Lifesite News 10 Oct 2012
The Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland rejected on October 1 a move to install “gay marriage” in the province. The private member’s motion was put forward by the far-left Green Party and republican party Sinn Fein. The Green’s only representative in Stormont, Steven Agnew, said it would be message to homosexuals that “we see their love as equal”.
The motion was soundly defeated by the dominant Democratic Unionists (DUP), only three of whose 45 members voted in favour. 45 of the total of 95 Members, 47.37 per cent, voted in favour, including 37 Nationalists, 3 DUP, and 5 “others” according to the government’s information.
The motion could not have made a change in the marriage law that has to be ratified in the province by Westminster. But the BBC and other observers noted that had it passed, it would have increased pressure in Stormont to accept a change in the law when it is proposed in the English parliament.
Michelle McIlveen of the DUP said it is “simply a myth that this is an equality issue”. “Everyone is free to marry,” she said.
Roy Beggs of the Ulster Unionist Party echoed the warnings of many religious leaders in Britain when he said, “Civil and religious liberties across the UK could be affected by this decision.”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/northern-irish-assembly-rejects-gay-marriage-motion
