As America goes to the polls to elect the 44^th President of the United States, a previously little known gun totting social conservative, with hard-line views on abortion, gay rights and creationism have caused a media storm, breathing unpredictability into an otherwise electorally forgone conclusion.

Whilst the Palin factor has generated headlines and column inches across the States, and the world, across the Atlantic, this wee spot in Europe has been contemplating another, less famous, evangelical fundamentalist female politician, with equally uncompromising views of the society in which we live.

And so it was this summer, that Iris Robinson, the wife of the First Minister, embarked on an astonishing series of attacks directed at the provinces gay community.

She appeared on BBC Radio Ulster one June morning to belittle the forthcoming Belfast Pride parade, insisting, unsurprisingly, that neither she nor her husband would be in attendance as it was an abomination.

Less than a week later a young man was severely attacked in Ballyduff on the outskirts of Belfast in what the police described as a homophobic attack.

Two days after this attack Mrs Robinson was back on the same BBC show to insist that she had a psychiatrist who worked with her who had a track record in curing’ gay people from their lifestyle choices’.

The inference was clear – this young man was attacked because he was gay, so Iris’s solution was not to challenge the societal homophobia which manifests itself so violently, but challenge the victims of such brutality to change their ways, thus no longer making them a target.

Not content to simply dispense her, albeit questionable, Bible based moral guidance to the LGBT population of Ulster, Mrs Robinson offered a legal -social commentary, by proclaiming during a House of Commons Grand Committee debate that there can be no viler act, apart from homosexuality, than the abuse of innocent children.

Overnight she surpassed the folksy, you betcha, social conservatism of Palin and became something all together more disturbing a hate mongering ayatollah on a moral crusade.

Northern Ireland is, of course, not alien to such medieval bigotry. Last year a joint University of Ulster / University of Queensland study placed the province as the homophobic capital of the west. But the Robinson saga clearly indicated a shift within wider society from passive indifference to outright horror that political leaders in a community with a history such as ours could still hold such a propensity for hatred towards a minority.

An online petition calling for the Prime Minister to censure Mrs Robinson attracted 18,000 plus signatories. Similarly the Belfast Telegraph conducted its own poll, which, on a parochial level, showed some 70% of respondents in favour of her resigning.

These actions, whilst not materialising into some formal governmental reprimand, clearly helped harness broad public opinion and mobilise and unite the gay community over Pride week, culminating in a parade attracting over 7,000 participantSeand featuring representatives of every political party in Northern Ireland, save, of course, Mrs Robinson’s Democratic Unionists.

Northern Ireland’s last acceptable prejudice was finally being challenged across the socio-political spectrum.

Paradoxically, despite the best efforts of the DUP and their cohorts, the gay community in Northern Ireland is thriving, particularly outside the established scene in Belfast and Londonderry.

A new bar has recently opened in the border town of Strabane, whilst regular club nights have arrived in the towns of Newry and Bangor.

And our new gay rugby side, The Ulster Titans, despite the DUP minister for sport decrying their creation as sporting apartheid, walked away with the shield at their inaugural participation at the gay rugby World Cup. Success was hailed with a three part BBC NI documentary celebrating their achievements. The documentary wasn’t voyeuristic, but rather in the typical Ulster fashion of celebrating all achievements emanating from the province regardless of sporting code or sexuality.

Meanwhile governmental funding has provided a development officer for the sector, working to establish and encourage local social and support groups in Craigavon, Lisburn, North Down and the Causeway coast.

This funding, which has underpinned the significant advances the community has made over the last number of years, is due to expire in April. It was allocated by direct rule ministers, before devolution, and as it comes to an end few of us hold out for sensible funding solutions from a DUP led executive.

We wait with baited breath for the publication of our devolved administrations Sexual Orientation Strategy in the coming months, but in this austerian age the excuses for a fledgling executive who can’t even agree to hold a meeting, are all to ready to justify withholding further funds to the community sector.

Famously Tony Blair sympathised with the plight of the moderate nationalist party the SDLP during protracted peace process negotiations, when he noted that their negotiating gravitas was hampered by the fact the did not process a paramilitary wing.

So too the gay community, which has been something of a forerunner in cross community relations in a still divided Northern Ireland, has been underfunded and marginalised by the, perceived, more pressing issue of bridging the sectarian divide.

The new political dispensation does not allow for Protestant Catholic feuding, but political expediency dictates a common enemy is useful particularly for a party whose bread and butter is bible bashing dogma. Just as Palin can deflect questions over her experience and record by playing the God card, Mrs Robinson shored up support from the evangelical core of the Democratic Unionists for her husbands succession of Ian Paisley as leader of that party. The party was not secularising or losing its moral compass by power sharing with Sinn Fein.

Robinson, like Paisley, hates the gays.

Governor Pailn may represent the cliched view of small town America, but Mrs Robinson has exemplified the finest traditions of small minded Northern Ireland.

Given that there has been a 175% increase in homophobic motivated incidents in her own constituency over the past year is it not reasonable to presume that by saying the things she has said the local MP could be stoking tension, giving a degree of kudos to those whose attitudes which are similar to Mrs Robinson’s manifest themselves not over the airwaves, but through acts of violence?

Hate crime law is vague at present, and as such there remains the possibility that by claiming gay people are worse than paedophiles the MP for Strangford is inciting hatred, even if she herself does not throw the punch, petrol bomb or brick.

Aristophanes said that under every stone lies a politician. Under the boulder of homophobia in Northern Ireland still remainSean entire party of government.

Press release from the Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights of the European Parliament
25 September 2008
For immediate release
“Members of the European Parliament condemn the attack at the opening of the Sarajevo Queer Festival.”
Yesterday the opening of the Sarajevo Queer Festival was brutally attacked and 6 people had to be taken to hospital. The festival is a first of its kind organised in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but unfortunately it has caused negative tensions in the society. Many extremist groupSeand politicians have openly called for violence against homosexual and transgender people.
“We strongly condemn the attacks against the Sarajevo Queer Festival. It is a cowardly behaviour to challenge the views one disagrees with by violence”, said Michael Cashman, President of the Intergroup. “I also need to point out that Bosnia-Herzegovina wants to become a member of the European Union and the country should clearly show that it is ready for membership. AuthoritieSeand society at large must show that they can respect the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people not just in law, but also in practice. Respect for Human rights is at the heart of EU membership”
Sirpa Pietik inen, Vice-President of the Intergroup for the EPP-ED added, “ReligiouSeand political leaders should be aware that the violence of yesterday is a result of their homophobic speeches. They must understand that is not acceptable. Politicians should have the courage to stand up against any kind of violence and protect human rights of every citizen.”
ENDS
For further information on the Intergroup please visit our website:
http://www.lgbt-ep.eu
Representatives of European Parliament’s Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights:
President: Michael Cashman MEP (UK/PSE)
Vice-President: Lissy Gr ner MEP (DE/PSE)
Vice-President: Sophie in ‘t Veld MEP (ALDE)
Vice-President: Ra l Romeva MEP (G/EFA)
Vice-President: Sirpa Pietik inen MEP (EPP-ED)

Wee (upstart) took an interest in Pride Cornwall partly because it is a new matter. And partly because we have received reports over the past year about misbehaviour on the part fo the po9lice and social services in the County.
I went down to Truro, with my new camera, (maybe I should have read the instructions), to see the Pride for myself.
Either our reports are of very isolated events, or the Pride committee decided that a point could be made better with a smile than with a scowl. I had a chat with Andrew Jolly (‘… as in Father Christmas…’ as he put it. Clearly a man who has heard all the ‘jokes’. I think he was slightly puzzled about my making a bit of a big deal about ‘solidarity’. He said that there had been 500 on the Pride ‘march’, and that the big even that evening was sold out. It had been a most successful Pride.
The one fly in the ointment had been a number of people sitting down in the street at the start of the event. They object to a homosexual demonstration in ‘their’ city. (The possessive seem to irritate Andrew, but that is the style of ‘Bible’ Protestants. They handed out a fairly non-specific glossy tract. They are the Truro Evangelical Church. It has connections with a League of Independent Evangelical Churches. As they did not ask their colleagues about the country to help them, they are (probably) not going to be a long-term nuisance for Pride. (But they will need watching. The Christian Institute may feel the need to provide them with lots of money).
I was on the parade, and talked to an took photographs (which may never be accessible) of lots of people. Starting with a large … jolly… man wearing a black kilt. I asked him if it was a Cornish kilt. ‘No, it’s a Gay kilt!’ I photographed Patches a very handsome greyhound (with traces of border collie?). And a very handsome young man called Richard.
Richard was dressed in ‘Elizabethan’ costume. I didn’t ask if it was some particular ‘Elizabethan’ – these adventurous chaps tended to turn into mass-murderers if they put foot on Irish soil. There were a fair number of people in ‘uniform’ including the man who seemed to be Master of Ceremonies. He wore a modern (British) army Lieutenant’s jacket (but no shirt – and very nice it all was too). He should award himself another pip for this year’s work.
I mention this as a simple observation, there were two people in wheel-chairs on the march (I am not entirely sure if the ‘walk’ was described as a ‘march’). As you may gather from other reports I’m not over-fond of the word, in this context anyway. There were probably more women than men, and lots of dogs (not all as fabulously beautiful as Patches). There were also lots of nice young men (not all as… well…).
The Polis were not out in large numbers. ?Before the Christian Institute got the head-bangers out in Belfast, the RUC / PSNI loved Pride. They had to be out in large numbers because ‘marches’ are contentious in NornIrl. But Pride was just a wee Dander with friendly people (and they got paid for it!).
We had to climb a hill at the end of the parade. ?Proving that the committee is made up of under-forties. There was also a very narrow path into the park which was our destination. It made for a spectacular, near medieval sight as banners had to be carried at odd angles. They were the banners of Pride, Unison, the PCS union, and the Gay Gordons, from London. (A passer-by tried to put on a sour face, and rather succeeded, until he started steppin’ and leppin’). There were other banners.
One major oddity was that the drum band was at the very back of the parade. It was a rather good drum band, made up entirely (I think) of young fellas. They weren’t just at the back. Their sound was hidden behind a float. Live music is invaluable on this sort of demonstration. They should have been at the front. This is not just a bee in my bonnet. Orange Lodges, which know a lot about parades, go to great trouble and expense to procure the services of decent bands.

” I slightly disagree with the line [Peter Tatchell has] taken on this. The story re-emerged when Jonathan Wynne-Jones at The Daily Telegraph rang me some weeks ago now about an article he was doing for The Sunday Telegraph. Evidently I’d referred to Newman and St. John’s burial together a couple of years ago in another interview for the life of me, I couldn’t remember it! After The Sunday Telegraph piece appeared, in which my comments were paraphrased rather than accurately quoted, I got accused by various fundamentalist Catholic blogs of smearing’ Newman see Catholic Action UK ! The story has rumbled on ever since. I, of course, immediately checked that chapter in The Friend [Alan Bray, The Friend, Chicago Press, chapter 7] for the accurate details. There’s been interesting recent coverage in The Tablet both in editorial comment and in its Letters pages.

Interest emerged again a couple of weeks ago. I did interviews with BBC Birmingham and BBC Oxford. The line I’ve been taking is as follows: It’s actually irrelevant to me where Newman is buried and preoccupation with this is a digression. Given that the word ‘homosexual’ had been barely coined when Newman was alive, it’s not entirely appropriate to suggest that he would have had such a consciousness of homosexuality’ or sexual orientation, per se, even though as you suggest, given his profound historical knowledge of the Christian tradition in its broadest sense, he would probably have been aware of the kind of things Alan Bray points to. It’s also inappropriate to read back into the 19^th Century our contemporary gay consciousness’.

I’d tend to agree with the Oratory superiors’ hypothesis that given the type of person Newman was, had he known he would be raised to the altars’, he would have been the first to submit his obedience to the demands of the Church. Nevertheless, there is simply no way the intensity and depth of his relationship with Ambrose St. John can be airbrushed out of the equation. I’m not calling for them to be exhumed and re-buried together, but cannot agree that the vocabulary used by Newman about Ambrose St. John is poetic’, as was suggested by an interviewer at BBC Oxford, probably given that lead by someone from Birmingham Archdiocese. This was proposed on the grounds that Newman was a great poet e.g writing The Dream of Gerontius , and various hymns. Even if it was poetic’, it begs the question: what level of human reality prompted such intense poetic language.

Some of those who have commented, like Peter Tatchell, reveal their ignorance of Catholic procedureSeand practice and have been too simplistic in ascribing the reason for exhumation as a desire to bury’ the Newman/St. John story. I had heard a couple of years ago that one of the reasons for the delay in confirming Newman’s path to beatification (Blessed) the interim stage in the total process to canonization (Saint) was the investigation of the nature of his relationship with Ambrose St. John. From what I have heard, Vatican officials were fully aware of its significance, but needed to be assured that such a relationship did not compromise the mutual commitments to priestly celibacy that both Newman and St. John had made as members of the Oratory. This would be perfectly consistent with the current state of Catholic teaching on homosexuality which distinguishes between sexual orientation and sexual activity. In the various interviews I’ve given, I’ve stated very clearly that there is no evidence or suggestion that either of them compromised the demands of celibacy.

The procedures for beatification the first international and public stage in the process to canonization, as opposed to the Venerable’ status which Newman currently enjoys as part of a local (Birmingham/UK) process requires that the body is verified as being whom it is claimed to be, and therefore a requirement for exhumation. Fragments of bone or other verifiable body matter are then taken as 1^stClass relics’, one being preserved in the Vatican, and others locally. This is the stage where such bodies are usually re-interred in a suitable place for public veneration. There have been all sorts of problems relating to Rednal Cemetery between the Oratory and the local authority. I’ve never been there, but I gather it’s surrounded by a pretty grotty housing estate, and access is a nightmare. The Birmingham Oratory and the Archdiocese are clearly aware that Newman will attract many pilgrims from all over the world, and the current burial place simply could not cope with this. It is also unprecedented for someone who is not a candidate for canonization to be enshrined with someone who is. This applies to married heterosexual couples as much as to anyone else. Roman Catholic canon law and procedures could not allow formal public veneration of someone whose life has not been investigated in the same way, and to whom so-called miracles have not been ascribed. The only couples I am aware of who have been interred together in this way are those who are BOTH candidates for sainthood, and these are few and far between.

I have no doubt that there are many in the Vatican who might wish to use such exhumation to bury any homo-positive notions about Newman, just as all sorts of religious authorities, and not just Roman Catholic, have done at various periods throughout history with regard to issues around the place and role of women, and even black people and slaves.

I’ve said that many of Newman’s biographers have attested to the times in his life when he was a tortured and anguished human being, even quite neurotic. There is also a degree of evidence from other sources about his effeminacy, not that this should, of course be equated with a homosexual orientation. If sainthood is about being the best possible human being you are intended to be, then there can be no doubt that part of Newman’s journey towards such a human betterment must be ascribed to the fulfillment achieved through this relationship with Ambrose St. John. Just as many married clergy would say that their vocation and ministry is enhanced because of their Marriage rather than in spite of it, so I’m sure Newman’s life was enhanced by his intense friendship with St. John. It contributed to him becoming the better human being he became, and hence now being venerated by so many CatholicSeand others as a saintly Doctor of the Church.

Underlying this, as well, is the concern in some Vatican quarters that Newman’s sainthood should not be politicised’, e.g. that he be claimed as a gay patron saint’ for example. Such politicising’ reservations have been made in more recent times about Archbishop Romero of El Salvador [I am very familiar with the progress of is beatification process]. In the current Vatican climate of a return to pre-Vatican II models of Church and understandings of theology and ritual, there could also be concerns about how some of Newman’s key theological insights are promoted in the contemporary Roman Catholic Church: the development of doctrine, issues of authority and reception of teaching by the body of the faithful, the rights of conscience, etc.

Link to Wikipedia: ?John Henry Newman and Ambrose St. John, also extract from ‘Life of Cardinal Newman’ about Ambrose

I unfortunately was unable to attend the Belfast Pride this year; but I was there in spirit as I was one of the
organisers who organised the first Prides in Belfast, and well remember our small but die-hard numberSeand the every present religious organisations who presented themselves at the City Hall against our community.
The photos (link here) which have been provided by one of the Pride walkers indicates that Pride has got bigger and better, and that some (but not all) political partieSeand unions have realised that ‘human rights’ is something for everyone.
I am also prividing links to the Belfast Telegraph (One and Two), which this year has carried two video commentaries on the Pride festival – well done to them.