Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 15th, 2015
One week from today, the people of Ireland will vote on whether to change their constitution so as to allow same sex couples to marry. The move has the backing of the Government and, though opposed by the Church, is polling favorably.
It is also starting conversations where they might not have otherwise arisen. One such discussion is the one that Ursula Halligan is having with the Irish people.
Halligan is the political editor of Ireland’s main independent television station, TV3. Ireland knows her well. But today Ireland knows her better. Today she told her story.
I was a good Catholic girl, growing up in 1970s Ireland where homosexuality was an evil perversion. It was never openly talked about but I knew it was the worst thing on the face of the earth.
So when I fell in love with a girl in my class in school, I was terrified. Rummaging around in the attic a few weeks ago, an old diary brought me right back to December 20th, 1977.
“These past few months must have been the darkest and gloomiest I have ever experienced in my entire life,” my 17-year-old self wrote.
So Halligan slammed the door on that closet and cowered inside for the next 37 years.
I’ll not repeat her testimony here. It’s very personal and very moving and you should read it all.
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Nathaniel
May 18th, 2015
I don’t live in Ireland, but what I have seen of the “Yes” campaign has been uplifting and inspiring. One of my favorite “Yes” commercials just shows people getting their relatives out to the polls. It is so simple, yet so moving. It is also likely to be psychologically moving, too, since people seem to act in accordance to what they think everybody else is doing.
Mark F.
May 19th, 2015
I really hope the Irish say “fuck you” to the Catholic Church and do the right thing. That would be very inspiring. Many good Catholics don’t agree with homophobia.
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