Rainbow flags fly as Ireland approves gay marriage

Waves of cheers rolled around the grounds of Dublin Castle on Saturday as jubilant "Yes" supporters crammed inside and waved rainbow flags to celebrate Ireland's vote to allow gay marriage.

Jumping up and down with excitement, around 2,000 people who packed the castle grounds cheered the referendum result as hundreds more crowded outside and in Dublin's gay bars to start partying.

Brandishing balloons, rainbow umbrellas and waving placards, "Yes" supporters could not contain their delight.

Peter Lynch, 60, a retired teacher from Dublin, was among them, having walked around the city with a home-made sign around his neck in Irish and English reading "Th?inig ?r l? (Our day came). Thank you Ireland".
"You're entitled to go mad once in your life, when you finally become legal!", he told AFP.

"It's almost surreal. It's very hard to believe that this is Ireland and we're the first country to vote on this and give a lead to the rest of the world.

"I'm 60. The first 40 years of my life I was a criminal," he said -- a reference to Ireland's decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1993.

"The next 20 years I was a second-class citizen," he said.

"It's been an extraordinary day. And it's the Irish people that have done it, and done it so generously."

- Couple plan wedding -

Many Irish emigrants flew home from abroad to cast their ballots, while immigrants to the Emerald Isle were also celebrating.
"I'm excited, I'm in happy mode, we know we've won," said Issa Olwengo, 26, a gay psychotherapist from Kenya who has been in Ireland for nine years.

"The atmosphere is great, everybody's cheering, everybody's happy.

"I couldn't vote but I participated in the campaign, going from county to county.

"It's a big message to the world because it says times have changed. In Kenya, things are really changing too.

"Maybe in five to 10 years we will have another referendum there."

One lesbian couple had particular cause to celebrate as they prepare for their wedding date.

Outside Memories Bridal Boutique in Dublin's Parliament Street, Niamh Herrity, 32, and Aoife Doyle, 34, who have been together for four years, were taking photos in their "Yes" T-shirts in front of the white wedding dresses in the shop window.
"We got our dresses last week, and this week we're allowed to get married. It's been an amazing, emotional couple of weeks," said Doyle.

They joked that as well as Adam and Eve, Aoife and Niamh -- pronounced "efah" and "neev" -- will now be permitted to tie the knot.

"We got engaged two years ago. We're delighted that Ireland has pulled together for us. They did us proud," said Herrity.

Their wedding date is set for December 17, but if the legislation has not passed by then, "we'll have a civil partnership then get a top-up," she added.

- 'A new Ireland' -

Dublin's few gay bars prepared to party into the night, and the streets around them were already crammed long before sunset.
Rory O'Neill, better known by his stage name Panti Bliss, is Ireland's foremost drag queen. She runs Dublin's Pantibar and was a prominent figurehead in the referendum campaign.

Dressed in a figure-hugging dress and high heels, she regally led a small army that marched from the bar to the castle, where she was greeted by deafening cheers.

"It's an incredible affirmation of a new Ireland, in a way. I don't think Ireland changed today but what Ireland did today was it confirmed a change that has already happened," she told reporters.

"Outsiders still are hung up on this idea that Ireland is some sort of very conservative country ruled by the Catholic Church and that has become more and more annoying for Irish people over the years.

"We live in a really open, welcoming society that treats everybody equally and there's not many countries in the world that can actually say that."