Faith in Marriage Equality Welcomes Yes Vote in Ireland

Faith in Marriage Equality
FAITH IN MARRIAGE EQUALITY (FiME)

Press release May 23rd 2015
Faith Group Welcomes Yes Vote
As the results emerge from the referendum, Faith in Marriage Equality (FiME) has welcomed the Yes vote for same sex civil marriage.
Dr Richard O’Leary of Faith in Marriage Equality (FiME) said “As people of faith we are delighted that so many other people of faith have voted Yes to embrace their gay and lesbian fellow citizens. We would like to thank those prominent lay people of faith, the individual priests and nuns, and the two Church of Ireland bishops who declared publicly for Yes and so encouraged others to do likewise”. 

Faith in Marriage Equality would also like to again reassure those people of faith who voted No that this vote for Yes will not impact negatively on their lives and we hope that they will eventually be reconciled to this positive social change. 

Dr Richard O’Leary remarked “I am not claiming that our eve of poll Faith for Yes event in Dublin, a Yesvena, swung it, but I do believe that this vote represents an outpouring of love and generosity by the people of Ireland”. 

Dr Richard O’Leary added “We hope that the Catholic Bishops and Protestant church leaders in Northern Ireland will notice how so many ordinary people of faith in the Republic of Ireland have voted Yes and that they too might be encouraged to support the extension of civil marriage equality to same sex couples in Northern Ireland” 

Faith in Marriage Equality (FiME) is supported by a range of faith organisations including the Catholic groups ‘We are Church Ireland’ and ‘Gay Catholic Voice Ireland’ and the Church of Ireland group ‘Changing Attitude Ireland’. 

For press / media information contact: Dr Richard O’Leary
Faith in Marriage Equality