Same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland

Between 2012 and 2015, the Northern Ireland Assembly voted five times on same-sex marriage, and although it was passed by a slim majority on the fifth attempt, it was vetoed by the Democratic Unionist Party using the petition of concern.

[5] Regulations implementing same-sex marriage were signed by Julian Smith, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, on 19 December 2019.

[22][23][24][25] A third attempt on 29 April 2014 was defeated 51–43, with all nationalist MLAs (Sinn Féin and SDLP), most Alliance MPs and four unionists (two from NI21 and two from the UUP) voting in favour.

[35] The DUP won fewer than 30 seats at the March 2017 elections, losing the ability to singlehandedly block a bill using a petition of concern.

[38] Labour MP Conor McGinn said he would introduce a private member's bill extending same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland by the end of March 2018.

[45] An identical bill was introduced to the House of Lords on 27 March 2018 by Baron Hayward, and passed its first reading that day, though without government support.

[48][49] In March 2019, Baron Hayward introduced an amendment to an unrelated government bill, which if accepted would have extended same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland.

[51] Baroness Williams of Trafford opposed the amendment and said the UK Government wanted the Northern Ireland Assembly to legalise same-sex marriage.

It required the Secretary of State to issue regulations extending same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland if the Executive had not reconvened by 21 October 2019.

[56] The bill passed its final stages in the Parliament and received royal assent by Queen Elizabeth II on 24 July 2019, becoming the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019.

[64] Regulations to enable those in civil partnerships to convert their relationship status to marriage were laid in Parliament on 22 October 2020, with the first conversions taking place from 7 December 2020.

[67] Two couples, Grainne Close and Shannon Sickles and Chris and Henry Flanagan-Kanem, brought the case claiming that Northern Ireland's prohibition on same-sex marriage breached their human rights.

[67][68] A ruling was handed down in August 2017; Judge John Ailbe O'Hara of the High Court found against the couples and determined that there were no grounds under case law from the European Court of Human Rights that the couples' rights were violated by Northern Ireland's refusal to recognise their union as a marriage and that same-sex marriage was a matter of social policy for the Parliament to decide rather than the judiciary.

[73] On 7 April 2020, the Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled that same-sex couples faced unjustified discrimination while denied the opportunity to marry in Northern Ireland.

But with changes to the law meaning same-sex weddings can take place in Northern Ireland since 11 February 2020, senior judges decided not to make a formal declaration on any human rights breach.

[74][75][76] In 2019, two same-sex couples indicated they would sue the UK Government over bureaucratic obstacles that may have forced them to wait two years before being capable of converting their civil partnerships into marriages.

[86] Marriage ceremonies of same-sex couples in religious facilities became permitted on 1 September 2020, after subsidiary legislation was passed by the Northern Ireland Office.

[89][90] The doctrine of the Catholic Church states: "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring.

However, the Salvation Army "does not condemn or abandon people who fall short of the ideal" but rather, in God's name, it seeks to offer support, reconciliation, counsel, grace and forgiveness.

[98] The Church of Ireland affirms in its canon law that "according to our Lord's teaching that marriage is in its purpose a union permanent and life-long, for better or worse, till death do them part, of one man with one woman, to the exclusion of all others on either side".

[101] The Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland affirms "the creation ordinance of marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman" in its Doctrinal Statement.

[102] A September 2014 LucidTalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph showed that 40.1% of the population supported same-sex marriage, while 39.4% opposed and 20.5% either had or stated no opinion.

[104] A "mass rally", organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Amnesty International, and the Rainbow Project took place in Belfast on 13 June 2015,[105] with a 20,000 person turnout.

[107] A December 2016 LucidTalk poll found that 65.22% of people surveyed supported the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.