What Are All the Rainbow Flags For?

They’re everywhere, you can’t miss them. On all the government buildings, on all the major street corners. Hanging from pubs, shops and balconies. Rainbows everywhere the eye can see.

Honeybun’s question was innocent enough as we rode around on Dublin’s hop-on-hop-off bus. But hubby wasn’t ready for the question and it wasn’t until the next day he told me it even came up. “I wasn’t sure what to tell her when she asked.”

As we came upon the next set of flags, I pointed them out to her, asked her if she knew why they were all over the city and she shook her head. She’s nearly 7 but more mature than any child I’ve ever known. We’ve talked About how she just “gets the world” since she was a tiny baby.

I talked to her bluntly:

“A few moths ago the Irish people all voted on whether or not boys should be able to marry boys and if girls could marry girls. The people of Ireland decided that all people should be able to marry anyone they want to marry. And they’re very proud of their choice so they put the flags up to show that they are proud of the choice they made. You know, Ireland was one of the first countries to say it doesn’t have to be a boy and girl who get married. Even a lot of places in America it’s still not allowed for boys to marry boys or girls to marry girls.”

I let the information settle a little as I watched her scan the flags all around her. Then I asked, “What do you think of all that?”

She promptly and assertively replied: “I think it’s a good choice. People should be able to marry whoever they love.” I pulled her in for a squeeze as we walked and said “I think that, too.”

It wasn’t until later in the day when we returned to our hotel for the night that I found out my last statement was no longer true. I can now proudly tell my daughters that America is like Ireland and anyone can marry whomever they choose to love.

Though, I wish we had been able to vote it into law as Ireland did. It’s a bit ironic that the US is seen as such a liberal, low-moral society by the world and we had to have equal marriage guaranteed by the supreme court. Yet tiny little Ireland, known for its strict Catholics and harsh abortion bans (among other things) were able to accomplish the same thing by popular vote.

These recent rulings and votes just show how little any of us really know about the world. How little we can actually assume. How little any of the preconceived notions we have of others actually matter.

I have spent years arguing against the ridiculous stereotypes of the Irish and Americans alike. I have come to know and love both places. I have traveled much of the Western world and can appreciate the ways of each culture and society.

I try to walk the streets every day and smile at the people I pass. I am polite to everyone I am around, not just those who are like me. I work every second to teach my children to see the beauty and wonder in people’s differences, not point them out or judge.

I see the world as a beautiful, colorful, mixed up and amazingly odd place and I am happy to be a member of it.