rights

You can’t cure love

Soapbox on July 22, 2020, 11:04 am

| Readers 1206

Eoin Tennyson is an Alliance Councillor for the Lagan River DEA. It’s been more than two years since the UK Government published its LGBT Action plan which committed to end the practice of so-called ‘gay conversion’ or ‘reparative’ therapies – a range of denounced, discredited and dehumanising practices which seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or suppress their gender identity. In that time we’ve heard promises repeated by the Prime Minister, but seen little in the way of tangible …

There is a clear ministerial and Parliamentary majority for supporting these changes for Northern Ireland we simply need the opportunity for MPs to act

Soapbox on July 9, 2019, 3:40 pm

| Readers 1462

Emma Campbell is Co-Chair of Alliance for Choice As one of the Co-Chairs of Alliance for Choice I am encouraged by the possibility of movement on both abortion rights and equal marriage in Westminster today. Yet another Executive Functions Bill is simply a delaying tactic by the UK Government who don’t want to rock their own Brexit boat and who are completely cowed by the DUP. No devolution, no direct rule, no governance ad nauseum. But that doesn’t mean we …

Is the LGBT community about to be thrown under the bus again?

Stephen Donnan-Dalzell on June 17, 2019, 7:56 pm

| Readers 3576

If any of you are like me and are a massive political nerd, then the current round of talks aimed at restoring the Northern Ireland Executive have probably been as exciting and enthralling as washing the dishes. I’m not for a moment insinuating that the talks process isn’t important. But much like washing the dishes, it’s now become routine, benign and banal. Karen Bradley continues to underwhelm and underperform at the most basic level, as both the Alliance Party and …

Future Ireland / Children of the Ceasefire / 2

Soapbox on January 12, 2019, 8:23 am

| Readers 940

This is one of three winning articles for the Future Ireland series. The articles were submitted together – by three friends who met at college – a northern Catholic, a east Belfast Protestant, and a Dublin man. We liked the nuanced content of the pieces, the sense of identities in flux, and the fact that each tried to understand the perspectives of the others. Also how being children of the ceasefires weaves throughout their pieces. By Seanín Little Growing up …

Future Ireland / Unity: Telling a Different Story

Damien Mullan on November 3, 2018, 9:00 am

| Readers 3507

“There was never any moment in our history when slavery was not a sleeping serpent. It lay coiled up under the table during the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention. Owing to the cotton gin it was more than half awake. Thereafter, it was on everyone’s mind though not always on his tongue.” – John Jay Chapman. THE QUESTION The ‘national question is insolvable’, according to Fintan O’Toole. What O’Toole is referring to is the prevalence of irritants and grievances, imagined …

New Sinn Féin MLA Director of Group that Discriminated against Job Applicant because of his Political Opinion

Pete Baker on June 14, 2017, 5:01 pm

| Readers 2311

The Irish News today highlights details of the newly-appointed Sinn Féin MLA for Foyle Karen Mullan’s relevant experience for the job, mentioned in Eamonn McCann’s excellent post on the case, that illuminates David’s, somewhat limited, subsequent description of her as a “community worker in the city of Derry”. Karen Mullan is a director of Waterside Neighbourhood Partnership (WNP) Ltd., Sinn Féin and the DUP’s preferred delivery mechanism for community services and funding in the area, who, earlier this year, were ordered to …

Men Bleed Too- the Incoherent Outrage of Men’s Rights Activists

Soapbox on December 15, 2015, 2:22 pm

| Readers 2349

MENS RIGHTS: There has been a recent upsurge in the number of disgruntled men taking to social media to loudly proclaim that they too suffer. They too suffer domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, and a range of other injustices. They are determined to let the world (for that, read women) know that they suffer, and that they demand change.

Chief Constable at #DignityAndRights conference: Delay increases hurt & erodes trust in PSNI’s ability to deal with past

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 4, 2014, 4:21 pm

| Readers 325

What is Northern Ireland’s vision for progressing and protecting human rights in Northern Ireland in the years ahead? How do the principles of participation, accountability, transparency, dignity and equality underpin human rights? Dignity and Rights: A framework for the future is a two day conference running in the Stormont Hotel in East Belfast, jointly hosted by a variety of organisations who have worked on human rights and equality issues in Northern Ireland for many years: Age NI, CAJ, Children’s Law …

Street Photography – ethics, etiquette or free expression?

Pauline Hadaway on February 22, 2012, 9:35 am

| Readers 230

‘There is but one remedy for the amateur photographer. Put a brick through his camera whenever you suspect he has taken you unawares. And if there is any doubt, give the benefit of it to the brick, not to the camera. The rights of private property, personal liberty, and personal security – birthrights, all of them, of American citizens – are distinctly inconsistent with the unlicensed use of the instantaneous process.’ The Camera Fiend, Bill Jay, 1986 Beyond ethics and …