If DUP ministers cannot stop gay funding, they should refuse office

Given that some £5,400 was allocated to Belfast Pride in August 2016 it would seem that the Minister for Communities, Mr Paul Givan, is intent on continuing the policy of his predecessors to allocate funding to organisations and events which promote what the Bible describes as an “abomination”.

Some may try to defend Mr Givan by arguing that he only accepted this ministry in May 2016 and such funding was already in place before his appointment and therefore there was very little which he could do.

Such an argument is one which I do not accept and indeed it is open to serious questioning. In July 2016 Mr Givan very publicly announced that he was reinstating funding for marching bands which had been cut by a previous SF/IRA minister.

If Mr Givan can intervene in this matter why is he unable to intervene to stop the distribution of funds to events such as Belfast Pride?

Should it be the case that such funding could not be stopped then I would suggest it would have been better for Mr Givan to have refused ministerial office than to become associated with and tainted by compromise of this nature.

The sad reality is that having betrayed the principles of truth and righteousness in their haste to enter government with IRA/SF it is not surprising that the DUP should now be found funding such immorality and wickedness as homosexuality.

Richard Ferguson, Dollingstown