Hey Tatchell, Leave our Jeff Alone

Today has been a good day for the LGBT community the Lord were not content with Lord's Dear's amendment to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill one that would have stymied progress. But no doubt I'll be hearing Peter Tatchell going on about how this is one small step which needs to go further.

The thing is earlier today I read Peter Tatchell about a spat that Peter Tatchell was having a go at Jeff Dudgeon for remaining within the UUP. Now I'm sure when Peter was up outside the Lords yesterday and today he would have looked around him and seen that there were members of many parties as part of the vigil.

Maybe if he were to look at Northern Ireland and the inequalities that still exist there, far behind where the rest of the UK is, he will notice that the same is true. In fact Jeff and his long-time but dearly departed friend PA McLaughlin were pioneers of the cross-community LGBT politicised community in Northern Ireland. Jeff in the UUP and PA in the SDLP both working away with the moderates on both sides and important step to advance LGBT equality as a whole.

Tatchell says of Jeff  "A high-profile external challenge that shames and embarrasses the party is likely to secure more change – and more quickly." I think that shows how little he understands of how things work in Northern Ireland. The fact that last October the Northern Irish assembly came within 6 votes of actually voting in a majority for equal marriage shows that we are not that far off it. Now is the time for gentle persuasion.

The thing is as Jeff said a couple of years ago when he was sat across the table from me at the Pride Ball with PA also at the table, he could look around that room and see that the fate of LGBT rights in Northern Ireland were in the safe hands of the next generation. Some of who are the suffragettes that Tatchell wants us all to be and some are the suffragists prepared to take a stand whether in our party, with our MLAs or in our churches chipping away. You see Jeff realises that in Northern Ireland you need both to get things done. Those who are ready to explode at anything and those who stoically keep on keeping on.

The one thing that Jeff has in the LGBT community in Northern Ireland that Tatchell doesn't is an almost universal respect, which in Northern Ireland across traditional community divides is something. Jeff put his name to the landmark case to end the criminalisation of us all, and hasn't stopped working for equality since. Tatchell though has a tendency to be more like Marmite you can love him or hate him.

The obstacle that we have left to full LGBT equality in Northern Ireland now is on the Unionist side, so what we do need is people to work alongside their MLAs to persuade them to take that final step. Two of the best Unionist advocates for LGBT rights have left the party for other reasons so they will be a high-profile external challenge to unionism on a whole host of issues including this one. Meanwhile others who have the respect from within need to work away diplomatically, people like Jeff.

Not a Crime for 30 Years #IDAHO in Northern Ireland #LGBT

Earlier today I  was at City Hall in Belfast and then later at St. George's Church for highlighting IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia).

This year in Northern Ireland we are celebrating 30 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Northern Ireland. This came into being some 15 years after the 1967 act removing the status of crime from gay men in England and Wales and 2 years after Scotland.

This was because of a five year case through the European Court of Human of Rights brought in the name of Jeff Dudgeon against the United Kingdom, and the subsequent debate on the Homosexual Offenses (Northern Ireland) Order 1982. As the keynote speaker of the day we had Jeff himself telling of the history leading up to that historic start of gay civil rights legislation coming in for Northern Ireland and he and others brought us up to speed as to where we are now.

One things of note in the 1982 debate is the language used and votes made by the Northern Irish members in the Commons. As was pointed out our local politicians have yet to bring any substantive home grown LGBT legislation into being, even civil partnerships came about because the Assembly was in suspension at the time and came to us via Westminster. We have MLAs and minister who are dragging their heels even today on the Sexual Orientation Strategy, on adoption of non-married couples because there is a L&G element as must as the heterosexual element, on the men who have sex with men blood ban, or equal marriage.

It was pointed out that while there is some progress in our political parties there is almost a built in veto in this area from one of our parties at Stormont. A lack of interest, lack of action, lack of coming to a decision that is making it hard for LGBT groups and advocates to take any stance because there is nothing to oppose except inaction.

It may be 30 years since homosexual acts were lifted from the criminal statutes here in Northern Ireland but we still have some way to go with equality. We are lagging behind the rest of the UK again because of this inaction on the part of some of our politicians. Some may table questions, but so far no home grown legislation has be brought forward in the area of LGBT issues. Even in the so called draft programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration what was evident was the omission of sexual orientation along with other minorities in a document that dealt only with sectarianism and racism; and then only to manage not to move away from this.

We are people. We are voters. We are Northern Irish and we can't be swept under the carpet any longer via antiquated 19th Century laws brought in when the island was united under Westminster rule. We need politicians who are able and willing to bring Northern Irish legislation into the 21st century using the facts to hand today not the preconceptions of the past that in some cases seem not to have moved on from this debate, apart from change in language.