Paisley’s crusade fails to conquer Northern hearts and minds

AMONG Reverend Dr Ian Paisley’s most memorable campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s was his ‘Save Ulster from Sodomy’ protests.

But his protests fell on deaf ears in Westminster when in 1982 the British government legalised homosexuality in the North following a European human rights ruling.

As an echo of that protest, campaigners yesterday gathered outside Belfast City Hall to voice their opposition to the first civil partnership ceremonies in Britain.