Civil marriage is good craic

Wow. Who would've thought that Northern Ireland would surpass the United States -- or just plain old blue state Illinois -- in granting rights to gay couples. When I studied in Belfast during 1996-97, many people were still hanging on to their 800-year old hatred of Catholics/Prods.

Gay marriage gets Derry go ahead
Ben Townley, Gay.com UK
Friday 14 October, 2005 14:42

Civil partnership ceremonies will be able to take place in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, the city council has decided, to the delight of local lesbian and gay couples.
The ceremonies were backed at a council meeting last night, amidst a burgeoning row over the issue.
Following on from comments reportedly made by councillors in the London borough of Bromley and Northern Ireland’s Lisburn council, a DUP councillor said he was against the new laws.
William Hay, who stayed away from last night’s meeting, said he was opposed to the legislation because it undermined marriage.
His comments were backed by other DUP members, according to the Belfast Telegraph.
Councillor Joe Miller said that, while he was opposed to homophobic discrimination, he felt “another way” needed to be found to offer more protection to couples.
However, with the support from SDLP and Sinn Fein, the council voted to support civil partnerships.
Local advocacy group Rainbow Project attended last night’s meeting and said the negative comments about the laws were intended to stoke up anti-gay sentiment.
“Civil partnership is falsely being portrayed by some as ‘gay marriage’ in order to whip up religious fervour and opposition,” the group said in a statement today. “This could not be further from the truth. This is not about marriage, this is not about religion, this is about legal rights and dignity for gay couples.”
Now Londonderry will host ceremonies along with the rest of the UK, although due to discrepancies in the legislation, the province will host the first ceremonies a day before mainland UK.
Bromley has also voted to allow same-sex partnership ceremonies.