Over four hundred LGBTI couples have said ‘I do’ since the Republic of Ireland changed its constitution to legalise same sex marriage last year.
Tiernan Brady was one of the people at the centre of the country’s ‘yes’ campaign and he’s currently in Australia to show us how to do the same.
While Ireland was constitutionally obligated to put the debate to the public vote, political and LGBT rights campaigner Brady tells The Feed the Liberal Party’s proposed plebiscite is a completely different story.
“Poll after poll after poll in Australia shows 70 per cent plus are in favour of marriage equality, the majority of people who vote for every single party are in favour of marriage equality and there’s a majority in parliament in favour of marriage equality,” he says.
“[A plebiscite] will be a hard journey for lesbian and gay people to have to experience and endure.”
Amid concerns of a nasty and hate-filled debate, Labor, who are in favour of holding a vote within parliament, have said they will move to block a plebiscite.
Brady agrees that, “if you can avoid putting people through what is an unnecessary, hard, arduous experience, then you should avoid it if possible.”
Despite having strong historic ties to the Catholic church, Ireland became the first nation to legalise marriage equality via popular vote with 60 per cent opting for constitutional change.
Watch the video for more of Tiernan Brady's experience and his thoughts on the Australian debate.
