Northern Ireland's ban on gay marriage to be challenged by Amnty urt | Equal marriage | The Guardian

Contents:

• NORTHERN IRELAND'S BAN ON GAY MARRIAGE TO BE CHALLENGED BY AMNTY URT
• MANY BRONS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MDS ON GAY MARRIAGE
• ‘WHAT A DAY TO BE GAY NORTHERN IRELAND’: MARRIAGE EQUALY BE LAW AT LAST
• GAY MARRIAGE AND ABORTN: WHY ARE THERE DIFFERENT LAWS NORTHERN IRELAND?
• 'NEW CULTURE WAR': NORTHERN IRELAND'S LGBT+ MUNY FIGHTS FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• 'NEW CULTURE WAR': NORTHERN IRELAND'S LGBT+ MUNY FIGHTS FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• WHERE EUROPE STANDS ON GAY MARRIAGE AND CIVIL UNNS

NORTHERN IRELAND'S BAN ON GAY MARRIAGE TO BE CHALLENGED BY AMNTY URT

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly have voted five tim on whether or not to troduce same-sex the most recent vote November 2015, policians there voted to support same sex marriage for the first time, wh a narrow majory of 53 vot to the move was blocked by the DUP and challeng to that block urt haven't new laws say the Wtmster ernment mt brg new l for same-sex marriage by 13 January bee upl have to officially say they want to marry 28 days before they do, the first gay weddgs are expected to be held the week of Valente's Day.

Amnty Internatnal and gay prsure groups have warned that Northern Ireland's power-sharg ernment will soon face a human rights legal se over s refal to allow gay upl to marry. Unnist parti have voted at Stormont to ensure Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people are exclud om the same-sex marriage bill, which was passed the Commons Febary. Amnty and the Rabow Project say is evable that the LGBT muny will e the Human Rights Act and European human rights legislatn to force Northern Ireland to brg the law to le wh legal actn is likely to take place Belfast – ironilly, the first UK cy to host a gay civil partnership ceremony when Shannon Sickl and Grane Close sealed their unn at Belfast Cy Hall 2005.

MANY BRONS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MDS ON GAY MARRIAGE

"As late as 1982 gay sex was still a crimal activy Northern Ireland bee the untry was not clud the UK's gay law reforms of the 1960s. Gay rights mpaigner Jeff Dudgeon took a se to the European urt of human rights 1981 which forced the UK ernment, the face of opposn om unnist policians such as the Rev Ian Paisley, to crimalise homosexualy Northern Northern Ireland Office said the gay rights issue was one for Stormont to ci. "The Rabow Project said excludg Northern Ireland om gay marriage law meant that if a married LGBT uple om England reloted there due to work or fay reasons, their marriagewould effect be null and void.

‘WHAT A DAY TO BE GAY NORTHERN IRELAND’: MARRIAGE EQUALY BE LAW AT LAST

"If a gay uple move to Northern Ireland their marriage is downgrad to a civil partnership, " said Rabow director John O'Doherty. The rultg aln ernment ially said would reta a ban on gay marriage. As of 2020, the most recent year for which there is data, more than 42, 000 gay upl England and Wal had tied the knot.

) Pollg June found that more than three-quarters of Brons now support gay marriage, up om jt over half 2012. It end Sectn 28, which prevented schools and lol thori om “promotg homosexualy” and troduced civil partnerships. “I don’t support gay marriage spe beg a Conservative.

Gay marriag beme not an abstract threat but somethg unrtaken by iends, lleagu, neighbours.

GAY MARRIAGE AND ABORTN: WHY ARE THERE DIFFERENT LAWS NORTHERN IRELAND?

Almost half of Brons now say they know a married gay uple. Gordon Brown, Mr Cameron’s precsor, opposed gay marriage office bee was “timately bound up wh qutns of relig eedom”. Though Bra was not the first to legalise , 19 other untri have sce given gay marriage their blsg.

But has led to a of eccliastil disrd as liberal members of the church argue for the right to perform or partake gay marriag.

A group of mps led by Ben Bradshaw, a gay Anglin, is lookg at ways to amend the legislatn to allow willg prits and parish to take part, which they argue uld also help boost dwdlg numbers the aisl. “What a day to be gay Northern Ireland, ” said Miln, 29. The DUP and others attempted a rell to block the extensn of abortn rights – a far more ntent change – but the effort failed, allowg liberalisatn of both marriage equaly and abortn Smh, Northern Ireland’s secretary of state, said the first gay marriage was expected the week of Valente’s day 2020.

'NEW CULTURE WAR': NORTHERN IRELAND'S LGBT+ MUNY FIGHTS FOR GAY MARRIAGE

”Overt homophobia has ebbed Northern Ireland. After all, Ireland, a tradnally nservative Catholic untry, only crimalized homosexualy 1993.

'NEW CULTURE WAR': NORTHERN IRELAND'S LGBT+ MUNY FIGHTS FOR GAY MARRIAGE

Mister for Health Leo Varadkar publicly revealed he was gay for the first time durg the mpaign and lled the w a “historil day.

WHERE EUROPE STANDS ON GAY MARRIAGE AND CIVIL UNNS

BELFAST (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - Hidn away up several flights of stairs the center of Belfast, Northern Ireland, teenagers, many of them wh shocks of red, blue and rabow hair, relaxed and joked wh one the LGBT+ youth group, n by chary Cara-Friend, they felt themselv to be among iends, ee to be outsi, the young people said they don’t always feel wele a place where many policians make homophobic ments and same-sex marriage is still banned, spe beg legalized the rt of the Uned Kgdom 2013. “Gay marriage isn’t even a thg here, ” said Ash, a 16-year-old who intifi as non-bary and pansexual.

”Northern Ireland is erned separately om the rt of the Uned Kgdom on many issu, a legacy of the domtic nflict between “republin” and “unnist” groups over whether to une wh the Republic of Ireland to the Democratic Unnist Party (DUP), one of the most socially nservative Europe, has repeatedly blocked gay marriage, spe support for om more than two-thirds of Northern Irish adults, acrdg to a 2015 poll by Ipsos year, the Northern Ireland Assembly voted to legalize same-sex weddgs, but the DUP blocked g a veto tend to protect mory Brish ernment has refed to impose gay marriage on the regn, which had a populatn of 1. ’”Nairn, who is himself gay, said was “crazy” same-sex marriage was not yet legal, an terview at the Unn Street Bar Belfast’s small gay district, where he ed to work, often drsed as a drag queen lled year, two legal challeng to the same-sex marriage ban were heard Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal, the regn’s hight appeals urt, after beg rejected by s High judgments are expected the next few months, but activists said they will appeal them to the Uned Kgdom’s Supreme Court if same-sex marriage isn’t also expect Northern Ireland’s attorney general to appeal if the lg go the other way. But gay marriage is now legal the south of Ireland, after a referendum 10 years ago, no Northern Irish party supported LGBT+ rights, Jefey Dudgeon, a Belfast cy uncillor for the Ulster Unnist Party told the Thomson Rters Foundatn an terview the imposg Victorian-era Cy Hall.

“Every time ’s been a stggle and ’s aga bee of volutn, ” said Dudgeon, one of the platiffs a 1981 European Court of Human Rights se that legalized gay sex Northern Ireland, 14 years after the rt of the Uned recent years, LGBT+ rights have bee a dividg issue Northern Irish Fe now supports LGBT+ rights, spe s Catholic herage.