DUP says council must 'be mindful' of public spending when it comes to idea of a new and bigger LGBTQQIA+ centre in Belfast

Various LGBTQIA+ groups have been lobbying for a new “hub” somewhere in the city for years, and a consultation into creating one has just been launched by Belfast City Council.

There is already a venue called the LGBT Centre in Waring Street, in the city’s Cathedral Quarter, but activists say that the demand for their services warrants a bigger, specially-designed one.

Announcing the long-awaited consultation into the new centre, Lord Mayor Christina Black (Sinn Fein) said: “As many LGBTQIA+ organisations receive little-or-no core funding, covering rent and other overheads can be extremely challenging.

"In response, Cara-Friend, HEReNI and The Rainbow Project all currently rent space in a building known as the LGBT Centre.

“But with demand for services increasing significantly in recent years, and with many other LGBTQIA+ organisations renting separate premises, there appears to be a strong economic case for establishing a dedicated LGBTQIA+ Hub.”

Karen McShane from The Rainbow Project said a new centre will “support the LGBTQ+ community on their journey and allow them to be their true selves whether in work or in family life” and “will save lives”.

Sinn Fein, the SDLP, Alliance, and the Greens have all voiced support for the project.

It is not clear what the level of support is in the UUP, although the party’s Lauren Kerr (who stood unsuccessfully for East Belfast in the 2022 Stormont election, polling at 3%) wrote on Twitter: “An exciting and important step forward towards finally securing a LGBTQ+ hub for Belfast. Please take part and make sure your voice is heard!” followed by a rainbow flag and a transgender flag.

And asked for its own position, the DUP group on the council issued a nameless statement saying: "This is one of a number of projects that has been identified within the Peace Plus programme.

"All councillors will be mindful of the challenges facing council services, even including those such as refuse collection in recent weeks."

The consultation asks questions such as whether the new centre should be open 24 hours, whether it should have a "large performance and theatre space", if it should offer services for under-18s, and where the centre should be based.

The consultation can be found at: yoursay.belfastcity.gov.uk

It closes on January 26, 2023.

– A CONSTELLATION OF CAMPAIGN GROUPS –

Existing funding for the trio of charities above – The Rainbow Project, Cara-Friend, and Here NI – breaks down like this:

For 2021, the Rainbow Project took in performance-related grants worth £595,338, at least 82% of which came from public bodies.

Here NI got £193,024 in such grants, of which about 81% was from public bodies.

Cara-Friend got donations a legacies totalling £337,315, of which about 46% was from public bodies.

This trio is just a small sample of the many LGBTQQIA+ charities / non-profit companies now operating in Northern Ireland.

Others include:

Focus: The Identity Trust, Transgender NI, GenderJam, Belfast Butterfly Club, Trans Pride Northern Ireland, SAIL NI (which has recently been subsumed into the UK-wide organisation Mermaids), Newry Rainbow Community, Mid Ulster Pride, Belfast Pride Ltd, and Outburst Arts Festival, while nationwide charity Stonewall also has a presence in the Province.

The first six of the above groups are focussed expressly on transgenderism, reflecting the fact that in recent years many activists have transferred their energies away from campaigns about homosexuality and towards the promotion of transgender and "non-binary" causes.

In addition to the above, there are many informal groups and collectives active in Northern Ireland.

Among those listed on the website LGBTni.org are: Changing Attitude Ireland, Faith and Pride, Quire: Belfast LGBT Singers, Gender Essence counselling, QueerSpace, Rainbow Refugees, So Me!, Anchor transgender support club, and the NI Gay Rights Association (though the last three may be dormant, based on social media activity).

Public bodies including the NI Human Rights Commission and Equality Commission spend at least part of their time or resources championing LGBTQ+ causes, and human rights groups such as Amnesty International NI and the Committee on the Administration of Justice have been involved too in the recent past.

On top of that are dedicated LGBTQ+ associations within trade unions like Unison, Unite, NIPSA, and PCS, as well as the PSNI's LGBT Network and the LGB&T Forum for NHS staff, which also act as pressure groups for addressing gay / transgender issues.

The lists above are not exhaustive.

MEASURING THE LGBTQQIA+ POPULATION:

In 2020 the Office for National Statistics reported 1% of Northern Ireland's population aged 16+ were gay.

Another 0.4% were bisexual (and another 0.4% said 'other').

However the results of the 2021 Census, when they are eventually published, may differ from that.

It is far harder to gauge how many transgender people there are, not least because it is almost impossible to get an agreed definition of 'transgender'.

However the ONS reports that "less than five" of the 3,600 respondents to the UU/QUB NI Life and Times Survey said they were transgender between 2016-18.

That would equate to somewhere between 0.1% and 0.02% of the population.

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