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GAY BELFAST NEWS for October 2005
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Lisburn City Council say NO to civil partnerships (27 October 2005)
Lisburn City Council faces legal action if it does not overturn a ban on the use of its wedding room for same-sex civil partnership registrations. The Gay Rights Association said it was "blatant discrimination" and plan to mount a court challenge to reverse it. A law allowing same-sex couples to enter into a civil partnership comes into effect in December. Lisburn councillors encountered protesters as they arrived for their monthly meeting on Wednesday night. A motion proposing that same-sex civil partnership registration should "be not afforded the same recognition" as a civil marriage ceremony was tabled by Alliance councillor Seamus Close and passed in July. It also proposed that the council's wedding room, the Cherry Room, should not be used for such registrations. Patricia Lewsley from the SDLP said it amounted to discrimination. But Ulster Unionist councillors said they were legally entitled to withhold the use of the room. Robert Toner from the Gay Rights Association said it was discrimination against the gay and lesbian community in Lisburn. "A male and a male getting married is a gay marriage and a lesbian and a lesbian getting married is a gay marriage. "Equality in Lisburn? It's totally wrong, it's discrimination, the council needs to admit to that. "I will be taking a case against Lisburn on discrimination. I'm confident I will win this case and make Lisburn a city for all." However, Mr Close said the council had made a distinction with civil partnership and civil marriage ceremonies. "I want to clearly demonstrate that there is a distinction between a civil marriage, which is a union between a man and a woman, and a civil partnership which may be lots of things but is not the latter," he said. "The distinction between a civil partnership and a marriage is not being made by Seamus Close, it is a fact of life. "There is this confusion and there are those who would appear to me, and to others, who want to build on this confusion. You cannot have a gay marriage." The Civil Partnership Act creates a new legal relationship, which two people of the same-sex can form by signing a document. It provides same-sex couples with parity of treatment in a wide range of legal matters with those opposite-sex couples who enter into a civil marriage. Discuss this article on the Gay Belfast ForumEames in gay clergy row (25 October 2005)
Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop Robin Eames has hit back at another leading Anglican Primate Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria who has accused him of making "uncharitable" accusations about those who oppose the appointment of homosexual clergy. Earlier this month Archbishop Eames delivered a series of lectures in the USA about the future of the Anglican Communion in light of the controversy following the appointment of the homosexual Bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire, USA. He claimed during a lecture at the Yale Divinity School that the implications of recent actions by the Church of Nigeria, which had removed all references to being in communion with the See of Canterbury, were "most serious". He claimed that this was in contrast to the Windsor Report which had sought a "corporate striving to find the will of God in contentious and divisive issues". Archbishop Eames himself chaired the Lambeth Commission which produced the report.In a separate meeting in Washington, he was reported in the Anglican Communion News Service to have expressed concern over the role that some conservative wealthy US donors were taking in the current controversy. He was also reported as claiming that a number of Church figures in the developing world had been offered financial inducements to distance themselves from the Anglican churches of the USA and Canada, which have approved of same-sex relationships. Conservative leaders have claimed, however, that they were simply trying to help poor Anglican provinces, which could not accept financial aid from those which "differ from them on the issue of homosexuality". Earlier this week, the Nigerian archbishop, Dr Akinola, a leading opponent of same-sex relationships, issued a strongly-worded open letter to Archbishop Eames on the Anglican website. He said that if Archbishop Eames had evidence of such financial inducements he should reveal them or "make a public apology to your brother primates".
In a statement, Archbishop Eames underlined that the current debate was
"theological" and that he found himself "very disturbed by any speculation
around the role that money may play in determining outcomes". "I feel that
when money or assistance is raised in any part of the Anglican Communion and
offered for use where it might extend Christ's kingdom, it should be offered
and accepted in those terms alone," he said. Dr Eames said that he in no way
questioned the "sincerity and integrity" of the leaders in the developing
world, known as the Global South. He added that he had endeavoured at all
times to "maintain and understand" the integrity of their argument. He also
emphasised: "I categorically state I have never believed that any financial
offer was accepted by any of those who represent the Global South on any
other than terms of Christian outreach. I have communicated this to
Archbishop Akinola this morning." Discuss this article on the Gay Belfast
Forum
Transsexual faces male prison sentence (25 October 2005)
A transsexual woman is facing a prison sentence in an all male jail, after a court refused to recognise her new identity. Denis Martin could be sent to a male prison in Belfast after refusing to pay a fine for a "breach of the peace" offence that occurred last year. She says she believes she is innocent and has no intention of paying the fine. She says she is willing to go to prison over the issue, but only if it's an all female jail. However, the Larne court that tried her have only referred to her as Mr Martin, according to the Observer. She says that if her potential sentence is doled out to her as a man, she will fight the decision in the European Court of Human Rights. "I haven't been Douglas for over 20 years," she told the newspaper. "On my British passport it states that I'm Denise, and that's who I have been for all these years. But if the next court appearance in Ballymena treats me like a man, then I'm in danger of going to an all-male prison." Martin had gender realignment surgery 22 years ago. On her passport she is listed as a woman, although her birth certificate still has her listed as Douglas. "I didn't go through years of psychiatric counselling, a painful operation and the entire trauma through my life to let the courts deny who I am today. I don't care if they fine me £30 or £3,000, I won't pay and I won't rest until they recognise me as Denise." The newspaper reports that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission will be monitoring the case when it returns to the courts on November 7th Discuss this article on the Gay Belfast ForumHomophobic attacks: "increasingly vicious" says Derry gay group (14 October 2005)
A support group for gay people in Londonderry has warned that it is only a matter of time before someone is killed in a homophobic attack. Sean Morrin from the Rainbow Project said homophobic attacks in Derry were becoming increasingly vicious. He was speaking after a gay man was attacked and bitten in the face outside a chip shop in the Waterside area on Sunday evening. He was taken to hospital where he received five stitches to his face. A 25-year-old man was later arrested and released, pending police reports. "The attacks have become much more ferocious," Mr Morrin said. "There are no boundaries whatsoever. My fear is that it will not be long until someone is murdered in these situations." In a period of seven weeks in April/May 2004, there were eight homophobic attacks in the Foyle area. There have been 17 homophobic incidents in the Foyle area this year. A police spokesman said that figure equalled the total number of attacks for the previous year. In March, Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde said the PSNI would crack down on rising levels of racial and homophobic attacks. It was announced by the Policing Board that such incidents were to be tackled as part of a £774m strategy for running the PSNI over 12 months. Discuss this article on the Gay Belfast ForumPolitical Links: SDLP - Ulster Unionists - DUP - Alliance Party - Sinn Fein - Green Party
