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New DUP still cannot countenance engagement with NI’s gay community…

on 26 July 2011 , 10:45 am 21 | 13 views

  • I thought it was more likely a case of, DUP voters woulsdn’t countenance engaging with the G/L community therefore DUP can’t risk it. Their objection is about as sincere as their ‘Sunday Observance’ strictures which were shown as totally fake at Hillsboro talks. Ebveryone knows the DUP were meeting OO on a Sunday in England.

  • andnowwhat

    Northern Ireland is such a strange little place. He we have the unionist party that is to the right attending the event and the party that is to the (relative) left does not.

    Big question here is, is that UUP moving back to the position it was in a few years ago? In fairness, John Mc Callister (actually, he has been good on a few things of late) looked quite comfortable being there

    y)

  • dwatch

    “Big question here is, is that UUP moving back to the position it was in a few years ago? In fairness, John Mc Callister (actually, he has been good on a few things of late) looked quite comfortable being there”

    Does anyone know if MLA Tom Elliott attended? As Leader of the UUP would he have looked quite comfortable being there?

    Most DUP politicians & members no doubt believe the Gay Rights festival has an overall green agenda, and therefore wouldn’t be seen dead supporting it in case they lose votes.

  • Into the west

    Mick,
    I think the tweet about hetro-pride was inappropriate

  • Interesting that yesterday the UTV coverage said that the DUP said they couldn’t attend because they were only invited last Thrusday. Yet Jim Wells text as we can see in The Irish News was dated 16 July.

    So either Jim Wells is a Timelord or the DUP are lying.

  • Mick Fealty

    Into the west,

    That was David Vance, not me.

  • Into the west

    splat …. sorry Mick

  • HeinzGuderian

    ard……………..the objection is about as sincere as The Holey Papa’s support for gay communities around the globe !! 😉

  • “Big question here is, is that UUP moving back to the position it was in a few years ago? In fairness, John Mc Callister (actually, he has been good on a few things of late) looked quite comfortable being there”

    The UUP still exists? Wow…

  • if that’s addressed to me, you’ve posted this spurious comparison before and it’s still redundant [like you].. I’ve never supported the Cathiolc church’s actions on sex abuse of children, so why come out with this drivel to me?

  • pauluk

    I think this thread is more a case of NI liberals not being able to countenance the fact that NI conservatives still respect what the Bible has to say concerning homosexuality, namely:

    God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Romans 1.2-28 (NLT)

  • Neil

    I think this thread is more a case of NI liberals not being able to countenance the fact that NI conservatives still respect what the Bible has to say concerning homosexuality

    I personally respect their right to hold whatever views they like. The problem comes around when they try to force their views onto other people. Thankfully they’ve failed with Gay Pride (not for lack of trying), and gay people can have a day in the town celebrating their own community, and other non gay folks can come down and enjoy the carnival. A pity the same cannot be said for the tone deaf shouting singers outside City Hall on Friday, ruining any sunny lunchtimes that come along.

    It’s worth bearing in mind though that NI is a regular international laughing stock thanks to some politicians views that, say, the Giant’s Causeway was hand crafted by Jesus two months ago and that this information should be displayed on arrival to the new visitors centre (should they ever finish it). Or that the museum should have a non scientific display explaining how the Earth is young. Or that any MTV parties held in the city should be booze free being after midnight. Or that Darren Clarke should be ashamed of himself for appearing on TV with a pint.

    On both sides of the fence these days the majority of people in this town don’t agree with the above young earth stuff. They don’t care if Beyonce gets a pint on a Sunday after midnight, and if an NI man wins a big event then let him get pissed. I know I would.

    The problem lies with the fact that this increasingly small group of fundies, unrepresentative of the majority of people, still call all the shots. This is a hangover from the old days, but it’s an embarrasment. Time for the politcians to get off their knees and try to represent everyone, instead of representing their chosen hobby horses and expressing their unnessecary opinions. What Iris the adultress for example thinks about gay people should have no bearing on her ability to do her job, so maybe these people could not bother sharing their views, leave that for Church on Sunday and the rest of the time do the job their paid for.

  • Eglise en bois

    Alternatively Neil when, as you describe them, the fundies who openly and proudly express their views stand for elections the the electorate should not vote for them.

    What I find amazing is that with all our liberal views, we still elect the “fundies”, unless of course the electorate broadly agree with them!!

  • pauluk

    Wooden Church,

    A recent survey revealed that only 2% of the population claim to be practising homosexuals, so I don’t think the DUP would be too concerned about losing the ‘gay’ vote.

  • pauluk

    Actually, I got the number wrong. The Office for National Statistics says that ”1% consider themselves gay or lesbian, and 0.5% bisexual”, with NI numbers, apparently, lower than that.

  • And with 3% who did not or would not give an answer on their doorstep, or over the phone, which as a former ONS civil servant I find to be a flowed sampling technique for this sort of question.

  • ayeYerMa

    andnowwhat, I think that is more of a sign of the meaningless and erroneousness of this over-simplified dichotomy of “left” and “right” that political discussion obsesses over. (as discussed in the other excellent thread on this point)

  • dwatch

    I doubt DFM Martin McGuinness or other SF MLA’s would attend an “Orange Festival Opening” if it was held at Stormont every year.

    Who would complain if they decided to stay away?

  • carl marks

    dwatch (profile) says:
    27 July 2011 at 7:48 am

    “I doubt DFM Martin McGuinness or other SF MLA’s would attend an “Orange Festival Opening” if it was held at Stormont every year.

    Who would complain if they decided to stay away?”

    Care to deal with the issue instead of inventing scenarios.
    It would be interesting to see what SF would do under the circumstances you suggest, I think they would attend , SF love them or hate them are too politically savvy to refuse such a invite, pity the DUP can’t get out of the 16th century and instead of playing to the fundie backwoodsmen join the rest of us in he 21st

  • Neil

    Eglise,

    What I find amazing is that with all our liberal views, we still elect the “fundies”, unless of course the electorate broadly agree with them!!

    If the electorate you refer to is the slightly less than 200k people who vote DUP I would suggest that the minority tail is wagging the majority dog. Even discounting all those people who don’t vote at all, 70% of us voted for non fundie parties.

    So I would suggest you’re suffering from the hangover from the old days when 30% could equate to a majority in your mind. I repeat this simple message: you and your fundie loopy Christian party do not represent the majority, 70% of the voting electorate and rguably 100% of the non voting public disagree with you.

    But only a DUP Christian could equate less than 200k votes in a ‘country’ of 1.7 million people as being the majority.

  • Reader

    Neil: If the electorate you refer to is the slightly less than 200k people who vote DUP I would suggest that the minority tail is wagging the majority dog.
    A consequence of forced coalition and power sharing: DUP seems to be in the hands of fundamentalists, at least as a substantial power block. Then the DUP is a majority of unionist representation in the Assembly, where the unionists are one of the 2 privileged designations (and in any case, a plurality)
    Imagining you can ignore the fundies is like imagining you can ignore the provos.