Romance that drove same-sex marriage
CHILDREN’S Minister Katherine Zappone has recalled her love story with her late wife Ann – which helped change the face of Irish marriage – in a new Netflix documentary
Ms Zappone revealed it was love at first sight when she met Ann Louise Gilligan in a Boston college some 30 years ago. Their relationship was initially kept under wraps but it eventually became pivotal to the ‘Yes’ vote in the 2015 marriage equality referendum.
The documentary, titled The 34th – after the 34th Amendment to the Constitution following the historic vote – tells the story of people who drove the marriage equality movement. In it Ms Zappone recalls the moment she met Ann – who died two years after the referendum – in Massachusetts in 1981: ‘It was a love affair from the moment we met in a room in Boston College.’
Initially, their relationship was kept secret but they gradually started to tell a small circle. ‘We were studying theology in a Jesuit Catholic College in Boston, so we weren’t publicly out at all. We did start to share our relationship with close friends.’
But the American politician said she was behind their eventual decision to go public. ‘I suppose I was the driver behind that. I often think that has to do with being originally American, not really minding as much with being upfront. For Ann Louise, so sophisticated, well brought up but also Irish – you’re not inyour-face people – I think I had to convince her that it would be really important to do.’
They decided to take a case against the State after it refused to recognise their 2003 marriage in Canada. ‘We wrote the Registrar General to say, “We’d just like to register our marriage,” and we wrote to the Revenue Commissioner to change our tax status.
‘And that’s when we received, that incredible letter [from the Revenue Commissioner] that said, “Dear Ladies, we can’t give you a change of tax status because the definition of marriage here in Ireland was between a man and a woman.” We said, “That’s the letter that we need to go to court.”’
The documentary spans a decade, culminating in the 34th Amendment allowing same-sex marriage. nThe 34th is on Netflix.