1.
13th April, 2016, Fairsay Conference, Oxford 2016
Dr Grainne Healy Ireland, Thalia Zepatos USA
– Sex, Politics & Religion: How we won marriage equality in Ireland and America1

2.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X_Xl6kCUUI
GAZE Film of the day of the win

3.
Winning Marriage in the US

4.
State Anti-Gay Constitutional
Amendments & Laws
WV
CT
MA
NJ
DE
MD
WA
CA
ID*
NV
UT*
AZ
MT
WY
CO
NM
TX
OK*
KS
NE*
SD*
ND*
MN
IA
MO
AR*
LA*
WI
IL IN
MI*
MS
AL* GA*
FL
TN
KY*
NC
SC*
VA*
OH
PA
NY
ME
RI
VT
NH
WA
OR
MT
CO
AZ
TX*
MN
WIWI*
OH*
PA
ME
FL*
States with Anti-Relationship Recognition Constitutional
Amendments (20 states) Alabama (2006), Arkansas (2004),
Florida (2008), Georgia (2004), Idaho (2006), Kansas (2005),
Kentucky (2004), Louisiana (2004), Michigan (2004), Nebraska (2000), North Carolina (2012), North Dakota (2004), Ohio (2004), Oklahoma (2004),
South Carolina (2006), South Dakota (2006), Texas (2005, Utah (2004), Virginia (2006), Wisconsin (2006)
AK
HI
*states where language goes beyond just marriage and affects other legal relationships, such as civil unions or domestic partnerships
States with Anti-Marriage Laws (35 states) (includes above lists minus Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon): Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania,
West Virginia, Wyoming
Updated: November 8, 2012
States with Anti-Marriage Constitutional Amendments (10 states): Alaska (1998), Arizona (2008), California (2008), Colorado (2006), Missouri (2004), Mississippi
(2004), Montana (2004), Nevada (2002), Oregon (2004), Tennessee (2006),

5.
5

6.
Winning in the Courts

7.
State Legislative Victories

8.
Winning State Referenda

9.
Oregon: Yes on 36
11

10.
Equality
Discrimination
It’s just right
JUSTICE
Benefits
RightsResponsibilities
Fairness Dignity
Fair
Basic
Historic
It’s time
12

11.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Couples like me Same-sex couples
18
42
72
36
9
22
For rights and benefits
For love and commitment
Don't know
13

12.
Why Marriage Matters

13.
Conversation Campaigns &
Long-Form Conversations

14.
23
But where did the campaign for
marriage equality in Ireland begin?
Katherine Zappone & Ann Louise
Gilligan, married 2003
– High court case 2004 & KAL initiative
Marriage Equality – launched 2008
‘Seeking civil marriage equality for
same-sex couples’
A referendum? Huh! Never! Having to
ask everyone in Ireland for permission
to marry the person you love! That
would be funny -
https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=m
cafee&type=B211IE0D20140711&p=sin
ead%27s+hand

15.
Vision from Values
24

16.
25

17.
26

18.
27
We are family, children, parents, grandparents, team mates … 1.1 million booklets

19.
28

20.
How far did the Irish Marriage Referendum Campaign Travel?
In terms of reach, there were an estimated 1 billion global impressions generated
from 467,323 Twitter mentions by 384,002 users in the week leading up to voting day. Conversations
surrounding the Irish Marriage Referendum were had in all four corners of the world.
As you can see from the map below, noise was concentrated in neighbouring countries
(UK, Spain, France and Germany) and countries with strong Irish heritage e.g. North America (east coast in particular),
Australia and New Zealand.

21.
Campaign Statistics
Logistics
• 5000 Posters erected across the country
• 500,000 badges (TA and YES Badge)
• 1.3m household leaflets delivered to
1.1m homes
• 465,000 lapel stickers
• 1,420,000 flyers
• 6300 T-shirts
• 800 Hi Viz Vests
• 2,300 Tote Bags.
• Over 70 groups established around the
country
• 1 pop up Shop at Stephen’s Green
Shopping Centre manned by volunteers
• 300 businesses large and small formally
joined the campaign.
• The Yes bus travelled 11,000 Kilometres,
80 Locations, 26 Counties, 29 days
Social Media
Facebook:
• 67k+ likes
• 2.8m reach
• Average of 2,000 timeline views per
day
Twitter
• 15k followers
• 2k tweets
• 155k page views in the last month
• 5.7m impressions in the last month
• #MarRef – 11.1m Reach
YouTube
• Over 150 videos on YouTube with
almost 1,000,000 views
Instagram
• 7,000 followers

22.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx4XFO39It8
Last week of the campaign video – looking back and call to vote!
Videos of appropriate messengers with messages: Pat & Paddy (parents to joan)
https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=B211IE0D20140711&p=Paddy+an
d+Pat+marriage+equality+video
Brigid & Paddy (#votewithus) http://www.votewithus.org/video/brighid-paddy/
Male hurling stars (equal playing pitch)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y90vxqH3HwU
Mrs Brown (use of comedy)
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/brendan-o-carroll-and-mrs-brown-call-for-
yes-vote-1.2191810