Workers Party members at DUP Headquarters
The Workers Party has has served a Marriage Equality ‘Petition of Concern’ on the DUP.
A Party delegation presented the letter to the DUP’s Gavin Robinson at their east Belfast headquarters this morning – a protest designed to co-incide with the 37th anniversary of the murder of Harvey Milk the United States’ first openly gay elected politician.
Equality Workers Party representatives Lily Kerr and Gemma Weir pointed out to Mr Robinson and the DUP that it was particularly poignant that almost forty years after an elected representative in San Fransisco was murdered for being gay, that we are still struggling to secure equality for the LGBT community in Northern Ireland.
‘Offensive’ Motions on marriage equality have now been brought before the Assembly on five occasions but have failed each time because of a DUP veto using the Petition of Concern mechanism.
Lily Kerr described as ‘offensive’ the DUPs use of the Petition of Concern to block social policy which had the support of the majority of people in Northern Ireland and the majority of MLAs at Stormont
Majority Recent opinion polls have found that 68% of adults in Northern Ireland support marriage equality, a majority of MLAs has voted in favour of introducing marriage equality and more than 20,000 people marched through Belfast earlier this summer to demand the necessary change in Northern Ireland law. This is now the only part of these islands where marriage equality is denied.
Concern The DUP has consistently used the Petition of Concern to block legislation in the Assembly. Today we are turning the tables on them and raising our concern and the concerns of the majority of people in Northern Ireland on the anniversary of the murder of Harvey Milk”, Gemma Weir added.
Lily Kerr and Gemma Weir present the Workers Party’s ‘Petition of Concern’ to the DUP’s Gavin Robinson
Workers Party Northern Ireland 