Debate contribution: International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on 12 May 2025.

MLA

Mr Timothy Gaston

Party at the time

Traditional Unionist Voice

Date

12 May 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4937981

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I oppose the motion and the amendments. Behind the soft-sounding words of inclusion and affirmation lies a hard reality, which is the erosion of women's rights, the undermining of parental authority and the silencing of common sense. No man, regardless of how he identifies, has the right to enter female-only spaces. Whether that be a changing room, a prison or a domestic violence shelter, women and girls have a human right to privacy, safety and dignity. To deny that right is not progressive. It is regressive, dangerous and wrong. In Scotland, a rapist was housed in a women's prison. That is where this ideology leads. No man has a right to take part in women's sport — not now, not ever. It is not banning anyone to ask them to compete in their own category. It is fairness, science and basic equality for women. Shame on the BBC for suggesting otherwise and for claiming that transgender people are banned from football and cricket while, in fact, they are simply being asked to play in the correct category. I will not stop at opposing just the motion. I also oppose the DUP amendment. I believe that the Alliance motion is unamendable, in that someone with my political and religious convictions cannot support it in any shape or form. The motion states:

"That this Assembly recognises International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia".

I looked at the official website for that movement, which is may17.org. It contains a trans rights map that tells me that the UK has not yet lived up to the goals of the campaign, because it has not banned conversion therapy. Is the DUP happy to support a campaign that calls for preaching on Corinthians 6 to be banned? Furthermore, on the basis of evidence that is available today, the Department for Communities cannot be trusted to produce gender and sexual orientation strategies. Today, the information on the Minister's departmental website says:

"In October 2020 an Expert Advisory Panel was established with knowledge and expertise of the LGBTQI+ sector which allowed them to make effective recommendations on the themes and key actions the Strategy should address."

Who are the members? TransgenderNI, the Rainbow Project and HERe NI. Just last week, HERe NI put its name to a document attacking the Supreme Court ruling. We know what TransgenderNI's position is, and, indeed, as we speak, the Rainbow Project is having an event in this very Building calling for the ruling of our Supreme Court to be ignored. Page 48 of the report on the Department for Communities website attacks the Supreme Court ruling in terms of its recommendations on single-sex spaces like toilets. On page 16, it champions gender-affirming care. On page 37, it affirms the Education Authority's transgender guidance — guidance that belatedly, eight months after I raised the issue with him, the Education Minister now seems prepared to act on. I am not saying for one moment that Minister Lyons is going to swallow all the ideology in the report, but in a situation where that is all that I can go on to determine what a sexual orientation strategy is likely to contain, I am unable to support the amendment. I wonder whether the signatories to the amendment have read the expert advisory panel report. The Assembly should be protecting women's rights, not rewriting them. It should be supporting parents, not sidelining them. It should be standing with the Supreme Court, not attacking it. Because I believe —

— I will vote against the motion and the amendment. Go on ahead, Sinéad.

What you are referring to is somebody taking a photograph showing —

— that a ladies' toilet is indeed a ladies' toilet, and what we have in this Building —

— and the policy that we have in this Building —

— is that anybody can go into the toilets that they want.

I have not finished.

653 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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