Ireland's First Gay Marriages Due Before End of 2015

According to the country's Justice Minister, the first same-sex weddings could take place in Ireland by the end of 2015.

 The result of the referendum in May was a resounding YES, but delays in the Appeal's Court has already set the new legislation back by weeks. 

 This latest announcement, however, could be a sign that things are about to start moving, and It'll be a relief for those couples waiting to say 'I do'. 

 Once there's the go ahead, then couples will be able to register their notice for marriage; the first marriages will be three months after that (the current notice period in the Republic of Ireland). 

 As you can imagine, the window of opportunity for seeing same-sex weddings in 2015 gets smaller each day. 

 Getting legislation into law can often feel glacial at best. probably the only thing slower is the evolution of religious morality but that's another story...





The first marriages to take place will be for those couples converting their civil partnerships. This is similar to what happened in Scotland at the end of last year. 

Ireland's situation, however, is somewhat unique. They were the first country to legalize gay marriage by a public vote. However, following the referendum in May, there have been a number of high court appeals against the result. 

One man, Gerry Walshe, believes the referendum was not executed correctly. He believes the Yes campaign had an unfair advantage with the number of posters they were able to put up; he also believes that the ballot was not secret. Mr Walshe maintains that he isn’t appealing from an anti-gay standpoint but rather that an important political process was done poorly.

Unfortunately, legislation cannot be signed into law if it’s still before the courts. Ireland's gay couples, therefore, may have to wait a little while longer. 




We'll be keeping our eyes on what's happening in Ireland, so if you'd like to be updated then be sure to follow us via Twitter and Facebook. Equally, use the sidebar to follow this blog. 

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