Iris Robinson’s rant was despicable, but keep the police well out of it

THERE are some words you just can’t really imagine yourself writing. A few of them are “Iris Robinson has a point”.

I had better explain. Mrs Robinson is the wife of the North’s new First Minister and an MP and an Assembly member herself. On her website she claims she “seeks day and daily to better the lives and living conditions of all her constituents”.

Some of her nationalist constituents might raise an eyebrow at that boast. Her gay and lesbian constituents, their families and friends, could be forgiven for laughing out loud.

In case you missed it, Northern Ireland’s ‘first lady’ described homosexuality to the BBC as “disgusting, nauseous, loathsome, shamefully wicked and vile,” adding that her strong Christian upbringing meant she would never change her views. The word ‘abomination’ tripped rather lightly off her tongue, too.

The context was unfortunate to say the least. She decided to make her controversial comments just hours after gay 27-year-old Stephen Scott was beaten up by three men near his home (in a DUP-supporting area) and left with life-threatening injuries.

Mrs Robinson appeared to believe that if only that man had been “cured” of his abominable lifestyle by one of her advisers — “a very lovely psychiatrist” — the attack would never have happened.

From a wider political perspective, the Member for Strangford did the DUP no favours. She completely overshadowed her husband Peter in the week of his elevation to the highest office.

The party also attracted unfavourable media coverage not just in the North, but in Britain as well — a critical constituency for unionists. It is on the likes of Mrs Robinson that prime minister Gordon Brown now depends for his survival — not a comforting thought for the British left.

At the same time, the DUP heartlands loved it. Here was the sort of moral certainty the Paisleys used to provide once upon a time, before the Big Man became a Chuckle Brother. That the first politician to criticise Mrs Robinson was a co-conspirator in the Brighton bombing only added to their sense of righteousness. Others wondered how the DUP managed to make Sinn Féin look good.

Within right-thinking circles, she has been rightly lampooned — although why anyone should be surprised she holds the views she does is anyone’s guess. She is in the DUP, the party of ‘Save Ulster from Sodomy’, after all. But with her lurid make-up, her obvious love of the good life and her unreconstructed opinions, Mrs Robinson is an easy target, even if some of the jibes border on the misogynistic. It all became such a cause celebre that so esteemed a body as the Royal College of Psychiatrists weighed in to state she was talking utter rubbish. Some wondered if it is she who should be availing of their services.

Ministers of fellow Protestant denominations also stated she was hung up on the wrong Testament and generally way out of line. It being the North, Biblical verses were traded. Had Mrs Robinson forgotten that the same sections of the Old Testament that reputedly condemn homosexuality also forbid women from wearing trousers, men from shaving and everyone from eating an Ulster fry? And doesn’t that portion say slavery is OK?

Yes, all in all, Iris Robinson is a joke and a cruel joke at that. Cruel and dangerous. Under pressure, she grunted something about “just as a murderer can be redeemed by the blood of Christ, so can a homosexual”. In Mrs Robinson’s mind, it seems, the ‘sin’ of homosexuality is somehow weirdly bracketed with, for example, incinerating 12 members of the Irish Collie Club in the La Mon House Hotel in her constituency. Is it any wonder powersharing is going so smoothly in the North these days? Oh, but she has condemned gay-bashing, some say. In fact, the DUP’s condemnations only ever appear to be issued when one of their members is under fire for yet another malicious homophobic assault.

For who can doubt, in all sincerity, that there is at least some linkage between words and actions? Is it not all just a little bit reminiscent of the 1960s when firebrands would whip loyalist crowds into an anti-Papist frenzy and then point out there are Catholics living at this house and that house on their streets? When those same Catholics were then burned out, it was far, far too easy to say, “I didn’t call for anyone to do that. I condemn house-burning as it happens. My hands are clean”.

And the truth is that more than a few gay men in the North have been murdered, often in sickeningly violent circumstances, in the last decade simply because they were gay (Rarely are the perpetrators caught).

If the climate created by the DUP has nothing to do with those killings, then that is to suggest that politicians have no influence whatsoever, and which of them is going to admit that?

But — and it is a big ‘but’— even Iris Robinson can’t help but make one good point. Some of her opponents really are too quick to run to the law for protection.

Now the thought of the First Minister’s wife being under police investigation is, I admit, appealing and amusing on one level but freedom of speech is too hard won to play games. Not only do the Iris Robinsons of this world take delight in the thought that they are victims of a politically correct witch-hunt, but authoritarianism has a habit of breeding authoritarianism.

Defending to the death Iris Robinson’s right to say the things she does isn’t easy, admittedly. But the DUP’s ability actually to change the law in the way they desire is, mercifully, nil.

Meanwhile, watching a DUP First Minister being forced to implement and abide by equality legislation is a source of joy to decent people everywhere.

But calling in the police, as has now happened, was a step too far. Would banging up Mrs Robinson cause her to change her views? Or would it turn her into a martyr for every fundamentalist from Tandragee to Texas?

WE NOW seem to have entered a culture where causing offence is a crime. Already, the libel laws prevent me from saying half of what I really think about Mrs Robinson. But having to put up with malicious tirades is the downside of living in a free society. Prosecuting her would set a dangerous precedent. Social disapproval is more effective than police action against bigotry.

But with the right to free speech comes responsibility not to abuse it. Has Mrs Robinson learned her lesson? Probably not. Will she actually meet some of the sinners she professes to love? Certainly not.

All very discouraging. But one glorious day, her like will pay a price at the polls because the damage they do will be seen as going far beyond the feelings of one section of society. Northern Ireland is, in that sense, still very immature politically. Until then, gays and lesbians will need thicker skins.

Of course, thicker skins will not protect them from the thugs who take inspiration from the DUP’s words. But if the whole Iris Robinson affair has done anything positive, it has highlighted the need for the police to busy themselves protecting life and limb, not anyone’s feelings — gay or otherwise.