Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) will send a delegation to this year’s Belfast Pride, which takes place a month after British MPs voted to allow same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland unless a new Stormont government is formed by October.
In an email statement to The University Times, TCDSU President Laura Beston said the union was participating in Belfast Pride, which takes place on August 3rd, “in an effort to show support for our northern students campaign for equal rights in the north”.
Beston added: “With recent developments in Westminster, if any time was as important to show solidarity with the north, it is now.”
Last week, campaigners hailed the decision by UK MPs to extend equal marriage opportunities and abortion rights to Northern Ireland as a “big step forward”.
However, the changes will not be implemented if Sinn Féin and the DUP – which have failed to form a government since a 2017 dispute resulted in the collapsed of the devolved executive – can form a government by October 21st.
The DUP, which is currently propping up the UK’s Conservative government in Westminster, has consistently opposed same-sex marriage legislation and reform of Northern Ireland’s abortion laws.
Students in Northern Ireland have long rallied on both issues. In January 2019, an open letter signed by high-profile activists and human-rights campaigners – including Shakira Martin, the President of the UK’s National Union of Students (NUS) – demanded Westminster’s intervention in Northern Ireland to legislate for marriage equality.
Students have also been at the core of protest action in the North: in October 2017, they were at the centre of a march that brought 2,500 to the streets of Belfast demanding abortion reform. The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has often joined the National Union of Students–Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI) calling for a liberalisation of a set of laws that are among the tightest in western Europe.
