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‘Gay marriage inevitable in Northern Ireland’ – Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said this week that he believes that it is only a matter of when, not if, same-sex marriage is legalized in Northern Ireland despite a bill towards that goal being defeated in Northern Ireland’s legislative assembly as recently as April.
Adams made the comments at a Pride Talks Back event in Belfast on Monday, though he was reluctant to completely rule out a referendum on the issue while lawmakers failed to pass the reform.
‘I’m not so sure about a referendum, and certainly very few people tonight favored a referendum,’ Adams said, according to UTV.
‘But we need to use all the tools, and what won the referendum in the [Republic of Ireland] was ordinary people, mammies and daddies and grannies, uncles and aunts and brothers and sisters, saying “I have a family member who is gay.”’
‘We all know people who are gay in our own families and our own political parties and our own communities and work … I was heavily involved in that campaign. It was the most cheerful, hopeful, inoffensive campaign you could have ever have been involved in and the outcome was joyous.’
Northern Ireland was left as the only part of the British Isles where same-sex couples cannot legally marry after the Republic of Ireland legalized same-sex marriage in May.
Long considered the political arm of the IRA, in recent years Sinn Fein have championed LGBTI rights in Northern Ireland.
The party’s policy on sexual minorities recognizes that ‘lesbian, gay and bisexual people suffer from discrimination and harassment in every aspect of their daily lives.’
‘Whether in the social, political, economic or cultural spheres, they are denied equality of rights and opportunities. There is no logical or rational defense for such exclusion. Only ignorance and indifference enable such a denial of basic fundamental rights to continue.’
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Andrew Potts
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