Same-Sex Marriage in Northern Ireland

Within the UK, Northern Ireland remains the only place where same-sex marriage is still not legal. The main Unionist party in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has its roots in Free Presbyterianism has been very vocal in its opposition to it. By using the Northern Ireland Assembly’s power sharing arrangements, the DUP has successfully blocked any attempts to introduce such legislation in the province despite the majority of politicians in Stormont backing marriage equality. However, this may change in the coming months as the DUP has lost their veto majority in the last Assembly Elections in March. The Office for National Statistics does not hold any information on how many same-sex couples travelled to mainland Britain to marry. The Irish equivalent, the Central Statistics Office, provided information that in 2016, 25 same-sex parties who were resident in Northern Ireland traveled to the Republic of Ireland to get married. We spoke to two individuals from Belfast who are both in civil partnerships and would like the opportunity to get married despite political opposition.