Irish artist plasters gay lovers on Dublin building to support country’s marriage equality referendum

BY NICOLE HENSLEY NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, April 12, 2015, 9:40 PM A A A
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PreviousNext* North and South America Rights Only * Irish artist Joe Caslin and a crew installed the mural overnight Sunday on a busy street in Dublin as a message for Ireland’s upcoming marriage equality referendum. Enlarge
An image of two men embracing, plastered on the side of a Dublin building, is the work of an Irish artist one month before Ireland puts marriage equality to a vote.
The touching black and white homage takes up at least four stories in Dublin as a “poignant representation of same sex love in the city,” its artist, Joe Caslin, told the Journal.
Its new presence has couples flocking to the busy street below for selfies.
The country’s marriage equality referendum is the only one of its kind in the world. It asks voters to decide whether same-sex couples can marry.
While the same-sex marriage battle in the U.S. will rely on the Supreme Court’s decision in late June, Ireland’s case will be decided by voters on May 22.
The Irish referendum would add a clause to the country’s constitution that allows marriage to be contracted by two people “without distinction as to their sex.”
Caslin’s work, reportedly inspired by a 1864 painting “The Meeting on the Turret Stairs,” went up overnight Sunday with a crew working in the rain.
He expects additional urban LGBT art to pop up around the country’s capital including a mural paying tribute to a lesbian relationship.