As you may or may not have known, on the 22nd (the day I’m writing this), Ireland had a referendum to change two parts of our constitution.

Now normally, as a 21 year old, I couldn’t really give a damn about voting in referendums. I mean, most of the time it’s about some trade agreement with Europe that will have some result that won’t really effect me.

This is the exact same. In this case we’re talking about lowering the age to run for presidency (a role which in Ireland has little meaning) and whether we should legalise gay marriage.

And the result is the same. I don’t give a damn. Will it effect my life? I’m straight, but I have some gay friends…but so what? And I don’t plan to run for president any time soon, if at all

But it’s a different form of not giving a damn. In this case, the outcome will have noticeable results. I may not be involved in the LGBT movement, but I know the changes being rejected would be extremely damaging for members of it. Ultimately it’s about looking at what I see as better for this small little country.

So let’s break it down:

The opposition will say that a yes vote is harmful, but that’s not the case. It will effect children yes, but only those who grow up gay or bi or any variation therein. Yes, they’ll develop differently…arguably better, when the LGBT community are no longer seen as 2nd class citizen.

Will we have to allow surrogacy? Pretty sure that’s already covered.

So it’s voting in a way which will cause the least harm. Allowing gay people to marry will not benefit me, but it won’t harm me either. With regards to this country treating all our citizens as equals can only be a good thing.

And sure why not allow younger people to run for presidency while we’re at it? No harm in that either

It might happen that when I die I’ll be talking to whatever deity there is and He (or She) will tell me that we damned ourselves by voting yes. But you know what, if that does happen, then at least we’ll know that we made the world brighter for our fellow man/woman.

Only thing I’ll regret is when our 21 year old president is pissing around on Candy Crush rather than doing the bare minimum