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What's The Holdup With Marriage Equality In Northern Ireland?

More than 60% of Northern Ireland supports same-sex marriage.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the U.K. that doesn't allow same-sex couples to marry. Progressive politicians have tried five times to pass equal-marriage legislation, most recently in November 2015. The bill won the popular vote, but it was nixed by the ultra-conservative Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which issued a "petition of concern" killing the measure.

"The DUP have abused the petition of concern to block this vote and are now ignoring the will of the assembly and the people of Northern Ireland," Rainbow Project director John O'Doherty said at the time.

The party's anti-LGBT sentiment continues to stall any forward motion on making marriage equality a reality. The DUP was founded in 1977 by Reverend Ian Paisley, whose "Save Ulster from Sodomy!" campaign helped to keep homosexuality illegal in Northern Ireland until 1982.

Decades later, Christian fundamentalism still has a stranglehold on the party. "The DUP is—and we make no apology for this—founded on very strong Christian values," party leader Arlene Foster told The Irish News in January 2016. "We as a party will continue to have those very strong Christian values, and part of that is in and around the traditional view in terms of marriage."

PAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images

Gay rights campaigners take part in a march through Belfast on July 1, 2017 to protest against the ban on same-sex marriage. / AFP PHOTO / Paul FAITH (Photo credit should read PAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images)

Even if it didn't, though, Northern Ireland has been embroiled in a government shutdown since January 2017, when Sinn Fein withdrew from a multi-party coalition. Its removal effectively dissolved the Assembly and left the country run "by a devolved regional government that must, in effect, be led by a coalition between the region’s largest nationalist party and its largest unionist counterpart," wrote The New York Times.

So the likelihood of equal marriage coming through legislation is dim. The next arena could very well be the court room: On March 15, Northern Ireland's Court of Appeals heard a challenge to a High Court ruling last year that denied a gay couple's request to marry. (Currently same-sex couples in Northern Ireland can only register as civil partners.)

Some have called for direct intervention from U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, though she's unlikely to get involved in what's seen as an internal matter.

Advocates do have the support of Leo Varadkar, the first openly gay prime minister of neighboring Ireland, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. "[I support] equality before the law for Catholics, Protestants, non-religious people, men, women, gay people, and straight people," Varadkar told The Irish Times in August. "And I won’t be making any compromises about that for anyone, really."

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