Gay Marriage Murals Are Taking Over Ireland

On Friday, Ireland will hold a historic nationwide vote on legalizing same-sex marriage. If the polls are to be believed, the nation once known as a staunch Catholic stronghold will be the first to legalize gay marriage through a popular vote — and slight the ever-weakening Catholic Church while doing so. While it seems like same-sex marriage has a strong and lasting support among most Irish citizens, one Irish artist is installing gay-marriage murals across the nation in a new kind of get-out-the-vote campaign.

Over the weekend, award-winning illustrator and street artist Joe Caslin completed a 50-foot mural on the side of a four-story castle in Caherkinmonwee, a rural town in western Ireland near Galway. The massive drawing shows two women in an affectionate, not-so-platonic embrace — an unusual sight, particularly for the side of an austere 15th-century castle.

“The images that I wanted to show are things that are dignified,” Caslin told The Irish Times, “To show love, that’s essentially what it is, the equality that people should have no matter what sort of a relationship they’re in.”

This 50-foot, biodegradable art piece — installed with the help of potato-based adhesive — is a follow-up to Caslin's first pro-gay marriage mural, which was installed in Dublin last month. The first mural was of two men, so it was only logical to do a second mural featuring a lesbian couple, Caslin said.

“I didn’t want to have the piece of the two lads up and not follow it up with a female version," Caslin told The Irish Times.

And here is an image of Caslin's first same-sex marriage mural, of two men, on George Street in Dublin...

"It’s not just a single sex referendum - not all focus is on men," Caslin told The Daily Edge, an Irish website. "So from the very outset of this project, that’s we wanted to do – show the female side of marriage equality."

Caslin has previously said that he would like the murals to remain in Dublin and Galway until the referendum vote on same-sex marriage, which is scheduled for Friday.

Image: Joe Caslin/Facebook