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Election Fever – Peter Robinson on Homosexuality

02/05/2015 By ACOMSDave 1 Comment

Editorial: During Election Fever it does happen that some leaders become leaders, some become leaders in waiting, and some become leaders who are wanting.  We would suggest that you view this interview with Peter Robinson, look at the history of the DUP, and decide for yourselves whether the DUP are a progressive party with LGBT rights built into their DNA!

So have the DUP  a policy over LGBT rights, Asa Bennett wrote in his column, that David Cameron would not find it easy to create an alliance with the DUP because of their track history, i.e.
Jim Wells  resigned as the DUP’s health minister after recently saying that “the gay lobby is insatiable, they don’t know when enough is enough”, adding: “The facts show that you certainly don’t bring a child up in a homosexual relationship. That child is far more likely to be abused or neglected”.
Iris Robinson, a former DUP MP and wife of the current party leader, Peter Robinson, described homosexuality as “disgusting, loathsome, nauseating, wicked and vile”, as well as an “abomination” that could be “cured”. Mr Robinson supported his wife’s remarks, saying: “It wasn’t Iris Robinson who determined that homosexuality was an abomination, it was The Almighty. This is the Scriptures. It is a strange world indeed where somebody on the one hand talks about equality, but won’t allow Christians to have the equality, the right to speak, the right to express their views.”
Obviously other parties have made comment on this interview,
Alliance Justice spokesperson, Stewart Dickson MLA, has criticised Peter Robinson’s remarks that if homosexuality was criminalised that he hoped they would obey the law.
Mr Robinson was questioned by the BBC on the remarks by his Mid Ulster Councillor, Paul McLean, who wanted homosexuality to be criminalised.
Stewart Dickson MLA said: “These remarks are just the latest in a long line of disgraceful and appalling comments by the DUP about the LGBT community. It beggars belief that Mr Robinson would want men and women to deny their own sexuality. He is completely out of step with British values and core beliefs.
“It is an indication of Mr Robinson’s position on these issues that he did not condemn the views of his Councillor who wanted homosexuality to be criminalised.
“Mr Robinson has got himself tied up in knots. If you are asked a question on this issue then your answer should be that you would not support the criminalisation of homosexuality.
 
Further Reading:

  • The religious stranglehold of the DUP in Northern Ireland

  • The DUP’s closet policies – Henry McDonald

  • DUP soft on ‘vile sin’ of homosexuality: Foster

  • 1982: DUP furious at gay law reforms – Jan 2013

  • editorial image

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Filed Under: Anti-Bullying & Homophobia Tagged With: Alliance Party, Election Fever, homosexuality, LGBT rights, peter robinson

Gay rights dominates the social media conversation in Northern Ireland

28/04/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Reprinted from BBC News (Trending)

 

Dinosaurs

Attitudes towards gay people have become a big election issue in Northern Ireland.

It began with a viral video that’s now all over the news. Northern Ireland Health Minister Jim Wells – who is standing in the UK general election for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) – was filmed at a hustings last Thursday. “You don’t bring a child up in a homosexual relationship. That a child is far more likely to be abused and neglected,” he said.
When the video hit social media it sparked fierce debate. Wells apologised several times for making the comment, saying that he had been under a lot of pressure over recent weeks because his wife is currently unwell and receiving treatment in hospital. On Monday he released a statement saying that he was standing downas health minister to help his wife Grace in her “fight for life.”
The video was uploaded to Twitter by 17-year-old Clare Calvert, who told BBC Trending that she doesn’t support any particular political party “I was attending the hustings because I was there to ask a question to the panel on what they could bring to South Down (the local area) to allow me to live there when I finished university.”
She says that she actually thought Wells did a good job as health minister, but that “his views have alienated so many members of society” that there was no way he could continue in the position.
The video she posted and the intense debate around it are significant developments, given that the DUP is currently the largest Northern Irish party at Westminster. Wells’ name and the debate about attitudes towards gay people have been trending ever since in Northern Ireland – with more than 14,000 tweets so far.
Opponents of the DUP sought to make political capital out of it all. The republican author Danny Morrison has been particularly active, tweeting: “So, Jim Wells suffers from narcolepsy. Looked wide-awake to me.” He also retweeted a widely shared picture of dinosaurs mocking the DUP candidate’s attitudes.
Members of the Labour Party of Northern Ireland also joined in. Writer Adrianne Peltz tweeted: “the next time politicians ask why so many young people are leaving NI, just direct them to @Jim_Wells_MLA & his state sponsored hate speech.”
The SDLP announced on Twitter that they had planned to submit a motion of no confidence in Wells had he not resigned. “He is no longer fit to hold office,” they tweeted. The Sinn Fein assembly member and spokesperson Maeve McLaughlin shared a post by a gay rights charity which read: “We are not a lobby we are a community. Disgusting lies which are harmful and full of hate.”
The chair of the Alliance party’s LGBT group, Mickey Murray, created a petitionwhich called for Wells’ resignation. “Over 8,500 signatures asking for his resignation, over 3,000 more signatures than votes Jim Wells received to get into the assembly,” he tweeted. The Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said Wells “had done the right thing in resigning.”
But some DUP members tried to turn the controversy against rival parties. Doug Beattie wrote: “Jim Wells quits over gay child abuse comments … meanwhile Gerry Adams remains although he knew about child abuse & said nothing.” It was a reference to Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams, whose brother Liam was convicted of sexually abusing his daughter (In 2013, Gerry Adams gave an interview in which he admitted that his brother had told him about the abuse).
Wells’ comments came as the Northern Irish assembly held a private members’ debate on marriage equality. And next month in the Republic of Ireland, voters will take part in a referendum on same-sex marriage. A similar law proposed by Sinn Fein was defeated in Northern Ireland by the leading unionist parties in 2013.
Despite stepping down from his ministerial post, Wells is still standing as the DUP candidate in the South Down constituency. The other candidates in South Down are Felicity Buchan of the Conservatives, Chris Hazzard of Sinn Féin, the UUP’s Harold McKee, Henry Reilly of UKIP, the SDLP’s Margaret Ritchie and Martyn Todd of the Alliance Party.
Blog by Hannah Henderson

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Filed Under: Anti-Bullying & Homophobia, History Tagged With: Election Fever, gay rights, Northern Ireland

5 ways to be an informed voter

28/04/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Reprinted from Mu Society page: https://www.mysociety.org/
 

 

1. Check your MP’s voting record

Parliament’s complex language means it’s not always easy to understand how your MP voted—yet that’s one of the key things you’ll need to know before you decide whether to vote them back in again.
So we’ve put everything into plain English. Now it’s easy to follow, and easy to share. Before the election, make sure you check how your MP voted about the things that matter to you.

2. Try a Voter Advice Application

If you’re not sure who to vote for, there are a whole load of online tools to help you find the candidate best aligned with your beliefs.
We’ve been keeping a list of them here.

3. Check the WriteToThem rankings

Our site WriteToThem.com allows you to write to politicians—and every year, we analyse which MPs are the best at replying.
Everyone wants an MP who replies to their letters, don’t they? Check where your MP sits in our responsiveness league table: just type in your postcode here.

4. See if you’re still in the same ward

It’s not just the General Election on May 7th: in many places, you’ll be voting for local councillors too.
Thanks to recent boundary changes, you may not be in the ward you thought you were. Fortunately, we’ve made a tool to help you check that.

5. Check out Full Fact

A whole lot of facts are going to be bandied about by politicians, between now and the General Election. How do you know which to believe?
Fortunately, there’s an organisation that’s dedicated to checking every statement, so that you can see the bare facts with no added hyperbole. They’re called Full Fact, and we’ve been helping them out with a bit of tech. Read all about them here.

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Filed Under: Anti-Bullying & Homophobia Tagged With: Election Fever, informed, voter

Equal rights for gay people is not a numbers game

27/04/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Reprinted from the Belfast Telegraph – 27 APRIL 2015

Equal rights for gay

Equal Rights for gays


There has been a tit-for-tat spat of letters over the last few months on the (mis)interpretation of the percentage of people identifying as LGBT.
The original complainant, Stella Wilson, started the debate (Writeback, January 28) by asking: “Why there is a campaign to continually push [gay] rights above everyone else’s” – given they “only” account for 1.6% of the population (a figure she reiterated in Writeback, April 23)?
Regardless of continuing squabbles over the figure, equality is not a numbers game. At the last census (2011), the Northern Irish population included only 0.2% black people, 0.6% nonagenarians (90-year-olds) and 7.3% long-term sick or disabled.
Racism, ageism or discrimination against the less able-bodied cannot be justified because they are minorities – and the same is true of the LGBT community.
Stella Wilson’s most-recent claim that “quite a large percentage [of 16-24-year-olds who believe they are gay] eventually realise they are not” is entirely unsubstantiated.
The gay rights campaign would vanish and Stella Wilson would never have to hear any more about it if only there was true equality in society.
DISCRIMINATED AGAINST (AGAIN)
By email

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Filed Under: Anti-Bullying & Homophobia Tagged With: Election Fever, equal rights, gay equal rights, lgbt equal rights, vote carefully

Jim Wells health committee call over gay abuse comments

26/04/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Reprinted from BBC News:

  • 25 April 2015
  • From the section    Election 2015 Northern Ireland

Media captionA row has broken out over comments made by Northern Ireland health minister Jim Wells, as BBC News NI Political Correspondent Stephen Walker reports

The chair of Stormont’s health committee has said she has called Health Minister Jim Wells before the committee to explain his comments on same sex relationships.

Mr Wells apologised on Friday after he linked gay relationships and the abuse of children at a hustings meeting on Thursday night.
Maeve McLaughlin welcomed the apology.
However, she said she wanted Mr Wells to explain the nature of the alleged research he had quoted at the event.
“While I welcome his apology and retraction of the offensive comments, questions still remain for Jim Wells to answer,” Ms McLaughlin said.
“I look forward to the minister’s appearance before the committee and I hope he will take the opportunity to completely and unequivocally refute his baseless claims.”
Police are investigating the comments by Mr Wells.
He told a hustings event: “You don’t bring a child up in a homosexual relationship. That a child is far more likely to be abused and neglected…”
The minister was then interrupted by uproar from the audience.
In a later statement, he said: “I accept that one line of what I said caused offence and deep concern.”
Mr Wells added: “I regret having wrongly made that remark about abuse and I’m sorry those words were uttered. The comment did not reflect my view nor that of my party.”

‘Mask has slipped’

The police said they had received a complaint and officers were currently making inquiries.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: “Those comments have lifted the lid on some really unpleasant views. The mask has slipped.

Media captionSpeaking in Sheffield, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the “mask has slipped” following Jim Wells’ comments

“I’ve been warning for weeks that while, of course, we should be alarmed about the prospects of Ed Miliband dancing to the tune of Alex Salmond, we should be equally alarmed at the prospect of a hapless David Cameron, minority Conservative administration, dancing to the tune of Nigel Farage, the right wing of his own party and some of these truly, truly, backward looking views from the DUP.”
Mr Wells, the DUP South Down candidate in the 7 May election, made the comments during a discussion on gay marriage.
In a second statement on Friday morning, Mr Wells said the past few weeks had “been extremely difficult” for him personally as he had “just come from a hospital visit”.
He added: “Within seconds of realising this error, I asked the chairman to let me back in and twice corrected my remarks before the debate moved on.”
The Ulster Unionist Party said the comments were “absolutely appalling… and totally wrong”.
UUP leader Mike Nesbitt told the BBC’s Nolan Show that an electoral pact between his party and the DUP, in four Westminster constituencies, remained in place.

Assembly rules

However, he added: “Jim Wells needs to do more in deed and in action to prove that the real Jim Wells is reflected in this morning’s statement rather than in yesterday’s comment.”
South Down Conservative candidate Felicity Buchan also attended the hustings event.
“The Conservative Party and I personally do not in any way agree with what was said.”
Alliance North Down MLA, Stephen Farry, said: “There is absolutely no link between the incidence of abuse and neglect and the sexual orientation of parents,” he said.

‘No distinction’

“Nor indeed, is there any difference between two-parent and single-parent households.”
The SDLP said it was going to submit a motion of no confidence in Mr Wells.
Margaret Ritchie, who is standing as an SDLP candidate, said his comments were “completely unacceptable”.
Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Ivan Lewis, said: “It is right that Jim Wells has apologised for these highly inappropriate remarks. There can be no justification for false and stigmatising statements about LGBT people.
“There should be a commitment to zero tolerance of homophobia across the United Kingdom, including in Northern Ireland.”
 
Further reading of interest:

  • Ian Paisley (1926-2014) and the ‘Save Ulster From Sodomy!’ Campaign
  • Northern Ireland: New Health Minister thinks Pride is ‘repugnant’
  • Book: The Democratic Unionist Party: From Protest to Power – see below but I include this extract :

Snap 2015-04-26 at 12.36.22
 
 
 
 
 

  • Theorising homophobic hate crime in Northern Ireland (Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive)

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Filed Under: Anti-Bullying & Homophobia Tagged With: 2015 election, DUP, Election Fever, Jim Wells, Save Ulster from Sodomy, Stormont Health Committee

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