Mrs Robinson- Jesus loves you more than you will ever know

Brighton Pride’s theme this year is Pride Around the World so I decided to write about my birthplace- Northern Ireland. Belfast Pride happens on the same weekend as Brighton and for many of us Northern Ireland’s LGBT community still faces some of the greatest hurdles on the long path to liberation.

As somewhat of a refugee from ‘the North’, the last 10 years have been a revealing period of time to watch those adamant to push us all back into the closet; while there are obviously Orange and Green bigots, one predominant theme, and one party in particular has been at the epicentre: the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Let’s begin with one of their stormtroopers: Iris Robinson MP and MLA and First Lady of the Northern Irish assembly. In the light of the heinous homophobic assault on Stephen Scott by 3 youths in Newtonabbey, Mrs Robinson described homosexuality as “vile,” “disgusting,” “nauseating” and “an abomination,” live on BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show. Her comments were only outdone by her offer to refer homosexuals to the care of a psychiatrist friend who had helped gays to “turn away from what they are engaged in.”

Iris Robinson is chair of the Health, Social Services and Public Safety Statutory Committee in the Northern Irish Assembly- in effect, a homophobe’s in control of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people’s access to health services and ensuring that they live free from harassment. I won’t hold my breath for delivery on those objectives…

Belfast Pride always has a large turnout from the Bible basher brigade. This year it’s worth remembering that while we parade up The Steine, Belfast Pride will suffer once again at the hands of the bigots who feel emboldened by Robinson’s comments, and have had their own homophobia represented and endorsed by senior politicians. Further, given the documented high rate of suicide and attempted suicide among Northern Ireland’s young LGBT population and the higher incidence of homo, bi and trans phobic violence, Robinson’s comments by their inflammatory nature have re-legitimised violence against LGBT people.

While our eyes have been drawn to the former Soviet bloc and the Baltic states as places where Pride denotes violence against LGBT people, there’s still much homo, bi and trans phobia much closer to home. Belfast has gone unnoticed as a breeding ground for reactionaries, like last year where bigots threw dog excrement at Pride marchers.

Iris- what an ironic name, given that in ancient Roman mythology Iris was the personification of the rainbow. It’s ironic that on the 30th anniversary of Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flag which has come to represent the diversity of the LGBT communities, that we still face homophobic nonsense from politicians whose wages we pay. I’m not sure it’s an accident that someone who recommends that LGBT people need to be seen by a shrink voted for locking suspects up with no trial for 6 weeks, as Iris did in the Government’s recent vote. Am I really the one who needs to see a shrink?

Brendan Barber, the General Secretary of the Trades Unions Congress has just written to the First Minister of Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson, about the conduct of his fellow minister. Barber is among many to call upon the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland to investigate whether her statements constitute incitement to homophobic hatred.

Iris is far from alone in the DUP. There’s Dr Ian Paisley, (that doctorate comes from an outlawed US theological institution, incidentally) who as the leader of the Free Presbyterian Church pushed to stop homosexuality being decriminalised in Northern Ireland with the ‘Save Ulster from Sodomy’ campaign. That slogan was emblazoned in 10 foot tall letters across the Victorian dome of Belfast City Hall. As a child, I can vividly recall asking my grandmother what ‘sodomy’ was when we walked past on a day out in town- the answer must have been suitably boring as I don’t remember it!

After raving Ian senior, there’s ‘Lady’ Paisley, Ian’s wife, who led the campaign in the House of Lords to smash the Goods, Services and Facilities Regulations, while last summer Ian Paisley Jnr stated that he was ‘repulsed’ by gay men and lesbians. In the greatest two fingers to Northern Ireland’s LGBT communities, Paisley Jnr continues to represent North Antrim in the Assembly, and has not been disciplined or sacked by the Northern Ireland Assembly or First Minister.

Elsewhere Paul Berry, a DUP councillor for Lisburn was caught red-handed using the services of a male prostitute in a Belfast hotel in 2005. I salute the male prostitute who exposed Berry’s activities as he has helped fill in the missing pieces in the moral jigsaw which determine the DUP as not only homophobic but also hypocritical. There’s another DUP councillor- Arthur Templeton who was found guilty of harassing a gay colleague and was ordered to pay £4,000 in damages. Then there’s Edwin Poots, who as a councillor in Lisburn tried to ban gay and lesbian couples from holding civil partnerships. In February he called the presence of Ulster’s only gay rugby team - the Ulster Titans- a form of "apartheid". While in 2005 he remarked that homosexuality needs to be “overcome just like alcoholism and drug addiction”.

The continual efforts by DUP Councillors and representatives on the Northern Ireland Assembly to marginalise and silence the LGBT communities must continue to be exposed and resisted. Further we must push Brown and the government for laws which prohibit homophobes from holding office. Above all, we must continue to expose the DUP as the political current who want to drag Northern Ireland, and in effect the rest of the UK, back to Victorian fire and brimstone.

On Northern Ireland’s steady steps back to a lasting peace, LGBT people must be allowed to live in dignity and free from bigoted harassment. Iris Robinson, the Paisleys and the unenlightened DUP gentry represent every attempt in Northern Ireland to drag it back to the days when if you were LGB or T you had to leave- isn’t it about time we asked them to leave instead?

This article will feature in August's edition of 360 magazine: http://www.3sixtymag.co.uk/index.php?req=180