Gay Community: Ireland Votes to Legalize Gay Marriage in Historic Referendum

Ireland became the first country in the world to vote in favor of legalizing gay marriage Saturday after a resounding victory for "Yes" campaigners.

At final count, 62 percent voted in favor of legalizaing gay marriage in the country, while 38 percent voted against it. Nearly 2 million people voted, with more than 1.2 million voting "yes" and 734,300 voting "no." 

A celebratory mood had come over Dublin even before the official results were announced around 7 p.m. local time, with tallies for each constituency displayed on big screens to thousands watching from Dublin Castle's sun-soaked central square. 

The large crowd spontaneously broke into Ireland's national anthem as they awaited the final tally.

Earlier, David Quinn, the director of the conservative Iona Institute and leader of the "No" campaign — which sought to prevent Ireland's constitution from being amended to permit same-sex marriage — conceded defeat and congratulated the 'Yes' side. 

The poll pitted liberal forces against Ireland's conservative Catholic foundation.

Read more: Ireland Votes to Legalize Gay Marriage in Historic Referendum - NBC News.com

Vatican - gay community: "Pope Frances speaks out of two sides of his mouth" - Vatican refuses gay French ambassador′s nomination

Italian gay activists have slammed the Vatican after it reportedly refused to accept France’s nomination for new ambassador Laurent Stefanini on the grounds of his alleged homosexuality. 

French President Francois Hollande recommended 55-year-old Stefanini for the post in January, but the Holy See has so far failed to recognize his credentials French and Italian media reported on Friday.

"Clearly, even at the Vatican they do not practice what they preach," Flavio Romani, chairman of the Arcigay association said Friday in a statement, where he blamed "top prelates" of contradicting one of Pope Francis' most famous statements.

In 2013, the pontiff said that "if a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?

The debate comes as tensions rise between the Holy See and France's Socialist government after gay marriage was legalized in 2013, much to the outrage of the Catholic Church and traditionalists. 

Vatican officials have refused to comment on the allegation.

Read more: Vatican criticized after refusing gay French ambassador′s nomination | News | DW.DE | 10.04.2015

Gay Rights: France Legalizes Gay Marriage After Harsh Debate - by Lori Hinnant and Sylvie Corbet

France legalized gay marriage today Tuesday after a wrenching national debate and protests that flooded the streets of Paris.

Legions of officers and water cannon stood ready near France's National Assembly ahead of the final vote, bracing for possible violence on an issue that galvanized the country's faltering conservative movement.

The measure passed easily in the Socialist-majority Assembly, 331-225, just minutes after the president of the legislative body expelled a disruptive protester in pink, the color adopted by French opponents of gay marriage. "Only those who love democracy are here," Claude Bartelone, the Assembly president, said angrily.

Read more: France Legalizes Gay Marriage After Harsh Debate - ABC News

French parliament approves landmark gay marriage bill - by James Andre

France's National Assembly approved the government’s controversial ‘marriage for all’ bill in a final vote on Tuesday after months of fierce debate. The law is President François Hollande’s first major social reform.

France’s lower house voted by a clear majority on Tuesday to approve the government’s marriage reform, which will allow same-sex couples the same spousal and adoption rights as their heterosexual counterparts.

The legislation, which is President François Hollande’s first major social reform and a key election pledge, was backed by 329 deputies and opposed by 229.

The bill redefines marriage as a contract between two people rather than between a man and a woman. It will now go to the left-wing-controlled Senate, or upper house, on April 2, which is expected to approve it.

Once passed, the reform will see France join 11 other gay-marriage friendly countries including Spain, Sweden, South Africa and the Netherlands. Nine US states and Washington DC have also legalised same-sex marriage and British lawmakers have recently voted for marriage equality in the UK.

The move is France’s biggest social reform since the abolition of the death penalty in 1981. Speaking after the vote, Justice Minister Christiane Taubira told journalists “We've waged a great and noble battle”.

Read more: French parliament approves landmark gay marriage bill - FRANCE - FRANCE 24

French gay activists angered at Church’s ‘Prayer for France’ - by Robert Myles

On August 15, a controversial ‘Prayer for France’ was  read out at French Catholic churches as the Feast of the Assumption is celebrated, reviving a centuries old tradition. The text of the 2012 version has outraged gay rights groups in France.

All Catholic churches in France have received the text of the controversial “Prayer for France” with the intention that it is read out to congregations across France at church services marking the feast of the Assumption reports France 24.

The reason French gay rights activists are up in arms is that the subject matter of this year’s Prayer for France aims to mobilize Catholics against the French Socialist government of François Hollande’s recently announced plans to reform French family law as it applies to gay marriage and adoption. The proposed reforms would give gay couples in France the same rights as heterosexual couples.

In the distributed prayer, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, the Catholic Archbishop of Paris, asks churchgoers to pray for France’s “newly elected officials” to put their “sense of common good over the pressure to meet special demands”.

Read more: French gay activists angered at Church’s ‘Prayer for France’

Catholic Church: Pope Benedict speaks out against Gay Marriage

At a recent meeting at the Vatican in honor of the accredited Vatican diplomatic corps Pope Benedict XV of the Catholic Church told diplomats from nearly 180 countries that the education of children needed proper "settings" and that "pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman."

"This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself," he said.

The Vatican and Catholic officials around the world have protested against moves to legalize gay marriage in Europe and other developed parts of the world.

Gay marriage is legal in a number of European countries, including Spain and the Netherlands.

Some Churches that have allowed gay marriage, women priests, gay clergy and gay bishops have been losing members to Catholicism, and the Vatican has taken steps to facilitate their conversion.

EU-Digest

Court rules no right to gay marriage in Europe | World | News | Toronto Sun

European law does not require countries to grant same-sex couples the right to marry, even if some states have already done so, the continent’s top human rights court has ruled. The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected an appeal by two Austrian men who said their country’s refusal to allow same-sex marriage violated the right to marry and prohibition of discrimination in European rights law.
The ECHR is part of the Council of Europe, which promotes democracy and the rule of law among its 47 member states. Its rulings are binding on Council members since they have signed the European Convention on Human Rights.

“The court observed that, among Council of Europe member states, there is no consensus regarding same-sex marriage,” the ECHR said in a statement on Thursday. Only 7 of the Council’s 47 members have approved same-sex marriage.

For more: Court rules no right to gay marriage in Europe | World | News | Toronto Sun

ABC: US elections - Maine Gay Marriage Law Repealed - by Devin Dwyer

For the complete report from ABC News click on this link

The US tide of extending marriage rights to same-sex couples -- which has swept across the states of New England in recent months -- has stopped at Maine. Voters rejected a state law Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed. The repeal comes just six months after the measure was passed by the Maine legislature and signed by the Democratic Gov. John Baldacci. The state of Maine would have been the sixth state in the country to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, but instead becomes the 31st state to oppose the unions in a popular vote. With 87 percent of precincts reporting as of 2 a.m. today, gay marriage opponents in Maine claimed 53 percent of the vote to supporters' 47 percent.