Saturday, May 23rd 2015
Jack stood among a sea of rainbows in Dublin Castle as a cacophony of cheering echoed through the summer air. Everywhere he looked, people were smiling, laughing, cheering with joy - celebrating the 'Yes' win. Sissy was on stage and had just announced that the 'Yes' side had won in a landslide victory taking 62% of the votes. Almost every county in the country had swung that way. Over a million people.
He locked eyes with Millie who winked at him, her arms wrapped around Savannah. Ciarán was shifting the face off of his flavour of the week, who Jack recognised but couldn't name. There were a lot of people kissing actually, he noted.
'I told you it'd pass,' said Paul, pulling him into a hug and kissing him on the forehead.
He caught Sissy staring at him from the stage, smiling although tears were flowing freely down her face, causing her mascara to run. She wiped the black tears away with the back of her hand and laughed, shaking her head at him in disbelief. He shrugged back at her as if to say 'oh well' smiling broadly from ear to ear and she mouthed 'we did it' to him.
Sissy was right. They had done it. Ireland had actually done it. It was legal for a gay couple to get married. He let out a roar of joy as loud as he could before he knew what he was doing, screaming into the sky as he smiled broadly, a rainbow streak painted on either cheek.
He looked around again and couldn't help but think of his mother; how disgusted she'd be if she could see him now. How disgusted she probably was that she had lost. But something about that didn't bother Jack anymore. He had spent far too many years trying to please her and he was done living his life for anyone but himself. He had finally found his chosen family, who had taught him to not only accept who he was, but to celebrate it. And there was nothing - nothing - wrong with who that was.
'Tonight is going to be fucking wild,' roared Ciarán, wrapping his arms around both Jack and Paul and pulling them into a group hug, 'we just made history boys.'
YOU ARE READING
OUT
General FictionSet against the backdrop of Ireland's historic Marriage Referendum, "OUT" explores the raw, emotional journey of 18-year-old Jack. It explores the conflicting currents of his identity and his struggles for self-acceptance when he moves to Dublin fro...
