This Is What Dublin Was Like On The Night Ireland Said Yes

On Saturday 23 May, all but one of Ireland's constituencies announced a Yes vote for equal marriage. Naturally, Dublin had a massive, euphoric party that night. And it was freaking awesome.

Outside The George, one of Ireland's oldest gay bars, a massive queue has formed by 10pm. 62% of the people here are already off their tits - which is the same percentage that voted Yes, weirdly.

Larry Bartleet

Over the road, Dame Lane looks like this

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Getting through the mass of people is difficult, but I don't mind because they are lovely Yes voters who all deserve a pat on the back.

It's all going really well until I meet Saiorse. "I didn't vote," she says.

Er, why not, Saiorse?

"I was registered but I was neither for or against either side. It just doesn't bother me, I think marriage is not a right, it's a privilege. My girlfriend's here now and she maybe does want to get married. I've told her my views.

"I have friends who came home to vote though. Two from Canada, one from Australia, and one came over from Malta. I had a good few, they're all here. They respect my opinion, I respect theirs."

Well. They must be very understanding people.

"Did you not have enough respect to say, ‘Yes I do view you as equal’?"

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I'm guessing if Saiorse had run into Yes-voting legend, David, he'd have had words with her.

"Last night one guy posted on Twitter that he didn’t vote because the Yes side were pompous," he tells me. "I pulled him up on it. He said, ‘People pulled down signs’, and I said, 'What about the people you know, me, people in your class, people you’ve drunk with, people you have fun with - did you not have enough respect to say, "Yes I do view you as equal"?'"

Luckily the turnout was over 60%. "I'm absolutely over the moon. It’s incredible to think that Ireland as a country - because on a global scale, it’s viewed as such a Catholic, conservative country - even rural counties voted Yes, the majority was Yes. I don’t think people in the city thought that, I don’t think gay people thought that, and on top of that, and I don’t think people included the #hometovote hashtag - people coming back to vote Yes, which was absolutely incredible."

In case you haven't yet seen #hometovote - the most heart-warming hashtag of the year - check it out here.

"It mobilised my generation."

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Yes-voter, canvasser and all-round dude Vinnie says, "There was a lot of apprehension coming up towards the end of the week with the silent No voters. I think while there definitely was a shift towards 'No', overall the majority spoke.

"It looks like every single one of the people who were polled came out and voted Yes. It's inspiring seeing all the people coming home as well. A number of close friends came home. It mobilised my generation."

"We’ve set a precedent for the rest of Europe, for the rest of the world."

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David has been out of the country for most of the last 10 years, but he made sure he was here for this vote. And being the top lad that he is, he voted Yes. "I have a lot of gay friends and for me as an Irishman, equality is what we’re about. We set up this country on the freedom of religion, of expression, all these things, and for me, who am I to stand in the way of people that love each other having the same rights that I as a straight person have?

"To no voters, I’d paraphrase Bob Dylan: If you don’t like change, get out of the road. It’s a new generation in Ireland. We’ve set a precedent for the rest of Europe, for the rest of the world. I think it’s just casting off the shackles of the Catholic Church that so many have grown up with. We should love and respect and accept everybody for who they are."

Meanwhile, in Dublin's Sugar Club...

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It's a Eurovision party! And everyone's really happy because they've just found out Russia aren't going to win.

These are the night's awesome hosts: Tallulah Boom, Julian Mandrews and Conor-chita

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Julian (aka Anna), wearing what is possibly the best jacket ever made, says, "We’re celebrating at The Sugar Club with our annual Eurovision party. We perform Eurovision numbers and crowd dress up in their country and they wave flags and we go round and we chat to them and everybody just has a ball basically."

"It was just all of those things that you would hope would happen, but in your wildest dreams"

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Anna has been campaigning for marriage equality for over eight years, as part of LGBT Noise.

"I can't quite believe it. We used to meet every week on a Tuesday night, for years. Every Tuesday night we'd meet in a bar, just 7 volunteers, and we would organise marches and protests and it took up so much of our time that for a lot of the years we just felt like there was just the seven of us.

"Over the last number of weeks with the Yes campaign and people coming out to canvass, and loads of straight allies, it was just all of those things that you would hope would happen, but in your wildest dreams, and here it was in reality."

"It hasn't kicked in yet"

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When Eurovision is over, I speak to Barry. "It hasn’t kicked in just yet, it’s been such an emotional week. Like a lot of other people I spent the last couple of days crying with all the outpouring of emotion that’s been going on.

"I went home to my hometown yesterday to vote with my parents, I went back to my old primary school to vote - that in itself was a bit strange. I went for a pint with my dad afterwards in the local pub and met lots of people I hadn’t seen for years and they had all voted Yes as well. It was really good for such a small village - there was a really good sense of positivity about the whole thing there."

To PantiBar!

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North of the river, the streets outside PantiBar are absolutely heaving. Sadly there's no sign of Panti Bliss.

But this is where I meet Alanna, a wise Scot. "I’ve lived in Ireland for almost 9 years," she says, "and this is the most passionate and united I’ve seen the country this entire time. It’s the best PR for Ireland.

"The last big thing that happened was that we were bankrupt, and I think Ireland was really backwards in a lot of ways, up until now. I think this will push us forward in a lot of ways. This is the first country in the world to vote for equal marriage.

"A lot of people are annoyed that we even had to put it to a vote but the fact that we did, it just shows the strength of people’s power. It’s easy for one person to have a smart mind and say, ‘This is the way things should be,’ but it says a lot when a democracy votes on something."

Can't argue with that, whatever Australia says.

"I met an old lady who told me she was voting No because she was worried about surrogacy. She termed it ‘genetic engineering, which was what the Nazis were trying to do’."

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Donnacha was unlucky enough to meet some hardcore Nos. "After 2 months of stress and depression and fearing that there would be a No vote, and how those people would never stop and they would keep going towards the opposite of social progression - I’m really really happy.

"No one that I know of in my family voted No - all my immediate family voted Yes, all of my friends. But I met an old lady who told me she was voting No because she was worried about surrogacy. She termed it ‘genetic engineering, which was what the Nazis were trying to do’.

"When I heard that the vote was Yes, a lot of that bitterness left, but I would still see this as an issue of civil and human rights. It’s really hard to reconcile that, sitting there and a person is trying to deny you a part of the human experience."

You know what, Northern Ireland, that is hard to reconcile, isn't it?

"I know people who came home to vote from Australia - it’s amazing."

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Ciara - who voted Yes, like a boss - comes from Donegal. "It's known as the backward county of Ireland, the forgotten-about county. Donegal voted Yes today, which is a massive, massive deal.

"I had to ring my parents yesterday and make sure they were voting Yes. I was scared to ask, I didn’t know how I’d handle them saying no, but they did vote Yes, and Donegal voted Yes. It just shows that we’re escaping from what Ireland is thought of as being. It’s still very much a Catholic country - and I don’t give a fuck if you’re a Catholic person - but it just shows that people are thinking more than the Church, they’re thinking actually there’s equality for everyone, not just what’s in the Bible."

Like most people, she wasn't a fan of No voters on social media. "The No voters’ idea is so alien to me. I’m ashamed to say that there are some people that I’m friends with who were voting No, and it took so much to not start a fight with them. I think it’s based on religious things and I think a lot of them maybe wouldn’t know a gay person. They were just posting those videos like ‘I’m Gay and I’m voting No’. Why would you do that?

"I know people who came home to vote from Australia, England, and it’s amazing. The Catholic priest back home in Donegal decided to vote Yes. I think people will start thinking ‘It’s not bad, you’re gay, who gives a fuck? I don’t give a fuck what you do, I don’t give a fuck who you fancy or who you want to sleep with, as long as you’re a nice person you’re grand, who cares?’"

So yeah. Congratulations, Ireland. You rock.

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Long may you continue to do so.

Larry Bartleet