On May 22, Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage through popular referendum, with 62 percent of the electorate supporting the constitutional change. The reported reactions, as you might expect, were overwhelmingly positive. Prime Minister Enda Kenny proclaimed, during a press conference, “Ireland, thank you.” Joe Biden brought the Irish poet William Butler Yeats to bear on the proceedings, enjoining Americans to “not wait to strike till the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking.” And Irish drag-queen Panti Bliss—real name Rory O’Neill—in response to a reporter’s query into how she/he would celebrate the success of the referendum, quipped, “My plans for tonight are to get really really drunk and then to hit on you.”
But if Irish voters think the world’s progressives are going to be impressed with them . . . well, as if on cue to prove that living up to the progressive stamp is as impossible as a Yahoo ruling a Houyhnhnm, the European Committee of Social Rights, designed to “judge that States . . . are in conformity in law and in practice with the provisions of the European Social Charter,” leveled a rather un-progressive charge against Ireland last week. As it turns out, Irish common law still allows parents who corporally punish their children recourse to the “reasonable chastisement” defense. This offends the good people at the Council of Europe, of which Ireland is a member, who point to Article 17 of the charter, which states “children and young persons have the right to appropriate social, legal and economic protection.” Consider yourself chastised, Ireland.
