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	Ireland Votes to Approve Gay Marriage by News agencies Ireland   May 2015   Ireland has become the first nation to approve same-sex marriage by a popular vote. With the final ballots of a nationwide referendum counted, the vote was 62 percent in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage, and 38 percent opposed.   The turnout was large — more than 60 percent of the 3.2 million eligible voters cast ballots, and only one district out of 43 voted the measure down.   Not long ago, the vote would have been unthinkable. Ireland decriminalized homosexuality only in 1993, the church dominates the education system, and abortion remains illegal except when a mother’s life is at risk. But the influence of the church has waned amid child abuse scandals in recent years, while attitudes, particularly among the young, have shifted.   “Today Ireland made history,” Prime Minister Enda Kenny said, adding that “in the privacy of the ballot box, the people made a public statement.”   “This decision makes every citizen equal and I believe it will strengthen the institution of marriage,” Mr. Kenny said.   Same-sex marriage is legal in 19 nations before the Irish vote and 37 American states, but almost always because of legislative or legal action. At the same time, homosexuality is illegal across much of the Middle East and gay rights are under renewed attack in Russia and parts of Africa.   The result showed wide support for a measure that had dominated public discourse in the months before the vote.   Surprising many who had predicted a generational divide, the support cut across age and gender, geography and income.   The leader of the opposition, David Quinn, director of the Iona Institute, conceded the outcome on Twitter: “Congratulations to the Yes side. Well done.”   For older activists, the moment marked a profound evolution for their country. For the world, it suggested how far the gay rights movement has come, to make such a significant step in a country with a history as a conservative religious state.   “Throughout my youth, adolescence and young adulthood, it was a criminal offense to be gay,” said David Norris, a 70-year-old Irish senator and longtime activist. He said he had faced “total isolation” as a young man.   “There was silence on the subject,” he said. “It wasn’t mentioned in the newspapers, it wasn’t mentioned in the broadcast media. Then there was a fear of criminal prosecution, of being involuntarily placed in a lunatic asylum, losing your job, being socially destroyed. It was a terrible situation.”   The referendum changes Ireland’s Constitution so that civil marriage between two people is now legal “without distinction as to their sex.”   It requires ratification by both houses of the Irish Parliament and the president. Though that is a formality.   There was support for the measure across the political spectrum, including from Prime Minister Kenny, of the center-right Fine Gael party, and his Labour coalition partner, which had pushed for the referendum. Sinn Fein, an opposition party, also expressed support.   Many placed the results in a national context, saying it pointed not only to change but also to the compassion and tolerance of the Irish people.   Alex White, the government’s minister for communications, said: “This didn’t change Ireland — it confirmed the change. We can no longer be regarded as the authoritarian state we once might have been perceived to be. This marks the true separation of church and state.”   Gay rights activists around the world had said a victory would be an important milestone.   “I think this is a moment that rebrands Ireland to a lot of folks around the world as a country not stuck in tradition but that has an inclusive tradition,” said Ty Cobb, the international director of the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington-based advocacy group.   Late in the campaign, four Catholic bishops urged parishioners to vote against the measure. But as ballot boxes were opened one by one, and paper yes and no votes stacked up in front of counters at long tables in a cavernous hall, optimism among referendum supporters grew.   Campaigning on both sides of the debate had been underway for months, with posters, billboards and commercials.   “Commentators just don’t seem to have grasped that this has been the culmination of a 10-year campaign to change attitudes in this country,” said Colm O’Gorman, chief executive of Amnesty International (Ireland) and a leading gay rights campaigner.   “The personal stories of people’s own testimonies, as to their difficulties growing up being gay certainly struck a chord with people,” said Jim Walsh, an Irish senator who opposed the marriage referendum, during a television interview.   “I would like today to not get back into the arguments that we had during the campaign but to wish them well,” he said. “But I think that going forward we will need to address issues which are going to arise.”   In a news release, the Iona Institute congratulated the yes side for “a very professional campaign that in truth began long before the official campaign started.”   But it also said “we will continue to affirm the importance of the biological ties and of motherhood and fatherhood” and urged the government to “address the concerns voters on the No side have about the implications for freedom of religion and freedom of conscience.”   Nick O’Connell, 42, from a rural area in County Kilkenny in the Irish Midlands in an interview said he had been too afraid to come out as gay until his mid-20s.   “Today I’m thinking of all those young people over the years who were bullied and committed suicide because of their sexuality. This vote was for them, too.”   He added: “This is different from other countries because it was the people who gave it to us, not a legislature.”   * Some 20 countries have already legalized same-sex marriages
	Press freedom: the dark cloud gathering over Europe by Thorbjorn Jagland Council of Europe   Today is a day to celebrate free media expression—except for those journalists, even in Europe, denied the capacity to do so.   As we mark this year’s World Press Freedom Day, the memory of the attack at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris hangs in the air. So, too, do the shootings in Copenhagen, where a cartoonist was again among the targets. So far 2015 has not been much of a friend to freedom of expression. I’m afraid that I do not have good news: across the full length of our continent, media freedom is now under threat.   My annual report shows that the safety of journalists is deteriorating in over a third of European states. Investigative journalists have been killed, imprisoned and harassed. Media outlets have been shut down—including, dramatically, the Crimean Tatar TV station ATR which was forced off air. Cyber-terrorists have attacked national television networks. And all this in just a matter of months.   Most troubling is the prolific nature of our problems. They are not limited to a handful of states.   Journalists have been murdered in Ukraine. Greek reporters have complained of police assault, while their counterparts in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have received death threats in the form of funeral wreaths delivered to their homes. Turkey has made headlines by banning Twitter. France’s new legislation to block websites ‘inciting terrorism’ has raised concerns. In these, and many other cases, states point to national security, but it is essential that such acts are proportionate, necessary and submitted to appropriate judicial review.   In the majority of European states defamation remains a criminal offence, frequently inhibiting free speech and encouraging self-censorship. Too many public-service broadcasters still suffer from political interference. Even in countries where reporting is considered independent and robust, ownership is overly concentrated and a murky relationship persists between political and media elites.   Investigative journalists have been killed, imprisoned and harassed.   Across the continent, wherever you look, journalists are increasingly struggling to hold power to account. Media freedom, it seems, has become Europe’s longest frontier in the fight for democracy and human rights.   The dangers are clear. Free and forthright journalism is essential to any healthy system of checks and balances. Without it, the abuse and mismanagement of power remains concealed and there can be no competition of ideas. Progress and plurality give way to stagnation and disempowerment. Fewer outcomes could be worse for a continent still gripped by social tension and economic strife.   For the sake of strong and stable democracies, we at the Council of Europe—the continent’s human-rights watchdog—will now redouble our efforts to protect free speech. Advancing media freedom will be given new priority status in our work with our member states, of which there are 47. We will develop a three year, pan-European programme to improve the protection provided to journalists, helping ensure that their safety receives the attention it deserves.   To this end we have established a Platform for the Safety of Journalists, where journalists themselves can sound the alarm. Armed with the standards and laws that bind European nations, the Council of Europe can then address these concerns directly with member states.   As I make this pledge, I call on governments to do the same. Freedom of expression is not limitless. It is wrong to incite violence and hatred and there will be times when state authorities will need to curb liberty temporarily to protect people and save lives. The bar, however, must be set extremely high and we must strive, always, to enable journalists, whistle-blowers and watchdogs to serve their vital democratic function.   Let us resist the slide to censorship, committing instead to scrutiny, opposition and dissent. Freedom of expression is the lifeblood of modern democracy. Right now, it needs our help. Visit the related web page
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