O’Conall Street

When is an abomination not an abomination?

Well according to DUP First Lady, Iris Robinson, the bible says gay people are an abomination and that presents a moral question in her mind but does not nessesarily mean they are an abomination (or at least that is what I think she means). Actually after listening back to today’s Nolan show I now know she definitely believes gay people are an abomination and that she feels very, very strongly about that.

I would not be splitting hairs on this issue except homophobic violence is on the up in Ireland and today we all woke up to a particularly disturbing story on the issue from Derry.

Political leaders north and south can be very ambiguous on issues of sexual equality. Across the divide and the border faith is used to hide prejudice and vagueness is given space. The tragedy of this situation is that young men in the estates take cover from the double speak and perpetuate terrible acts of violence and intimidation on ethic minorities, homosexuals, migrants workers or someone of a different religion. And in their minds they are just doing what the majority are thinking.  

As we settle into a period of sustained political stability until the next Assembly election in 2011 and general election in the south their is much politicians could do to ensure their words are fuel for social progress and that prejudice in any form is excluded from political discourse although filling the policy vacuum is where the real job lies.

A non prejudice pledge in the Assembly and the Oireachtas would be a good start. This is one issue which could also truly be tackled on an all island basis.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 6th, 2008 at 8:37 am and is filed under Business, Corporate Communications, Current Affairs, Politics, Public Affairs, Public Relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.