We cremated my friend James on the freakishly warm Friday before St Patrick’s Day, between the two bouts of even freakier snow. We did this after a celebration of the Supper of the Lord Jesus Christ who was his Saviour and the anchor of his life. The daffodils bobbed in the sunshine as we took his coffin through the traffic from the church in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral to the crematorium in East Finchley, his terminus ad quem …
This week is the week of Belfast Pride. It is the 26th year of a festival that has grown to huge proportions. Little did the pioneers of 1991 (who were outnumbered by protestors), think that we would have come so far. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer equality is now firmly in the mainstream. One of the greatest indicators of that being Cameron’s Tories bringing forward Equal Marriage in 2013. There has been huge progress on LGBTQ liberation over those …
Fergal McFerran is the President of NUS-USI, the organisation which represents around 200,000 students in Higher and Further education across Northern Ireland. He tweets @FergalMcFerran. This weekend I did something I was never sure that I’d be able to do. I got on a train and I went home to see my family. This journey home was different to all of the others I’d ever made though. It was different because this time I went home with the sole purpose …
So the homosexual marriage referendum passed in the Republic. As Mick noted below this makes Northern Ireland the only place in the UK and Ireland without same sex marriage though not the only place in the British Isles. The Isle of Mann has civil partnership but not homosexual marriage whilst Jersey in the Channel Isles has civil partnerships and is considering homosexual marriage. More interesting perhaps is Guernsey’s proposal of “Union Civile” which allows for partnerships between any two people …
The Republic will make history tomorrow. That’s if the polls are correct and a majority opt for Yes in the marriage equality referendum. If that happens, Ireland will become the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote. An IPSOS/Irish Times survey, taken last week, shows that, excluding undecided voters, 70% of people intend to vote Yes, while 30% for No. However, Yes campaigners are warning against complacency, advising the outcome is likely to come down …
But how long will she have to wait? Happy Belfast Pride! On Thursday, Panti Bliss, aka Rory O’Neill, paid the city a visit to give the Amnesty International Pride Lecture. Alan in Belfast has a full audio-recording of the lecture here, but meanwhile here’s a little taste of what Panti told us before the sell-out lecture at The Mac. Update – here’s the full lecture: listen to ‘#pantibliss @PantiBliss versus Homophobia – the annual @AmnestyNI @BelfastPride lecture’ on Audioboo Patrick CorriganI am …
