05/30/2007
Northern Ireland Politician "Repulsed" by Gay People
Ian Paisley Jr., an assembly member for the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland and son of the party's founder, is under pressure to apologize for remarks he made to Hotpress magazine about gays and lesbians.
Said Paisley, Jr: "I am, unsurprisingly, a straight person. I am pretty repulsed by gay and lesbianism. I think it is wrong. I think that those people harm themselves and – without caring about it - harm society. That doesn’t mean to say that I hate them. I mean, I hate what they do."
It's not the first time Paisley Jr. has expressed his disgust for gay people. upon hearing that Irish politico David Trimble's aide Steven King had married his partner in Canada, Paisley Jr. said, "It is really astounding that David Trimble should have had a man such as this giving him advice - and must surely cast grave doubts on his own political judgment. I think these sorts of relationships are immoral, offensive and obnoxious."
Sinn Féin representatives have called on Paisley to apologize. Said MLA Martina Anderson: "Ian Paisley Jr should withdraw these comments and apologise. The fact is that comments such as this cause great harm and distress. They feed into the attitudes that fester and lead to homophobic violence."
Posted 4:30 PM EST by Andy Towle in Ian Paisley Jr., News, Northern Ireland | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
"I think that THOSE PEOPLE harm themselves - and without caring about it - harm society."
The repulsion is mutual, I'm sure.
Posted by: KJ | May 30, 2007 4:48:40 PM
I'm repulsed by idiotic politicians.
Posted by: homer | May 30, 2007 5:06:32 PM
I am repulsed by homophobia. I think it is wrong. I think homophobes harm themselves and -- without caring about it -- harm society.
Posted by: Jake | May 30, 2007 5:08:02 PM
Someone should stick a pitchfork up that guy's arse.
Posted by: Paul | May 30, 2007 5:25:12 PM
Apparently Mr. Paisley can't think past his dick and what he would or wouldn't do with it. Go get a whore, Mr. Paisley if ye want and leave the rest of the world alone...you're not qualified to talk about the human experience.
Posted by: woodroad34 | May 30, 2007 5:39:44 PM
i wouldn't even fuck him with karl rove's dick.
Posted by: sean | May 30, 2007 5:47:28 PM
She doth protest too much. Time will tell if he's as much of a closet case as he appears to be? He is,unsurprisingly, a moron. If the Irish who elected him are complacent in allowing him to denigrate them with idiotic statements such as "that doesn't mean to say that I hate them,I mean, I hate what they do" then they deserve what they get.
Posted by: ShawnSF | May 30, 2007 5:48:06 PM
The apple hasn't fallen far from the tree I see.
Posted by: anon | May 30, 2007 5:51:16 PM
Shame cuz I was just recently thinking how fun it'd be to fuck the shit outta some real Irish dudes.
Posted by: Jersey | May 30, 2007 6:02:06 PM
hey
Ireland still outlaws abortion. One of the only european nations to do so. Remember Sinead oconners big hullabaloo with that pic of the pope? It was due to the catholic churche's control of Ireland. They are beyond backwards, and I say that as someone of irish descent.
Posted by: pacificoceanboy | May 30, 2007 6:02:34 PM
I disagree with you, pacificocean- Ireland the REPUBLIC is actually very modern and things have changed immensely there.
Paisley is from the partitioned North of Ireland- it is technically a different country: it is the UK.
My mother is from Derry, part of that partition, and my Dad is from the Republic of Ireland. Having grown up with Irish history and hearing/reading about the Troubles, can i say that Paisley Jr. is exactly the sort of hateful bigot his father is.
Paisley Sr. is pretty equivalent to Falwell here, except more frothing at the mouth about how Catholics are Satanic. He is violently (verbally) anti-Irish, loudly proclaims his Britishness.
He is not Irish at all, and he would loudly agree. I myself am 1st-gen Irish-American, and far from a backward country, Ireland has slingshot itself from backwardness to the forefront of the EU in the 21st century. And this includes tolerance of gays.
All my relatives know, and my cousins esp. are exceptionally supportive. "Beyond backwards?" Ireland's not paradise for gays but neither is the US- and with a population 50 percent under 40, Ireland's acceptance of gays is proceeding at a heartening pace.
Pacific, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Saying you're "of Irish descent"means nada.
Paisley Sr. and Jr. are loud bigots, and their entire careers are based on demanding that they are BRITISH, they loudly despise the Irish. So don't blame his vile homophobia on the Irish.
Posted by: Deschanel | May 30, 2007 7:15:28 PM
Northern Ireland has long been the backwater of the UK, especially on gay rights. Homosexuality was decriminalised (with some dumb restrictions) in England and Wales in 1967. Scotland had to wait until 1980 and NI until 1982, partly because the churches have always had more sway in those countries. It's ironic that the Paisleys demand to be considered part of the UK yet don't want to abide by the tolerances observed in the rest of the country.
No English politician would dare to utter such crap any more, especially now there are openly gay MPs in all parties.
Posted by: John C | May 30, 2007 7:45:46 PM
This comes as no surprise, Northern Ireland is as homophobic and racist as they come, as they are anti-gay, and anti immigrant. Must be the "church" in them, and that spirit of hate that goes with it.
Posted by: Lupe | May 30, 2007 8:40:57 PM
Someone get Pacificoceanboy a map! And a newspaper from the 21st century. It's a shame so many of those "of Irish descent" grow up with 19th century Irish culture. Norn Iron is part of the UK, POB! And it's such a basket case, with horrific race and bigotry issues as well as political and (improving) economic problems, that the Republic wouldn't have it for any money.
The Ireland Sinead and I hail from is no more "under Catholic control" these days than Canada is. It's a wealthy, successful country with all of the good (high employment, returning emigrants, a growing immigrant culture) and bad (materialism, live-to-work culture, a growing gap between rich & poor, high cost of living) that suggests. In general, people in the South are far too busy to give a damn who's shagging who. There is a lot of general thuggery that you don't get in the US, but in general people are very tolerant. Yanks "of Irish descent" on the other hand, tend to be quite a conservative and clueless lot, in my experience.
Posted by: Really Irish | May 30, 2007 9:32:07 PM
Well...Northern Ireland, Australia, the United States are definitely the bad boys of the English ex-colonial "family"...
Why can't they be more like Canada? Heh.
Posted by: John | May 30, 2007 9:33:57 PM
I'm replused by Irish Spring Soap......makes as much goddamn sense.
Posted by: Mattelboy | May 30, 2007 10:05:13 PM
Abortion is STILL ILLEGAL in ireland.
Abortion is STILL to this very second ILLEGAL in ireland.
That is more backasswards than alabama here in the US.
Ireland is part of theUK??? NO SHIT sherlock, and the UK bemoans that fact. the britts and the scots all bemoan that fact. The rest of the UK considers ireland Babraians just as they always have.
Till abortion is legalized in ireland, it is backasswards. When it is legalized then come talk to me.
Ireland is barely a 2nd world country.
Posted by: pacificoceanboy | May 30, 2007 10:38:27 PM
John c
exactly
No britt worth their salt would consider northern ireland part of the first world. They would consider it their version of hillbilly land.
Oh and to reiterate my other point to others...Abortion is illegal even in northern ireland. Northern irish girls have to go to England to take care of a rape or incest induced pregnancy.
Posted by: pacificoceanboy | May 30, 2007 10:41:45 PM
Per wikipedia (yeah wiki sucks but I wanted something fast to post)
Abortion is effectively illegal in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Northern ireland is backasswards. Alabama hillbillys have legal acess to abortion here in the US where as Northern irish women have to suffer in backasswards barbaric foolishness.
Posted by: pacificoceanboy | May 30, 2007 10:45:56 PM
Per UN 2005 report on violent crime in Northern ireland
Northern Ireland still has one of the worst records for crimes of violence. People in the province are twice as likely to be victims of violent assault than in America.
2x higher than america???? Wow but deschanel and really irish claim northern ireland is such a bastion of peace and prosperity. A utopia.
Please
backasswards. 2X More likely to get jumped and beat as a straight person in Northern ireland let alone a gay person.
lets see.....what else can I pull up to show the backasswardness of Northern ireland.
Posted by: pacificoceanboy | May 30, 2007 10:57:38 PM
I loved get chalanged :-)
Economic and Research Council report
higher proportion of families are in poverty in Northern Ireland than in either Britain or the Republic of Ireland; and specifically found 185,000 households containing over 500,000 people were living below the poverty line. Poverty was measured by two yardsticks: low income and deprivation - having to go without things, which the public regard as necessities of life: such as enough money to pay heating, electricity and telephone bills on time and new, not second hand clothes.
The Bottom Line also showed that children and families in Northern Ireland are more deprived than their counterparts in Britain. In the words of Professor Hillyard, who described Northern Ireland as one of the most unequal societies in the developed world, "the challenge for Northern Ireland and local politicians is how to reduce these deep fractures of inequality and create a more just society."
WOW
those 2 numnuts who challanged my claim that Irealnd was backasswards can now eat this
Northern ireland is more economicaly deprived thatn the republic and the most impoverished on the entire UK
backasswards hillbillies of the UK in other words.
1- abortion illegal in northern ireland
2- 2x higher violent crime rate in northenr ireland than america
3- northern ireland and the most impoverished part of the uk
Want to try again realirish and the other dude?
Posted by: pacificoceanboy | May 30, 2007 11:04:51 PM
One problem with your argument POB is that there are many and varied restrictions on abortion on the continent of Europe, depending upon the country. The US has about the world's most liberal abortion laws. China has forced abortions as well, so using abortion as a yardstick for progress is shaky.
Posted by: anon | May 31, 2007 2:54:30 AM
No surprise to those of us in the UK - this is after all the son of the man who led the 'Save Ulster from Sodomy' campaign (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Paisley#Campaign_against_homosexuality) and denounced the Pope as the Antichrist - to his face - in the European Parliament (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denunciation_of_Pope_John_Paul_II_by_Ian_Paisley).
Still, nutters come and go. It doesn't help to denounce the whole of Ireland or just Northern Ireland. There are good people there too - let's concentrate a little on them...
Posted by: James | May 31, 2007 6:13:00 AM
Hey I'm currently living in Belfast, Northern Ireland. What Ian Paisely Jr. stupid and ignorant. However, I don't think it's a reflection of the whole of Northern Irelands "assbackwardsness". NI has been a country ripped apart by bigotted views on boths sides regarding being a part of the UK or the Republic, Catholic or Protestant, Celtic or Rangers (soccer teams). As a new generation of people grows up in Ireland without being force fed sectarian BS the country is slowly improving. The fact that it's got it's own parliament now is a sign of change (how long it's going to last is another matter...)
I find it strange that there are so many strong views here about a country that many people haven't visited in the past five years.
Arc
Posted by: Arc | May 31, 2007 6:16:21 AM
Take it up with the UN report and take it up with the Economic and research council.
Figures don't lie.
1- abortion illegal in all of ireland including the supposed Utopia of Northern ireland that realirish and D dude tried to claim.
2- 2X more likely to be subject to violent crime in Northern ireland than anywhere in the entirety of america.
3- The most impoverished area in all of the UK.
Facts are facts. Backasswards is as backassward facts show.
Posted by: pacificoceanboy | May 31, 2007 9:00:29 AM