Only the long-dead will be surprised by the slight emerging crest of the long-made rising tsunami of Ireland's shift

Has anything really changed between today and yesterday in Ireland?

We have had gay marriage for about a decade now in South Africa. No smiting as yet has occurred, although society has become more amicable to the idea of gay marriages over time, just as it has to legal abortion, and to divorce.

I expect that within 50 years most of the world will endorse gay marriage, the endorsement being the natural follow-on to the popular support it has. I also expect euthanasia to be legal just as swiftly. Even the pope promotes gay lifestyle, and now divorce. What you are seeing is laws changing as society does.


If anything, any fight to be had was over years ago when society pitched left.

The introduction of laws to meet society's wishes, and to punish those who don't support gay marriage such as cake makers or lifestyle venues, well, that is a natural progression of society's wishes being granted. The criminal penalties against pro-life protestors in South Africa, are far more daunting than those faced by wedding venues for refusing weddings. Nothing has changed in Ireland, although in the lives of certain individuals - those affected by the change, something has happened.

That does not mean I agree or disagree with what has happened, it just means that only the long-dead will be surprised by the slight emerging crest of the long-made element of the rising tsunami of Ireland's complete cultural shift.

Law is just that, law. It has winners and losers. To create rights you inevitably take away rights. Any argument to the contrary does not stand in practice. However, a law which represents the beliefs of the people, whether heinous or beautiful, does not really change much on the ground, especially if it has been voted through in a democratic manner. Laws come and go and change as society does. Ireland's laws better represent what Ireland is today, than they did yesterday, when it still more fully pretended to cling to Catholic moral teachings which had held such force for centuries, and now have been rebuked and what is more, loudly rejected as no longer representing the left wing Irish. The Irish have done what many a teen actor has, and shed their religious fatigues for different clothing, and have been roundly applauded by many around the world for it.

The same tsunami could just as easily swing the other way. In many European nations with liberal laws, 'homophobia' has been secretly rising, according to surveys of the people. In America it has swung the opposite way, with once popular abortion, though the laws remain as they were.

Society changes and so does its laws. It signifies little in the long run, except when laws outlast the centuries. Then perhaps we can say something has changed. For now however, an idea of rising popularity is now to be law in Ireland.

p.s. Please keep any comments on this post civil and within South African law.