First Pride parade since 'politician ban' takes place

The first Pride parade in Northern Ireland since the Stormont Executive parties were banned from attending has taken place in Omagh.

Organisers from Omagh Pride have said politicians from Sinn Féin, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Alliance and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) are "not welcome" after they voted to introduce an indefinite ban on the sale or supply of puberty blockers to under-18s.

Belfast Pride and Foyle Pride have also asked those parties not to attend their events later in the summer.

Daniel Waldron, the chairperson of Omagh Pride, said he does not want political parties using the event as a "photo opportunity" after "attacking" LGBT rights.

In February, Green Party leader Mal O'Hara called for the four parties in the executive to be banned from walking in Pride parades, saying they had "betrayed" the LGBT community.

Shortly afterwards a number of Pride events including those in Lurgan, Causeway, Mid & East Antrim and Foyle all announced the parties would not be invited.

Belfast Pride consulted with their community before announcing they would also be doing the same.

Omagh Pride is the first pride of the season in Northern Ireland and the first parade those parties will not be present at.

Sinn Féin, Alliance and the UUP have all previously had representatives attend and walk at Omagh Pride.

"I don't think that we can allow politicians to use pride as a photo opportunity when in practice they are attacking the rights of LGBT people," Mr Waldron said.

"If they get away with driving back the rights of trans and non-binary people then they will want to attack the rights of the LGBT community as a whole and other vulnerable and marginalised groups."

It is understood individuals have not been banned from Omagh Pride, rather political parties are not permitted to walk in the parade as a formal group.

Omagh Pride told BBC News NI there will be a group of council staff marching in the parade and that a council officer will be "saying a few words before the start of the parade".

Omagh Pride also told BBC News NI that Fermanagh and Omagh District Council awarded them £1,000 funding.

In May Fermanagh and Omagh District Council apologised for "causing hurt" when it issued a statement saying it would develop guidance for the use of toilets and changing rooms.

It followed a Supreme Court ruling that a woman is defined by biological sex, which applied in Britain but not Northern Ireland.

Mr Waldron said the "backlash globally and locally" means this year's event was more important than ever.

"Pride is a celebration of identity of culture and so on, but also it is a protest and it is about standing up for our rights and fighting for genuine equality and also resisting any attempts to push us back to the dark days," he added.

The Omagh Pride parade has been running since 2021 and Mr Waldron said the event had been transformative for the LGBT community in the county.

"Omagh Pride has contributed to a changing atmosphere in the town," he said.

"There is more LGBTQ+ visibility and we're developing a really strong local LGBTQ+ community with things like book clubs, board game nights, cinema nights that create a bit of a social space for LGBTQ+ people to come together and to socialise."

The door is still open if the political parties wanted to attend the parade in future, he said.

"If Stormont and the executive rescind their decision and reinstate access to gender affirming care then we'll look at it again and if they change their position those parties may be welcome again in the near future," Mr Waldron said.

Until the ban in Northern Ireland, puberty blockers were only available on NHS prescription for under-18s for young people who were accepted onto the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Gender Identity Service endocrine pathway prior to March 2020.

Puberty blockers are drugs used to delay or prevent puberty happening and have sometimes been prescribed to children questioning their gender.

Hormone suppressors also remain available for patients receiving the drugs for other uses, such as early-onset puberty.

The move to ban puberty blockers came after a report into children's gender services - the Cass Review - said there were "gaps in evidence" around the drugs.

The review was led by leading paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass and prompted the previous UK government to ban the use of puberty blockers for under-18s questioning their gender – a move which was then ed by Labour when they won the election.