Tag Archives: Northern Ireland

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

U.K. News | Hongkonger Immigrants

Hong Kong immigrants now constitute part of the largest ethnic minority in Northern Ireland after weathering the Troubles
  • Numbering between 6,000 and 8,000, Chinese immigrants are Northern Ireland’s largest minority, with the mostly Cantonese-speaking Hongkongers comprising around three-quarters of those immigrants.
  • The immigrants began arriving just before the start of Northern Ireland’s three decades of ethno-political conflict, remaining religiously neutral during the conflict that turned sectarian at times.
  • Now, residents thrive as restauranteurs, students, and politicians, including the UK’s first East Asian elected to a legislative body, and the Belfast Chinese Christian Church stands as a pillar of the growing Chinese evangelical community.

Read the full story at EJInsight.

(Image Credit: Mark O’Neill/EJI)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

U.K. News | LGB

New poll indicates significant support in Northern Ireland for legalization of same-sex marriage
  • The latest Ipsos MORI poll indicates 68% of adults in Northern Ireland support same-sex marriage, even higher than the 62.1% in favor in the Republic of Ireland at the time of its recently passed marriage referendum.
  • Support is highest among 16- to 34-year-olds at 82%, while 75% of those between 35 and 54 and 47% of those over 50 expressed favor.
  • Northern Ireland remains the only country in the British Isles where same-sex marriage is still illegal, with the constituent components of the U.K. left to establish their own marriage laws.

“The people have spoken and it’s clear they don’t want Northern Ireland to be left behind on marriage equality. … Continuing resistance to bringing Northern Ireland in step with all our neighbours is unacceptable. It’s high time Northern Ireland said a big ‘we do too’ to equality.”

Read the full story at the Belfast Telegraph.

(Image Credit: Kevin Scott/Presseye, via The Belfast Telegraph)

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Although same-sex marriage is not recognized in Northern Ireland, the Belfast City Council votes in support of changing the law.
  • Councillors vote 38-13 in favor of legalization.
  • Though the vote doesn’t have any legal effects, supporters hope it will help spur the Northern Ireland Assembly to become the last country in the British Isles to legalize the union.
  • Homosexuality was decriminalized in Northern Ireland in 1982, a decade before the Republic of Ireland, where same-sex marriage is now legal.

More on this story at Belfast Telegraph.