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Peter Robinson in £80,000 handout to gay groups
First Minister to authorise grants despite wife’s outspoken comments
Thursday, 28 August 2008
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The government department headed by Peter Robinson is due to provide £80,000 to gay groups within the next seven months — despite his wife's controversial views on homosexuality.
Officials have also confirmed that Stormont grant-aid totalling £100,000 was allocated to the gay sector during Ian Paisley's period as First Minister.
It has further been revealed that money from the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) helped fund this year's Gay Pride parade in Belfast.
The ongoing OFMDFM allocations are part of a £230,000 package put in place under direct rule by then Secretary of State Peter Hain.
This scheme has continued under devolution, alongside rows over anti-gay comments by prominent DUP politicians — including MLA Iris Robinson, the First Minister's wife.
Mrs Robinson was widely condemned after branding homosexuality an “abomination” in June this year.
Fellow DUP MLA Ian Paisley Jnr caused a similar controversy last year by saying he was “pretty repulsed by gay and lesbianism”.
An official breakdown of Stormont allocations to the gay sector under devolution has been provided in an OFMDFM Freedom of Information disclosure, seen by the Belfast Telegraph.
The £230,000 package is administered by the Coalition on Sexual Orientation (CoSO), an umbrella organisation for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups across the province.
The OFMDFM Freedom of Information response said £150,000 of the £230,000 total had been provided to date by the Department. Of this sum, £50,000 was paid in March 2007, two months before devolution was restored.
The Department stated there were two further £50,000 allocations for the gay groups — in July 2007 and February 2008.
Dr Paisley was First Minister at these times. He led a “Save Ulster from Sodomy” campaign in the 1970s, in a failed attempt to prevent the legalisation of gay sex in Northern Ireland.
The OFMDFM Freedom of Information response also stated that the remaining £80,000 from the £230,000 package will be provided by the Department before the end of March next year.
The Assembly was told earlier this month that £10,000 from the package was spent on the Gay Pride parades of the last two years.
Participants in this year's event, on August 2, mocked the First Minister's wife. Some wore Iris Robinson masks, while an “Iris float” featuring a papier mache image of her, joined the parade.
In a reply to a written Assembly question, Mr Robinson and Martin McGuinness stated: “The Coalition on Sexual Orientation (CoSO) contributed to the 2007 and 2008 Belfast Gay Pride Parade, awarding £5,750 and £5,000, from a fund of £230,000 which was awarded by the previous Direct Rule administration.”
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37 Comments
Well they could hardly deny the funding could they!?!
Anyway these funds were in place way before the Iris Robinson gay debacle.
Posted by Frank | 03.09.08, 12:52 GMT
DUP shud nat give doe to gay groups or share beds with Sinn Fein in guvoermint. Its nat right. Now why does Tony Feaorens comments get printd twice and mine dont get printd at all? Whys that then? Come on. Bet yis dont print this. I know what ur doin. And he gets more words.
Posted by Loyal Ulsterman | 03.09.08, 01:29 GMT
I just laugh with disbelief when I read ridiculous statements saying that homosexuality is unnatural. It is clearly natural, otherwise it wouldn't be widely practised in the human and animal kingdom. It is funny what some people's ignorance can make them say!
Posted by Damhan O'Neill | 29.08.08, 20:27 GMT
Finbar; the point I was making is that Homosexuality is natural as it exists throughout all of nature, clearly that fact is beyond your comprehension as your comment indicates. As for copying animals, you don't see them treating each other with contempt because of difference, maybe some people here could learn from the animal kingdom? Sexuality is not a big problem for them but is for repressed humans. We were blessed with intelligence but not everyone has got the hang of it yet!
Posted by joe | 29.08.08, 12:32 GMT
I think that there is a need to give money for this cause to end discrimination and the incitement of hatred. Maybe if Iris Robinson wasn't given a platform then so much money wouldn't be needed to be given to these groups!
Posted by Sean O'Rourke | 28.08.08, 20:53 GMT
Tony Fearon, if you and others like you believe Adam & Eve were the first parents of the human race, then you must also condone incest. Adam & Eve apparently had three children, Cain who slew his brother Abel, and a third son Seth. Now, for the planet to become populated, two things must have come into play. Either all three sons had incest with their mother, or if there was a daughter we are unaware of, they must also have had incest with their sister. Get my drift? God nor Jesus mentioned homosexuality once in either old or new testaments either but apparently saw what he created was good.
Posted by Robert, ex pat Brit | 28.08.08, 20:17 GMT
I love these articles about gays - lots of mad postings guaranteed.
No one is forced to watch the Twelfth? That's great then - Drumcree, lower Ormeau, the lot, sorted at a stroke.
When you are a minority you need a helping hand? We, the satanists of Ulster, demand funding now.
Let's face it - the gays are paying for everyone else's children's education, health care, you name it. And as notoriously big spenders ( that £350 shirt is so you), they probably pay a lot more tax than the average.
Posted by neil | 28.08.08, 19:42 GMT
Nigel - no one is "forced" to watch "gay festivals" and as for your reference to 'the gays' - who are you, Alan Partridge??! What ignorant, bigoted and clearly uneducated sttements. In the grand scheme of things, when our MLA's are spending ludicrous amounts of money on members of their family who apparently 'work' for them, as well as expenses - £800k is not very much at all.
Posted by Jay | 28.08.08, 17:25 GMT
Joe, Just because homosexuality is documented in the animal kingdom does'nt mean that you have to copy the animals! We'll be seeing cross dressed bulls parading the streets of Belfast next!
Posted by Finbar | 28.08.08, 17:15 GMT
David Gordon, this is old news! This is merely this years spend on the small grant allocated to the LGBT sector by direct rule. You have already reported on this, and this is really quite mischievous on your part, as you are aware that at the mention of "gay", DUP members come over all"queer". If there is one thing designed to unite them, it is it is mention of the "gay thing". Even thought of being in government with Sinn Fein does not have this effect.
Come on David, there are better stories, like DUP leadership's failure to answer phone calls and letters from LGBT sector organisations; are we the new outcasts?
Colin
Posted by Colin | 28.08.08, 16:10 GMT
Tony Fearon, no one said the world is meant to be gay but some people in the world are gay so you need to get over it, furthermore, there is well documented Homosexuality throughout the animal kingdom so stop quoting ancient text to disguise your ignorance of something you clearly know nothing about.
Posted by joe | 28.08.08, 15:36 GMT
To Fat Finger Frank this is just a comments page where people like to comment in which the hardly make sure that all their comments are entered with simply typing errors or care that the fact the have shortened words to get the poin acroos which is done anyway regardless of the typing errors or 100% grammer. O dear maybe i should not submit this as there is not enough commas or full stops????
Posted by Tony Fearon | 28.08.08, 15:27 GMT
Someone told me gay means homosexual and not happy. My mistake sorry. I think Nigel should partnership this community and shake hands. Here in Sweden we are very open and tolerant.
Posted by Jurgen | 28.08.08, 15:15 GMT
'Allocations to the gay sector'? The gay sector? What/where is that? What odd terminology.
Posted by Gav Orde | 28.08.08, 15:10 GMT
So you would rather NI was known for its gayness as well as intolerant, bigoted and backwards, because there has been no change in those attitudes over the last ten years? I think we are a bit over sensitive regarding gay remarks.
Posted by Finbar | 28.08.08, 15:08 GMT
The world is not supposed to be gay it was adam and eve not adam and steve.
Posted by Tony Fearon | 28.08.08, 15:03 GMT
I think the £80,000 would've been better spent on education. Obviously some of the people commenting on these pages need an English lesson or ten. By the way - 'your' is not the same as 'you're'.
Posted by Fat Finger Frank, London | 28.08.08, 15:01 GMT
"do we really want NI to be known for its gayness?"
- nigel
I would rather NI was known as that than Divisive, Intolerant, Bigoted and Backward.
Posted by dnorth | 28.08.08, 14:41 GMT
yes Nigel. Dont knock it until you've tried it. I think Gay parades should be held all over the world. But I think gay is an old fashioned word only found in old school books. It should be the happy parade where everyone can smile and young people will know what it means. Who's idea was it anyway to have this happy parade?
Posted by Jurgen | 28.08.08, 14:38 GMT
It does'nt really matter what the amount is, it would be a lot better spent on homeless, healthcare or education instead of promoting gayness. We have already had the UKs first gay marrage, do we really want NI to be known for its gayness?
Posted by Nigel | 28.08.08, 14:06 GMT
37 Comments