Is Ireland witnessing an epiphany, or was the recent pro-family vote an anomaly?
On March 8, Irish voters overwhelmingly voted “No” on two initiatives that could have changed the country’s Constitution.
The first would have redefined “family” as either “founded on marriage or on other durable relationships.” It was rejected by 68 percent of the voters.
The second would have removed a clause noting that the “state recognizes that by her life within the home, the woman gives to the state a support which without the common good cannot be achieved.” Voting against this referendum was 74 percent of the voters.
Liberals in Ireland and the United States were appalled. The half-Indian, openly homosexual Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, was sure the people would vote “Yes.” He said of the outcome, “when you lose by this kind of margin, there are a lot of people who got this wrong and I am certainly one of them.”
In America, before the election, the Associated Press wrote, “Ireland’s Constitution says a woman’s place is in the home.” That’s a twisted interpretation. More accurately, voters chose to honor the role that women, many of whom are mothers, play in society.
These two votes stand in stark contrast to the 2015 referendum on gay marriage (62 percent voted for it) and the 2018 vote legalizing abortion (supported by 66 percent of voters). Whether this represents a sea change is too early to tell.
