Ireland may well approve same-sex marriage today

It's not clear if Friday's referendum to allow same-sex marriage in traditionally Catholic Ireland will pass, but the fact that it might signals a pretty rapid turnaround for a country that only decriminalized homosexuality in 1993. If the Irish approve the gay-marriage proposal, the Republic of Ireland will be the first country to do so by popular vote. The polls suggest the measure has a good chance of passing, though it's unclear if conservative sections of rural Ireland will turn out in large numbers to defeat the referendum.

The Catholic bishops of Ireland are opposed to the measure, but some parish priests publicly support it, as do some conservative political parties. "In many ways, Ireland hasn't changed because the Irish people have always been tolerant, decent, and compassionate," Sen. David Norris, 70, told The New York Times. "But you've still got to say that it's extraordinary to have once been considered a criminal and now I might be able to marry — if anyone would have me, that is!"

In majority protestant Northern Ireland, the government has voted down three recent proposals to join the rest of the United Kingdom in allowing same-sex marriage.

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