Artist Joe Caslin has once again made a larger-than-life effort on behalf of marriage equality.
The Irish native created a spectacular, five-story mural titled “Love Wins,” which depicts a lesbian couple sharing a tender embrace on a building in downtown Belfast, Northern Ireland. The two women featured in the piece are Belfast residents who traveled to the U.S. to tie the knot, because same-sex marriage isn’t legal in their home country, Caslin told BBC Radio Ulster.
In 2015, Caslin created a similar image of two men on a building in Dublin before Ireland legalized same-sex marriage that November. His Belfast painting is part of a city-wide LGBT rights campaign with Smirnoff and was unveiled ahead of Belfast Pride, which kicked off July 29 and runs through Aug. 7.
“Northern Ireland is the only territory now on the islands of western Europe that doesn’t have same-sex marriage ― and it’s same-sex marriage, not civil partnership,” Caslin said. “I felt it was an ideal time, coming up to the Pride festival that takes place this weekend, to reignite that conversation.”
Marriage equality remains a contentious issue in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly has reportedly considered allowing same-sex couples to legally marry on five occasions. According to the BBC, four of those efforts failed to attract a majority of votes, while the final attempt was blocked by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in November 2015.
Here’s to hoping Caslin’s work will move the needle in the right direction.