NI Executive parties “not welcome” at Omagh Pride

THE Omagh Pride committee has said the four parties that make up the Northern Ireland Executive will not be invited and are ‘not welcome’ to take part in the event this year.

This follows the Executive’s unanimous decision to indefinitely extend the ban on access to puberty blockers for trans, non-binary and gender-questioning young people.

The organising committee of Omagh Pride has described the Executives decision as a ‘cruel attack’ on the young people that are impacted.

In December, the four parties that make up the Executive Sinn Féin, DUP, UUP and the Alliance Party all voted to introduce an indefinite permanent ban on puberty blockers

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

A spokesperson for Omagh Pride said: “The Executive’s decision to remove access to gender-affirming care is a cruel attack on the bodily autonomy and the right to live authentically of those young people impacted, and may unfortunately put their safety at risk. We send these young people and their families our solidarity.

“The Executive has chosen to follow the lead of the Starmer government, justified by the findings of the fundamentally flawed Cass review.”

The spokesperson added: “Pride is a protest, first and foremost. We cannot allow politicians who attack LGBTQ+ rights in practice to use our events in order to pose as allies. Specifically, we will not invite representatives of any of the Executive parties to speak at our events, and we ask that they do not bring banners, placards or other party regalia to this year’s parade. We welcome the stand also taken by some other Pride groups, and we hope that it will be replicated across the board.

“We intend to write to local representatives of the four parties, explaining our decision and asking them to speak out and demand that their leaderships at Stormont change their position and push to overturn the ban.”

This decision comes after Foyle Pride, Causeway Pride and Mid and East Antrim Pride also made decisions  to ban the Executive parties from marching in their parades. NI’s largest event, Belfast Pride have said it has not yet made a decision on this matter.

Omagh Pride Parade is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 14.