For my entire life, a 20+ point win for the Irish meant one thing. Notre Dame football had beat up on Navy, Pitt, Purdue or, every once in awhile, USC. Go Irish.

Today, media outlets are reporting that voters in Ireland overwhelmingly passed – by a 24 point margin – a referendum to legalize same-sex marriage. Go Irish, indeed. Ireland. Catholic Ireland.

It has been amazing to watch this latest civil rights movement. Public opinion has shifted so rapidly on the issue that even many gay marriage advocates can hardly believe it. And now, heavily Catholic Ireland has voted 62%-38% in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage over the objections of Catholic bishops but with the votes of millions of church-goers.

“I think this is a moment that rebrands Ireland to a lot of folks around the world as a country not stuck in tradition but that has an inclusive tradition,” said Ty Cobb, the international director of the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington-based advocacy group.

Rebranding. Come to Ireland not just for the pubs and beauty and golf but because we are inclusive and concerned about equal rights for all. Run with that, Irish Tourist Board.

While Irish voters were preparing to go to the polls, my daughter and I took in after all the terrible things I do, a new play at the Huntington Theater by A. Rey Pamatmat. The play is beautifully written and acted and well worth seeing. It portrays how difficult it still is to grow up gay in America in 2015.

There is a line in the play that perhaps offers the most hope for progress. The Filipina shop owner discloses that it was her Catholic priest that tells her to just love her gay son. Don’t ignore it. Don’t try to change him. Don’t torture him. Just love him.

Activists and judges have led the way on gay marriage. But now millennials are convincing their parents and barriers are falling across the globe. Parishioners in Ireland have voted. Pope Francis is setting a new tone.  Is it impossible to imagine a gay marriage in a Catholic church in the future?