Though Cowards Flinch

One story I didn’t get a chance to add my tuppenceworth to, over the vacation, was the news that Iris Robinson MP is to step down from her parliamentary position as a result of, “an ongoing battle with severe depression” (BBC). Robinson is a DUP member, wife of the current leader of that party, and is probably most famous in British politics for her hateful remarks about homosexuality.

What interested me about this story was the outpouring of well-wishes from Iris Robinson’s colleagues at Stormont and Westminster. Danny Kennedy, David Ford, Shaun Woodward, Nigel Dodds and others have held forth on their wishes for a speedy recovery and/or admiration for Robinson as a “dedicated” parliamentarian. I’m curious as to how honest they are each being.

It is rather expected that, when someone from the opposition is ill or suffers a bereavement, you wish them well. But how many of these wishes are genuine? I certainly don’t wish Iris Robinson well; I’d happily see the entire DUP dropkicked into the Atlantic Ocean. Indeed were she gay, and not such a vigorous gay-basher, there’d probably be some obscure Free Presbyterian Minister claiming her ill-health was vengeance sent by God.

Whilst it would further the goals of socialism not one drop, a few less homophobes in Westminster, or in Stormont, is never a bad thing. So why should I wish her well? For those who have been living under a rock, let me put these sentiments in context using some of the remarks Iris Robinson herself has come up with:

“We all agree that few issues arouse as much interest or concern in the community as that of sex offenders. The sentences served and their subsequent placement back in the community cause considerable disquiet among the public. There can be no viler act, apart from homosexuality and sodomy, than sexually abusing innocent children. There must be sufficient confidence that the community has the best possible protection against such perverts and it is important that there be a mature public debate on the issues, but the security of our citizens must be our overriding priority.”

“Let’s look at it. Can you think of anything more vile than man and man or woman and woman and sexually abusing children? What I say I base on biblical pronouncements, based on God’s word. I am amazed that people are surprised when I quote from scriptures. It shows the churches either aren’t preaching God’s word or are watering it down,”

These followed remarks in Parliament wherein Robinson said she knew a psychiatrist who could ‘turn around’ (cure) homosexuality.

Robinson is in good company back in the North. There’s the wonderful example of Rev. David McCullough, who used language reminiscent of Nazi conspiracy theories about Jews, in denouncing the “homosexual propaganda machine”. Or the advert taken out by the Kirk Session of Sandown Free Presbyterian Church describing gays as perverts and claimed they provoked violence against themselves.

Can anyone tell me why we can’t be utterly indifferent to the suffering of such people, when they have caused such suffering to others?