Equality For All – How The Referendum Changed My View Of Politics

It was around this time last year that I decided I wanted to try and do something. The Marriage Equality referendum campaign was in full swing, and everywhere I turned, I saw people online on television and on the radio, happily and definitively announcing that those in same-sex relationships were not deserving of full marriage equality.

There were plenty of avenues for bigots to tell me how warped I was, and it was... not good for my mental health, or that of the people I care about.

That the type of relationship I am in, and many of my close friends are also in, is some sort of abomination. An expression of a perversion rather than a valid, loving and fulfilling relationship that should be afforded the same legal protection as those in opposite-sex relationships.

This made me sad and anxious, but most of all instilled a feeling in me that I needed to do something. So I attended a meeting in Tallaght Library with the Yes Equality group from Dublin South West. I did not know that this meeting and the people I encountered were going to completely change my life.

I had seen from social media that Katherine Zappone was involved, and herself and her spouse Ann-Louise were helming the meeting. I was very excited to meet these women who had been so instrumental in getting the ball rolling on equal marriage in a legal sense with their landmark case in 2005.

What followed from that meeting was one of the best and worst times of my life, simultaneously. I tried to fit canvassing in around a hectic final year in college because it gave me a sense of purpose I had never felt before. This was a fight that was won on the doors, one family at a time. I was at first very scared and anxious about canvassing, and there were a few upsetting incidents.

One that stood out to me was when I was canvassing my own area with one of my best friends Niamh and another great canvasser Michele. An older man had exited his car, and when he saw out t-shirts and clipboards began spewing vitriol at us. Michele told us to go ahead, but tears stung my eyes as I heard him describe LGBTQ+ as ‘mutants’. That was, yes, pretty shit.

But seeing all the others out canvassing, and the reassurances and boosts we all gave each other made sitting through another horrible debate, or getting a door slammed in your face a bit more bearable. Katherine and Ann-Louise were out almost every night with all of us. 10 years after getting married in Vancouver, and over 30 years together and they still called to hundreds of houses and essentially asked strangers to approve of their relationship. I often wondered how they didn’t get tired of it, how they kept walking, kept buzzing doorbells, kept seeking what was rightfully theirs but held just out of reach.

They never lost hope. Standing outside the Square Shopping Centre with the Yes bus they posed, beaming, with a Yes sign, and you felt it could happen. And you believed them when they reassured you it would pass. And it did pass. My constituency was one of the highest Yeses in the country. I was at a party with my friends and girlfriend at the time the vote was called, and that night was spent drunkenly hugging each other and sobbing.

This was after the referendum was passed in November. Buzzing.

It made me, like so many other young people, have faith that a change can be made if we work together. It left in me a wonderful, buoyant sense of pride in where I come from, and the beautiful people that I know, that just wanted fairness.

I would never have imagined I would want to align myself with a politician in the way that I have with Katherine Zappone, but her strength, diligence, kindness and willpower made it very easy for me to decided to help out on her campaign. When we were canvassing on the referendum, she was a constant source of inspiration.

While doing work on the referendum, I met some of the best people from all around the constituency, whose support and kindness has seen many of them also go on to support Katherine, instead of knocking on doors in the springtime, we've been freezing in this everlasting winter to try and make a change. I honestly feel like this generation, having seen something as momentous as this referendum happen want to know how we can make Ireland even better. Believing we all deserve better, that change not only can but WILL happen, is so vital. We still have a bit of a way to go, but I think having someone like Katherine fighting for a fair chance for everyone, can only be a good thing.

So no matter what your political views are, use your vote to make a change, just like we all did last May.

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We are committed to continuing the conversation about the representation of women in Politics. We are hosting an open conversation about the representation of women in politics and media, tomorrow February 18th. 

Limited availability remaining. RSVP to Grace.OReilly@Her.ie to attend.