| Marc Malkin 23. Mai 2015 – 12:10
Colin Farrell is one very proud Irishman today.
The actor is praising Ireland for becoming the world’s first country to legalize same-sex marriage by a popular vote.
“Today Ireland has opened up her heart in a way that the whole world will feel,” Farrell tells me exclusively. “How we have changed our fortune in 24 hours, how we have lit the way, how we have guaranteed a brighter and more loving future for all who call this beautiful land home. Bravo citizens of Ireland.”
While the official results haven’t been announced yet, most major news outlets are reporting that a majority of Ireland’s more than three million voters said yes to marriage equality.
In November, Farrell wrote a letter in the Sunday World calling for Ireland voters to support gay rights.
Gays in movies
The fight has been a personal one for the True Detective star because his brother is gay.
“My brother Eamon didn’t choose to be gay,” Farrell wrote. “But he was always proud of who he was. Proud and defiant and, of course, provocative. Even when others were casting him out with fists and ridicule and the laughter of pure loathsome derision, he maintained an integrity and dignity that flew in the face of the cruelty that befell him.”
He revealed that Eamon had to go to Canada to legally marry his husband. “How often do we get to make history in our lives?” Farrell asked readers. “Not just personal history. Familial. Social. Communal. Global. The world will be watching. We will lead by example. Let’s lead toward light.”
Farrell also took his support to television, appearing on RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live in January to make the case for gay marriage.
He said, “I support this vote with every fiber of my being.”
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