Wedding vendors will be forced to participate in gay ‘marriages’ under new N. Ireland law
A politician in Northern Ireland has pointed out that the new law legalizing same-sex “marriage” in the region will not allow civil registrars, hoteliers, florists, and wedding photographers to refuse their services for homosexual “weddings.” The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019, the same piece of legislation that introduced new abortion laws into the region, has also legalized same-sex “marriage,” effective from January 13 of this year. Same-sex “marriage” has been legal in the rest of the U.K. since 2013, but until last month had not been imposed on Northern Ireland. On January 20 the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), the U.K. Government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs, launched a public consultation, focusing on questions around the freedom of various groups and individuals to opt-out of such ceremonies. Under the new laws, churches and other religious groups will not be compelled to celebrate such “weddings.” But Northern Ireland pol