LIVERPUDLIAN comedian John Bishop gave a speech at the LGBT Awards that urged for same-sex marriage to be legalised in the North of Ireland.
The 51-year-old spoke of a recent trip he took to Northern Ireland where he visited the Rainbow Trust and praised the work they have done to advocate for legislation aiding gay couples wishing to be married.
Bishop commended the Rainbow Trust in his speech: "I was in Northern Ireland recently. In Northern Ireland, it is still illegal to have same-sex marriage. I went to have a chat with some of the people from the Rainbow Trust who put together the biggest gay pride in the whole of Ireland and it was real lesson to me. I spoke to them about when the first pride march happened. It is people like this who really paved the way."
He spoke of the opposition many gay people face when attending the Gay Pride parade in Belfast every year: "Now the gay pride in Belfast has 60,000 people turn up. The first time they did it, just fifty brave souls got together and when they walked down the road they were faced with people who stood there with placards [...] shouting “You’re going to hell”, “Being gay is a sin”, “You’re an abomination.” Back then there were more protesters than marchers. Now they [marchers] dwarf the protesters."
Bishop confessed that one of his sons is gay and joked that his homosexuality was a 'problem': "Like all parents, we have problems with them. One of my sons has a tattoo on his ankle that was meant to be Africa but looks like Australia. One of my sons' mumbles and one of my sons is a gay man."
Bishop finished the joke sharing that he and his wife have worried about their son mumbling constantly: "I’ll be honest, there have been loads of nights when me and my wife have sat up and worried and worried and worried. If he doesn’t stop mumbling… What are we gonna do?"
Bishop received a standing ovation for his speech at the awards which he attended in the London Marriott Hotel with his three sons and wife.
The happy family posed for photos at the event which Bishop shared on social media.
