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Colin Farrell Makes Emotional Plea for Gay Rights in His Home Country

Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell wrote an article advocating for gay rights in Ireland Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images

Just because he has a reputation for being somewhat of a bad boy off-screen, doesn't mean Colin Farrell isn't up for the task of doing some good when it comes to a cause he believes in. At this moment, that cause is gay rights, and he believes in it because he has a gay brother.

Farrell called upon the power of the pen to express his views and urge the Irish people to vote in favor of gay marriage rights. Writing in the Sunday World, the True Detective Season 2 star recounted how his older brother, Eamon, was bullied for being different while growing up and calls out the Irish government for barring Eamon from getting married even now.

"I think I found out my brother wasn't groveling in heterosexual mud like most boys our age when I was around 12," the 38-year-old actor began. "I remember feeling surprised. Intrigued. Curious. Not bi curious before you start getting ideas."

Related: Colin Farrell Opens Up About Drug and Alcohol-Filled Past

He went on to explain that though the concept of his brother's sexuality was foreign to him, he didn't feel it was innately wrong.

"I was curious because it was different from anything I'd known or heard of and yet it didn’t seem unnatural to me. I had no reference for the existence of homosexuality. I had seen, by that age, no gay couples together. I just knew my brother liked men and, I repeat, it didn't seem unnatural to me," he revealed. But, not everyone felt that way.

"My brother Eamon didn't choose to be gay," Farrell asserted before conceding, "Yes, he chose to wear eyeliner to school and that probably wasn't the most pragmatic response to the daily torture he experienced at the hands of school bullies." He quickly added, "He was always proud of who he was. Proud and defiant and, of course, provocative."

He then took aim at the government, citing the fact that Eamon had to travel to Canada (where same-sex marriage is recognized) in order to wed.

"That's why this is personal to me," he lamented. "The fact that my brother had to leave Ireland to have his dream of being married become real is insane. INSANE."

He went on to say that this referendum is important. "It's about giving our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers back a right that should never have been stolen from them in the first place," he asserted. "Speaking out in support of equality in all its forms is a moral necessity if we're to have a society where peace, compassion and kindness become the ruling class. Only love in action can stamp out the wilting toxicity of the intolerant among us."

The father of two closed with a direct call to action for the Irish people.

"How often do we get to make history in our lives? Not just personal history. Familial. Social. Communal. Global. The world will be watching. We will lead by example. Let's lead toward light."

No matter how this turns out, we're certain the world feels a bit brighter for many Irish citizens thanks to Farrell's article already.

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