More Dissident-Republican Activity

[Main Street]

Why are all those Nordies so against gay rights (which are human rights)?

In Ireland's marriage referendum 4 years ago, 734,300 people voted against it. That's almost 38% of voters.

Like I said before, whether in the north or south, not everyone is in favour of gay rights/marriage.

You just can't mention it in public or you would get lynched by the right on crowd and lose your job

Sounds like a better world to live in than the one where you could lose your job (or in the case of countries like Iran, your life) for being gay.

You are indulging in good old Islamophobia, gays are not killed for being gay in Iran, nevertheless, gays are at risk from the reactionary violence of homophobes/religious nutcases in many places around the world, including USA. 
In any case, unlike the state assisted murders of  Pat Finucane or Rosemary Nelson, Lyra was not murdered for who she was or what she stood for, she was just caught in the wrong place.

There are anti homosexuality laws in Iran and the sentence is death

Yes but homosexuals are not being killed for being homosexuals in Iran, as was claimed.

So what are they being killed for?

Are you afflicted with semantic confusion?
Homosexuals are not being killed for the crime of being a homosexual.
If you want information on Iran, go do some research, it has been known to help some people overcome prejudices.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/determined-doggedness-of-lyra-mckee-remembered-at-belfast-funeral-1.3870179

'Determined doggedness' of Lyra McKee remembered at Belfast funeral

Why did it take murder of Lyra McKee for politicians to act? priest asks

Gerry Moriarty Northern Editor


A priest at the funeral of Lyra McKee in Belfast on Wednesday asked "why in God's name" it took her murder to bring politicians to a point where they may seek to resolve their differences.

Fr Martin Magill, a friend of Ms McKee and of her north Belfast family, spoke about the murdered journalist's qualities when he delivered the homily at her ecumenical funeral service in St Anne's Church of Ireland cathedral at lunchtime on Wednesday. She was shot dead by members of the New IRA while covering a disturbance in the Creggan area of Derry last Thursday evening.

The chief mourners at the funeral are Ms McKee's mother Joan, her partner Ms Canning, her sisters Joan, Nichola and Mary, brothers Gary and David, nieces and nephews and a great-niece Ava.

Some hundreds of people gathered outside St Anne's clapped in solidarity as the coffin of was carried into the cathedral. The wreaths at the funeral included a heart of pink and white flowers and those in the rainbow colours of the LGBT community.

The funeral attendance included the President Michael D Higgins, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, the British prime minister Theresa May, the Northern Secretary Karen Bradley, the British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, DUP leader Arlene Foster, Sinn Féin leaders Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill, the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, the Ulster Unionist Party leader Robin Swann, the Alliance leader Naomi Long, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, the Scottish National Partly leader in the House of Commons Ian Blackford, the PSNI chief constable George Hamilton and deputy chief constable Stephen Martin.

Fr Magill spoke about Lyra's warmth, her love of her family, of writing, of Harry Potter, of her "determined doggedness", of her love of life and fun but Fr Magill also had some stern words for her New IRA killers and also for politicians who have contributed to the political paralysis and pessimism in Northern Ireland.

"Many of us will be praying that Lyra's death in its own way will not have been in vain and will contribute in some way to building peace here. Since Thursday night we have seen the coming together of many people in various places and the unifying of the community against violence," said Fr Magill.

"I commend our political leaders for standing together in Creggan on Good Friday. I am however left with a question: 'Why in God's name does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman with her whole life in front of her to get us to this point?'"

And he added, "I dare to hope that Lyra's murder on Holy Thursday night can be the doorway to a new beginning. I detect a deep desire for this. He quoted one of Ms McKee's friends in Derry who said: 'We have had enough. There is a younger generation coming up in the town and they don't need guns put in their hands. They need jobs, they need a better health service and education. They need a life, not a gun put in their hands.'"

'Pen mightier than sword'

To those who had any part in her murder Fr Magill said, "I encourage you to reflect on Lyra McKee journalist and writer as a powerful example of 'The pen is mightier than the sword'. I plead with you to take the road of non-violence to achieve your political ends.

Related Theresa May attending Lyra McKee funeral service in Belfast 
Lyra McKee killing is unlikely to lead to Stormont breakthrough 
Family of Lyra McKee pay tribute to 'gentle innocent soul' 

"It was encouraging to see that those who provide a political analysis to the organisation responsible for her death chose to call off their parade on Easter Monday following the call from Fr Joe Gormley, the parish priest in Creggan where Lyra was killed. To those still intent on violence, I ask you to listen to the majority of the people on your beloved island of Ireland who are calling on you to stop."

Fr Magill also paid tribute "to the courage and determination of the women who in a very powerful gesture of non violence one by one placed their hands in blood red paint on a wall" of the office of the dissidents in Derry and said loudly "We are not afraid".

He commended, too, the more than 140 people in Creggan who broke the imposed local rule of silence by contacting the police about the murder.

He said: "But that was one of a number of rules - rules that also said that it was okay to brutalise children for petty crimes, or rules that say you can live in the locality until you are told you can't or rules that said that the only way we could gain 'freedom' was by other fellow-human beings losing their lives.

"But this week I have seen these rules turned on their head. I have seen many people stand up and condemn this culture of violence and coercive control. We need to send a very different message and so I appeal to those who have information about Lyra's murder but who haven't yet come forward to do so now.

"If you want to see an end to these brutal rules, and see a new society built on justice and fairness, on hope and not fear, then you can help build that society by letting the police know what you know.

"There will be special measures put in place to ensure your safety and where you will not be intimidated by coercive controllers, if you do so."

Fr Magill, who was a priest in the McKees parish near Ardoyne in north Belfast and is now parish priest in St John's in west Belfast, spoke of deprivation and how young people need jobs, and education and training.


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He added: "All our young people need a life that gives them an aspiration for the future. As our politicians we need you to be working together to make that happen so that especially for those living in deprived areas that they will feel the peace process is working for them as well - and especially for young people living in these communities."

Politicians

And again to the politicians Fr Magill said, "I know you as politicians have a very difficult job to but then so too did Lyra. There is another valuable lesson from her life - she was like 'a dog with a bone' when she believed she could make a difference.

"When it comes to our peace process, I would love to see this dogged attitude to the rebuilding of an Assembly that works for the common good. As I listen to the radio every morning, all I seem to hear about various initiatives in Northern Ireland are these words, 'without a minister, this can't be taken forward'. I pray that Lyra's murder may be the catalyst needed for parties to start talking, to reform that which was corrosive in previous Assemblies and to begin anew."

While Fr Magill delivered these hard messages he also spoke of the personality of Ms McKee and of her generosity, drive, ambition and general lovability

He hadn't been aware of her interest in Harry Potter, he confessed, or of her favourite house Hufflepuff which was the most inclusive of the Hogwarts school valuing hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty, and fair play.

"It struck me that the definition could just as easily have been about Lyra," he said.

Fr Magill also told the packed congregation that his last exchange on Twitter with Ms McKee was at the end of March when she sent him a photograph of herself dressed in a nun's veil with a glass of cider accompanied with these words, "Got roped into performing as part of a Sister Act tribute act for Foyle Hospice. Hey @MartinJMagill, you need any help with mass tomorrow?"

Fr Magill told mourners of how after a rough period early at school she flourished when she developed a love of writing, first inspired by Roald Dahl's The Twits, and then by "her granny Patricia Lawrie buying her each of the Harry Potter books as they were published".

And he spoke too of her writing success, her letter when she was 24 to her 14 year-old-self about growing up gay in Belfast, her book about the murder of South Belfast unionist MP Rev Robert Bradford, and her work on a book, The Lost Boys about two young boys who went missing during the Troubles.

Said Fr Magill, "In the course of her investigations, Lyra had discovered that other children had disappeared and she had wanted to find their bodies. I pray that her work will be taken up and that their bodies will be found and even more importantly that there will be no more 'lost boys' or 'lost girls'."

[trailer]

Nothing will change. There is no political will to compromise and worse no votes to be gained. This murder while sad and repulsive, it will unfortunately not make one iota of difference.

[delgany]

Arlene Foster not too keen to applaud Fr.Magill. he called them all out   ...they must be  seriously embrassed.

[BennyCake]

Nothing will change. There is no political will to compromise and worse no votes to be gained. This murder while sad and repulsive, it will unfortunately not make one iota of difference.

Sadly, you're correct.

[BennyCake]

Arlene Foster not too keen to applaud Fr.Magill. he called them all out   ...they must be  seriously embrassed.

Seriously awkward there in front of the TV cameras, for the useless shower of shites.

[Tubberman]

Fair play to that priest, Arlene looked like she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her, Mary Lou not much better.
Would hope it shames them into action, but they have hard necks so they'll brush off the embarrassment fairly easily.

Video for those that haven't seen it:
https://twitter.com/gavreilly/status/1121045164166975488

[imtommygunn]

That's brilliant. Fair play to him.

Awkward lol.

[Jeepers Creepers]

Arms folded. Doesn't give One flying..

[trailer]

It won't make one iota of difference. His words will all be forgotten tomorrow.
Council and European elections coming up soon. Expect DUP and SF vote to increase. That'll tell you all you need to know politics in NI.

[yellowcard]

Credit to that priest, he said what he thought and caused a lot of discomfort. There is a general sense of disillusionment with the lack of leadership from political figures in the north. Arlene Foster is only capable of playing to her own hard base and has never been a leader in the true sense of the word. Michelle O'Neill and Mary Lou have been deficient in leadership also but at least they have showed a willingness to reach out that political Unionism has not.

Whilst she deserves credit for going to the Creggan after Lyra McKee's murder, I'm not sure about her actual sincerity, there appears to be a permanent sneer or a snarl etched across her face and it's this same lack of leadership that have help feed into people becoming even more entrenched. Tomorrow it will be back to the script of SF bogeymen, anti Irish culture, whipping up fear, etc etc. 

[seafoid]

Arms folded. Doesn't give One flying..

Unionists have been resisting reality since the 1960s.
They are losers. Even Arlene had to concede and clap in the end.

Their own people in their 20s leave and never return
The Unionist population fell by 14% since 1989, a direct result.

[Eamonnca1]

Of course Snarlene was the last to stand up and could barely bring herself to clap.

[tonto1888]

Why are all those Nordies so against gay rights (which are human rights)?

In Ireland's marriage referendum 4 years ago, 734,300 people voted against it. That's almost 38% of voters.

Like I said before, whether in the north or south, not everyone is in favour of gay rights/marriage.

You just can't mention it in public or you would get lynched by the right on crowd and lose your job

Sounds like a better world to live in than the one where you could lose your job (or in the case of countries like Iran, your life) for being gay.

You are indulging in good old Islamophobia, gays are not killed for being gay in Iran, nevertheless, gays are at risk from the reactionary violence of homophobes/religious nutcases in many places around the world, including USA. 
In any case, unlike the state assisted murders of  Pat Finucane or Rosemary Nelson, Lyra was not murdered for who she was or what she stood for, she was just caught in the wrong place.

There are anti homosexuality laws in Iran and the sentence is death

Yes but homosexuals are not being killed for being homosexuals in Iran, as was claimed.

So what are they being killed for?

Are you afflicted with semantic confusion?
Homosexuals are not being killed for the crime of being a homosexual.
If you want information on Iran, go do some research, it has been known to help some people overcome prejudices.

I'm seeing if you know. Which you don't. Do you know anything about the penal code in Iran? People literally get put to death if they are caught having homosexual sex. Granted it is if they have been caught a few times before and have received lashes before. There are less harsh sentences which cover things like kissing but sodomy will ultimately carry a death sentence

[imtommygunn]

Of course Snarlene was the last to stand up and could barely bring herself to clap.

An appalling individual filled with nothing but hatred and bitterness