DUBLIN – As Ireland voted in a first in the world referendum yesterday to allow same-sex marriage, one aspect of the referendum, unnoticed by anybody except a solitary reporter, remains to be disclosed.
Several months ago, the solitary reporter discovered, tucked away in an obscure footnote in the Emerald Isle’s Constitution, a provision which states: “Any referendum proposing to amend this Constitution which in any fashion touches on the rights of women, including a referendum proposing to permit same-sex marriage, shall also include a provision challenging the Church of Rome’s teachings with respect to reproductive rights.”
Thus, in voting for same-sex marriage, the voters of Ireland also simultaneously repealed Ireland’s ban on abortions, even though only a tiny percentage of the voting public was aware of what they were doing.
The nation’s Taoiseach, or Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, who condemned the Vatican in 2011 for failing properly to investigate clergy sexual abuses against children, embraced the solitary reporter and thanked him for all he did to liberate Ireland’s women.
Elsewhere, in Washington, Tea Party presidential candidate Rand Paul was ostracized by his Senate colleagues for preventing them from leaving the Senate Chamber for their Memorial Day vacation until after 1:30 AM today, as he succeeded in blocking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s attempts to keep the USA Patriot Act alive. "We'll have to kick him out of the Senate," Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nevada) said.
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