Equality

Soapbox: Disability, gender and sexual orientation policies hived off to Communities

Soapbox on May 27, 2016, 9:58 am

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Reprinted here with permission of Brian Barrington, a former SDLP advisor from his own Facebook page this morning… One of the decisions made when the Northern Ireland Executive was first established was to keep all aspects of equality policy in the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (OFMDFM). There were two reasons for this. First, because OFMDFM was the secretariat to the Executive. Therefore, any paper from a department going to the Executive could be scrutinised on …

Who could be afraid of equality?

Turgon on February 22, 2016, 9:17 pm

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The News Letter has an article highlighting a further use / abuse of a Petition of Concern to block equality legislation with somewhat less outrage from the usual quarters. Sandra Overend of the UUP’s attempted to repeal Article 71 of the 1998 Fair Employment and Treatment Order. This is the article which exempts schools from Fair Employment legislation. Ms. Overend’s attempt was defeated by a Petition of Concern by Sinn Fein and the SDLP. On the UUP’s website Ms. Overend …

The 10 most annoying political phrases in Northern Ireland

David McCann on August 28, 2015, 10:37 am

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Nice wee Friday thread for you all to get your head showered from the madness of Northern Ireland politics. One thing that really bugs me is the platitudes that pass for talking points in our political system. These annoying phrases can be heard on Nolan, Talkback and the Sunday Politics most weeks and if you watch politics as much as me they can become tiresome very quickly. So, in that spirit I thought I would compile a list of the …

Qualms about Asher’s Law but none over the gay marriage referendum: spot the difference

Brian Walker on May 21, 2015, 9:09 pm

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Forgive me if I take a new post to reply to Mick on Asher’s Law. I think he stretches the point about law and politics too widely. Let’s unpick this a bit. The sexual orientations order was passed under direct rule, by Peter Hain, not the Assembly. That makes it no less law. But it was one of those measures foisted on our politicians to try to force them to do the deal on restoring the Assembly. The message was, …

“Yes” campaign may need 70% Dublin turnout to carry referendum

Patricia MacBride on May 19, 2015, 2:50 pm

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I support Marriage Equality and I’d vote yes in the Referendum this week if I weren’t a disenfranchised Irish citizen simply because I live in the north of the island. That’s a column for another day though… It’s a safe bet that both the “Yes” and “No” sides in this Friday’s Marriage Referendum will agree that voter turnout will be key to whether the proposal to amend the Constitution passes or fails. Having had a quick look on the Elections …

Gay Life in NI if the Conscience Clause Were Enacted

Gerry Lynch on February 1, 2015, 8:12 pm

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It was a summer Friday in 2008, and we were in a provincial town West of the Bann. Jordin Sparks was Number 1 and Ian Paisley’s tenure as leader of Our Wee Country had ended a few weeks before. We’d planned a day trip, but we’d ended up exploring a bit further than expected. It was chilly for June, but the showers from earlier had cleared into that gorgeous, soft, summer evening light that is the thing I miss most …

Andrew McCracken: “Equality is not the preserve of any political party”

Soapbox on December 4, 2014, 1:47 pm

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Writing exclusively for Slugger O’Toole, the Chief Executive of Community Foundation Northern Ireland gets up on our soapbox to talk about equality and how we should focus on this important issue For those of us trying to make steps forward for our community, it takes us many steps back when politicians poison the very words we need to use. The Political Talks at Stormont trundle on. Three weeks out from Christmas and already the ghost of Christmas past appears to …

Cartoon – Spencer on Monday

Brian Spencer on December 1, 2014, 5:31 pm

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Last week Rodney Edwards hit upon a scoop at a Sinn Fein meeting in Enniskillen. Their leader let it slip that equality was “the trojan horse” that would “break these bastards” [Sinn Fein’s partners in government]. Here’s this week’s cartoon with that in mind. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/

“that’s the trojan horse of the entire republican strategy…”

Pete Baker on November 25, 2014, 8:07 pm

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From his reported comments, it would appear that Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, the Northern Ireland Education Minister, has, at best, a flawed “understanding” of his party president’s comments last night – and, hence, a flawed “understanding” of his party’s entire strategy. From the UTV report Mr O’Dowd added that his understanding of Mr Adam’s ‘Trojan horse’ comment was that it was about overcoming bigotry, sectarianism and homophobia. He added: “There are very well fortified positions which people are protecting against …

Och, C’mon in Gerry, what a beautiful big horse y’have there.

Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman) on November 25, 2014, 12:03 pm

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Belfast Barman is the first person we’ve published in response to our call for Unionist bloggers. He has an interesting and cautionary tale to share. There will be others to follow. I awoke this morning to a better understanding of my own political leanings, and for that Gerry Adams, I thank you. I was raised unionist in the same Braniel estate that Michael Stone hails from, I spent my childhood braining myself with mis-caught union jack batons bought for 50p …

Human Rights, Equality, and a call for a generous grace …

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 9, 2014, 9:33 pm

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Does Northern Ireland need a Bill of Rights? Is Equality a Biblical value? Are human rights all about me? These were some of the questions addressed at today’s The Church in the Public Square conference organised by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Focussing on the topics of Equality, Freedom and Religion it it was perhaps appropriate that as delegates arrived the music wafting up from the Spires shopping arcade underneath the conference venue was “I can’t get no satisfaction”! …

What exactly do we mean when we say we believe in ‘equality’?

Mick Fealty on December 19, 2013, 12:55 pm

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The word equality is bandied about in Northern Irish politics so much these days, it’s often not clear what exactly people mean when they say it. Is it about equality of outcome, or equality of opportunity? Picture from Geek Fun. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Tomorrow’s #DigitalLunch: Does positive discrimination work?

Mick Fealty on October 11, 2012, 9:08 am

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So, tomorrow’s #DigitalLunch asks: Does positive discrimination actually work? There are optimists like Shelley Horan (H/T Dearbhail)… But there are also some interesting challenges to laws that discriminate in favour of women or particular minorities… In Northern Ireland we’ve had the (albeit timebound) commitment to 50/50 recruitment policy to ensure a sea change in the make up of the policing service which was historically (if for divergent) reasons predominantly Protestant. In Texas Abigail Fisher is suing the University of Texas …

Equal marriage – how long will Northern Ireland’s gay couples have to wait?

Patrick Corrigan on September 27, 2012, 12:23 pm

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When David Hockney published his etching In the dull village in 1967, the UK government was busy passing the Sexual Offences Act to (partially) decriminalise homosexuality in England and Wales. It was another fifteen years before Northern Ireland caught up – with the passage of the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982, and that was only after Jeff Dudgeon took a case to the European Court of Human Rights. In 2012 the campaign for LGBT equality has moved on. …

For Sinn Fein it’s the show that matters rather than the politics…

Mick Fealty on July 4, 2012, 12:33 pm

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Fionnuala O’Connor is well worth reading in the Irish News today yesterday (she was last week too, but we got run off our feet keeping up with the celebrity story of the week, and all that tiocfaidh-ar-lamh-amatazz). She’s one of three women who haved nailed a few home truths about the abiding problem with Sinn Fein’s penchant for self narration… Apparently Martin was back at his old ‘Nelson Mandela’ routine on Miriam O’Callaghan’s new Saturday night sofa gig on RTE… …