Peccavi: The Marriage Equality Referendum

With the Marriage Equality Referendum now less than two weeks away the campaigns on both sides have been ramping up. Most of the No side’s efforts now seem to be going in to media and debates. The Mothers and Fathers Matter group got out first, and lost a few to an initial (illegal and ill advised) backlash from some groups who tore a few of them down and defaced a few others. That died out after a few days and outside of Dublin City centre I doubt that it happened very much. The Yes side have now come in out in force though which, when added to weather related attrition, definitely puts the balance of the battle of the posters very much on the Yes side. In Dublin at least.

That said there are a few new “No” examples. On reflection I think that this one has to be a parody. The group listed on the tag line,Irish Citizens for Liberty, are entire fictitious. And that tag line? Go on, go on, go on. Careful now. I’ve seen pictures on line of some Iona Institute “Vote No, Think of the Children” posters that I’d like to get a shot of but I haven’t seen any yet. That means our rather bemused stock photo student here is the sole No example for this post.

On the Yes front the mega banners are now appearing. This one on Liberty Hall is probably the biggest. So far at any rate. It’s about twice as tall as Joe Caslin’s “The Cladagh Embrace”. Which might (or might not) have been a Yes poster of some sort or other.

BelongTo’s banner on Parliament Street and Mick Wallace’s trademark pink banner on Ormond Quay are basically unmissable.

Outhouse, not unsurprisingly, have their building on Capel Street decorated fairly thoroughly and the Camden DeLuxe Hotel has the most animated sign. That I’ve seen at any rate.

The posters in Bear on William Street South really caught my eye. It is either the original photograph that “The Cladagh Embrace” was based on, or an amazingly faithful re-enactment. Either way, Bear wins big on style points from me. Edited to add: Apparently it is the original, taken by photographer Sean Jackson.

Nobody could be in any doubt about which side Rory O’Neill is on.

I hadn’t noticed anything new on the Street Art front for a few days but Fink’s new piece on the Barley Mow on Francis Street is simple but very effective and Cyclebike’s roller shutters are cute.

The slap-tag crew haven’t been idle.

HEEED nails it.

Frozen Yogurt for Equality. Yogism set a fairly high standard for a business nailing its colours to the window. I’m also going to be keeping an eye out to see if Pablo Picante’s #GAYFORADAY hashtag gets any traction, hopefully it goes totally viral.

Damn Fine Print in Smithfield had some intriguing posters all barred up when I wandered past on Sunday.

The shops on Drury Street all appear to have been trying to out do each other.

As far as more traditional posters are concerned “Vote With Us” win on demonstrating how participatory democracy is something we can all do if we care and also for the record I think this is the greatest referendum poster of all time; It warms the mathematical cockles of my nerdy little heart.

Smaller groups are also starting to crop up. I was really impressed to see one of my local councillors getting posters out and organizing a public meeting.

Labour’s posters went up quite late but they appear to have decided to target areas outside of the main centres. This seems to be an effective strategy. The “print your own” posters from http://equalityposters.ie are still cropping up all over the place too.