Irish voters backed a proposal to allow gay marriage, government ministers said, making the nation the first in the world to back wedlock for same-sex couples in a referendum.
"I'm calling it," Equality Minister Aodhan O'Riordain said in a Twitter posting on Saturday in Dublin. "Key boxes opened. It's a yes. And a landslide across Dublin."
Anti-gay marriage campaigners conceded defeat, saying the backing of all political parties for a yes vote ensured the proposal would pass.
The "yes" campaign unified diverse strands of Irish society just 20 years since Ireland decriminalised gay sex, from Prime Minister Enda Kenny to U2 singer Bono and the local chief executive of Twitter Inc. The hashtag #hometovote trended on Twitter worldwide yesterday, as emigrants flooded back to Ireland to take part in the ballot.
Ireland "is an example for the rest of the world," said Frank La Rue, director of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Europe, in Florence, Italy. "Even for non-believers, the argument is still the same. Is there any difference in dignity and rights between people?"
The last few years have seen gay rights blossom in countries where it would have been unthinkable decades ago.
