#PinGate.
Aodhán O’Riordan TD, Ireland’s Minister of State for Equality, was asked to remove a pin supporting a ‘Yes’ vote in the upcoming Marriage Referendum by Brendan O’Connor, the host of the Saturday Night Show, last night.
O’Riordan, who was appearing on the show to discuss the National Drugs Strategy, was asked by O’Connor to remove the pin, which contained the word ‘Yes’ spelled out in rainbow colours, with O’Connor rather clumsily pointing out that he did so in the interests of balance.
A video of the incident was posted on Twitter last night by Scott De Buitléir, who recently left his job as a presenter at the national broadcaster because of their stance on the Marriage Referendum, and it was circulated widely online last night.
https://twitter.com/scottdebuitleir/status/597155231642853378
O’Riordan himself made light of the incident on his own Twitter account last night, even spawning the hashtag #PinGate in the process, but the reaction of some of his fellow Twitter users was a little bit more heated.
#PinGate@YesEquality2015 pic.twitter.com/m9x57HzwAw
— Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (@AodhanORiordain) May 9, 2015
Anyone have a spare 'yes' pin?
Gave mine away & need it for Marriage Equality rally with @lgbtNOISE in Merrion Sq at 2pm tomorrow. #MarRef— Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (@AodhanORiordain) May 9, 2015
Down with this sort of pin #pingate #MarRef
— Dearbhail McDonald (@DearbhailDibs) May 10, 2015
https://twitter.com/Mark_O_Meara/status/597312320260407296
Between now and May 23rd the following words are banned on @rte: yes, yup, yeah, no, nope nah and homophobia #PinGate #marref
— Annie Hoey (@hoeyannie) May 9, 2015
This just in. Required attire for appearance on TV shows #pingate pic.twitter.com/fzj7cHyZyx
— Annie West (@anniewestdotcom) May 9, 2015
O'Riordain being asked to remove that pin is as crazy as if the Archbishop of Dublin was asked to remove a crucifix. Beyond bizarre #PinGate
— John McGuirk (@john_mcguirk) May 9, 2015
https://twitter.com/HelenORahilly/status/597167104853311488
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