Ireland welcomes gay marriage; how about pretty Connemaras?

Ireland’s overwhelming approval of gay marriage on May 23, 2015, seems a bit out of character for a country known for its rejection of diversity.

After all, this is a country that throws out a large portion of its Connemaras because they don’t have the right “look.”

Only rugged Connemaras are allowed. Pretty horses are excluded.

Connemara societies the world over stand for bigotry more than anything else now, as inspections and bullying of nonconformers have become a top priority.

So how did Ireland, where being gay was illegal as late as 1993, become the first country worldwide to approve gay marriage by a national popular vote?

According to analysts, proponents of gay marriage deftly employed social media to mobilize young, first-time voters. Young people made this happen.

Old white conservative men were likely among the 750,000 voters who said no, while young people who don’t harbor the same bigotry were among the 1.2 million voters who said yes.

Catholic Church leaders said the vote represented a social revolution in Ireland, and the church had obviously drifted away from its youth and “urgently” needed to find a new message.

Unfortunately, old white men still run the Connemara society in Ireland and have come to no such conclusion. Other breeders around the world, again older, still follow their lead.

In the end, younger horsemen will force Connemara societies to stop judging Connemaras by whether they are Connemara enough (coarse enough) to fit in.

Connemara inspections are on the wrong side of history.

Such intolerance of diversity will never stand the test of time.

Does the American Connemara Pony Society want to continue to throw good money after bad with these inspections? Or will it finally ditch this bigotry and move on to more productive activities that might promote the breed in a positive light and make all breeders feel valuable?