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Issue No.17 Summer 2004
Baroness
Detta O’Cathain, a 66 year-old economist from Limerick, has never
been in Northern Ireland in her life. That doesn’t stop her, of course,
from making laws to bind us, because: “…
my father was from Northern Ireland so I know something about the Province.” The
baroness claims that we don’t need the Civil Partnership bill because: “There
is much less of that in Northern Ireland. As a matter of fact, there are
very few homosexuals.” “A
recent census found that there were only 288 same-sex couple households
in the whole of the Province” because – “…
homosexual practice is much less acceptable in Northern Ireland.” Her
“arguments” were later rubbished by Baroness Amos, who explained
sensibly why so few LGBT folk here can risk coming out. O’Cathain
gave a half-hearted apology, but ploughed on regardless – “…
I never said that there were only 268 homosexuals in the Province.”
Lord Alli didn’t let her away with this, retorting – “I
do not think that I misquoted the noble Baroness. What I said was what
she just quoted: ‘As a matter of fact there are very few homosexuals’
in Northern Ireland. That is what she said.” O’Cathain
also claims that everyone here objects to Civil Partnerships. From an
analysis of the 462 NI responses to the recent consultation, she quoted
- “…
a clear majority of individuals opposed the plan.” “…
the majority of ordinary men and women who responded to the consultation
in the Province were opposed to civil partnerships.” “…
states that there is evidence of repeat replies and a large number of
letter-writing campaigns that have influenced the result.” O’Cathain
shifted her ground: “I
am firmly of the view that we should not be imposing gay marriage on Northern
Ireland against the wishes of the population. Nor do I think that we should
be sneaking it through while the Northern Ireland Assembly is sadly suspended.” “…
there is no way that the Civil Partnership Bill would ever get through
the Northern Ireland Assembly. In Northern Ireland the level of objection
to gay marriage would be overwhelming.… in Northern Ireland the opposition
would be almost universal.” Quite
where she gets this information from, one can only guess. She clearly
is unaware that the Alliance, PUP, SDLP and Sinn Féin parties have
for years been committed to equal rights for LGBT citizens. The UUP is
neutral (it’s a matter of individual conscience with them); while
only the DUP is determinedly against us – and even they’ve had
to pull in their horns recently. Facts like these don’t seem to matter
to the mad baroness. The
only NI peer who spoke on the bill was Lord Drumglass (aka Ken Maginnis),
who of course supported her. He did deplore violence against LGBT people,
but implied (as usual) that this was somehow our own fault, for demanding
our rights so loudly. He
was sternly rebuked by Lord Lester of Herne, who reminded him that it
is Parliament’s task to defend minorities against prejudice, instead
of using that very prejudice as an excuse to deny rights to minorities. Nothing,
however, would deter O’Cathain. She gave us fair notice – “…
I will come back to it at Report and Third Reading.” The
Government is standing firm – for the moment. Baroness Scotland of
Asthal quoted Jeff Dudgeon’s European victory as a reason to treat
ALL citizens of the United Kingdom equally. However, our enemies are rich
and powerful, and fixed in their wickedness. So
what can we do? We can read and write, that’s what. Read
the whole debate on the internet in Lords Hansard of 10th, 12th and 13th
May (it’s still going on). Or you can ring me (P A MagLochlainn)
on 9066 5257 and I’ll get you a photocopy of the important bits. Then write! Write to Lord Alli, and thank him for almost single-handedly facing this demented dragon, like a gay St. George. Thank him for defending our right to Civil Partnership. Put it in your own words: tell him a bit about yourself, and how much this means to you, and how we here MUST get the same legal rights as everyone else in the United Kingdom. If you've a couple more stamps,
you could perhaps thank Lord Lester of Herne for urging parliament to
do the decent thing for us, Amos
for explaining so clearly and fairly our particular problems, or Baroness
Scotland of Asthal for setting out so clearly the reasons to include us
in the bill. Address
your envelope(s) to |
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