ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

Forty years ago I would have been denied my rights in Northern Ireland because I was Catholic. Now they could be denied because I’m gay

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A new ‘conscience clause’ being proposed will legally protect gay discrimination
If I ran a bakery and someone came in and asked me to bake a cake that says, “NO TO GAY MARRIAGE”, I would tell them to find another bakery.
So I support Ashers Bakery, which was recently threatened with legal action over its refusal to make a pro-gay marriage cake. But only to an extent. As a gay woman, they’ll never be getting my business, but I can see this for what it is: a freedom of conscience issue. Turning a a gay couple away from a hotel, however, is not. And that’s what will happen under the DUP’s proposed equality bill. Not only will service providers be able to discriminate against me, the law will protect them too.
It’s sad to see the DUP pursuing this. This was the same party that, before the Peace Process, actively supported a system of power that discriminated against the country’s Catholic minority. Forty years ago, they’d have denied me my rights because I was Catholic. Now they’re denying me them because I’m gay.
It’s as if history has taught them nothing. And it poses a worrying question – who is next? If the battle for gay equality is fought and won, will they find another target? Will black people no longer be welcome in Northern Ireland? Immigrants? We already know what the party leader thinks of Muslims.
Yet this doesn’t just affect my life. It will have an impact on heterosexual, working-class Unionists too.
The Unionists I know are not bigots. They are ordinary people who have better things to do than worry about my love life. When I was 17, I told my friend Gavyn, an Orange Order marching, July 12 loving, “British till I die” Prod that I was gay. From memory, I got a hug and, subsequently, a text after he converted to Christianity to tell me “it changed nothing”.

Yet Unionism has a PR problem. The actions of people like Paul Givan – who proposed this ridiculous equality bill – have turned it into a political ideology linked with prejudice and elitism. The battle for equal rights for Catholics has been fought and won but as long as Givan & Co. keep finding new people to hate, the Protestant community will not be allowed to forget what happened. They continue, in the eyes of the world, to be “those bigots” who said no to civil rights in 1969. Every request for others to “respect their culture” is consequently treated with scorn when it should be considered.
Christians have rights – and I will defend them. Yes, I disagree with their views on gay marriage but I’ll defend to the death their right to hold them. I can live with someone having an opinion I don’t like.
What I can’t live with is that opinion becoming law that prevents me from getting married.
Paul Givan is not asking for equality – he is asking for the right to discriminate against me. He’s asking for a return to the old Northern Ireland, where some of us are equal and some of us aren’t.  And again, it’s all because of religion.
 
Republished from the http://www.independent.co.uk/

UK gvmt tells faith-based schools they must promote gay ‘rights’

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Thaddeus Baklinski, LifeSiteNews.com, Nov, 3, 2014
do_not_tolerate_intoleranceEducation Secretary Nicky Morgan has informed UK faith-based schools that if they don’t comply with new rules requiring them to “actively promote British values,” including teaching tolerance of homosexuality, they could face closure.
“Schools should broaden horizons, not close minds, and should encourage pupils to respect other people even if they do not agree with them. I should have thought this is a principle with which the vast majority of people would agree,” said Morgan.
Morgan is on record for having voted against same-sex “marriage,” but has since said she changed her mind about the issue.
The new rules introduced by the Department of Education give inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) power to downgrade the ratings of, or even close, schools that do not conform to the Equality Act.
So the question now is will the Ulster Assembly enact this for faith schools in Northern Ireland – on June 13, 2013 Gary Spedding wrote:
…In Northern Ireland, there is already curriculum covering relationship and sex education, but, difficulty comes in the lack of consistent implementation. This must be addressed urgently by the Education Minister, John O’Dowd. I hope that he and indeed many others will share in the opinion, that implementing PSHE and RSE (Relationship and Sex Education) as compulsory topics of study in the NI curriculum would be an exceptionally positive initial step forward for Northern Ireland…
 
The Rainbow Project in Northern Ireland wrote:
…Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGB&T) young people are a vulnerable group in our society. The Department of Education has an obligation to ensure that these young people are not discriminated against and to actively promote equality of opportunity for them.
Educational structures in Northern Ireland are inherently and systemically heterosexist institutions. By heterosexist we mean that to be heterosexual is not simply considered as more common than same-sex attracted but as normal, correct and morally superior…We now face the absurd anomaly that an LGB&T sixteen-year old with a part time job is better protected in their place of employment than in their place of education.Challenging Homophobia in Primary Schools
 
Further reading:

 

Northern Ireland's LGBT Community Disenfranchised Again

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We need to see delivery from Office of First Minster and Deputy First Minister (OFMdFM) – Nesbitt
Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has called for delivery from OFMdFM on the Sexual Orientation Strategy.
Mr Nesbitt, who is also Chair of the OFMdFM Committee, said:“The Sexual Orientation Strategy is becoming one of the longest running sagas of devolution. We have been waiting seven years for a strategy to be produced, following the consultation process of 2006.
“The Assembly was given a commitment by then Junior Minister Robin Newton in 2010 that a strategy was imminent. Then last year Junior Minister Jonathan Bell said we would see the strategy by the end of 2012; again, it didn’t appear. Then in Together: Building a United Community a commitment was given to publishing a sexual orientation strategy before the end of 2013, and lo and behold it hasn’t appeared.
“So where is it? It’s a Programme for Government commitment and after seven years, it’s non-appearance is also conclusive proof of the dysfunctionality of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.
“The purpose of the strategy is to address issues faced by the LGBT community in Northern Ireland, so it is a very important document. Is it now going to become a yearly event where we mark the non-publication of the Sexual Orientation Strategy? If it weren’t so serious, this debacle would be laughable.
“If OFMdFM are serious about building a shared future in Northern Ireland, publishing the sexual orientation strategy would send out a strong message. We need to see delivery on this; it cannot and should not be allowed to rumble on any longer.”
Ulster Unionist Press Office
Room 215 Parliament Buildings
Stormont
Belfast
BT4 3XX
 
Further reading:

  1. OFMandDFM – Sexual Orientation
  2. BBC News MLAs Support Sexual Orientation Motion

 

Experienced a hate crime in Belfast? Victim Support NI want to know about it

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victim_support_logoIf you have experienced any hate crime in Belfast in the last few years, then please fill in the survey which is being conducted by Lisa Faulkner from the Jordanstown campus of the University of Ulster for Victim Support NI.
The aim of the survey is to map services / provisions for victims of hate crimes in Belfast and to capture their views and opinions of the services.
The survey will close on 5th November 2013.
Please complete the survey by visiting https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VVDMTHN
For help and support contact Victim Support NI on 028 9024 3133; website www.victimsupportni.co.uk.

15 years after Matthew Shepard: so much achieved for gay rights, but so much more to do

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I remember reading my copy of Gay Times about the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard. At the time I ended up in tears, and this evening re-reading about the murder, looking at photographs of those responsible as well as of that infamous fence in the State of Wyoming and the well known family photo of Matthew. The Matthew Shepard Foundation posted the following status on Facebook, and I feel that we should spread it wider.

1243162_595280560534122_1768961158_o“15 years ago this evening, Matthew Shepard was driven from the Fireside Lounge in Laramie, Wyoming to the outskirts of the city by two strangers who did not like that he was gay. They tied him to a fence, beat him with the butt of a gun, and left him for dead.
“The Casper Star Tribune, Matthew’s hometown newspaper, ran a beautiful story of the contradictions Wyoming still has in the acceptance and treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
“These contradictions parallel those at the national and international level as well. Just because same-sex couples can get married in 13 states and the District of Columbia doesn’t mean that these couples don’t have to think about their rights when they go on vacation. Or get transferred for work and move to one of the 29 states in which you can be fired for being gay, 33 for being transgender.
“While progress has been made over the last 15 years, we have a long way to go before we have true, meaningful equality.”

— Matthew Shepard Foundation Facebook page

So much achieved, yet so much still to do

So much has been achieved for gay rights across the world in the years since Matthew’s cruel death, but we have still so much to do. Fifteen years on, the same homophobia seen in Wyoming in 1998 is very much alive and well here in Northern Ireland.

  • A man had his nose broken nose during a homophobic assault on the Dublin to Belfast train between Newry and Portadown in December 2012. (Belfast Telegraph)
  • Henry McDonald wrote in the Guardian that the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland found in some research that 80% of homophobic attacks here in Northern Ireland are not reported.
  • Thug jailed for homophobic attack in Belfast gay bar reported in the Belfast Telegraph in June 2013
  • In September three men admitted the manslaughter of Andrew Lorimer in Lurgan in what is a suspected homophobic attack.
  • A drug addict took a legal high before he attacked a man and shouted homophobic abuse at him, a court heard in July 2013. (BBC News)

The cases illustrated above are those which have made it into a quick search on Google. I am sure that there have been many more homophobic incidents since this time last year. As the Police Service of Northern Ireland has said in the past,

“Hate crime is unacceptable, no one deserves to experience it and no one deserves to get away with it. To stop it, report it, do not suffer in silence.”

It is clear to me that we must continue to stand up for our rights, not just against homophobic attacks but the anti-gay policies of the DUP health minister, Edwin Poots, who seems to be leading a new crusade against our rights in his relentless appeals against decisions of the Northern Irish Courts relating to the Gay Blood Ban, and Adoption by Gay Couples.
Anyone interested in working towards full equality for all who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, please get in touch and help stand alongside our brothers and sisters in the Matthew Shepard Foundation working to ‘Erase Hate’ now.

Has everyone registered to vote who has signed the Poots resignation petition?

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Since Monday, over 7,500 people have signed an online petition calling for Northern Ireland’s health minister, Edwin Poots MLA to resign or be removed from his post as a result of his funding of appeals against decisions of the High Court. The petition can be found on Avaaz.org’s site here.

The petition reads:
“We call on the Northern Ireland Assembly to seek the resignation of Edwin Poots, or for his removal from his post as Health Minister and thus bring to an end his disgraceful waste of public money in pursuit of a personal ”

Why is this important?

Edwin Poots is squandering public money in the pursuit of a personal agenda against unmarried and same sex couples, diverting essential funding from vital and vastly over-stretched NHS services which benefit the entire population. Mr Poots should resign or be removed from his post as Health Minister to end this wanton action.
While public health and social care services struggle to make ends meet, Mr Poots has spent, to date, £17,000 in an effort to ensure unmarried and same sex couples are denied the opportunity to adopt children in turn, denying children the best opportunity to a loving and stable family environment.
Justifying his action with 7 year old data which, by his own department’s admission, is flawed in the very way in which it was obtained, he intends to continue this campaign at the High Court, with the approximate final cost being £40,000.
Mr Poots has also wasted £37,000 in ensuring gay men who wish to donate blood are denied from doing so. This is at complete odds with blood donation advice in every other part of the UK and demonstrates utter incompetence and complete disregard for the public purse and more importantly, the NHS he has stewardship over.

Already signed? Want to make your voice heard?

RegistertoVoteWhen you have signed the petition there is another way to make sure your voice is heard in the democratic process – make sure that you are registered to vote.
The Electoral Office of Northern Ireland is conducting its General Canvass at the moment with registration day being 27 September 2013. By now, all residents of Northern Ireland should have received a registration form. If you have not, please go to the Electoral Office’s website to register there.
Speaking at the launch of the canvass Graham Shields, the Chief Electoral Officer, said;

‘Being on the Electoral Register safeguards your democratic right to vote and ensures that you have your say in elections. Even if you don’t intend to exercise your right to vote, it still remains a legal obligation to register. Registering to vote is easy and I would ask everyone to take just a few minutes to complete the registration form and return it to us by the 27 September deadline.’

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Do LGBT people use NI Libraries? If so, what are your views?

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NIGRA Secretary, Dave McFarlane has been corresponding with Sean Beattie from Libraries NI about the the LGBT community’s use of the Library service. Sean is keen to meet with members of Northern Ireland’s LGBT community to discuss:

  • How often people who identify as LGBT use the library service?
  • What you use the library service for?
  • What you would look for when using the library (internet access, LGBT section etc)?

Sean is keen to carry out a survey across the LGBT community in Northern Ireland along the same theme.
LibrariesNIAnyone interested in meeting Sean and working to improve the LGBT provision in NI libraries, please contact Dave McFarlane directly using the form below:

Error: Contact form not found.

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Are Northern Ireland School Libraries failing our LGBT Youth?

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Hmophobia is preventable in schoolOn a Wednesday evening during Belfast Pride I attended a Unison sponsored event ‘on whether our Northern Ireland School Libraries are failing our LGBT Youth?’
After a warm welcome by Fidelma Carolan, we were then given a wonderful presentation by Sally Bridge on the results of her research project undertaken whilst she was at university and completed in 2010.
The audience was actively involved, asking penetrating and supporting questions to expand and to add personal observations to what was already an exciting report.
The report highlighted the following areas of concern:

  • That the school library is seen as a safe haven, but librarians are not trained in providing this space and supporting it.
  • That 84% of schools either have no (52%) or don’t now (32%) if the school anti-bullying policies encompass homophobic bullying.
  • That 20% of libraries felt it was not appropriate to provide LGBT information in a school library; but of the 80% who were, 74% reported that they had no LGBT information in their library.
  • That the DENI circular on Relationships and Sexuality Education Policy in Schools has placed homosexuality in the middle of diseases and pornography, thus further seeming to stigmatized the LGBT community and its youth.
  • 76% of LGBT teenagers did not take part in any discussion about homosexuality whilst attending education.
  • School internal filtering software prevents access to positive LGBT information sites such as GlYNI, Rainbow etc; and as a consequence LGBT youth in education do not feel secure using school facilities in relation to their LGBT needs.

After the presentation the audience then moved into a more informal setting which enabled open discussion, and the exchanging of personal stories and observations.
The NI School LIbrary Service had very kindly organised for two librarians to be at the meeting, and they were in a position to answer some questions, and to expand on some of the findings.  The worrying factor is that it would seem that the School Library service is being run down, and that the role of the school librarian is disappearing with the service, where it will be run, being undertaken by untrained staff or overworked teachers – even dare I say school students who volunteer.
A full copy of the report can be viewed here:   [button_icon icon=”document-word” url=”https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&ved=0CFkQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcadair.aber.ac.uk%2Fdspace%2Fbitstream%2F2160%2F5714%2F1%2FThesis.doc&ei=Lv3_Ub64EY2n0wWI0YHICQ&usg=AFQjCNF4JKGGrti_m3IOUCDxw9h9e6rR3Q&sig2=KpcSTaSLr12ATkUKm2hVpA&bvm=bv.50165853,d.d2k” blank=”true”]Are NI school libraries failing our LGB&T youth? [/button_icon]
At the end of the evening, it was agreed that a focus group/pressure group would be formed to monitor and to help schools and Government realise that LGBT youth need full support and protection in our schools, and that the school library is fundamental in the provision of this.
This presentation will also be provided during the Newry Pride – all will be welcome to the Unison sponsored presentation, and I hope you will attend.