‘Imagine Equality’ looks back on the campaign, the referendum, and the introduction of civil marriage equality for same-sex couples in Ireland

Airing for the first time this Saturday, a two part radio documentary titled ‘Imagine Equality’ is a retrospective analysis of Ireland’s Yes Equality campaign, the 2015 referendum and what happened once marriage equality was achieved.

The show will be released almost two years to the day after the historic win of the Yes Equality campaign and features prominent marriage equality advocates including Colm Tóibín, Senator David Norris, Una Mullally, Senator Ivana Bacik and more.

Created by documentary-makers Maurice Kelliher and Shaun O’Boyle, ‘Imagine Equality’ is a collection of reflections on the referendum and both the Yes and No campaigns.

The documentary also features GCN’s Editor, Brian Finnegan, the issue surrounding the ‘safe space’ created by Ireland’s longest running LGBT publication in the run up to the marriage equality referendum is highlighted.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSziRTzlc45

Finnegan touches on Pantigate and the widespread debate on homophobia in Ireland which ensued as well as his decision to ensure that GCN remained a safe space for LGBT people by actively seeking marriage equality in its pages.

“I was always worried that it would be a ‘no’,” Finnegan said. “You could not take it for granted. All of us have grown up in the shadow of homophobia, and homophobia has cast a long shadow over every one of our lives in ways that we don’t even know”.

While Marriage Equality might have meant high profits for Dublin’s The George Bar, the referendum came at a personal cost for many LGBT people.

Yes Equality’s Gráinne Healy discussed how tough the process was on those who campaigned for marriage equality: “I think there are a number of psychological aspects to running a public discussion on people’s lives and we are seeing some of the impacts of that now”.

Listen to a preview of Imagine Equality or click the Newstalk button below to listen to the whole show.

https://soundcloud.com/maurice-and-shaun/imagine-equality-preview-clip

Image: By William Murphy from Dublin, Ireland [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.