distributed and not wasted, by this process.

These pockets can grow and evolve as the campaign goes on, because remember, this is about vote and voters, having nice shiny celebrities endorsing Equal Marriage is comforting and nice for their profile, but I, as a complete nobody in the gay community could influence at least 12 voters, maybe more and if every nobody did that?  

As in all cases, there are a lot of different organisations, helping the gay community, who could end up, subconsciously jostling for position, if each organisation sent one or two people to a core group, which would be the heart of the network. This heart would then co-ordinate the workings of the yes campaign, but it really is down to the people on the ground, many hands make light work and we have many supporters to help as well.

It is also important to keep in mind, the emotion, there will inevitably be a lot of hurtful things said, conveyed and implied by by every side, but it is important to show respect and to come out on top of all that, we need to convince the “don’t knows and the unsures” rather spend time, trying to change the minds of people who have firmly made up theirs, we can change some, but it is better to have a more positive outlook and policy.

Wouldn’t it be amazing, if all pockets started getting together, for the end of January, a county wide and provincial meeting held in February and a National Ard deis held in March and let the workings begin, if not sooner?

Now, I know people will have different ideas and will give out, slate my ideas, offer different opinions and I welcome that, but I’m convinced, if we leave it to celebrity X and y, we could easily, be exactly where we are next year and that is something I don't want!