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| Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, joined the Gay Pride parade in Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Belfast (AFP) -Thousands of supporters of Northern Ireland's LGBT community took to the streets of Belfast on Saturday in Pride celebrations buoyed by the promise that same-sex marriage could soon be legal here.
An armoured
police vehicle was decked out in rainbow colours and rainbow flags peppered the
crowd, while a sound system blared out hit anthem "It's Raining Men"
in defiance of the summer showers.
Leo Varadkar,
prime minister of the Republic of Ireland to the south, was near the front of
the parade, which was filled with fancy-dress and families.
Organisers
hope that Belfast Pride will exceed the crowd of 55,000 they say turned out
last year.
The event
comes just weeks after the British parliament voted to extend same-sex marriage
and abortion rights to Northern Ireland, which lags behind the rest of the
country on equality issues.
The law
would be changed unless the devolved government in Belfast, which has been
suspended since January 2017, is reinstated by October 21.
"Everybody's
entitled to the same rights, so here's hoping, yes, that it goes through,"
said Mary Francis White, a 53-year-old social care worker whose son is an
openly gay Belfast councillor.
"And
if it does go through, 100 percent absolutely there'll be a big, huge
party."
- 'Still
fighting for rights' -
Supporters
of the global rights group Amnesty held up banners saying "Love is a human
right", while one religious group, Christians at Pride, waved sign saying
"We are all God's children."
Opinion
polls show both abortion and same-sex marriage enjoy popular support in
Northern Ireland.
But one of
its main political parties, the Democratic Unionists (DUP), is strongly opposed
and argues such issues should be decided in Belfast.
"We're
still fighting for rights here," said John Eltham, a 46-year-old
geographic consultant with a beard dyed in rainbow colours.
"It
has been incredibly frustrating. Some of our politicians here really don't
represent the majority view in Northern Ireland and there has been a desire for
equal marriage here."
Lawmakers
in London chose to act after a cascade of headline-hitting developments across
the island.
In May
2018, the Republic of Ireland held a referendum to repeal their ban on
abortion, voting with a landslide 66 percent in favour.
The case of
a mother facing prosecution for allegedly buying abortion pills on the internet
for her 15-year-old daughter has gained prominent media attention in Northern
Ireland.
The fatal
shooting of gay journalist Lyra McKee by dissident republicans in the Northern
Irish city of Londonderry in April added to pressure for change.
Even though
her death does not appear to have been linked to her sexuality, McKee has
become an icon for the marriage equality movement.
Her partner
Sara Canning -- who met with Varadkar before Belfast Pride on Saturday --
personally petitioned then prime minister Theresa May to intervene.
"The
power of her personal story and the love that her and Sara shared has brought
home... for many people actually what this debate has been about," Fergal
McFerran, a friend of McKee and campaigner with LGBT rights group Stonewall
told AFP in July.
But while
many will be celebrating the imminent marriage rights breakthrough, campaigners
remain on an active footing.
"There's
still a long way to go. The trans healthcare system in Northern Ireland is in a
crisis state," said Alexa Moore, the 19-year-old director of Transgender
NI.
If the
legislation comes into effect in October, the first same-sex marriages are
slated to take place in January 2020.
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