Iris Robinson
Iris Robinson (née Collins; born 1949) is the wife of Peter Robinson, First Minister of Northern Ireland, and a former DUP politician in her own right.
She was born in Belfast and married Peter Robinson in 1970. She was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998 and as MP for Strangford in 2001 and 2005.
In June 2008, shortly after a physical assault on a gay man in Northern Ireland, she made comments on BBC Radio Ulster's Stephen Nolan Show offering to recommend homosexuals to psychiatric counselling.[1] While condemning the attack,[2] she called homosexuality an "abomination" that made her feel "sick" and "nauseous", and offered to refer homosexuals to a psychiatrist she knew. As a result of this and other comments, Stonewall named her "Bigot of the Year" for 2008.
In January 2010 it emerged that Robinson had an extramarital affair with a 19-year-old man in 2008,[3] She then resigned from the House of Commons and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
References
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/nolan/listenagain/ , accessed 6 June 2008
- ↑ http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7858.html Tony Grew, "MP reacts to homophobic assault by suggesting "ex-gay" therapy for victim" Pink News, 6 June 2008.
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8447352.stm "Iris Robinson had teenage lover", BBC News, 7 January 2010.
