One sunny day in late May 2015, Ireland went to the polls to vote on same sex marriage – the first country in the world to do so by public vote.  The world was watching our small nation as the future of equality for Ireland’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people was up for debate and ultimately a national decision.  The Story of Yes, a new documentary for RTÉ2 airing exactly a year later, brings us back to this momentous day, and marks another important anniversary in 2016. The story is told through the eyes of those who it mattered to most – the LGBT community and their families. Through powerful and emotional interviews, the programme will transport the viewers back to the lead up to the vote, capturing the highs and lows of the campaign as people took to the streets, their computer screens and the airways to tell their stories and fight for marriage equality.

The Story Of Yes

As a young man from the Travelling community, Johnny Maughan always felt different. Growing up all around Ireland and the UK he experienced discrimination wherever he went – in every new school, in every town he was isolated and called names – a knacker, a pikey, a gypsy – and so he learned to stick with his own. But as Johnny got older, he began feeling different even within his own community when he started to realise he was gay.