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THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE have turned out for a rally in support of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland this afternoon.
Amnesty International Northern Ireland estimates put the crowd number at 20,000. Police estimates of the turnout weren’t immediately available.
The march began at Writer’s Square – heading for City Hall.
The campaign group has branded the North the “last bastion of discrimination” following the passing of the marriage referendum in the Republic last month, and the legalisation of gay marriage in England, Wales and Scotland in recent years.
“People in Northern Ireland are sick of living in a discriminatory backwater for gay people,” Amnesty’s Patrick Corrigan said in advance of today’s event.
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.
Attempts to legislate to allow gay marriage in the jurisdiction have been vetoed by the DUP and a majority of Ulster Unionists at Stormont.
The assembly has debated the issue four times.
Amnesty maintains the majority of people in Northern Ireland believe gay marriage should be made a reality. A 2013 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey of over 1,200 people showed 59% per cent were in favour of the move, and 29% against.
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The DUP won’t like that……..
They tend to dislike anything remotely progressive
They will have Pink Hand Luke the Combined LoyalBliss Military Cummand back out on patrol as soon as they can get them out of the bookies/KneeBreakers!!
Last bastion of discrimination?…. I think three quarters of the world might leave the prods up north in the halfpenny place (most islamic countries and a few “christian” ones treat gays like poo, strange enough the ONE “Jewish” country on has its pride parade in Telaviv at the minute! I am sure the (so called jewish controlled, sic!!) mass media, including RTE, will show a clip of the of the parade, NOT!!!
Enough said!
bill of course not. …the hypocritical stance by some is breathtaking. …anti semitic and ill informed to boot
So with all the red thumbs I must be bang on target!
If they vote for Sinn Fein or the SDLP they will have some chance of getting what they want. If they vote DUP/ UUP they can forget about it.
SDLP not as progressive as you would think on this issue. Many MLA’s abstain.
From same sex marriage? : )
Strange the DUP are against gay marriage, you know with William of Orange being gay and all
He liked a bit of Willy did our King Billy. .
Queen Billy…..marches with pride!
excellent to see this, long overdue
Fair play to our northern brothers and sisters. I hope they prevail. I just hope they don’t get the same incorrect facts and stories thrown at them like we did.
This was of interest
http://atheist.ie/2015/04/iona-institute-sipo-u-turn/
and i’m not athiest.
Which group of secular athiests, do Athiest Ireland represent all or some?
This is really great to see. Theres something completely nonsensical about allowing same sex marriage in one part of our country and not the other.
The United Kingdom is a different country.
The bigot’s won’t like it.
It might be under british rule but it is still part of ireland.
Part of Ireland, but also part of a different sovereign state.
Agreed
Look on a map guys there’s a border
Paul there is a border between every countie in ireland what’s your point.
We are a thirty 32 county state since 1918.
And we have two constitutions one is Eamon de valeras and the other on is ours.
Paul I was born on the thing you call ‘The Border’. I’m looking out the window here…don’t see it. All I see are fields. Irish fields.
That’s putting the pidgeon among the cats.
Penguin among the dinosaurs!
The DUP firmly on the same side as the Roman Catholic Church.
best of luck guys but I can’t help feeling that as long as the relics and dinasaurs if unionism are in power it will be an uphill battle. They make the Catholic Church look like outposts of liberalism
Hopefully our Northern Brothers and Sisters stand strong, defend marriage and reject the homosexual agenda.
The unionists are not our brothers and sisters while the nationalists, led by Sinn Fein support marriage equality.
J. …you need to up your meds
The DUP agreed with equality when they finally signed up to the Agreement at St Andrews- but they forbid equality to our friends / neighbours / country men and woman who want to marry the same sex-
The usual puerile anti-Unionist comments from the usual neanderthals.
Haha or merely just an observation that their policies are outdated. If anti bigotry means anti unionist, then I guess you’re right, and as a result I’m anti unionist
@Tap, marching season is coming, are ye going up?
Equating Unionism with bigotry is itself bigotry.
Please explain that further? How did you come to that conclusion pal?
@querty, equating and unionism should’nt be in the same sentence.
Periguin, shouldn’t the apostrophe in should’nt (sic) be in a different place?
Wee Pat will out ‘bagging the tae for Orange Supremacists for yet another long hot sectarian summer of shame!
Enlightening stuff Pat, if you run of constructive argument, correct the grammar of others. Pretentious much, or just true to form
Well he wont be correcting english exam papers anyway.
Unionism and opposition to same-sex marriage are two different things.
Dismissing all unionists as bigots is like saying that all Irish people are drunkards. You would probably see that statement as bigoted.
Not that opposition to same-sex marriage is bigotry. It’s simply people voicing their opinion in a democratic society.
I, voicing my opinion in a democratic society, would define opposition to same sex marriage as bigotry. Unless you’ve an argument to suggest otherwise of course?
When your opinion is that certain people shouldn’t be treated as equal citizens then I’m afraid it is bigotry
@ Todd
Opposition to same-sex marriage would be bigoted if it involved hateful language, incitement to hatred or ad hominem attacks. The vast majority of people voicing opposition to it do so with reasoned arguments.
Provide one so? And to say hateful language isn’t used is a ridiculous statement Jim Wells is a top bloke, and as for Gregory Campbell…
@Ciarán
I personally don’t and didn’t oppose same-sex marriage. But civil partnership is effectively the same thing. Are children not equal citizens because they cannot vote for example? An adult in their 20s cannot become the president of this country. If you want to have perfect equality then it is anathema to oppose lowering the age at which one can become president. The majority of fanatical yes voters voted no to that. Equality only when it suits your vested interest. The equality argument doesn’t hold up.
One of their arguments is that it will lead to children being brought up in an unsuitable environment. I don’t personally share their views but whether you agree or diagree with their arguments, they are legitimate.
I think we established a few weeks ago that civil partnership is not the same. I agreed it was a bit mental but I think the issue of “gay marriage” was more than it appeared to be. It was about acceptance of people for what they were. I see you’re trying to muddle the water, how clever, but this is what is it is, regardless of your whataboutery
Querty, why do you have the anarchist ‘A’ in your profile pic? You clearly do not hold freedom in any regard. You are against individual freedom. An anarchist you are not. Strap on a red, white and black armband instead. It would suit you.
It’s tongue-in-cheek. I am all for individual freedom and the democratic process. Not just pick-and-choose freedom for the things I like.
I’ll give you an example. There was an episode of Question Time in the UK, where at the end of the show the panelists quickly discussed the issue of the gay cake row in Belfast.
Each of them ridiculed the owners of the bakery and shockingly agreed that they should be forced to put whatever message is requested on the cake, irrespective of their feelings towards the writing.
Any reasonably-minded person would agree that the owners have a right to freedom of conscience and it is their right to refuse (based on the writing on the cake, not the individual(s) ordering it).
The whole panel took the fascist position that the owners should be denied their right to refuse. This is absolutely disgraceful.
It’s also important to note that two of the panelists are gay. If that’s not a conflict of interest I don’t know what is! Of course they will be biased and will take the position that would make their lives more convenient at the expense of others’ freedom.
Wrong. You are not ‘all for’ freedom of any kind. You are commenting here trying to deny personal freedom. You tongue is not in your cheek. It is somewhere far south of there. Stop deluding yourself.
I’m not trying to deny anyone’s freedom. I made my views very clear on this article and numerous others (without resorting to petty insults).
What petty insults? I’m simply saying that you are not an anarchist, don’t be upset. If being called out as a fraud hurts your feelings don’t pretend to be something you aren’t and don’t cry when you are called out on your bellsh*t.
Qwerty the “unsuitable ” environments argument is not a legitimate argument. Reputable research has shown that same sex parenting is on par with heterosexual parenting. The very fact that all major child welfare organisations were in favour of same sex marriage shows that same sex parenting is not damaging to children. The unsuitable environments argument was nothing more than ignorance or a mask to hide homophobia behind.
It’s legitimate in the sense that it doesn’t use insulting language or attacks on the individual. It uses the issue of caring for children to argue a point. Which can then be refuted in a debate like your post refutes it using another legitimate argument.
There’s only about 5 hundred in that picture.
Pathetic turnout.
Absolutely pathetic.
Ulster says NO.
Rightly SO.
Only a matter if time Tommy boy.
1,000,000 people could march in Belfast in support of SSM and it wouldn’t matter for minute.
Unionist politicians don’t ‘do’ people power like everywhere else. It says Homosexuality is evil in the Bible so that’s the only ‘power’ that counts and I’ve no doubt if they had a normal majority based parliament they’d make homosexuality illegal again – never mind allowing them to marry.
the same people voted for equality for themselves, but no to equality in presidential referendum for people aged21.hypocrisy at its best.
Would you like something sweet to wash down those sour grapes with?
nope.just don’t like hypocrisy. you cannot dispute what I say.
Every time we think we are moving forward as a society here in Ireland the DUP and Unionists make sure to show the entire world what a bunch of backwards knuckle dragging neanderthals we still have in the North. Whats really ironic though is due to their regressive, antiquated views, bigotry, marches, flegs, etc. it keeps any real companies from relocating to the North, which means we in the Republic end up with massive amounts of companies coming here. The more they fight for their ‘ways’, the more Northern Ireland becomes impoverished. It’s just sad you have people who would rather frighten off companies and business and discriminate against their fellow countrymen rather than admit they are wrong, and are willing to let their entire economy collapse if necessary.
In fairness they do love a good match up there don’t they !!
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