Alliance politician will seek council support for same sex marriage

Alliance politician will seek council support for same sex marriage

17 June 2015

LOCAL politicians will next month be asked to support same sex marriage.

They will be asked to back a motion urging Newry, Mourne and Down Council to call on the Northern Ireland Executive to introduce legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry. 

The motion — due to be debated on July 6 —  is being proposed by Rowallane Alliance councillor Patrick Brown with support from Independent Newry councillor Kevin McAteer. It will be tabled just weeks after the landmark ‘yes’ vote which legalised same-sex marriage following a referendum in the South of Ireland.

An Alliance Party motion calling on Belfast Council to endorse same-sex marriage was recently successful and councillor Brown is hoping Newry, Mourne and Down will follow suit.

He continued: “Ireland made history in May as the first country ever to legalise same-sex marriage through public referendum. This is yet another step in the right direction for what has become the defining civil rights issue of our time. However, this referendum leaves Northern Ireland languishing in the past yet again.

“In Europe, same-sex marriage is now legal in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, as well as Scotland, England and Wales inside the United Kingdom.”

Councillor Brown said human rights activist, Peter Tatchell, has branded Northern Ireland the “most homophobic place in western Europe” describing the assertion as “unsurprising.”

He declared: “Given the DUP-led efforts of Stormont to block same-sex marriage on numerous occasions, it is about time local councils stepped forward to rally public opinion around this vital issue. I believe the motion due to be discussed next month presents the new super council with an opportunity to lead progressive change in Northern Ireland.”

Councillor Brown wants the local authority to endorse the view that all couples in Newry, Mourne and Down and across Northern Ireland, regardless of sexual orientation, should have the right to a civil marriage and that the rights of religious institutions to define, observe and practice marriage within their beliefs should be given legal protection.

“Faith groups which wish to marry same sex couples should not be prevented by the state from doing so and all married couples of the same sex should have the same legal entitlement to the protections, responsibilities, rights, obligations and benefits afforded by the legal institution of marriage,” he continued, explaining the motion calls on Stormont’s Minister of Finance and Personnel to introduce legislation to extend civil marriage provisions to same sex couples.

Councillor Brown added: “Adults in a loving relationship should have full access to the institution of marriage. Anything else is discrimination. I want to live in a shared Northern Ireland led by principles of tolerance and respect. The failure of Stormont to deliver leadership on this issue means that the 11 new super councils have both an opportunity and a duty to champion equal civil marriage at the local level.”