The North's gay community is increasingly asserting its rights - much to the disgust of certain politicians, writes Susan McKay
'The Cherry Room will be penetrated!" declares gay rights activist Jeff Dudgeon, and Lisburn City Council might as well get ready for that happy event. However, the council voted this week to maintain its ban on gays from the room used for civil weddings, once the new British Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in December, allowing for gay civil partnership ceremonies.
Dudgeon, a founder of the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association (Nigra), spent five years in the 1970s fighting the combined forces of the Margaret Thatcher and the Reverend Ian Paisley, and won. He and his gay and lesbian colleagues have fought and won many battles since then. The Cherry Room is the next target.
The Belfast Pride Parade will go ahead, too, next Saturday, despite the efforts of religious organisations to have it banned. The Parades Commission this week rejected claims by the Free Presbyterian Church and the Stop the Parade Coalition that the parade was "filthy", "lewd" and "perverted", and that it should be banned or seriously restricted. This week, it was announced that James Knox, policy and research officer of the Rainbow Project, and convenor of the Coalition on Sexual Orientation, is to sit on the new Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
Belfast's 15th Pride Festival starts today, with a heady mix of events designed to raise awareness, further struggles, and provide excitement and pleasure. It includes a film festival, which starts off with Rebel Without a Cause. There are exhibitions, including the world premiere of Sex Love and Homophobia, a collection of photographs from Amnesty International, which is promoting the slogan "Love is a human right". There is the "Great Annual Copper Coconut Shy", at which gay issues are put to PSNI leaders.
There are also sauna nights, including a naturist one at which towels are not required. There's a "man of the year" event hosted by Mr Gay UK, and a Men of the North "black and leather" night, featuring the "Mr Bear NI" 2005 competition. There is a walk in the Belfast hills, a queer pub trail, a spirituality event, a fashion show and "the climax" of the week, the parade, "the perfect opportunity to protest, party or just to be seen".
Events will be mostly be held in venues around the Cathedral Quarter, coming into its own as the gay area of Belfast. The Kremlin Bar, with a large statue of Lenin over the door, holding a bunch of balloons, is the main gay bar, and behind it there is the Garage, with its sauna and sportsclub. A range of other pubs and clubs are gay or gay friendly. Some of the city's best hotels are offering special room rates for Pride Week, and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board is also promoting it.
IT IS ALL a far cry from the days of "Save Ulster from Sodomy", the slogan of those who wanted homosexuality to remain illegal in Northern Ireland after it was legalised in England and Wales in 1967. Jeff Dudgeon, now a silver-haired civil servant, took the UK to the European Court of Human Rights in 1976, on the basis that gay people had a right to privacy.
"Before that, you were liable to be raided at dawn and the police would confiscate your sheets and examine them," says PA Mag Lochlainn, president of the Northern Irish Gay Rights Association, which was founded at this time.
Dudgeon's supporters confronted Paisley's, who carried "Save Ulster from Sodomy" placards. Singer Tom Robinson of Glad to be Gay fame provided sponsorship. But it was a difficult campaign, fought during some of the worst days of the Troubles.
"We had anger to keep us going," recalls Dudgeon. "But it was a nasty time here, and a very violent time. Most people kept their mouths closed about everything." Dudgeon v United Kingdom ended in victory for Dudgeon, and the North's gay community, in 1981.
"We were the first group to defeat Paisley," boasts Mag Lochlainn. "The pink hand slapped him across the face."
Pride was introduced in 1991, to increase the visibility of gay people. "At that stage in London, they were talking about the 'post gay' era, but there were still children in Northern Ireland committing suicide because they had no access to anything at all," says Mag Lochlainn. "A Protestant minister called us 'worse than dogs'."
Claire Hackett was at the 1991 march and will be out next Saturday, too. "I used to feel really exposed - it felt like the bravest thing I'd ever done. You felt like you were being looked at as a pariah," she says. "Now it is more of a celebration. Things are gradually and continually getting better. I'm very proud of our spokespeople. They are so confident and articulate."
THE NORTH REMAINS the only part of the UK to have the word "lewd" in its legislation, but times have changed dramatically for the gay community. At 28, James Knox is the first openly gay man to be appointed to the Equality Commission, and one of its youngest members.
"Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act of 1998 is the most fantastic piece of equality legislation in the world," he says. "Every government agency designated under it, and there are more than 200 of them, has to take account of the views of various groups, including us, when they consult on policy." Knox may have been hard pressed to come up with a view when he was consulted about where explosives should be stored in a quarry, but section 75 has already led to homophobic behaviour being outlawed under hate crime legislation. Gay activists are also confident that Section 75 will prevail against Lisburn Council.
"We'll complain to the Equality Commission that the ban on gays using a room which may be used by heterosexuals is discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation," says Knox. "Ultimately, it will be up to the Secretary of State."
It was Seamus Close of the Alliance party who first proposed that gays should be denied use of the Cherry Room at a committee meeting several weeks ago. He was supported at Tuesday night's meeting by unionist councillors. The DUP's MP for the area, Jeffrey Donaldson, reminded the council that he had tirelessly opposed gay civil partnerships in the House of Commons. Edwin Poots, also of the DUP, said the law allowing gay civil partnerships was wrong and immoral and "sticks in the throat". The UUP's Ronnie Crawford spoke passionately against homosexuality, quoting the Pope's view that it was a disorder.
Patricia Lewsley of the SDLP opposed the decision and said she had already referred it to the Equality Commission. So has Sinn Féin. "This makes a mockery of Lisburn's slogan 'a city for everyone'," says Lewsley. "It is a disgrace."
The Alliance party is most embarrassed. Its policy is to support gay rights. "Seamus Close is out of line," says a spokesman.
Knox says this will be an important battle. "Other councils here may well want to do the same as Lisburn, and they will be watching what happens," he says. Mag Lochlainn and Dudgeon watched the meeting from the public gallery.
"I said to Jeff, 'what do you expect from a cow but a kick?'" says Mag Lochlainn. "They were tittering and making Neanderthal jokes, but he who laughs last, laughs loudest."
Dudgeon says that "due to a peculiarity" civil partnerships will actually become legal in Northern Ireland a day before the rest of the UK. "So the first confetti may be thrown here in Ulster."
For further information on the Belfast Pride festival, see www.belfastpride.com