Ireland’s first gay Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, urged Northern Ireland to make same-sex marriage legal.

In a meeting last week with DUP leader Arlene Foster, Varadkar broached the topic of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.

The Taoiseach expressed his “strong view” that same-sex marriage should be legalised in Northern Ireland to Foster, who remains vigorously opposed to granting same-sex couples the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts.

“I had the opportunity to meet with Arlene Foster and the DUP last week in Dublin and at that meeting I expressed my strong view that marriage equality should be permitted in Northern Ireland,” Varadkar said.

“The only question is when, not whether, it will come about in Northern Ireland.”

Blocked

The DUP have used a ‘petition of concern’ several times to block same-sex marriage from reaching referendum, however, they lost the power to use this mechanism earlier this year.

Even still, Foster has continued to be a staunch opponent to legalising same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.

The party has recently come under fire from LGBT+ rights advocates for attempting to block Northern Irish couples from converting their civil partnersships to marriages in Scotland.

Former Scottish Minister Marco Biagi released the 2015 letter from Arlene Foster this year when it was evident that Therea May needed the DUP to prop up her government following the referendum earlier this month.

Foster denied having any recollection of sending such a letter.

Love Train For Marrige Equality

On Saturday, July 1 people in the Republic of Ireland are being encouraged to take the ‘love train’ to Belfast to show solidarity with protestors demanding the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.

The ‘love train’ will depart from Dublin at 11:20am on Saturday, July 1 and tickets can be purchased from the Irish Rail website here.

People who do travel to Belfast to support marriage equality will be able to show their solidarity with the Northern Irish LGBT+ community by joining the Love Equality campaign for equal civil marriage.