}

Friday, November 07, 2014

Irish marriage equality in young people’s hands


The video above is one of the best marriage equality ads I’ve ever seen. It’s part of a campaign to encourage young Irish people to register to vote so that they can vote for civil marriage equality, to “make Ireland a more equal place for our LGBT friends”.

The film was commissioned by BeLonG To Youth Services, which is encouraging all young adults to register to vote by November 25th so they can vote for marriage equality next year. Yes Equality is a coalition of groups joining together to promote marriage equality in Ireland, and BeLonG To Youth Services directs people there.

The ad is so brilliant because of the simple message: “It’s in your hands”. Young people throughout the West are more LGBT friendly than are their elders, and this ad focuses on that by pointing out that young people can change everything: “This is our time, our generation’s decision,” it says, and tells young people, “you can shed the shackles of the past and step forward into a bright future.”

Absolutely brilliant, and well made, too.

As I’ve made abundantly clear plenty of times, I am utterly, completely and totally opposed to EVER allowing the majority to vote on whether minorities will be allowed the same rights under the law that the majority takes for granted. The offensive absurdity of such votes is best summed up in “Sinead’s Hand”, the first video from Ireland’s Marriage Equality (below). The video was released in 2009, and I can’t believe I didn’t post it here because it’s so good.


I posted the group’s second ad, “Rory’s Story”, in 2011. It’s another of their issue-oriented ads, and highlights why marriage equality is important, which is good. But giving people a reason to care, well, that’s a much harder thing to accomplish. That’s why I think the “It’s In Your Hands” video is so great.

Mostly, it’s just a truly brilliant video for marriage equality.

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