It is most fitting that thousands of Irish people would gather last Saturday in the courtyard of Dublin Castle to celebrate the overwhelming approval of the marriage equality referendum (“Ireland votes to legalize gay marriage,” Portland Press Herald, May 23).

Here it was in 1922 that seven centuries of British rule ended when Lord Lieutenant Edmund FitzAlan ceremoniously handed over the castle to the victorious commander-in-chief, Michael Collins, after the birth of the Irish Free State, which gave “us freedom, not the ultimate freedom that all nations desire … but the freedom to achieve it.”

The ancient walls reverberated again last Saturday as thousands of men and women shouted out their joy to advance another step to freedom: the freedom to love and marry the partner of their choice.

Robert F. Lyons

Kennebunkport


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.