When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

There's something more valuable than a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

Ireland isn't the first country to legalize gay marriage, but it's the first country to do so by popular vote.  And it did so by 62.1 percent of the vote, despite (or maybe even because of) the opposition of the Catholic Church and despite thefallacious arguments made against it  similar to those made in too many of these United States.  I have never been prouder of my paternal ancestral homeland than I am right now.  Except for maybe when Katie Taylor won the Olympic gold medal in 60-kg women's boxing.  No, this is better!  Seventeen years after the Good Friday accords brought peace in Ulster, the 26 counties of the Republic have made peace with the changing times.

Even as the cardinals in the Curia in Rome are pointing fingers and asking each other, "Who lost Ireland?" (relax, guys, you still have Lithuania), religious and cultural "conservatives" and pro-marriage-equality progressives are awaiting the Supreme Court's latest decision on gay marriage in These States - which could render bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional - with baited breath.  Hopefully the Court will make the right decision.  (Hopefully the Court will also make the right decision on federal health care subsidies, but given that pesky thing known as the law of averages, well . . ..)  The result of the Irish referendum, though, proves to same-sex couples in the U.S. that time is on their side, even if the Republican Party is not.