The result won’t be officially announced for another few hours, but all tallies show that—thanks to a higher-than-expected turnout—the Irish referendum in favor of same-sex marriage will be passed.

Emotions have been running high in the country since Thursday, when the #HomeToVote hashtag began trending on twitter. As it became clear that thousands of Irish people were travelling from every corner of the globe to cast their vote, fears of complacency and low-turn out started to diminish.

And optimism for a “Yes” result began to soar.

This is a huge day, as the country will be the first in the world to have its citizens endorse and demand the right for gay people to be able to marry their partners.

The debate around this referendum has helped many Irish people—both high profile and boy/girl next door—to find the courage to voice who they really are. It has done great things for the opening of discussion around tolerance and acceptance. While that acceptance has been prevalent for quite some time, for many it was held privately due to the conservative culture that we’re still learning to shake off.

This referendum has had a unifying effect. The country is excited to legally recognise the equality of all people regardless of sexual preferences. And the tweets and other social media posts in the last 48 hours have been particularly emotional.

Our newsfeeds were bringing us to tears—the good kind!

Tissues at the ready—here’s just a selection:

 

 

Even Hozier is taking a break from his tour:

 

And what about this—“grá” means love, in Irish.

If you want to cry some more more good tears, stay tuned for the official result later today.

 

Author: Hilda Carroll

Editor: Renee Picard 

Photo: NaomiO’Leary