Ireland has pretty much had the "marriage" other countries currently have since 2011. It was only called civil partnership because unlike other countries "marriage" is defined in Ireland's constitution and (as the Pro Choice lobby is currently finding out) changes to Ireland's constitution require referenda. So the law passed in 2011 gave gay couples (myself included) all of the rights of straight couples with regard to marriage but it wasn't enshrined in the constitution as "marriage" so the only change here is the name and definition which the Irish people voted by 62% in May to change. Adoption procedures are unrelated to marriage in Ireland so were covered by a separate bill.

But here's the thing: This is radical in ways unrelated to gays because unlike every other country on earth, Ireland's constitution now says "marriage shall be contracted between two persons without regard to gender." If you know anything about Ireland's constitution it's that it was written in the 1930s and places the centre of the State at the family. By removing gendered terms from this one section, the people of Ireland gave all future governments a mandate within the constitution to define the family and gender in a starkly modern way.

So, for example, as a result of this vote the Government was effectively able to claim a mandate to change the law on legal recognition for transgender people to the point that Ireland now has pretty much the most liberal interpretation of gender of any country. You can walk into a government office in Ireland and without any medical or psychological proof say "I am X gender and I want you to recognise it" and the State will change your birth cert and passport to reflect that choice. That's radical. No doctors or psychiatrists involved. Just people making their own decisions and the State respecting those decisions. You know those bathroom bills that are becoming a weapon for the far-right in The US? They're not possible now in Ireland because transgender people are now viewed by the State as whatever gender they say they are. I think that's fantastic.

People here will drone on and on about abortion in Ireland, and rightfully so, but before they do they should consider these things. Consider the progress we are making in removing the chains of a theocratic constitution while many of our neighbours tear up their secular ones. Consider the constitution we have and the fact that we will have to vote for abortion and had to vote for all social progress while other countries were able to have those battles settled in the courts or by the legislature - trust me, it's a lot easier to make progress when you don't have to call a plebiscite. We didn't have the luxury of having a Supreme Court in the 70s to make those calls for us. We literally have to battle it out to make changes to this founding document that defined so much for us. So when you see "Same-sex marriage is now legal in Republic of Ireland" please understand what it took to get to this point and please forgive us when you read about how abortion laws are strict here. It's our hangover from a religious past. It isn't our future. The State of Ireland is much more conservative than the people of Ireland because the State of Ireland was created in the regressive and fascistic 1930s.