The Twitter Hashtag #Men4Yes Is Restoring People's Faith In Humanity

As we start to count down the days until the referendum it's turning into a divisive and personal campaign. Thankfully Twitter shone a ray of light on a side of the debate that hasn't really been covered.

Yesterday the hashtag #men4yes began to trend on Irish Twitter. The personal stories of men helping their partners through difficult pregnancies and recalling their parent's struggle to access reproductive health care reminded us of the support shown to LGBTQIA people during the marriage equality campaign.

Ranging from serious to light-hearted, here's what some of the men of Ireland had to say about the referendum:

I'm voting yes because my friend (I was groomsman at their wedding) had to carry his semi-conscious wife on to a plane in Dublin airport in order to save her life because of the 8th. It has to go#men4yes #repealthe8th

— Cllr. John Campbell (@Cllr_Campbell) April 24, 2018

Big bag of reproductive rights with the lads. #men4yes

— Steve Furlong (@Sfurkles) April 24, 2018

My sister's fiancé is flying out of Ireland on 25th for a stag. He changed his flight so he could vote. He also offered to pay to change everyone else's w/o saying a word #repealhero #men4yes #together4yes

— Gillian Kearns (@KearnsGillian) April 24, 2018

Because my mum, my sister and my girlfriends stood with me when I demanded equality. Let's not allow the momentum to slow. Here's to a more tolerant and compassionate Ireland. #men4yes

— Fintan Warfield (@fintanwarfield) April 24, 2018

Great to see the #men4yes movement emerging. Too often men have orchestrated & overseen the repression of the rights of women in Ireland. #repealthe8th is a historic opportunity to help right this wrong & create an Ireland of compassion, equality and love.

— Ruairí McKiernan (@ruairimckiernan) April 24, 2018

So glad to see #men4yes emerge.
I’m voting yes because, as a man, there is no medical procedure unavailable to me to protect my life or my health.
I want the same for women.#TáDoMhná

— Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (@AodhanORiordain) April 24, 2018

I'm voting Yes as my mother had to get a boat from France to England in 1973 (abortion was illegal in France at the time) to have an abortion. The fact that 45 years later Irish women are still being treated like cattle to be shipped across the sea is utterly vile. #men4yes

— Jimmy Dignam (@JimmyDignamWP) April 24, 2018

One group of men that have been practically invisible during the campaign is trans men who are impacted by the Eighth Amendment. The hashtag gave trans men the opportunity to share their concerns:

hi there
trans man with a functioning uterus
I can get pregnant
sound #men4yes

— Marz (@Feckinq) April 24, 2018

#men4yes because I am a man with a uterus, so this referendum concerns my own bodily autonomy

— Jamie (@MxJamieHowell) April 24, 2018

You can tell we're #men4yes because it took four of us to hang one @together4yes poster outside the @CorkTogether4Y office pic.twitter.com/b8lyzxqHF9

— Luke Field @ #Together4Yes (@LukePField) April 24, 2018

Men sharing their stories became a galvanizing force for many that the movement needed after the Repeal mural was censored:

#men4yes feels like the bit at the end of The Two Towers when everything is dark and all of a sudden the sun comes up and a horn blows and a sea of ridey men come rolling over the crest of a hill.

What I mean is that's its a nice galvanising moment of support OK?

— Sarah Ní Riain (@froodie) April 24, 2018

One thing is clear from reading all the men sharing their stories and beliefs, equality is sexy: