Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Little could Gilbert Baker, the man who designed the first rainbow flag for the San Francisco freedom day parade in June 1978, have known that his flag and its values would be embraced with such enthusiasm around the world and, finally, in Ireland with such great joy this year. Gilbert Baker assigned the values of life, healing, sunlight, nature, art and harmony to the colours of the flag. We have now embraced these values in a new tolerance with a new understanding of ourselves.

I am proud that we voted "Yes" in the constitutional referendum. To be able as a nation to recognise that our Constitution needed change, even if it did take as Senator Norris said, 40 years to do so, and to seek that change from a majority of voters was a good day for democracy. It was real people power. We were, of course, all heartened by the number of people who came home from places like Thailand, Sweden, Kenya, the UK and other countries to vote. My daughter came home from the Netherlands to vote. Thousands of people came home to vote. The hashtag #HomeToVote could certainly give the Yeats line "I will arise and go now" a run for its money. The 72,000 tweets in the 24-hour period that crossed those two days was evidence of what people were feeling. It was a sense of responsibility, a sense of enthusiasm and the feeling that people understood that every vote would count, that their effort would count and would make a difference. In short, people felt empowered and they did everything in their power to make the change.

When Colm O'Gorman of Amnesty International said that the most important hashtag was #WeMadeHistory he was not wrong.The Netherlands may have been the first country in the world to enact legislation to allow for marriage equality. It happened in 2001 and its Government deserves recognition for taking that first important step. It was followed in the intervening years by many other countries, including Wales, England, Spain, South Africa and some states in America, but Ireland was the first country to make this decision in a democratic referendum of the people, by the people and for the people. Others, of course, will follow. Marriage equality is here to stay.

Like other colleagues, I take the opportunity to thank all those who came together in such a great spirit of collaboration, many of whom are in the Visitors Gallery, to show that people could work together for what was right, including GLEN, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Lawyers for Equality, trade unions, USI, Women for Equality, the Labour Party, Fine Gael, other political parties, politicians in general and the 1.2 million voters who said "Yes". I also thank my colleagues in the Seanad, Senators Ivana Bacik and Katherine Zappone and, of course, Senator David Norris. So many people have worked hard for so long and I am proud to have been part of that effort. I am proud that we have made this change at this time. In particular, I thank those who listened at the door when I canvassed and asked me to tell them why I thought this should happen. They were people who might have closed the door a year or three years ago, but they stood and asked what was happening because they said they wanted to understand. They gave an ear and contributed to the great vote. The stories people told about going to the polling station and bringing their little children who could not vote themselves to witness it indicated to me how deeply felt this constitutional change was and how significant people believed it to be. This was significant not just for the LGBT community but for all of us, now and in the future.

I hope 22 May might come to be known as Rainbow Day. It could become an annual celebration to remind us that we are better le chéile - together - when we care about and encourage each other. Today we are here to encourage the Marriage Equality Bill all the way through to Thursday when it is hoped it will be passed to legislate for the will of the people. As the Minister for Justice and Equality stated, it is hoped it will bring about the first same-sex marriages before the end of the year. It is fair to say we are not all the same, but we are all equal. This legislation is a the step on the path of equality in order that my daughter, our children, sisters and brothers will all have the same right to marry the person they love in a country that said "Yes" to equality.