DUP says Northern Ireland should have the same laws as Britain – except if you’re gay

Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party Arlene Foster has said clearly that she will work to make sure Northern Ireland lives by the same rules as the rest of the UK under Brexit.

She said that she wanted to make sure there were no “internal barriers” that could “decouple” Northern Ireland from the rest of the Union.

However some have highlighted the hypocrisy in that statement, considering the DUP’s continuing campaign against equal marriage.

Labour and Co-operative MP Ged Killen simply responded “Unless you’re gay and want to get married.”

Her comments were in response to ongoing debate about the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.

Foster made it clear that she wanted Northern Ireland to follow the same rules as the UK, when it comes to free-trade and movement with Europe.

However, when Northern Ireland tried to follow the rest of the UK and pass same-sex marriage in 2015, it was the DUP who blocked the law with a ‘petition of concern.’

Related: Everything you need to know about why Northern Ireland doesn’t have equal marriage yet

Journalist James McEnaney pointed out that Foster’s response was also hypocritical as Northern Ireland does not allow access to abortion.

The DUP are currently of major importance in UK politics, as their 10 seats in Westminster provide the Conservative Party with a slim majority.

The Tory-DUP coalition has been highly criticised, due to the DUP extremely socially-conservative values.

Earlier this month, talks of power-sharing between the DUP and Sinn Féin collapsed due to same-sex marriage disagreement.

Sinn Féin created a list of demands that the DUP has refused to meet, including a settlement for equal marriage, which the DUP refused to meet.
Gregory Campbell MP of the DUP, who once described homosexuality as ‘evil’ and claimed God sent AIDS as a homosexual ‘curse’, attacked Sinn Féin’s “shopping list”.

LGBT activists have called for equal marriage to be imposed from Westminster, but so far the demand has been refused