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JULY-AUGUST 2008
Northern Ireland's 'First Lady' Launches Gay Hate Rant
Martin McGuinness in Iraq Peace Mission
BELFAST - On the week of a serious County Antrim homophobic attack, when the assault victim was "left for dead," the Northern Ireland First Minister's wife, MLA Iris Robinson, shocked some BBC listeners with her views on gay people.
In an outburst on a live phone in on BBC Radio Ulster on June 6, the 57-year-old wife of First Minister Peter Robinson, referred to gays as "disgusting, loathsome, shamefully wicked and vile." She called homosexuality "an abomination" but said she knew of a cure.
Now Andrew Muir, 31-year-old coordinator of the pressure group Gays and Lesbians Across (County) Down, has made a formal complaint to police.
He said, "They were reluctant to pursue the matter until I told them it was covered by the hate crimes legislation and I would not be leaving until they took a statement from me."
When the Assembly met at Stormont, Robinson - a member of the Democratic Unionist Party -was questioned about her controversial remarks on homosexuality.
IRIS ROBINSON
She denied reports that she had suggested that homosexuality was a mental health issue but went on to repeat her assertion that it is an "abomination." She added that psychiatrists could help young people struggling with their sexual identity.
"I have a very lovely psychiatrist who works with me in my offices and his Christian background is that he tries to help homosexuals - trying to turn away from what they are engaged in," she said.
"I'm happy to put any homosexual in touch with this gentleman and I have met people who have turned around and become heterosexuals."
The BBC has since reported that David McCartney - from the Rainbow Project gay support group - insisted there was "no body of evidence" to support this and asked to meet the MP to discuss her views.
The campaigner also commented on the serious Newtownabbey 'gay-bashing' assault saying such victims need to come forward to get support and also so that police could intervene to help.
Police have described the attack on resident, Stephen Scott, 27, who was walking home near Ballyduff Brae in Newtownabbey, as homophobic.
The victim said that three youths, thought to be in their late teens, knocked him to the ground and continued kicking and punching him as they shouted insults.
Scott said, "There were three of them on me and I was left for dead." He is now being treated in hospital for a head injury, a leg injury and broken ribs. He also urged victims of homophobic attacks not to be afraid to tell police.
Former Obama Advisor Marries in County Kerry
DUBLIN - Samantha Power, former advisor to U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, married law professor Cass Sunstein at Mary Immaculate Church at Loher, near Waterville in County Kerry on July 4.
The couple met while working on the Obama campaign in January of this year. Power's uncle and aunt are physicians in Waterville.
Power, who was born in 1970 in Ireland, is an Irish American journalist, writer, and academic. She is currently affiliated with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
She has been a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and was a senior adviser to U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama until resigning for controversial remarks she made about Hillary Clinton.
Power attended Harvard Law School where she graduated in 1999. Her first book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, grew out of a paper she wrote in law school. It won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 2003.
In 2004, Power was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 top scientists and thinkers of that year. In fall 2007, she began writing a regular column for Time.
Power appears in Charles Ferguson's 2007 documentary, No
SAMANTHA POWER
"A PROBLEM FROM HELL
America
and (ho
Age of Genocide
SAMANTHA P0WE
End in Sight, which alleges numerous missteps by the Bush administration in the U.S. war in Iraq.
Her first book A Problem from Hell offers a survey of the origin of the word genocide, the major genocides of the Twentieth Century.
It includes an analysis of some of the underlying reasons for the persistent failure of governments and the international community to collectively identify, recognize and then respond effectively to genocides ranging from the Armenian to the Rwandan genocide.
Her next book, Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World was released in February this year.
It concerns Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and United Nations Special Representative in Iraq who was killed in the Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad along with Jean-Selim Kanaan, Nadia Younes, Fiona Watson, and other members of his staff, on the afternoon of August 19, 2003.
Power spent 2005-06 working in the office of U.S. Senator Barack Obama as a foreign policy fellow, where she was credited with sparking and directing Obama's interest in the Darfur conflict.
She served as a senior foreign policy adviser to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign until she was forced to resign after referring to Hillary Clinton as "a monster" in an interview with The Scotsman in London. Power apologized for the remarks and resigned from the campaign shortly thereafter.
BELFAST - Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has told Iraqi officials dialogue is the only way to bring peace to their country.
McGuinness is in Iraq to encourage Sunni and Shia factions to sign up to a commitment to non-violence similar to the Mitchell Principles used in Northern Ireland. It includes an undertaking to engage in peaceful negotiations and the disbandment of all paramilitary groups.
McGuinness said he was hopeful progress could be made. Previous talks, involving the opposing factions, were held in Helsinki and included NI representatives and South African political figures.
Although McGuinness said he was optimistic about the outcome of the initiative, he said that it is still very much "early days." "I described it before I left Ireland - our participation in Helsinki 1 and Helsinki 2 - as the dropping of a pebble in a pool with the waves reaching out to all shores," he said.
"We have come to encourage them, to give them moral support, and to say that the world is watching and that the world expects that something very powerful can grow from what was a fairly weak seedling in a forest in Helsinki."
McGuinness is accompanied by the former speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Lord Alderdice, and political consultant Quintin Oliver.
MARTIN MCGUINNESS
The three men met with South African representatives and more than 30 Iraqi politicians inside Baghdad's high security green zone.
"I have been to a lot of trouble spots in various parts of the world, but none of them are more militarised than this one," said Lord Alderdice.
"It's very heavy duty, and people are very careful indeed. Furthermore, the amount of military paraphernalia and concrete here is quite extraordinary.
"I was also saying to Martin McGuinness as we came into the airport, I've never seen an airport of that size with so few civilian planes in it."
President Bush visits Belfast
BELFAST - United States President George Bush, accompanied by his wife Laura, made a planned four-hour visit to Northern Ireland on June 16.
The couple were welcomed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah, who arrived at RAF Aldergrove just ahead of them. Taoiseach Brian Cowen also travelled North for the occasion.
The main focus of President Bush's visit was a meeting with First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
He told them that through their efforts to create and maintain peace they were making history, but reminded them that this was an ongoing process.
He added his voice to those who believe that devolving policing and justice from Westminster to Stormont should be on the agenda at an early date. Robinson and McGuinness were invited to visit the White House.
Compared to the welcome given to the Clintons in 1995, this was a very low-key visit indeed. There were no crowds lining the streets on any part of the Presidential route and even protesters were hard to find. A few staged a half-hearted protest in the city centre and the number on the same mission outside the gates of Stormont failed to reach 100.
A day earlier 40 members of Amnesty International, staging a protest against President Bush's visit, were supported by just a dozen people when they arrived at City
Hall. Dressed in orange jumpsuits and accompanied by uniformed "guards," the Amnesty members were protesting the treatment of terrorist suspects held in Guantanamo Bay.
While in Belfast, the U.S. president made a point of asking for a meeting with former First Minister Rev. Ian Paisley. It seems that the two men have developed a close accord over a number of meetings.
JOHN HUME ON NEW BOGSIDE MURAL
John Hume was recently honoured in his native Derry when he appeared on the latest Bogside mural. The four-part mural also includes Dr. Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela.
Speaking of his pride at being included in a mural of humanitarian leaders the Nobel Peace Laureate said, "I am truly honoured that the Bogside Artists have decided to depict me alongside some of the most inspirational figures of the past century on this mural.
"I think it is very significant that this image has been unveiled on the 40th anniversary of the Caledon housing sit-in because for many people that protest saw the start of the civil rights movement."