MARRIAGE EQUALITY AT LAST

MARRIAGE EQUALITY

After seven long years of campaigning, marriage equality for LGBT+ people in Northern Ireland is almost within our grasp. It has not been an easy campaign, there have been many disappointments and setbacks along the way but because of the eternal optimism of our community and their dogged pursuit of their right to equal treatment, we have forced the introduction of marriage equality legislation despite powerful vested interests standing in our way.

From the moment that the Conservative/Lib Dem government announced its intention to legislate for marriage in England and Wales, we knew that we would have an uphill battle to implement similar legislation in Northern Ireland. While we were confident of the ability of the Scottish government to introduce exemplary marriage equality legislation, none of the other parliaments had to contend with a petition of concern, the Northern Ireland mechanism which allows 30 MLAs the ability to veto the democratic will of the Assembly. Political parties supportive of LGBT+ equality continued to bring motions calling for marriage equality to be brought in to Northern Ireland and on the fourth attempt, we finally secured a majority of voting members but this majority was overruled by the DUP’s use of the petition of concern. The extent to which this abuse of the petition outraged LGBT+ people and our allies cannot be overstated. People who had never previously engaged in any kind of political campaigning were incensed and were crying out for the opportunity to make their voice heard and demand change.

This moment came in the immediate wake of the marriage equality referendum in the South. Hundreds of LGBT+ people from Northern Ireland had given up weekends and evenings to help out in the southern campaign and saw all of their hard work pay off with an overwhelming endorsement, by the people, of the marriage equality. People who had been watching the campaign from the North had seen the impact of a mass movement of people and wanted to do the same thing. Within days of the referendum result we had organised the first March for Marriage Equality in Belfast.

It’s always a hard task to try and guess the numbers of people who will show up to a rally, especially when you factor in our unpredictable weather but we knew something special was happening when we saw the crowds of people at Writer’s Square that Saturday morning. Thousands of people from across Northern Ireland marched to Belfast City Hall that day. We wouldn’t achieve marriage equality for another few years but every year until it was achieved we held the same rally and every time the crowds got bigger, people shouted louder and the opposition got smaller.

Disappointingly, it was only when the Assembly collapsed that we had a real opportunity to achieve marriage equality. We had always wanted it to be introduced through the Assembly and had worked with a cross-party group of MLAs to develop our own legislation but on the day that our bill was to be introduced the institutions

were brought down. Westminster now had the authority to introduce marriage equality and that is where our attention shifted.

While the UK government claimed that it was supportive, it refused to introduce legislation and attempted to block it being introduced as a private members bill. We developed close working relationships with the Labour MP Conor McGinn and the Conservative Peer Lord Hayward and worked successfully to develop the strategy which saw marriage equality for Northern Ireland tabled as an amendment to a vital piece of the legislation going through Parliament. In spite of their best efforts, the government could not get the amendment removed and it was passed overwhelmingly in the Commons and then in the Lords.

The legislation has now come into effect and from January 2020, same sex couples in Northern Ireland have been able to register their intention to marry and we expect the first marriages to be held in February. However, there remain outstanding issues and our campaign is not over yet. The Northern Ireland Office is responsible for introducing the marriage equality regulations and there are two very important issues that they are currently consulting on and which we need as many people as possible to respond to.

While it is now possible for people to get married, it is not yet possible for people in a civil partnership to convert that to a marriage. Neither is it possible for those religious celebrants who want to conduct same sex marriages to do so.

These are the issues that the NIO is consulting on and we need as many supportive voices to tell the NIO very clearly that we don’t have marriage equality until we all have the ability to marry the person we love, with the same opportunities for doing it that our counterparts in other jurisdictions have.

To find out how to easily respond to the NIO consultation please go to www.loveequalityni. org/consultation