The Sunday Independent's View: Ireland can take Pride in progress on gay rights

Irish Independent

21 hours ago

The idea that the international ­community is waiting on the lead of a small island in the north Atlantic is easy to mock. Ireland was certainly ­unable to find many allies when leaders met in Brussels last Thursday to discuss the fate of EU-Israel economic ties in light of the Gaza war.
The watered-down statement that eventually emerged deplored the 'catastrophic humanitarian situation' and called again for a ceasefire.
But with hundreds of Palestinians now being killed as they seek aid, Taoiseach Micheál Martin lamented that more was not being done to put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
There is, however, one issue on which Ireland has undoubtedly led the way. When he took his place on O'Connell Street at the head of yesterday's Dublin Pride march, Micheál Martin did so as the leader of the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote.
The 2015 referendum was carried by 62pc of voters. Ten years on, the likelihood is that the Yes vote would be even more emphatic.
Ireland is a far more progressive place to live than it has ever been
Irish society in past decades was always more complex and diverse than the caricature of an oppressed Catholic theocracy that persists in popular myth.
What is beyond question is that the country today, while by no means perfect, is a far more open and progressive place in which to live than it has ever been.
Dublin's first Pride march in 1983 took place when homosexuality was still illegal. The ­numbers taking part could be counted in the dozens.
Yesterday saw more than 12,000 participants and up to 100,000 people line the streets to show support. Other events were held around the country, including for the first time in ­Kilkenny, the last county to join the party.
There is no downside to these changes. Whatever else is wrong with Ireland in 2025, a tolerance of who others chose to love is not one of them.
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These advances must not be taken for granted. In his message to Dublin Pride, President ­Michael D Higgins paid tribute to all who 'paved the way for progress when ­marching was not safe, who gave voice to truths that were long ­silenced and who set the foundations for the inclusive Ireland that we continue to strive ­towards today'. He urged parade-goers to ­remember them 'with gratitude'.
There was a grim reminder this year that many countries have still not won such freedoms.
The right-wing populist government led by Viktor Orban in Hungary, a fellow member of the European Union for more than two decades, passed legislation this year banning yesterday's Budapest Pride march and has even threatened to jail organisers and use facial recognition software to identify and fine marchers.
That the right to peaceful assembly is under threat again in the heart of the EU is profoundly shocking. Pride marches are a threat to no one.
Irish politicians can take justifiable pride, pun intended, in the part they played in moving this country beyond such ugly battles.
If only they could put the same collective energy into solving more intractable challenges to inequality — such as housing, our crumbling infrastructure and health — there would be even more to celebrate.