Our Lives Out Loud

Book excerpt: A fascinating story of love and campaigning for equality and social justice. When Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan met it was love. It has been love through twenty-seven years together. But that love had consequences which brought this couple to the High Court, and beyond. They met at Boston College. Returning to Ireland, their relationship had to be kept secret. Jobs were at stake, and elevation to positions of authority could be jeopardised. What would happen if one of them died? Only a married couple received the support of the state in such circumstances. Ireland rejected their Canadian marriage and they had to make a huge decision: to go public and fight or to stay quiet and suffer the consequences? Here they offer their deeply personal story – out loud for all to read. Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu