The country had never seen anything like it. BuzzFeed News met the crowds demanding equality, including a 95-year-old woman who joined the march.
Belfast City Hall with crowds of protestors.
Matt Mackey / ©Matt Mackey - Presseye.com
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND -- In dazzling sunshine, more than 10,000 people marched through city streets here Saturday to demand same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, the only part of the United Kingdom where it remains illegal.
To the tribal beat of a band of drummers, and behind a huge yellow banner reading "TIME FOR EQUAL CIVIL MARRIAGE", young and old; Catholic and Protestant; gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people paraded from Buoy Park down Royal Avenue, chanting and cheering for equality.
Whistles blew in their thousands, the skyline punctuated by placards and banners from scores of grassroots organisations. "Love is a human right," "Right to wed for all," "Homophobia is a social disease," and "LGBT families deserve equality" declared the slogans as more and more joined the procession.
Matt Mackey / ©Matt Mackey - Presseye.com
Organised by Amnesty International, The Rainbow Project, and The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the protest was a response to last month's referendum in the Republic of Ireland, which saw a landslide victory for same-sex marriage. And it comes two months after the Northern Ireland Assembly voted against same-sex marriage for the fourth time, despite England, Wales, and Scotland all having introduced it.
Building on the momentum of the vote south of the border, organisers had hoped for 5,000 protestors, but during the afternoon that number swelled to twice the expected figure.
Families came. Couples held hands. Loved ones kissed. All those attending chanted, a call and response echoing through the very streets once mired by sectarian violence.
"What do we want?"
"Equal marriage!"
"When do we want it?"
"Now!" roared the crowds, as thousands more onlookers lined the pavements to behold the scene.
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