UK minister comes out as gay after 29-year secret affair

07/06/2015 By Dave McFarlane Leave a Comment

UK minister comes out as gay after 29-year secret affair Nick Gibb said he will marry Michael Simmonds, the chief executive of the Populus polling organization, in November, having just last week come out to his family as gay.

The Times India | Jun 7, 2015, 12.28 AM IST
LONDON: Britain’s schools minister has announced he would be tying the knot with his male partner after a nearly 29-year secret affair.
Nick Gibb said he will marry Michael Simmonds, the chief executive of the Populus polling organization, in November, having just last week come out to his family as gay. Gibb told The Times that he and Simmonds had enjoyed a “wonderful life” together but said the forthcoming wedding had necessitated the “practical” step of informing his 79-year-old mother and other relatives.
“If one of us was ill and had to go to hospital it would be awful if we couldn’t be there for each other,” he said.
The 54-year-old told the newspaper that he and his partner had met and fell in love in a “different era”, but that both had been comfortable keeping their relationship a secret.
“We realised very quickly we had an interest in common and it was pretty rapid. We fell in love very quickly,” he said.
“It was harder then. [Homosexuality] was only made legal in 1967. There was discrimination in industry and professions. It was easier to have a relationship that wasn’t known about. It didn’t really bother us, we both had successful careers. We just got on with life.”
Of his announcement, he added: “I think my mother was initially shocked — that’s an age thing — but then very supportive and what she wants is for me to be happy. We are close, so to her being a loving family is more important than anything else.”

Belfast City Council votes in favour of gay marriage

05/06/2015 By Dave McFarlane Leave a Comment

Erin Reddy, Dee Campbell and Helen McCarthy at the Central Count Centre in Dublin Castle, Dublin as votes are continued to be counted in the referendum on same-sex marriage.” data-title=”(left to right) Erin Reddy, Dee Campbell and Helen McCarthy at the Central Count Centre in Dublin Castle, Dublin as votes are continued to be counted in the referendum on same-sex marriage.

Belfast City Council has backed same-sex marriage. Councillors voted in favour of legalising gay marriage in Northern Ireland by 38 to 13.

The motion was proposed by Alliance’s Emmet McDonough-Brown after the Republic voted to adapt its constitution to allow same-sex marriage.
“The sky has not fallen in. All that happens is that people who want to commit to each other are able to,” he said.
Openly gay UUP councillor Jeff Dudgeon fought a long legal battle to decriminalise homosexuality here in the 1980s.
But he warned that some politicians would vote to have decriminalisation reversed if a bill allowing same-sex marriage is introduced at Stormont.
More than 60% of those who cast their votes ticked the ‘yes’ box, and the cross-party support in the south turned attention to Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK and Ireland where same sex couples cannot be legally married.
Cllr McDonough-Brown said the “sun shone” on the Republic of Ireland on 23 May, the day the referendum results were revealed.

‘ Irish gay marriage referendum – Belfast reaction to yes vote’

Supporting members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender societies, he said: “Their contribution makes our society a more vibrant one.
“I look forward to Northern Ireland joining the list of countries that allows couples to say I do.
“The sky has not fallen in. All that happens is that people who want to commit to each other are able to.”
Cllr McDonough-Brown described NI as a “backwater, an embarrassment” in its stance on gay marriage, but added that ministers should not be forced into enacting it.
“Alliance believe religious insitutions must be free to practice marriage as they see fit,” he explained.
The token motion, which would likely be defeated at the Assembly if proposed at Stormont, was seconded by Sinn Féin councillor Jim McVeigh.
Still wearing the ‘yes badge’ from the southern campaign, he said a mood of tolerance and mutual respect is infectious.
“This is the type of politics we should be talking about. There’s a groundswell of goodwill sweeping across these islands,” he said.
“I remember when fire and brimstone dominated politics here. This place is changing.”
The Lower Falls representative recalled the Save Ulster from Sodomy movement – started by Rev Ian Paisley – which Cllr McVeigh claimed was once the biggest campaign in Belfast.
“Now the second biggest rally in the city is Pride,” he added.
“Whether or not we manage to change the minds of the DUP, their position is only a matter of time.
“What an act of forward leadership to say this country belongs to everyone.”
“One of the ironies about this debate is that some of the people who opppose it say it undermines the insitution of marriage. How does love undermine marriage? I don’t understand how they feel it undermines it. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
“It’s time for this part of this island, of these islands, to support marriage equality,” added Cllr McVeigh.
Openly gay councillor Jeff Dudgeon also spoke up during the debate. The UUP politician remembered back to 1982, when homosexuality was made legal in Northern Ireland, just over a decade before politicians in the Republic made the same change.
“There was a small party in Belfast of a dozen people, and then a disco. Not a street party with global support,” he explained.
“Most countries in Europe still don’t have equal marriage.”
He also referred to how politicians voted at Stormont during a Sinn Fein proposal in April to allow same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.
It led to questions over divisions among the SDLP and Alliance parties on their members’ stance on the issue. Five SDLP MLAs did not turn up for the vote, while three Alliance party representatives abstained, despite official party line being to support gay marriage.
Cllr Dudgeon said: “Decriminalisaton in the 1980s was achieved without support from any political party. The Alliance party doesn’t discipline its members that don’t abide the party whip.
“This bill would still hve to go through Stormont where it’ll be defeated, and I’m nervous of those being demonised for their stance.
“In my own party there are differing views, we hold the status quo, though some have already voted for change.”
Cllr Dudgeon was a trailblazer in making homosexuality legal in Northern Ireland, taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights. Less than a decade later, David Norris also arrived at Strasbourg in a case that echoed Dudgeon’s.
The Unionist politician expressed fears that some politicians would vote to have the decriminalisation of homosexuality reversed.
“My colleagues at the High Court and at Strasbourg will once again be the agents for change.”
During the vote on Monday night, the motion was carried 38-13, with two no votes.

Marriage Equality Round-Up – June 4th

05/06/2015 By Dave McFarlane Leave a Comment

Here’s ‘gayapolis’ daily round-up of the marriage equality / LGBT rights stories that don’t warrant a full posting on the blog, or that we didn’t have time to add. We’re able to get more news and analysis to you this way every day – enjoy!
POP CULTURE: A petition has been started asking the Olympic Committee to remove Caitlyn Jenner’s medals. full story
POP CULTURE: Jennifer Hudson has released a new song and video celebrating marriage equality. full story
POP CULTURE: E! released a preview of Jenner’s upcoming reality show–I Am Cait. full story
POP CULTURE: AT&T wants everyone living openly to share their stories by creating their own 15-second “This is Me” video to tell the world how they live proud every day. full story

POP CULTURE: Skyy Vodka launched #ToastToMarriage and a new line of shirts to celebrate marriage equality. full story

POP CULTURE: On its Facebook page, American Airlines posted this Pride Month logo and wrote, “Proud to support the LGBT community and its allies.” full story

POP CULTURE: The radio host weighed-in on Caitlyn Jenner’s transition, arguing Republicans should reject Caitlyn Jenner, even if she agrees with them politically.full story
POP CULTURE: The Duggar parents appeared on Fox News to insist that their molester son was much better than those transgender pedophiles who want to enter public bathrooms. full story
INTERNATIONAL: Gay Star News has an overview of the state of LGBTI rights around the world. full story
INTERNATIONAL: U.S. officials on Tuesday insisted a U.S.-led pan-Pacific trade agreement has sufficient safeguards to ensure the rights of LGBT people and other marginalized groups in the countries that ratify it are protected. full story
ARGENTINA: Both of the Argentinean appeals court judges involved in the decision to reduce the sentence of a convicted child abuser because they claimed that his six-year-old victim was gay have now both resigned. full story
AUSTRALIA: A Catholic Bishop in South Australia has compared children of gay couples to children forcibly removed from Aboriginal families. full story
GERMANY: A German minister could be facing prosecution over her comments comparing gay marriage to incest and polygamy. full story
INDIA: The Delhi government has vowed to investigate a gay ‘cure’ racket in the city after a newspaper expose of the unethical practice triggered an avalanche of public outrage. full story
SOUTH KOREA: The Pride event in South Korea’s capital has been banned by police, but organisers have vowed to march regardless. full story =
UGANDA: NOM Chairman John Eastman hopes that Uganda reinstates the life sentence for homosexuality “in short order”. full story
UKRAINE: A campaign of billboards in Ukraine hopes to change the way people address LGBT issues, calling for people to “speak properly” and use the equivalent of “gay” instead of “faggot”. full story
UK: A group at Sheffield Hallam University are researching trans people’s access to toilets. full story
UK: Reverend Chris Newlands has called for the Church of England to catch up on trans issues. full story
UK, NORTHERN IRELAND: A city councillor in Belfast has said she tried to kill herself rather than come out as gay, because when her father did it “broke [her] mum’s heart.” full story
UK, NORTHERN IRELAND: Veteran actor Patrick Stewart has come out in favor of Ashers Bakery which was last month found guilty of discrimination for refusing to write “support gay marriage” on a cake. full story
USA: Media Matters for America cleverly debunks the right-wing claim that trans-inclusive school policies endanger students. full story
USA: The Department of Defense is celebrating gay pride month with a rainbow makeover. full story

USA: As the Supreme Court prepares to issue a ruling on same-sex marriage, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is calling on Congress to protect the freedoms of religious institutions. full story
USA: Hillary Clinton’s campaign released a series of LGBT rights shirts. full story

USA, ALABAMA: State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has suggested that some people in the marriage equality movement hope its legalization will destroy the United States
full story
USA, ALABAMA: Legislation that would take the state of Alabama out of the business of issuing marriage licenses died in the House of Representatives committee. full story
USA, CALIFORNIA: Bisexual Sonoma teen takes his own life after years of bullying. full story
USA, CALIFORNIA: The Intolerant Jackass Act filed by activist Charlotte Laws in late March got the go ahead to start collecting signatures. full story
USA, COLORADO: The school that barred a gay valedictorian from coming out during his commencement speech says it will investigate what happened but is defending itself against accusations of discrimination from U.S. Rep. Jared Polis. full story
USA, FLORIDA: Leesburg and Greenacres have passed LGBT civil rights ordinances for their communities expanding the number of towns with laws protecting sexual orientation to eleven. full story
USA, INDIANA: Governor Mike Pence issued a welcome to pride letter for Indianapolis that doesn’t mention gay people, or pride. full story
USA, IOWA: In a surprise move, a local Chick-fil-A franchise is catering an Iowa gay pride picnic. full story
USA, KANSAS: The Hobbit’s Gandalf the White and Harry Potter’s Professor Albus Dumbledore are getting married opposite The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) next weekend in Topeka. full story
USA, MISSISSIPPI: The executive director of a Mississippi LGBT advocacy group has resigned after making a series of anti-trans comments on his social media pages. full story
USA, NEW JERSEY: A jury in northern New Jersey is scheduled to hear opening arguments in the fraud trial of a nonprofit that offers so-called “gay conversion” therapy. full story
USA, NORTH CAROLINA: Rachel Maddow looks at how the anti marriage equality bill could open the door to discrimination for other reasons. full story
USA, NORTH CAROLINA: The vote to try to override the Governor’s veto of the anti marriage equality bill has been delayed in the House, which ends its current session Friday. full story
USA, OKLAHOMA: The state’s Department of Corrections has halted all prison weddings — apparently to avoid having inmates enter same-sex marriages. full story
USA, TEXAS: Anti gay groups are calling on Governor Abbott to bring the legislature back for a special session to pass an anti marriage equality bill. full story
USA, TEXAS: Plans are underway in smaller cities around Texas for the Supreme Court’s Day of Decision of marriage equality. full story
USA, TEXAS: The state government is stalling plans to update marriage forms until the US Supreme Court rules, which could delay the start of same sex weddings in the state. full story
USA, TEXAS: Lambda Legal is warning government officials who defy the Supreme Court on marriage equality – they could be sued personally and might face punitive damages. full story
USA, UTAH: God bought two billboards in the state to proclaim his love for gays.full story

Councils Call For Marriage Equality

31/05/2015 By Dave McFarlane Leave a Comment

Published on

29/05/2015

Belfast, Newtownards and North Down Councils are calling for all couples in Northern Ireland, regardless of sexual orientation, to have the right to civil marriage.
Councillors are set to lead key debates on the equality issue in June.
The move follows the yes vote for equal marriage during the referendum in Ireland last week and is the latest action by Alliance in moving the debate forward in Northern Ireland.
Alliance Councillor Emmet McDonough-Brown said: “Ireland’s result last week has left Northern Ireland out of step on equality issues. As it stands a same sex couple can now legally marry in all other parts of the UK and Ireland and the LGBT community should also have the same rights here.
“The Alliance Party is committed to delivering a shared society for everyone, based on civil and religious liberty and equality for all – regardless of age, gender, disability, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation – and has continually led the way on LGBT issues, including adoption and tackling homophobic bullying in schools.
“Alliance supports the extension of state provided civil marriage to same sex couples, while recognising protections are needed for those faith groups that wish to continue to observe and practise marriage within their beliefs.”
(CD/MH)

Hundreds turn out in support of gay marriage in Northern Ireland just days after the Republic's historic referendum

31/05/2015 By Dave McFarlane Leave a Comment

Belfast Live – 20:02, 30 MAY 2015 BY LISA SMYTH

The rally outside Belfast City Hall is just the latest event calling for equal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Northern Ireland
Up to 400 people have taken part in a rally calling for same sex marriage in Northern Ireland.
It comes after last week’s overwhelming yes vote to allow gay people to get married in the Republic of Ireland and just days before Belfast City Council debates the subject.
Speakers at the event outside Belfast City Hall included People Before Profit Alliance councillor Gerry Carroll, Green Party councillor Ross Brown, Malachi O’Hara from the Rainbow Project and the outspoken Rev Chris Hudson from All Souls Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church on Elmwood Avenue in south Belfast.
He hit out angrily at the position of churches across Ireland in relation to same sex marriage.
“They advised the Irish people to vote no as it went against their teachings and the Irish people said, ‘If you don’t mind reverend gentlemen and reverend ladies, we won’t take your advice on this one”, and they went out and showed absolute solidarity with the LGBT community by voting yes.
“This is not an issue between people of faith and the LBGT community and don’t let any fundamentalist Christians tell you that’s true.”
The event was organised by 17-year-old Padraigin Mervyn.
She explained: “I decided to organise this event because I had seen that our Irish brothers and sisters had won their referendum.

PAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty ImagesA couple watch the count at a count centre in Dublin
“I knew that there was hype up North so I discussed with my political party, People Before Profit, and decided while momentum was high I would get an event page set up on Facebook.
“The aim of this event is to begin a wave of protests in attempt to challenge our government, and raise awareness that the LGBT community will no longer sit back and be oppressed.
“No longer do we want to be regarded as second class citizens, it’s time for the people of Northern Ireland to fight back.”
Meanwhile, Amnesty International, the Rainbow Project and Irish Congress of Trade Unions are organising a march calling for same sex marriage to be implemented in Northern Ireland at Writer’s Square in Belfast at 2.30 pm on June 13.

Poll finds 85% of people support marriage equality as demonstrations set to take place in Belfast

29/05/2015 By Dave McFarlane Leave a Comment

The Gay Say : MAY 28, 2015
What’s next for LGBT rights in Northern Ireland?

MARRIAGE EQUALITY DEMONSTRATIONS:

RALLY – SATURDAY 30TH MAY – 2PM ASSEMBLY AT BELFAST CITY HALL.

MARCH AND DEMONSTRATION – SATURDAY 13TH JUNE 2015 – 2.30PM ASSEMBLY AT WRITER’S SQUARE.

As Northern Ireland’s neighbours each began to embrace marriage equality it was becoming obvious that as a nation we would soon be left out in the cold when it comes to LGBT rights.
Now following an historic result in Ireland’s Yes vote in the Marriage Equality Referendum there is a prominent patch of inequality in the UK and Ireland.
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK which does not allow gay marriage after England, Wales and Scotland introduced marriage equality legislation last year.
The DUP, the biggest party in Northern Ireland has steadfastly refused to follow suit. Motions to legalise same-sex marriage have been rejected four times in the assembly.
The last motion in April fell after 47 MLAs voted in support while 49 voted against. The result, however, was a forgone conclusion as it had already been blocked by a DUP petition of concern.
The issues surrounding the rights of the LGBT community are bubbling to the surface more frequently now.
Recent news and events involving the former Health Minister Jim Wells, Northern Ireland’s blood ban, the Ashers Bakery gay cake row, reports of homophobia during the Westminster election campaign and recent blocks on introducing marriage equality have only served to highlight the difficulties experienced by LGBT people here.
Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Programme Director Patrick Corrigan has criticised Northern Ireland’s politicians for blocking the equality legislation.
“This historic result [in the Republic of Ireland] will echo around the world – it shows how a once socially-conservative country can transform itself into a beacon of equality,” he said.
“Northern Ireland is now the last bastion of discrimination against gay people in these islands.
“Northern Ireland’s discriminatory laws are a badge of shame – not to be worn by the people of Northern Ireland, a majority of whom support same-sex marriage, but by those politicians who oppose equal treatment for the LGBTI community.
“The Northern Ireland Executive should waste no more time in fulfilling its first duty to its people – to ensure that none are treated as second-class citizens.”
Amnesty, along with The Irish Congress of Trade Unions and The Rainbow Project, will hold a mass rally in support of equal marriage (facebook event page link) rights on June 13.
A statement from John O’Doherty, Director of The Rainbow Project, last week reads:
“Northern Ireland is now the only region in Western Europe where marriage equality is not a reality. This is a shameful injustice which cannot be allowed to continue. 1a1a marriage equality rally 2 13th
‘To highlight this injustice, The Rainbow Project and our partners in Amnesty International and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions have announced a march and rally for marriage equality to be held in Belfast on Saturday 13th June, assembling at Writers’ Square for 2.30pm.
The March for Civil Marriage Equality through central Belfast will culminate in a rally in front of Belfast City Hall.
‘We will continue our fight to ensure that Equality becomes a reality for all the peoples of these islands.’
Some people are calling for a referendum on the issue whilst others are hoping that the outcome of an on-going court case will result in the implementation of marriage equality legislation.
Besides the marriage equality march in Belfast on June 13th there will be another protest at City Hall being organised this Saturday 30th May held at City hall.
The event has been organised by the party People Before Profit and has over 4,000 confirmed attendees on the Facebook event page. 1a1a marriage equality rally 2 13thx1
The event description for the protest on Facebook reads:
“The referendum in the Republic of Ireland has given great hope to the LGBT community around the world. The referendum was not just about equal marriage, as important as that is. It also gives us all hope that we can build a more equal and fair society.
“However, in Northern Ireland we still do not have the right to marry and elected representatives have failed to get a motion passed for same sex marriage 4 times. Shame on our Assembly!
As a young member of the LGBT community myself I am disgusted at this. But I feel now that the result in the South should spur us on here in the North. Equality can’t wait!
“Let’s get out and make our voices heard. Fellow Members of the LGBT community and everyone who believes in equality, I urge you to join us in a rally, Saturday 30th May, at 2pm, City hall!
“I hope to see many people there, it’s urgent that we organise a large movement to fight against this oppression and demand equal marriage status!”
In a post on the Facebook event page, People Before Profit councillor, Gerry Carroll said:
“This could be the start of a big movement. Well done everyone! Let’s make it a big one! And now the great people at the Rainbow Project and others have called for a big rally in June too! Fantastic! Let’s get everyone down next Saturday as a start for a really big movement that will shake the Assembly to its core. And then get everyone down in June!”
The news of the planned demonstrations comes with a surge in support for equal marriage.
A recent survey in the Belfast Telegraph has found 85% of people believe same sex marriage should be allowed in Northern Ireland (13% said No, 2% said they “Don’t care”).
TGS are encouraging as many people as possible to get involved in the events and put further pressure on the Assembly to embrace equality legislation.

Ashers Bakery Owners to Appeal

29/05/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Editorial: The McArthur family, who having taken a contract decided that they couldn’t fulfil it due to their Christian beliefs, and then who were taken to court by the Equality Commission NI and had judgement made against them, is to appeal the judgement.

This is a perfectly natural move, and it is one that must be expected. The fees are not exorbitant (see Civil Appeals Office Fees from 4 April 2011) but the time for a case to heard can be lengthy, currently some cases are in excess of 9 months.

I do honestly believe that both of the two participants in this case would like to get on with their lives, but unfortunately the case has now got a political angle; in particular with some Northern Irish MLA’s and MP’s taking very right of centre positions against the LGBT community. Allied to which some church groups, in particular the Christian Institute which is funding the McArthur’s case for them.

I will also stress to everyone that the decision to go to the Appeal Courts at this time is controlled by the laws governing when you can submit your Notice to Appeal, and that it has ‘nothing’ to do with the ‘Yes’ vote on marriage equality which has just occurred in the Republic of Ireland.

The two are not linked in any way that I can see.

I am putting links to various news articles here for you to look at and for you to make your own judgement:

Bakery owners Daniel McArthur and his wife Amy arrive at court for the verdict. Press Eye – Belfast – Northern Ireland – 19th May 2015 Picture by Jonathan Porter / Press Eye

MLA Daithí McKay in gay rights appeal

28/05/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Ballymena Times – 07:20Wednesday 27 May 2015

Daithi McKay. (Editorial Image).

MLA Daithí McKay has welcomed the Republic’s marriage referendum result and called for the same rights for gay people to be extended North.

More than 62% voted for same-sex marriage – almost 38% were against it in last week’s referendum.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK which does not allow gay marriage after England, Wales and Scotland legalised same sex marriage last year.

Sinn Fein Assemblyman, Mr McKay, who was one of the sponsors of a recent debate in the Assembly on the issue, said: “This result was truly seismic and represents the lifting of discrimination against the gay community in the rest of the island of Ireland.

“The North now sticks out like a sore thumb as the only part of these islands, indeed, the only part of far Western Europe that does not permit marriage equality. That does not present a welcoming image to gay people at home or abroad.
“I do not see the sense in not giving gay couples the freedom to marry in Ballymena or Ballycastle in their own communities and with their own families when they have the right to do so in Dundalk and Donegal.
“Sinn Féin will continue to work towards equality for members of the LGBT community. I am delighted with the result of the referendum.
“I will be even more delighted when I see the same rights being extended to gay men and women here in North Antrim and the North as a whole,” said the Sinn Fein Assemblyman.

What Ireland’s Same-Sex Marriage Vote Means for Northern Ireland

28/05/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

EXPANDING THE LGBTQ CONVERSATION

MAY 27 2015 8:00 AM

By Liam Hoare

Par527896 — In December 2005, supporters of same-sex marriage stand in front of protesters vehemently opposed to “anything approaching gay marriage” outside Belfast City Hall as the first partnership ceremonies for U.K. same-sex couples are held.*

A month before the Irish people gave their wholehearted support to marriage equality, the Northern Ireland Assembly voted down same-sex marriage for the fourth time. It was embarrassing then, but after the referendum in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland’s status as the only nation in the British Isles willing to deny same-sex couples the right to marriage—an outpost of homophobic discrimination in Western Europe—is even more disgraceful and unjustifiable.

Northern Ireland’s ignoble status is, on one level, a product of the British political system. Marriage is a “devolved” issue, meaning that England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have their own laws on same-sex marriage. The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, which introduced marriage equality to England and Wales, did not apply to Northern Ireland, although the law did specify that same-sex marriages entered into in England and Wales are recognized as civil partnerships in Northern Ireland.

Yet the absence of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland is clearly also a matter of political unwillingness. This doesn’t come from the nationalist parties. Both Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic and Labour Party support it, as does the nonsectarian Alliance Party (although some Alliance and SDLP members were mysteriously missing during the recent vote on same-sex marriage). The problem in Northern Ireland is very much the Democratic Unionist Party.

Since it was established by Ian Paisley in 1971, the DUP has been associated with social conservatism and Protestant fundamentalism. Paisley and the DUP were behind the Save Ulster From Sodomy campaign, founded in 1977, which sought for years to prevent the decriminalization of homosexuality in Northern Ireland. The DUP opposed civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples at the time they were made law in 2005 (and still does), just as it opposes marriage equality today.

Homophobia is inherent to the DUP. Ian Paisley Jr., a member of the U.K. parliament, showed that the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree when he said he was “repulsed” by homosexuality. Iris Robinson, wife of Northern Ireland’s first minister,called homosexuality “disgusting, loathsome, nauseating, wicked, and vile.” And Jim Wells recently resigned as the region’s health minister after saying, “You don’t bring a child up in a homosexual relationship. That … child is far more likely to be abused and neglected.”

Political homophobia is connected with religious power. Northern Irish people find themselves living under what has been called “essentially a theocratic regime,” due to the hold the Calvinist fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church has over the DUP. A recent study found that Free Presbyterianism “remains the largest faith among both DUP members and elected representatives.” As many as 30.5 percent of DUP members are Free Presbyterians, compared with a measly 0.6 percent of the Northern Irish population at large.

Since the 1970s, Northern Ireland’s LGBTQ activists have used the court system as one path to legal and social change. Indeed, it is because of the European Court of Human Rights that homosexuality was decriminalized in Northern Ireland. In the case of Dudgeon v the United Kingdom, the court ruled that the criminalization of male homosexual acts violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights with regard to the respect for private and family life. (The plaintiff, Jeff Dudgeon, had been persecuted by Northern Irish police throughout the 1970s on account of his homosexuality.)

This month, a court in Belfast ruled against Ashers Baking Co., a Christian-run bakery that refused service to a gay activist who wanted them to make a cake that included a slogan in support of same-sex marriage.* The judge determined that a business run for profit could not use freedom of religion to exempt itself from anti-discrimination law. Right now, there is a challenge underway to the Northern Irish government’s nonrecognition of same-sex marriages conducted in other parts of the United Kingdom.

Alongside the legal route, a mass demonstration organized by the Rainbow Project, Amnesty International, and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is planned for June 13 in Belfast. “Northern Ireland is now the last bastion of discrimination against gay people in these islands,” Amnesty’s Northern Ireland Program Director Patrick Corrigan said. “People in Northern Ireland are sick of living in a discriminatory backwater for gay people.” Faced with a sclerotic political system, the courts and the streets are, for now, the gay community’s best hopes of overturning the status quo.

*Correction, May 27, 2015: This article originally misstated that Ashers Baking Co. refused service to a gay couple. It was gay activist Gareth Lee who ordered the cake. Also, due to a photo provider error, the caption on this photo originally misstated that the people in the photo were protesting same-sex marriage. The people standing in front of the banner are supporters of same-sex marriage.

Say ‘I do’ in Ireland: Tourism Ireland targets LGBT visitors with ‘dreamily romantic’ weddings

27/05/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Travel News – Pól Ó Conghaile PUBLISHED 25/05/2015 | 16:14

Saying yes to tourism

Senator Katherine Zappone and partner Ann Louise Gilligan celebrate the Yes vote after the referendum on same sex marriage. Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Getty Images

It may be September before same-sex marriage can take place in Ireland, but tourism chiefs have lost little time inviting LGBT couples to celebrate their weddings here.

Tourism Ireland unveiled its new campaign – “Ireland says I do” – just a day after the historic marriage referendum was carried.

On Saturday, Ireland became the first country in the world to introduce same sex marriage by popular vote, with 62.1pc of people voting Yes.

A day later, Tourism Ireland’s campaign began highlighting “dreamily romantic locations to tie the knot” and honeymoon on the island.

The campaign is being targeted at members of the LGBT community in nine overseas markets including Britain, the United States, Canada, the Nordic region, Australia, France, Spain, Italy and Germany.

It focuses on Facebook, Ireland.com and a new video showcasing The Outing (below), the world’s first-ever LGBT matchmaking festival, an offshoot of the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival, which takes place in October.

“The Yes vote absolutely will have a positive impact on tourism,” Brian Finnegan, Editor of Gay Community News magazine, told Independent.ie Travel.

“In cities like San Francisco, Sydney or Berlin there is a sense of equality. People feel safe to be openly gay and express affection in public. The vote de-stigmatises… and that is bound to have a strong effect.”

Many gay couples from Ireland have travelled to Spain, Canada and New York City to get married, he adds.

“So why shouldn’t LGBT visitors come to Ireland for the same reason?”

Research unveiled at World Travel Market 2014 showed the annual spend on travel by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people exceeded USD$200 billion (€181bn) for the first time in 2014.

The fact that Ireland has become the first place in the world to introduce same sex marriage by popular vote could also be a reason in itself to visit, Finnegan adds.

“This sends a message that Ireland is a leader in terms of equality, respect and human dignity. The photos from the day of celebration portray Ireland as a wonderfully colourful and exciting country.

“Why shouldn’t that attract people to visit?”