Two veteran voices of the British and Northern Irish centre-right – Matthew Parris and Jeff Dudgeon – have spoken almost in concert this September, their arguments converging around the same theme: the gay rights movement has travelled far, but it must now tread carefully.
Parris, writing in The Spectator (26 September), recalls the grim days of the Conservative Group for Homosexual Equality – furtive meetings in basement rooms, warm white wine, and whispered solidarity. He remembers the sniggers at the very word “homosexual” and the political tightrope between not lying and not declaring. Yet his story is also one of rapid transformation: a John Major government lowering the age of consent, an electorate largely indifferent by the 1990s, and today’s Parliament with over 9% of its members openly gay. What was once unthinkable is now embedded in public life.
But Parris insists this victory brings responsibility. He rejects the notion that “anything goes”, warning that the respect so painstakingly won could be fragile. Pride’s inflatable phalluses and a culture of loveless gratification, he argues, risk alienating a wider public that has granted tolerance based on privacy and moderation. He is wary of conflating gay and trans causes, not out of hostility but because, as he puts it, “women have rights too” and because pushing too far risks awakening dormant opposition. History, he reminds us, does not travel in straight lines: “We gays ask for respect. We need to show it, too.”
Jeff Dudgeon, writing separately, strikes a similar but sharper note. A veteran Ulster Unionist and himself a pioneer in the decriminalisation struggle in Northern Ireland, he points out that gay issues no longer command political attention. The sheer representation of LGBT MPs in Westminster – three times their proportion in the population – is itself proof that discrimination has collapsed. But the silence around this fact, he suggests, is telling. If gay men and women are already secure in law and in politics, why the continual expansion of the LGBT+ agenda? For Dudgeon, the trans debate has filled the vacuum, releasing a simmering section of the public “who don’t want homosexuality advanced as their best, as the BBC would like.”
Both men, therefore, issue the same warning in different registers. Gains are real and deep, but they are neither permanent nor beyond challenge. Hubris – whether in sexual libertinism, overreach on identity politics, or the insistence that “history is on our side” – risks provoking a backlash.
Parris couches this as conservatism in its truest sense: respectability, restraint, continuity with the wider moral codes of society. Dudgeon voices it as political realism: if gay people are already integrated, then overstating their marginalisation may exhaust public patience.
Together, they represent a generational shift in tone. The age of pleading for equality is over. The question now is how to live with it – and how not to lose it.
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It was another ordinary Friday in Belfast, though the Linen Hall Library has a way of turning the ordinary into something more. Its windows gave off their familiar glow onto Donegall Square, drawing people inside from the damp pavements. I was there for a lunchtime session on Flight from Prague – The Making of a Refugee, a book that traces one family’s escape from Czechoslovakia between September 1938 and November 1939, and the lifelong shaping of identity that followed.
Belfast Mela 2025 – More Than a Festival, But Still Room to Grow
This was not my first time in the Belfast Opera House, and it was not my first time attending a musical. Still, it was my first time attending a Community Dress Rehearsal for the Follies, and especially in the company of a group from the NI Civil Service LGBT.
The landscape of LGBTQI+ books and literature experienced a remarkable expansion between 2000 and 2025, marked by a significant increase in the volume and diversity of published works. An analysis of the provided sources reveals a clear upward trend, particularly in young adult (YA) fiction and a broad range of resources catering to various aspects of LGBTQI+ life.
On Saturday, July 26th, Belfast held its Pride March, with noticeably a lot of political parties and politicians missing, also a lot of employers, but there was still a large turnout, which you can see from the photos in this article.
Public visibility remains a vital act of defiance. Each year, as the city’s streets fill with colour and music, they also fill with stories — stories that challenge ignorance, dismantle prejudice, and foster understanding. Visibility is revolutionary in a city where silence once reigned, transforming the parade into a living, breathing testament to the power of being seen.
Today, we must remember these stories—not as relics of the past, but as proof of an enduring struggle. We demand acknowledgement of those who dared to love in secret, who fought against the walls of repression—who, in their silence, roared resistance. The sodomy campaign was never just about criminality; it was about stripping us of our humanity, our right to love freely.
The LGBTQ community and individuals have significantly shaped British society since the 1800s, influencing social attitudes, legal reforms, culture, and rights movements.
