Colin Farrell has called on Ireland to vote for gay marriage in next year’s referendum – insisting it’s “insane” his brother couldn’t wed here.
The Hollywood star – whose brother Eamon is gay – says the vote is “so personal” to him and says we have “a chance to make history”.
He added: “The forthcoming referendum is so personal to me. It’s about inclusion. It’s about fairness.
Close: Colin’s brother Eamon and husband Steven Mannion | VIPIRELAND.COM
“It’s about giving our lesbian and gay brother and sisters back a right that should never have been stolen from them in the first place.”
The Dubliner’s brother Eamon married his partner Steven five years ago in Canada because its not legal in Ireland, which Colin says is “insane”.
“They are about the healthiest couple I know. They had to travel a little farther than down the aisle to make their vows, though, to Canada, where their marriage was celebrated,” he said.
“This is why this is personal to me. The fact that my brother had to leave Ireland to have his dream of being married become real is insane. INSANE.”
Role: Colin on screen in Miss Julie
The Minority Report actor says his brother was “always proud of who he was” even when being bullied at school for his sexuality.
“Eamon did not choose to be gay, no more than I chose to be straight. It’s all a trick, a sleight of nature,” he writes in the Sunday World.
“I don’t know where those bullies are now, the ones who beat him regularly. Maybe some of them have found peace and would rather forget their own part of a personal past.
“Maybe they’re sitting on bar stools and talking about ‘birds and faggots’ and why one’s the cure and the other the disease.
Brothers: Colin spotted out in Dublin with Eamon | VIPIRELAND.COM
“But I do know where my brother is. He’s at home in Dublin living in peace and love with his husband of some years, Steven.
Now Colin feels this is “a chance for us to arise”. He said: “We have a chance to effect a change that’s about recognising no one’s love is greater than another by virtue of tradition.”
He added: “It’s time to right the scales of justice… it is for all of us that civil marriage equality must be realised.
“There are too many things that divide us as a people, let this not me another one.”
