ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

NIGRA

By Leave a Comment

NIGRANIGRA is the oldest gay rights organisation in Northern Ireland.  Since its conception, it has seeked to ensure ‘GayRights’ means enhancing the rights of anyone oppressed on account of their -actual or imputes – sexuality.

Through our Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/NIGayRight5] , our Twitter account [https://twitter.com/GayUpstart]  (previously we led by producing our information and resources through our various printed magazines and newssheet).  We now publish articles that are of interest both locally, nationally and internationally from a wide range of sources related to the LGBTQI+’s people’s lives – all topics that we think might be useful for our community and its supporters.  To these articles, we also write and publish independent articles written by local people through ACOMSDave [www. https://acomsdave.com/].

Now we are looking for more local input and support and we would like you to write on any topic that you feel needs highlights, e.g.

  • Best gay spit in Northern Ireland (or your holiday resort area)
  • Things that you like to do in Northern Ireland
  • LGBTQTI+ history in Northern Ireland – don’t forget that we now have an online archive -LGBTHISTORYNI (LGBTHISTORYNI.com )

 

Go to LGBTHistoryNI

Visit LGBTHistoryNI and get involved in recording our history

Go NOW

But you decide, just write it and submit it by emailing to The Editor@ACOMSDave.com or dtw.mcfarlane@gmail.com)

 

 

Email ACOMSDave

Contact ACOMSDave editor to let us have your stories for publishing

Email Now

 

 

NIGRA - on parade

Conversion Therapy – Rethink Finally

By Leave a Comment

The Growing Movement to Ban Conversion Therapy

 

 

Earlier this month I wrote an article (Gay Conversion Therapy – Government Cop Out) reflecting back on how long we have been raising this issue and why was the government dragging its feet over putting in place measure to stop young LGBTQ people from being mentally tortured?

I reflected back on Dr Paul Miller, on Stormont’s intransigence, and how the Westminster bullies (those in a position of power and trust) seemed to feel that LGBTQ people do not count and do not need to be protected.

So I welcome that the Northern Ireland Executive is going to take the lead and develop a strategy across a number of Departments to have legislation put in place to place a ban on reparative or conversion therapy by private operations.

As I said in my previous article, conversion therapy is nothing short of ‘brain washing’, the LGBTQ community and the people in it do not need to be converted, they need to be made to feel equal within society in all aspects! 

Raising Equality (US) - Openclipart

 

External links:

 

 

 

 

Northern Ireland: 20,000 March In Favour Of Gay Marriage

By Leave a Comment


Campaigners attend a rally in Belfast to show their support for marriage equality

Campaigners attend a rally in Belfast to show their support for marriage equality

Belfast demo seeks equality for LGBT people

by Mike Hamilton
in Belfast
ABOUT 20,000 gay rights supporters marched through Belfast city centre on Saturday to demand that the legal recognition of same-sex marriage be extended to Northern Ireland.
The protest wound its way through the main shopping district to Belfast City Hall, where a large open-air rally took place.
The action was jointly organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), Amnesty International and the Rainbow Project.
Participants included a wide range of individuals and movements, including LGBT groups, trade unions, charities, human and civil rights organisations, churches, political parties and pressure groups.
The huge turnout surprised even the organisers, who were forced to make repeated calls for participants to use all available space at both sides of the staging to allow thousands more people in to hear from a variety of invited guests.
Among the speakers was ICTU LGBT committee chairman Daire Toner, who said: “I dream one day of getting married, but my dreams are shattered by the laws that govern this state.
“Even if I got married elsewhere, a flight or a train journey would make it invalid.”
Rainbow Project director John O’Doherty added: “The numbers here say it all. We want our voice heard. We need to go out and tell our story, play our part in a new Northern Ireland. They can’t ignore us any more.”
Amnesty International Northern Ireland director Patrick Corrigan put it simply: “All people are equal — the state should protect all people equally.”
In 2005, while under direct rule by Westminster, Northern Ireland became the first part of the UK to introduce civil partnerships, but since the power-sharing institutions were restored at Stormont, the fight for equality has gone into reverse gear.
The most obvious manifestation of this was an attempt to introduce a “conscience clause” amendment to equality law which would have allowed firms owned by people of faith to discriminate against LGBT customers.
Members of the Northern Irish Assembly proposed motions supporting equality in civil marriage four times in the last parliament.
But, each time, the Democratic Unionist Party blocked it, using a device known as a “petition of concern,” which requires majorities on both the nationalist and unionist benches.
Further links:

 

Gay Politics in Northern Ireland

By Leave a Comment

The programme is called The “Gay Cake” Affair and broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 at 11am on Mon 23 March 2015.
William Crawley William Crawley explores the issues raised by the so-called ‘Gay Cake‘ row and the resulting ‘Conscience Clause‘ proposal to amend Northern Ireland’s equality legislation.
It began last year when Ashers Baking Company in Belfast refused to make a cake bearing the legend ‘Support Gay Marriage.’ The firm defended their decision, stating the message on the cake was contrary to their Christian beliefs, but the Northern Ireland Equality Commission is now supporting an anti-discrimination case against the owners of the bakery.
In response, The Christian Institute called for donations to help Ashers meet their legal costs, saying it was providing the support because of what it claimed were “the difficulties Christians face in holding to their religious beliefs in an increasingly secular society”.
At the Stormont Assembly the Democratic Unionist Party MLA, Paul Givan, proposed a draft Private Member’s Bill to introduce a ‘Conscience Clause’ that would allow the refusal of goods and services on the grounds of strongly held religious beliefs.
The ‘Gay Cake’ row has since made headlines far beyond Belfast. As the debate over the Conscience Clause intensifies and the case against Ashers goes to court, William Crawley meets the key players and asks how we might negotiate these and other similar cases elsewhere where there are competing sets of ‘rights’ at stake.  Is ‘reasonable accommodation’ possible and what does the debate reveal about a changing Northern Ireland?
 

0-0-0-0-0

Jeff Dudgeon at the City Hall in Belfast

Jeff Dudgeon at the City Hall in Belfast

NIGRA has refrained from the cake mix(sorry) until now, as we believed it was best handled by the Equality Commission, but with the push about the ‘Conscience Clause’ and its wider ramifications to our civil liberties Jeff Dudgeon has now entered the fray. Gay Politics are now up front and personal; if you don’t agree with any part of the interview then make your feelings known either by contacting the BBC or commenting on NIGRA’s Blog.