BELFAST: Thousands of supporters of Northern Ireland’s LGBT community took to the streets of Belfast on Saturday in Pride celebrations buoyed by the promise that same-sex marriage could soon be legal here.
An armoured police vehicle was decked out in rainbow colours and rainbow flags peppered the crowd, while a sound system blared out hit anthem “It’s Raining Men” in defiance of the summer showers.
Leo Varadkar, prime minister of the Republic of Ireland to the south, was near the front of the parade, which was filled with fancy-dress and families.
Organisers hope that Belfast Pride will exceed the crowd of 55,000 they say turned out last year. The event comes just weeks after the British parliament voted to extend same-sex marriage and abortion rights to Northern Ireland, which lags behind the rest of the country on equality issues.
The law would be changed unless the devolved government in Belfast, which has been suspended since January 2017, is reinstated by October 21.
“Everybody’s entitled to the same rights, so here’s hoping, yes, that it goes through,” said Mary Francis White, a 53-year-old social care worker whose son is an openly gay Belfast councillor. “And if it does go through, 100 percent absolutely there’ll be a big, huge party.”
Supporters of the global rights group Amnesty held up banners saying “Love is a human right”, while one religious group, Christians at Pride, waved sign saying “We are all God’s children.”
Opinion polls show both abortion and same-sex marriage enjoy popular support in Northern Ireland.
But one of its main political parties, the Democratic Unionists (DUP), is strongly opposed and argues such issues should be decided in Belfast.
“We’re still fighting for rights here,” said John Eltham, a 46-year-old geographic consultant with a beard dyed in rainbow colours.
“It has been incredibly frustrating. Some of our politicians here really don’t represent the majority view in Northern Ireland and there has been a desire for equal marriage here.”
Lawmakers in London chose to act after a cascade of headline-hitting developments across the island. In May 2018, the Republic of Ireland held a referendum to repeal their ban on abortion, voting with a landslide 66 percent in favour.
The case of a mother facing prosecution for allegedly buying abortion pills on the internet for her 15-year-old daughter has gained prominent media attention in Northern Ireland.
The fatal shooting of gay journalist Lyra McKee by dissident republicans in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry in April added to pressure for change. Even though her death does not appear to have been linked to her sexuality, McKee has become an icon for the marriage equality movement.
Her partner Sara Canning — who met with Varadkar before Belfast Pride on Saturday — personally petitioned then prime minister Theresa May to intervene.
“The power of her personal story and the love that her and Sara shared has brought home... for many people actually what this debate has been about,” Fergal McFerran, a friend of McKee and campaigner with LGBT rights group Stonewall told AFP in July.
