Send Love Home for Marriage Equality

The initial idea for this video came from the fear that I, as a person living abroad, was somewhat removed from the discussion, and unable to appeal directly to those who had decided on a no vote to change their minds, due to my inability to canvas in Ireland and engage more physically with the debate there. What myself, David and Oliver learned during the process of making the video was that this fear was shared by all involved, deepened by the fact that many involved were unable to fly home to cast their own vote and therefore needed more desperately to change the minds of others. Some of those who contributed had been incorrectly told by their universities that they would be able to vote from abroad, and who were left feeling frustrated and helpless when they were re-informed that this was in fact not the case. Others were simply uncomfortable with watching a debate that so heavily impacted on their personal lives take place from beyond their reach.

We decided to use our physical remove from the debate in Ireland to appeal to potential no-voters to perhaps view the referendum from the perspective of the world beyond Ireland, a perspective we all have, and consider seriously how the implications of a negative result in the referendum might affect the international status and reputation of our country before choosing to vote no. However, we still worried that the message wouldn’t reach who we wanted it to. Most of those contributing to the video existed within social circles consisting mostly of yes voters, meaning that sharing this video with our friends and family through social media didn’t necessarily mean reaching any potential no-voters. Not only has Stephen Fry sharing the video emphasised massively the international perspective we hope potential no-voters will adopt before making their decision final, it has also meant that the video has reached a much more large and diverse audience than we could have otherwise hoped, and hopefully made some people re-think their stance on such a serious matter. And we are incredibly grateful.

Words: Cara Spelman