Reparative Therapies and Political Performers

Abstract

Homophobia is rampant in Northern Ireland, and it is ably encouraged by a culture of sectarianism and religious fundamentalism. According to sociologist Richard O’Leary, it is ‘both one of the most religious and the most homophobic countries in Western Europe.’¹ These embedded prejudices were dramatically thrown into relief in 2008 when Iris Robinson – then Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Member of Parliament (MP), and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Strangford – responded to the homophobia-motivated assault of local man, Stephen Scott.² On 6 June, the day after her husband Peter Robinson was elected First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Iris spoke on BBC Radio Ulster’s The Stephen Nolan Show. She claimed she believed homosexuality was an ‘abomination,’ and that it made her feel ‘sick’ and ‘nauseous.’³ She offered to refer homosexuals to a ‘lovely psychiatrist’ colleague (Dr Paul Miller) who was practising a form of reparative therapy that was gaining popularity at the time. While condemning the assault, Iris drew no connection between her rhetoric and that which propels or enacts violence. Shortly after making the assertion, the politician addressed a House of Commons debate on the management of sex offenders, conflating homosexuality with child abuse: ‘There can be no viler act, apart from homosexuality and sodomy, than sexually abusing innocent children,’⁴ she said.

‘Just as a murderer can be redeemed by the blood of Christ, so can a homosexual.’

Iris Robinson, The Stephen Nolan Show