Iris Robinson's Excitable Speech: Sexuality and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland

Abstract

In the summer of 2008, the Westminster MP and Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Iris Robinson, made homophobic statements during interviews with the media. Robinson's anti‐gay remarks highlight the continuing challenges for sexual politics in Northern Ireland. However, conflict transformation literature in the region has elided issues of sexuality. This article, drawing on elements of Judith Butler's analysis of injurious speech, assesses the issues that Robinson's homophobic speech highlights in relation to sexual equality in Northern Ireland. It concludes by assessing the role of conflict transformation literature in charting sexual politics in the region.

Ethnonationalism and attitudes towards gay and lesbian rights in Northern Ireland

“…The DUP, by contrast, have adopted an extremely negative stance in relation to the LGBT population so much so that some commentators have accused it of having a ‘near pathological obsession with homosexuality’ (McDonald ). For example, not only have a number of DUP politicians, such as Iris Robinson, publicly denounced homosexuality as an ‘abomination’ which made her ‘feel sick’ (see Ashe ), but they have also used their position as a leading partner in the power‐sharing government to impede equality legislation for the gay and lesbian population. As recently as June 2013, for example, the DUP used its power of veto to block the legalisation of same‐sex marriage in Northern Ireland.…”

“…Second, in many cases, the very bases of the political settlements facilitate the marginalisation and/or targeting of sexual minority groups. This is particularly the case when ethnonationalist conflicts are considered, where the formal recognition of sexual minority rights are often sidelined and down‐graded in the interests of the perceived need to accommodate and appease salient ethnonationalist identities (Ashe ).…”

“…Or, as McGarry and O'Leary (: 855), in explaining the Northern Ireland conflict put it: ‘[it] is fundamentally rooted in ethno‐national antagonism’. Second, it is often argued that the dominance of ethnonationalism makes Northern Ireland historically a homophobic society (Ashe ; Conrad ; Duggan ; Nagle and Clancy ). In fact, more so than any other factor, it is the acceptance of the assumed link between the heterosexual family and the maintenance of ethnonational identity, a view further reinforced via the intersection of ethnic and religious identity, which many commentators point to as the greatestimpediment to the public recognition of and support for sexual minority rights in this society.…”

“…A view epitomised by Iris Robinson when she stated that homosexuality was not only an illness but that it could be cured by therapy (see Ashe ).…”

The pedagogical challenges of teaching sexual politics in the context of ethnic division

“…Robinson (Ashe, 2009). During a radio interview Robinson, wife of Northern Ireland's First Minister and chair of the Assembly's Health Committee, was asked to comment on a homophobic attack on a 23yearold man in Belfast.…”