Couples joyous as Ireland embraces gay marriage (05/25/15)

By: Shawn Pogatchnik

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Gay couples of Ireland woke up Sunday in what felt like a nation reborn, with
dreams of wedding plans dancing in their heads.
This new reality was sinking in after the Irish people voted with a surprisingly strong 62 per cent
"yes" to enshrine the right to gay marriage in the country's conservative 1937 constitution.
Thousands of revellers of all sexual identities celebrated until dawn after the result was
announced Saturday night.

CP
Peter Morrison / The Associated Press Sen. Katherine Zappone (right) and partner Ann Louise
Gilligan celebrate Saturday.
The Justice Department confirmed Sunday it plans to draft a marriage bill this week that will
permit those taking vows in civil ceremonies to choose either to be "husband and wife" or
"spouses of each other." It will ensure no church is required to perform a gay marriage, a key
demand of the dominant Catholic Church and also the main Protestant and Muslim communities
in Ireland.
Deputy Prime Minister Joan Burton said she expects the bill to become law by early July.
Because existing law requires a minimum three-month notice for any civil marriages, the first
gay weddings cannot happen until the fall.
For Sen. Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan, their day has nearly come. Since 2003,
they have fought for legal recognition of their Canadian marriage, suffering setbacks and delays
as they sued the state all the way to the Supreme Court.
"For so long, I've been having to dig in my heels and say... Well, we ARE married. I'm a married
woman!" said Zappone, a Seattle native who settled with her Irish spouse in Dublin three
decades ago.
Zappone and Gilligan thrilled a crowd of thousands of rainbow flag-waving revellers Saturday at
the results centre at Dublin Castle with a playful promise to renew their vows. Zappone

dramatically broke off from a live TV interview, stared directly into the camera and asked Gilligan
to marry her all over again.
"I said yes to Katherine 12 years ago at our marriage in Canada," Gilligan, nearby, shouted to
the crowd. "And now we are bringing the 'yes' back home to Ireland, our country of Ireland! Yes,
yes, yes!"
In a more sober mood Sunday, the couple reflected on their long road to social acceptance and
the remaining wait to get officially hitched in Ireland, before Christmas, they hope.
"It took us hours to get a taxi (Saturday night) because so many people came up to us in tears,
wanting to talk to us. They now felt so much freer and proud," said Zappone, who became
Ireland's first openly lesbian lawmaker when Prime Minister Enda Kenny appointed her to the
Senate in 2011.
"There aren't that many moments in life where you are surrounded with an exuberance of joy.
These are rare moments," said Gilligan, a former Loreto nun who left the order in her mid-20s to
pursue social justice as a lay Catholic. She wasn't sure about her sexuality until Zappone
entered their first theology class together at Boston College in 1981.
"The door opened, and this gorgeous woman came in. I didn't know I was lesbian. I'm a late
learner," Gilligan recalled with a laugh. "I fell in love with Katherine, and I went for it. I simply
adored her, and I wanted to be with her forever and ever, and here we are!"
They married in Vancouver and sued Ireland for legal recognition, but in 2006 the High Court
ruled Irish law -- while never explicit in defining marriage as solely between a man and woman -universally understood this to be the case. The Supreme Court kicked their appeal back to the
High Court in 2012.
The family section of Ireland's constitution eventually will read, "Marriage may be contracted in
accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex."
First, Parliament must pass the same-sex marriage bill. Analysts expect easy passage, since all
parties support the measure. Then Ireland's ceremonial head of state, President Michael D.
Higgins, will sign the bill into law and amend the constitution.