Marriage Equality Referendum

wakka12

Itzy wrote: »

Don't know if I'm being hyper sensitive at the moment, but a radio station seems to be taking the píss by planning a Wedding Ceremony in June and advertising it now, under the guise of a 'social experiment'. Their intent is to see if they can hook two people up on personality alone as opposed to looks.

http://threestrangers.com/ Seems a bit too much of a gimmick to me with the Referendum this month and convenient, being one of the busiest times of the year for Wedding Planning and all.

If I'm overly thinking this, let me know.

I don't really understand the premise

L1011

I'm not sure its actually legal either. Its a very standard "wacky" competition premise from abroad, where rules are a lot more lax about notification rules and so on.

Vojera

L1011 wrote: »

I'm not sure its actually legal either. Its a very standard "wacky" competition premise from abroad, where rules are a lot more lax about notification rules and so on.

Not legal - the couple getting married would have had to present at a registry office (no priest would marry two strangers) at least a month ago. It's not like Vegas where you can rock up and get a license straight away.

The fact that they also have a prominent section dedicated to lodging complaints would also indicate that it's a pisstake - but I don't think it's anything to do with the referendum; it's just a stupid radio competition for publicity and facebook likes. I doubt the referendum even crossed their minds.

gazzer

gravehold wrote: »

Why not get involved and put up some yes posters and canvas your area?

Because as a Civil Servant I have advised I cannot get involved in Canvassing so what I have been doing is asking my friends and family how they are voting. Luckilly they are all voting Yes. I have yet to talk to anybody who is voting No. Then again maybe they are afraid to say to my face that they will be voting No

Vojera

gazzer wrote: »

Because as a Civil Servant I have advised I cannot get involved in Canvassing

Seriously? I never would have thought of that. Can they really impose that on you provided you're not using your job as a platform?

gazzer

Vojera wrote: »

Seriously? I never would have thought of that. Can they really impose that on you provided you're not using your job as a platform?

If you are above the grade of CO in the civil service you cannot be actively involved in promoting any side in Elections, Referendums etc.

Vojera

gazzer wrote: »

If you are above the grade of CO in the civil service you cannot be actively involved in promoting any side in Elections, Referendums etc.

Wow, you learn something new every day!

Ozymandius2011

opus wrote: »

I was at a residents association meeting this evening & it heartened me no end go see one of the older ladies wearing one of these badges.

Was this in provincial Ireland or the big cities?

Vojera

Ozymandius2011 wrote: »

Was this in provincial Ireland or the big cities?

One of my friends told me that her fiancé asked his 89 year old granny (born and bred in rural Galway) how she was going to vote and she said "Sure why wouldn't I vote yes? There were gay people in my day too, you know."

I know that my own granny (in Donegal) probably would have been voting No if I hadn't come out. Letting people know "by the way, you know a gay person and he/she is totally normal" is really helpful.

alaimacerc

Ozymandius2011 wrote: »

Was this in provincial Ireland or the big cities?

For reference, how much of the Provinces are "provincial", and how many of the cities are "big"?

Aard

The more globalised a town, the more likely a Yes vote I would say. A smaller town like Maynooth would likely show a higher Yes rate than larger Tralee.

Annasopra

I am really not convinced this will pass. I did a canvass tonight and it was 50/50.

There is also way too much complacency from yes voters who are convinced it will pass by a landslide and think their vote isn't needed.

Annasopra

Once more I would urge everyone to help out the Yes Equality campaign.

You can find out how at

www.yesequality.ie/canvass

Doing my best - but nothing compared to what a lot of others are doing!

I notice one of the guys going around with the yes bus is an English Guy going out with an Irish Guy. He can not vote but he is so invested in a yes result he is going around with the bus and helping out loads. Lovely guy too - and actually works in publishing as a publicist. So just the kinda guy you want on the team.

Apparently there is a load of buses put on for people who are eligible to vote to come home on a day trip from London. That was a nice move - and included in the price of the bus ticket was a formal debate between a yes voter and a no voter I heard. (Was not there myself - one of the users of boards.ie spoke for the yes side). Think its 3 or 4 buses, anyone heard more about this?

A few of us spent some free time just sitting around with some visible "yes" memorabilia and logos and things and simply having a good time in the parks and stuff around Dublin. Had loads of people come up and just ask questions. Kind of reverse canvassing I guess you could call it. Lots of nice responses - and I think some of the angrier "no" people who came up with the usual narrative about us being bullies and calling everyone bigots and homophobes was nicely challenged when they managed to get nothing but friendly answers and conversation out of us.

Having big house party after the vote - loads of people coming to it - we are all going to visibly go vote yes en masse together and try and drum up some people on the day to come along.

All getting quite exciting now.

Aard

Is there such a thing as referendum fatigue? You can't turn and not hear about #marref and I'm sure a lot of people are just sick of hearing about it -- yes and no sides alike.... Could have an impact on turnout?

Vojera

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

I am really not convinced this will pass. I did a canvass tonight and it was 50/50.

There is also way too much complacency from yes voters who are convinced it will pass by a landslide and think their vote isn't needed.

Hi Joey.

I just wanted to say thanks for canvassing. I know it's something I should really get out and do myself but I'm a cryer and standing blubbing on someone's doorstep isn't going to help anyone. I've heard from the pop-up shop in Stephen's Green that they're hearing it's very very tight as well.

Pai Mei

Aard wrote: »

Is there such a thing as referendum fatigue? You can't turn and not hear about #marref and I'm sure a lot of people are just sick of hearing about it -- yes and no sides alike.... Could have an impact on turnout?

There must be such a thing cause I genuinely can't wait until it's over. Another week and a half of it and then hopefully we get the result we want and the country can finally stop talking about gay people and their influence on children and how we are ruining marriage for others. I really feel bad for those who are still in the closet and are having to listen to this sort of nonsense and just try to grin and bare it.

J_E

Aard wrote: »

Is there such a thing as referendum fatigue? You can't turn and not hear about #marref and I'm sure a lot of people are just sick of hearing about it -- yes and no sides alike.... Could have an impact on turnout?

This is exactly why I think high-profile campaigning and door-to-door canvassing at this stage after over a year of it being covered is going to turn off people more than it will interest them, and I really feel in ways it is only appealing to those who were Yes-leaning in the first place. I'm all for this referendum but even I as a gay man am tired of it and won't discuss it most of the time. My Twitter feed for the last 4-5 months has just become oversaturated with talk of it, and it's mostly people aggressively targeting No voters and the usual 'mammy and daddy' crew. It's unnecessary and I wish people would stop doing that because the average voter sees these campaigners as overly aggressive and it makes them feel uneasy. I have actually been 'told off' by straight Yes voters when I have placed concerns regarding the above or issues surrounding the referendum, which has infuriated me. I don't need to be explained to...I'm on your side, god damn it. There are also the people who seem to think spending all day playing opinion ping-pong with obvious troll accounts is somehow convincing people to vote Yes.

Ash885

J_E wrote: »

My Twitter feed for the last 4-5 months has just become oversaturated with talk of it, and it's mostly people aggressively targeting No voters and the usual 'mammy and daddy' crew. It's unnecessary and I wish people would stop doing that because the average voter sees these campaigners as overly aggressive and it makes them feel uneasy.

This and so much more. I've since deleted my social media apps till May 23rd as my timelines across all boards has been inundated with people retweeting/quoting/messaging accounts with 3 followers and giving them much more publicity as a result. As Twain said, never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.

That's not to knock those who are promoting a positive message online. It's fantastic to see messages of support and rallying resources together.

Aard

I hear what you say J_E. I do wonder whether the door-to-door campaigning in much of Dublin serves much purpose. Surely it is the more rural and older folks who need to be swayed. I really wonder if this whole "soft yes vote" crowd really exist, or whether it's just Irish people doing the whole Irish nice thing and saying the right thing just to avoid an argument. Obviously we won't be able to tell until the 23rd whether those "soft yes" votes actually have been converted.

SILVAMAN

Came across this article from 2 years back......food for thought

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/marriage-is-nothing-more-than-a-contract-%E2%80%93-bring-on-the-prenups-1166477-Nov2013/

alaimacerc

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

I am really not convinced this will pass. I did a canvass tonight and it was 50/50.

Wow. On my last canvass it was more like 10:1! Of course, if you count the 'undecideds' as 'no', much more even. My feeling is that a lot of those are actually "won't bother my arse to vote at all"s, though.

There is also way too much complacency from yes voters who are convinced it will pass by a landslide and think their vote isn't needed.

I think so too. Or else that the "ah sures" on the doorstep are "polite maybes", or "cagey nos".

Annasopra

Canvassing does work. It really definitely does work. You are reaching committed yes voters and giving them a reminder. You are reaching undecided voters and connecting with them personally and convincing them to vote. You are reaching soft yeses who may not be motivated enough to vote and giving them some motivation to do so.

I would strongly reccomend everyone joins at least one canvass in the next 8 days. It's a positive experience. The vast majority of people on the doorsteps are friendly including even no voters.

www.yesequality.ie/canvass

Apogee

There's a very good article by Harry McGee in today's Irish Times on how important canvassing is ("“Making that personal connection can really change people’s opinions") and how effective it can be.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/marriage-referendum/personal-route-to-reach-public-central-to-yes-campaign-1.2211282

He also describes an example of how a 'no' voter was converted to a 'yes' voter based on one canvass - see the video.

So too have local Mullingar campaigners Shay Barkey and Richie Mulderry. Barkey says that at one door a man said he would vote No because he did not want to see two men or women kissing in a restaurant.

“We talked it through and he still said No. When we were leaving he made a point of following us in his car. He said ‘I think you were really nice and I have read the leaflet and I am going to vote Yes’. It was nice to know we had changed his mind.”

Aard

At least that guys was honest.

I figure that a lot of people don't want to see two guys holding hands, kissing, generally just being a couple. Voting no allows them to keep away such things they don't like.

ETA: one of the Prime Time debates highlighted that to the Iona chap. That most references to gay couples were to gay men and not women. I think there is a crack there that shows both a homophobic and sexist attitude towards men.

Cyclonus

I've got a bit of a shameful confession to make: I'm 33 and I've never voted before in my life. I've never cared about politics or politicians and I never really cared about any of the other referendums, but I'm determined to vote yes to this. I never changed my registered voting location so I'm going to have to take a bus from Athlone to Tyrrellspass, wait in line to vote, and then wait for two hours for a bus back. I'm STILL determined to vote yes. I'm straight and I don't know any gay people. I'M STILL DETERMINED TO VOTE YES.

Annasopra

Apogee wrote: »

There's a very good article by Harry McGee in today's Irish Times on how important canvassing is ("“Making that personal connection can really change people’s opinions") and how effective it can be.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/marriage-referendum/personal-route-to-reach-public-central-to-yes-campaign-1.2211282

He also describes an example of how a 'no' voter was converted to a 'yes' voter based on one canvass - see the video.

Exactly

Canvassing DOES make a differrence and will win it for us

Join us

www.yesequality.ie/canvass

Pai Mei

Question, now I don't know the statistics of how many lgbt people there are in Ireland, but lets say they all voted yes. Now lets also say that at least a few of their friends and hopefully their family also votes yes. Would all those people be enough for a win?

Vojera

Pai Mei wrote: »

Question, now I don't know the statistics of how many lgbt people there are in Ireland, but lets say they all voted yes. Now lets also say that at least a few of their friends and hopefully their family also votes yes. Would all those people be enough for a win?

I doubt it. A study by the ESRI back in 2006 (page 126) estimated that 2.7% of men and 1.2% of women self-identified as gay or bisexual. The actual figure is probably a little higher - the figures indicate about 5-6% report having a same-sex experience,, some people don't like to label themselves as gay/lesbian/bisexual, it was almost 10 years ago and attitudes have changed a lot even in that short time, and I haven't looked at their methodology to see how robust their sample and questions were.

So, for ease of maths, let's say 5% of the population is what we're looking at. If we say that all 5% of the electorate vote yes, and then say that another five people for each of those vote yes, that's still only 30% of the electorate with a yes vote.

Obviously it's quite a bit more complicated than that. A lot depends on who goes out to vote - people who support the idea but aren't personally affected are more likely to say "Ah, I was going to vote after I did the shopping but it's getting a bit late now so I'll just head home instead" than people who are militantly against the idea of marriage equality.

There are so many factors that could affect the outcome - like the fact that so many emigrants are of the younger and more likely to vote yes generation. I'm hopeful but not confident.

gravehold

I live in the limerick countryside and there is way more yes posters on the poles, how can the yes side afford more posters then theno campaign?