This is only a short blog to get some pent up feelings off my chest. Yes it will be very self-righteous, and yes it will be soppy, but please bear with me.

I watched the above video last night, it is the teaser for an upcoming documentary by LA based actor and LGBT activist Ryan James Yezak called 'Second Class Citizen'. I am not ashamed to admit that on watching the video, I felt my heart break but it was also lifted with hope for the future and hope for change, not just in Northern Ireland, but globally for LGBT people and the discrimination we face daily.

In comparison to the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland still lags behind in terms of social acceptance, religious discrimination and openly gay politicians (of which we have only 1 out of 708), adoption rights, blood donation and marriage equality. Compared to the rest of the UK we are seen as a pariah state when talking about gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans rights and equality. We have a First Minister who refuses to condemn attacks on the LGBT community by members of his own party, a party which also includes a homophobic Health Minister that refuses to lift the ban on blood donation for gay men in Northern Ireland.


70% of suicides in Northern Ireland are attributed to sexual orientation and the stigma and social prejudices that are associated with being a member of the LGBT community. Politicians will talk tough on greater support for youth suffering from mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and those who are homeless, but will fall short when it is revealed to them that a sizable number of vulnerable young people are LGBT.

Every year the Christian right in Northern Ireland takes to the streets to condemn and judge the gay community when we only ask for half an hour out of 365 days to show our community spirit and celebrate our individuality at Belfast Pride. They can't even let us have that.


I know things will change, they have to change, otherwise we will make things change. The lawmakers in this country aren't making the right laws quick enough, so we will speed them up. The LGBT community and our allies need to make enough noise, we need to shout it as loud as we can that we will not go away, that we will not be silenced and it is not a choice. It isn't a choice to live the way you were born and to be yourself, that is a God given right, and we will defend our rights and demand them when they are denied. Such is the nature of democracy, such is the nature of human beings.


Those who would deny us the right to marry would have the rest of you think that gay people sit around and plot the downfall of marriage, the destruction of the traditional family and want nothing more than to trample all over their rights. The religious-right has trampled all over our rights for hundreds of years, and  it's about time we had what we are entitled to. Poisonous elements in the religious communities would have their flock think that we can be 'cured' if not condemned. Nobody chooses to be LGBT, why would they? Why would anyone want to throw their lot in with such a marginalized section of society who are discriminated against in almost every field? Of course nobody would choose to be gay.
I didn't.

What breaks my heart and sickens me to my stomach is that young people are still taking their lives because of the abuse they are subjected to because of their sexuality, or assumed sexuality, by people in their own homes, their schools and their own politicians. I don't push for greater equality for me, I do it for those who will never get to see it because they lost hope. Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician in history, and my personal hero once said that "You gotta give 'em hope." 


There are those young people in far flung regions of this country who do not have the access to support, to the help and strength that they need because their own churches, politicians and communities will not allow them to be who they are. They have nobody to stand up for them, nobody to fight their corner and we as members of the LGBT community have a duty and a responsibility to be the one that gives them that hope.
That is why I will continue to make as much noise as possible, I will not apologise for the ruckus that I cause and I will not condemn my fellow LGBT activists and straight allies, my colleagues and sometimes even my rivals when they stand up for their rights as human beings in a democratic country as Northern Ireland is supposed to be.

We are not second class citizens.

(Images courtesy of Phil O'Kane)

Recently I have come across a number of different articles by colleagues and rivals alike that share certain opinions of mine on various issues, and whom express it much more eloquently and brilliantly than I could possibly hope to. Since Core-Issues, the ex-gay therapy movement which claims to promote the idea of a clinically psychological way to 'cure' homosexuality has organised another Conversion Therapy conference in Belfast on January 20th, the LGBT community in NI has been buzzing with anger. And rightly so.
As an openly gay man who has struggled with reconciling my sexuality with my faith as a Christian, I have often felt incensed that members of the Church (whichever Church) would condemn my love or attraction to a member of the same sex, as it is not something I can change or 'fix'. I wouldn't want to, either, for I believe that the trials I have went through and the heartache I have had to endure have allowed me to say "This is who I am, take it or leave it." without feeling guilty or ashamed of saying it.

To think that certain sections of the religious community, specifically my religious community would have the undue arrogance to think that my nature (That in which God had created me, according to scripture) could be altered by pseudo-scientific and dangerous mind games conjured by bigoted zealouts makes me incredibly furious.

So I will leave it to fellow LGBT activist, Christian and political rival/colleague Stephen Glenn of the NI Liberal Democrats to make his point, one in fact that I share and endorse: (To visit Stephen's blog, click HERE)

Stephen speaking to the Lib Dem conference 2011

"According to a conference that is being held in Orangefield Presbyterian Church I am a leper. The conference in organised by Core Issues who encourage reparative therapy for LGBT people who struggle to reconcile this with their faith.

The opening quote inside their literature make horrific reading (emphasis mine)
Failure to live out the reality of Jesus Christ’s presence in the common life of the church with those who struggle with same sex sins is a disease of epic proportions, a malignancy that spreads throughout the Body and resurfaces as the Evangelical, Biblebelieving church attempts to deal with other sin issues. This failure is merely symptomatic of other deeper issues within the body, diseases that are not so easily identifiable nor that carry the same stigma or bigotry: spiritual complacency and ambivalence, hypocrisy, unaccountability and Biblical ignorance.”
- The Lepers Among Us
Of course where does that stigma and bigotry come from?

This has spurred me to write the following email to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland's Board of Social Witness and the congregations involved.

As someone baptised into Trinity Presbyterian Church, Bangor where I currently attend I am appalled to learn that the Rev Jim Reynolds is holding a conference entitled:

The Leper Among Us: Homosexuality and Life in the Church 

on the premises of Orangefield Presbyterian Church and on the Sunday shall be preaching at Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church.

The title of such a conference victimises and diminishes LGBT people which seems to be in direct contravention of recommendation 2 of the Board of Social Witness's Social Issues and Resources Panel Pastoral guidelines Homosexuality (March 2007).

Fails to "encourage our congregations to ’Create an environment of love, acceptance, patience, forgiveness and grace." as in recommendation 4 as above.

In creates the feeling of unsafe spaces in these two congregations and potentially others in the PCI, when recommendation 5 called to create a safe space, which I believe has not yet been achieved.

The controversial methods espoused by Rev. Reynolds are things that I would never expect to a member congregation of the General Assembly to host. As one of the LGBT attendees of the PCI (currently not a member due to your guideline) maybe I am a Leper in your eyes. I am already excluded from full membership. Maybe you would want me to sound a bell and stay outside the building on a Sunday. Maybe you'd like me to get an extra long lead so that I can play my bass guitar to help lead worship so as I do not come inside the precincts of the building.
Of maybe both the congregations involved will take the time available to live up to recommendation 3 in the pastoral guidelines:

encourage repentance for the occasions when persons with same sex attractions have been treated in ways severely lacking in grace within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and that the Assembly encourage an attitude of grace and mercy to be actively shown to all who struggle with different aspects of their sexuality.

I'm hurt by the failure of adherence to your own pastoral guidelines. I'm hurt by the lack of action on those recommendations from 2007. I'm hurt by the treatment of LGBT members by the congregations to be associated with someone who names them lepers within. These actions are lacking in the grace that the Board of Social Witness recommendations sought to deal with."

I hope that more people like Stephen make their voices heard and come out to join the protest against this destructive and dangerous practise on January 20th, being organised by The Rainbow Project (Please see HERE for details.) and that the NI Executive can see sense and abolish 'charities' like Core Issues who promote and fund research into these invasive and archaic practices.