Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries making up the United Kingdom. It came into being with the partition of Ireland in 1921, comprising six of the nine counties of the historic province of Ulster. For the next 50 years it had its own devolved government and parliament, but these were abolished in 1973. From 1973 to 1998 Northern Ireland was ruled directly from London, but since 1998 it has had its own power-sharing executive and assembly.

The six counties
The historic six counties, the basis of local government until 1973, are still recognised for various purposes:
 * County Antrim (including Belfast)
 * County Armagh
 * County Down
 * County Fermanagh
 * County Londonderry / County Derry
 * County Tyrone.

Post-1973 districts
Northern Ireland currently comprises 26 districts for local government purposes, replacing the historic six counties.

New council areas
Under the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008, the 26 districts are to be reduced to 11 by April 2015:


 * 1) Belfast
 * 2) North Down and Ards
 * 3) Antrim and Newtownabbey
 * 4) Lisburn and Castlereagh
 * 5) Newry, Mourne and Down
 * 6) Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon
 * 7) Mid and East Antrim
 * 8) Causeway Coast and Glens
 * 9) Mid Ulster
 * 10) Derry and Strabane
 * 11) Fermanagh and Omagh

Main towns and cities

 * City of Belfast
 * City of Derry
 * City of Armagh
 * City of Newry
 * City of Lisburn
 * Antrim
 * Enniskillen

LGBT history
Northern Ireland was left out of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 and sex between men remained illegal until the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 which set an age of consent of 21, the same as in the rest of the UK at that time. There had been a previous attempt at decriminalisation, via the draft Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, but this had failed because "a substantial body of opinion" in the province was opposed to it.

The change was a result of the judgement in the European Court of Human Rights case of Dudgeon v United Kingdom (1981) in which the ECtHR held that a prohibition on homosexual acts was a breach of Article 8 of the Convention.

The age of consent for gay male sexual conduct was lowered to 18 under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 so as to be in line with England and Wales). The age of consent was lowered again to 17 for gay male sexual conduct to be in line with heterosexual and lesbian sexual conduct, by the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, Section 1.

In 2008 the age of consent for all individuals was lowered to 16 under the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 so it is now in line with the rest of the UK.

In October 2012, a motion calling for equal marriage was rejected by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

In Northern Ireland unmarried couples, and civil partners, are not allowed to apply for adoption. This ban was ruled unlawful in 2012.

LGBT resources
The main LGBT campaigning organisation in Northern Ireland is the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association (NIGRA), founded 1975.

Gay and Lesbian Youth Northern Ireland have a list of LGBT groups on their website.

The Rainbow Project claims to be the largest LGB&T organisation in Northern Ireland, and publishes a list of LGBT groups.

QueerSpace is a volunteer-led organisation serving Northern Ireland's LGBT community.

Cara-Friend provides information, support, and befriending.

Northern Ireland has had its own LGBT magazines, for instance Gay Star and Upstart, and more recently MyGayZine.