{"id":13370,"date":"2017-09-13T13:03:34","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T12:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13370"},"modified":"2017-09-13T13:03:34","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T12:03:34","slug":"huge-step-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13370","title":{"rendered":"Huge step forward"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite delegate from Northern Ireland, Bridie McCreesh, today (September 13) addressed conference urging them to support Motion 41 on same-sex marriage and the DUP.<\/p>\n

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The trade union movement is based on principles of equality and solidarity and why Unite urged all our members to vote \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Yes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in the 2015 referendum to legalise same-sex marriage in the South of Ireland.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen that referendum was won it was a huge step forward for equality and human rights,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Bridie McCreesh, Unite Delegate.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is also why as a movement we cannot ignore the actions of the Conservatives in using DUP votes to prop up their government \u00e2\u20ac\u201c actions that effectively provide legitimacy for some of the DUPs reactionary views,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

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The DUP First Minister, Arlene Foster, has said her party will continue to keep using the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Contentious Petition of Concern\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a mechanism that means Bills need cross-community support to become law.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis will block same sex marriage in Northern Ireland for at least another 5 years; effectively using the peace process to block the drive towards equality,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said McCreesh.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe DUP have stated that using the petition of concern demonstrated their determination to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098protect\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 the traditional definition of marriage,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The DUP led the opposition at Stormont to the Northern Ireland Equality Commissions case against a bakery that refused to make a customer a cake iced with the slogan \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Support Gay Marriage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Foster herself wrote to the Scottish government in 2015 asking Edinburgh to bar civil partners from Northern Ireland converting their partnership to marriage and Foster has justified these positions by insisting that gay people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really want to get married anyway, \u00c2\u00a0that the issue had \u00e2\u20ac\u015ball become a bit of a storm in a teacup\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is not a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098storm in a teacup\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to those denied their human rights,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said McCreesh.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe DUP is out of step and on the wrong side of history \u00e2\u20ac\u201c on this and so many questions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thousands marched in the Belfast Pride this year under the banner of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Demand Change\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bContinuing to advocate discrimination on the basis of sexuality is not a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098storm in a teacup\u00e2\u20ac\u2122; it is a denial of people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s human rights and it is against the basic tenants of our movement. Please support motion 41,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added McCreesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite delegate from Northern Ireland, Bridie McCreesh, today (September 13) addressed conference urging them to support Motion 41 on same-sex marriage and the DUP.   The trade union movement is based on principles of equality and solidarity and why Unite urged all our members to vote \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Yes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in the 2015 referendum to legalise same-sex marriage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[795,796,379,792],"wps_subtitle":"Must not allow DUP to deny human rights","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13370"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13397,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13370\/revisions\/13397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}