Foreign Correspondent: July 21

Tonight Foreign Correspondent looks at Ireland voting “Yes” on Marriage Equality, despite a huge Catholic population.

While Australia agonises over whether to let same sex couples marry, conservative Ireland has come out with a resounding “I do”.

Just over two decades ago in Ireland a gay man could be jailed for having sex. For centuries the moral authority of the Catholic Church there went unchallenged, its word followed as gospel in people’s everyday lives.

So how did Ireland’s gay marriage referendum end up with nearly two thirds of voters backing the yes case? What united enough straights and gays, old and young, city and country folk to upend tradition and call into question the unique role of the Church?

As she travels across Ireland, from quiet rural hamlets to flamboyant LGBT marches in Dublin, reporter Sally Sara discovers that slick campaigning by the gay lobby was just part of the reason for the vote.

Families became the most potent weapon for the Yes case – especially feisty mums.

The Church dug in for a No vote. But, as one leading churchman tells Sally Sara, it was caught in a “maelstrom of confusion” with many prominent Catholics taking the Yes side. Its hand was further weakened by historic sex abuse scandals and a growing scepticism among modern Catholics.

8pm Tuesday ABC.