SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood has adressed LGBT Leaders and Activists across Europe in Prague today on the campaign for equality in Ireland, North and South.
“Let me begin by warmly thanking Rainbow Rose for the opportunity to speak.
“Let me also initially say that I fully endorse and support the European roadmap on LGBT rights which Rainbow Rose has developed.
“Your manifesto towards 2019 will continue to play an important part in the wider PES movement as we endeavour to build progressive politics across our continent.
The growing prominence and strength of Rainbow Rose is represented right across our sister parties.
Our own LGBT grouping in the SDLP is one of the most active and campaigning in our own organisation and has been since its foundation.
As party leader, that’s something which I’m incredibly proud of.
Long may it continue.
This morning I’ve been asked to briefly speak on the topic of ‘Fighting for an Inclusive Society’.
The relevant word in that title is ‘fighting’ because in Northern Ireland we still have a long way to travel if we are ever to claim the title of being a truly inclusive society.
That is particularly true for those in our LGBT community.
As you may know, I come from a place where marriage equality has still not been won and where, until recently, there remained a ban on the donation of so called ‘gay’ blood.
Ours is now the only small corner in either Ireland or Britain where the love and commitment of a same-sex married couple is not recognised or upheld in law.
Ignorance on LGBT issues still exists to a worrying degree.
Only this week in the Northern Ireland Assembly one MLA – in fairness to him very honestly and openly – revealed that he was until recently of the view that HIV was a condition only contracted by gay men.
And yet despite this context, despite the struggles still faced daily by our LGBT community, I stand here before you this morning – of course frustrated by the speed of progress – but still optimistic.
I don’t believe that optimism is misplaced.
History is rarely linear, it has many tilts and turns, however I firmly believe that the tide of change for LGBT rights in Northern Ireland is only running in one direction.
Slowly but surely the journey toward full LGBT rights in Northern Ireland will reach our desired destination.
Signs of progress are there to be seen.
Last year I was the first MLA to propose a motion in our Assembly which gained majority backing for marriage equality.
That followed repeated attempts and repeated motions.
Because of our unique political system in Northern Ireland, that vote faced a veto due to the stance of one party and its MLAs.
A veto designed to actually protect the interests of minorities was disgracefully used against a minority community.
The general optimism I have expressed stems from the fact that I believe the strength of that veto against marriage equality is being eroded day by day in the face of public sentiment and opinion.
Instead of a motion there is now the development of a cross-party bill on marriage equality which would replicate the rights achieved across the rest of Ireland.
Our Justice spokesperson Alex Attwood has tabled proposals for an Equality Bill which will not only introduce Marriage Equality for same sex couples in Northern Ireland but will also seek to tackle serious challenges concerning gender equality and LGBT equality.
It is important to outline why our commitment to these issues is so deep and so sustained.
It is not about the imposition or forcing of social mores.
It is not a case of a shotgun marriage between theological tradition and ever-changing social and societal compositions.
Each has a place of respect and the right of respect.
I am not of the belief that the existence of one set of societal values or compositions corrodes the strength, status or symbol of any other.
In essence, the extension of the statutory recognition of marriage to same-sex couples is actually an affirmation of the enduring importance of marriage.
The commitment between two people, encased and sustained by love, has a value worthy of extension to those who would choose it.
Heterosexual marriage embodies those values; so too does same-sex marriage.
The recognition and extension of equal marriage is ultimately about the conservation of those same values of loving inter-reliance.
Before long, I am confident that those values and rights can finally be achieved and enjoyed by all in Northern Ireland.
YES Equality
Embedding rights for an inclusive society must ultimately emanate from a basic human desire to ensure that no citizen is left behind or excluded.
The hardest won progress has grown from that understanding.
In particular the YES campaign in the south of Ireland continues to offer inspiration and direction in advancing the cause of LGBT rights and the realisation of that inclusive society and continent.
As has now been widely celebrated, this was the first instance where marriage equality was adopted into law by way of referendum.
Rather though than the mechanism through which equality was achieved, I believe the main surviving lessons of that referendum emanate from the tone and conduct of the campaign.
Instead campaigners simply asked citizens to ask them why they were voting for marriage equality?
Instead of leading into legalistic arguments and language around rights, that simplest of questions led to stories about family, about the a gay son or daughter, about nephews and nieces, about a grandson and granddaughter and ultimately about ending the hurt of the separation and exclusion imposed for so long.
That approach proved hugely successful.
One of the most interesting aspects of the campaign in the south of Ireland was that the assumed positions and perspectives of particular demographics didn’t materialise.
Plenty of what were assumed to be conservative strongholds voted in overwhelming numbers to embrace marriage equality.
Those of us on the progressive left should always bear in mind that the denial of rights is more often sustained by those waiting and needing to be convinced and not by those unwilling to ever change.
Rather than pure bigotry or an instinct toward discrimination, I think it is driven more by the fear of the unknown and by the fear of a rapidly changing world.
That referendum campaign showed that those fears can be overcome.
The success of the Yes Campaign in Ireland was brought about because it was truly human, it campaigned and persuaded by using human experience and by having faith that the best instincts of people would win the day.
In achieving an inclusive society, I think that is the lesson we must all hold on to.
Building an inclusive Society
I also believe that the continued fight for LGBT rights and the fight for an inclusive society can inform the broader political battle we are all now facing into.
We meet this weekend at a time when mainstream politics is convulsed by crisis.
Brexit, the American election and the rise of the populist right across Europe have all combined to cultivate a sense of deep and real worry.
But it is precisely those feelings of concern which must act as our motivation to reassert ourselves and our values.
Belonging is probably the most powerful and potent concept in modern politics.
Many of those drawn to the extremes of the far right and far left perceive a world to which they no longer relate to and feel they can never belong to.
That has resulted in a revolt against economic globalisation but also a revolt against cultural globalisation.
What we are witnessing are feelings of loss and the feeling of being left behind.
On the other side of the spectrum, many in the progressive and mainstream left have too often struggled to relate to those concerns.
They uncritically welcomed the speed of change brought about by a more open and connected world.
Instead of loss – they saw only opportunity.
Building a bridge between those two binary positions, between those two views of our world and of our future, offers the only pathway to resolving the crisis before us.
It offers the only pathway in preventing the slide to the re-emergence of a politics in Europe which we believed we had built beyond in the middle of the 20th century.
If we are to build an inclusive society, if we are to build an inclusive Europe, then we must fight to win the battle of belonging – we must fight for a society which offers all citizens a place.
The struggle for full LGBT rights is a central part of that journey.
Thank you.”