Could Peter Robinson be a key player in May? Flickr/DUP photos. Some rights reserved.
The pressure on Ed Miliband to rule out any coalition agreement between Labour and the SNP was so remorseless the result was never in doubt.
But while the British elite were shrill in demanding there could be no role for the SNP in a Westminster government there is complete silence on the possibility of one involving Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Given its policies on a raft of issues this is surprising. Remember the case brought against the owners of a Bed and Breakfast in England who refused to let a room with a double bed to a gay couple? They eventually lost in court, thank goodness.
Current policies, long legacies
Well now, across the Irish Sea, the Democratic Unionist Party’s Paul Givan is bringing forward a private member’s bill in the Northern Ireland Assembly which would make it legal for those with “strongly held” religious convictions to refuse to provide certain services to LGBT people, like renting them a room or accepting a restaurant booking.
DUP leader and Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Peter Robinson, supports the bill. Robinson can try and claim that opposition to LGBT rights is a matter of individual conscience but that won’t wash. The party’s stance has deep roots, beyond even when party founder and long time leader, Rev. Ian Paisley, campaigned against moves to legalise gay sex under the banner “Save Ulster from Sodomy.” The party has repeatedly blocked attempts to legalise equal marriage in Northern Ireland, in line with England, Scotland and Wales.
