The Irish voted en masse to legalize gay marriage

Ireland has become the first country in the world where citizens supported the legalization of same-sex marriage in a referendum, official results showed.

More than 60 percent of voters voted in yesterday's referendum, which is the highest turnout for any referendum in Ireland in more than two decades.

The leader of the campaign against the legalization of same-sex marriage and the director of the Iona Catholic Institute, David Quinn, conceded defeat.

Quinn said the votes counted so far show twice as many people voted for legalization.

"Well done and I congratulate the side that advocated for an affirmative answer (in the referendum). I am somewhat disappointed, but at the same time I approach it philosophically," Quinn said.

His Iona colleague John Murray said his side were bracing themselves for certain defeat.

"I think the Yes camp won. The turnout was unprecedented. It was really moving today in Ireland," Equality Minister Aodan O'Rirdan told Reuters at the main counting center in Dublin.

The turnout in Ireland's historic referendum on legalizing same-sex gay sex was much higher than expected, with an estimated majority voting "yes".

About 3,2 million Irish people had the right to vote in the referendum.

Legalizing gay marriage would be a seismic shift in the traditionally Catholic republic, where homosexuality was illegal until 1993 and abortion is still banned except when the mother's life is at risk.

The results of polls before the referendum showed that the majority of voters will vote for the legalization of same-sex marriage.

However, legalization supporters have warned for weeks about the large number of shy, mostly rural and elderly voters who would vote against legalization, and were not very vocal during the campaign before the referendum.

The legalization of same-sex marriages is supported by all leading political parties, while the Catholic Church is against it.

At the referendum, the voters were asked whether they wanted to add an article to the constitution that reads: "Marriage can be concluded by two people in accordance with the law, regardless of their gender."