Debate contribution: International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

Debate contribution by Mr Brian Kingston on 12 May 2025.

MLA

Mr Brian Kingston

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

12 May 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4937874

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. The Democratic Unionist Party believes that unlawful discrimination, violence or harm perpetrated against anyone in society on the basis of their gender or sexual orientation is wrong. Every individual should be treated to respect and dignity, and, fundamentally, there can be no room for harmful or coercive practices. We have no difficulty with the first half of the motion, although I add that it is difficult not to view today's motion as a desperate effort by the Alliance Party to mitigate the fallout from its corporate exclusion from pride marches. Our amendment recognises that progress is being made across a range of social inclusion strategies that are being developed through a process that the Minister for Communities and his Department are leading before bringing them to the Executive Committee as a whole. Those include the gender equality strategy and the sexual orientation strategy, which are both progressing. We acknowledge the important input of the expert panels and co-design groups that have contributed to the development of those draft strategies. Our amendment also references the significant recent Supreme Court ruling, which has brought clarity to the debate on sex-based protections, affirming that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological reality. It has been reported that the Equality and Human Rights Commission in England has since stated:

"if a space or service is designated as women-only, a person who is born male but identifies as a woman"

should not be permitted to use that space or service. That is a fundamental and common-sense clarification that emphasises the need to respect and protect single-sex spaces, services and categories, especially for women and girls, including in changing rooms and toilets, sports categories and where segregated accommodation exists, such as in prisons. It should also inform what is appropriate in intimate work duties, including for body searching and intimate care. It is sad but true to say that common sense on gender realities had been hijacked by a small yet extreme ideological minority, aided and abetted by parties such as Alliance, Sinn Féin and the SDLP, which pressurised businesses, civil administrations and the wider public into accepting a version of reality — their version — that denied all common sense. Women who dared to speak out about their concerns were branded bigots, hounded out of their jobs and silenced in the public discourse. For years, women have been insulted by those who are in complete denial of reality. Fears about the safety of women and girls have been trampled on. Although the Supreme Court judgement deals with how sex-based rights apply across England, Wales and Scotland under the Equality Act 2010, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland has provided its initial view that the judgement is likely to be deemed by industrial tribunals and courts in Northern Ireland to be:

"highly persuasive and, consequently, it is likely to be followed in cases where similar issues arise."

There should be no attempt to prevaricate or stall on full compliance with the ruling across Departments, and any gender equality strategy must reflect the common-sense ruling of the Supreme Court. I commend the Education Minister for providing clarity to schools today. Regarding the alternative amendment from People Before Profit on the topic of puberty blockers, we in the DUP are clear that there should be no backsliding on the part of the Executive parties in showing leadership and clarity to protect children from undergoing those irreversible and life-changing treatments, including in the absence of parental consent. The independent review of gender identity services for children and young people, which was chaired by Dr Hilary Cass and commissioned by the previous UK Government, raised significant concerns about the use of puberty blockers on children. We are used to Mr Carroll regularly espousing positions that fly in the face of economic and fiscal reality, but, today, he wishes to foist puberty blockers on more children against professional and scientific evidence. Should we be surprised? In closing, we recognise that the Communities Minister recently brought the draft anti-poverty strategy to the Executive table. We look forward to its being formally published and to the other social inclusion strategies following the same path to publication.

They are the gender equality strategy; the sexual orientation strategy; the disability strategy; the disability in work strategy; and the active ageing strategy. We call for continued and timely work to complete the development of those draft strategies, and we commend our amendment to the House.

748 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Qualifying Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:23 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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