Ireland will vote on a gay marriage referendum next year, and one of the country’s most famous sons, actor Colin Farrell, has written a passionate plea for marriage equality. Inspired by his brother, Eamon, who was bullied at school for being gay, and is now happily married “in Dublin living in peace and love with his husband of some years, Steven. They are about the healthiest and happiest couple I know,” Farrell has written a letter to Irish voters in Ireland’s Sunday World newspaper. “It’s time to right the scales of justice here. To sign up and register to vote next year so that each individual’s voice can be heard. How often do we get to make history in our lives? Not just personal history. Familial. Social. Communal. Global. The world will be watching. We will lead by example.”
Vanity Fair reports that “back in 2009, Farrell served as his brother’s best man both for that ‘insane’ but legal ceremony in Canada, and the civil celebration back home in Ireland. And though he’s spoken out on numerous occasions about his frustration surrounding gay rights in Ireland, Farrell has always done so with loving respect towards his country,” quoting the actor’s words in a 2012 campaign against homophobic bullying in Irish schools. “Whether it be the attacking of gay students, which I witnessed first hand happening to my own brother, or students who are in the minority as a result of race or religious beliefs or any other such characteristic that separates them from ‘the norm,’ it is all wrong and has no place in a just and compassionate country such as I know Ireland to be.” Farrell is a vocal supporter of the YesEquality campaign. The actor is currently shooting the second season of True Detective, playing Ray Velcoro: “a compromised detective whose allegiances are torn between his masters in a corrupt police department and the mobster who owns him.” By the looks of this Facebook photo, Farrell has decided that while his detective character might be compromised, he shouldn’t hold back on the pornstache, and sports the full Magnum.
