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Marriage equality campaign launches in Belfast

Love Equality campaigners Catherine Couvert and Sally Bridge from Belfast want the law to give them the choice to get married 
Love Equality campaigners Catherine Couvert and Sally Bridge from Belfast want the law to give them the choice to get married  Love Equality campaigners Catherine Couvert and Sally Bridge from Belfast want the law to give them the choice to get married 

HUMAN rights activists in Northern Ireland have said marriage equality for same-sex couples is a significant election issue ahead of the Assembly vote on May 5.

A new campaign, Love Equality, supported by Amnesty International, The Rainbow Project, trade unions and student groups is being launched at the LGBT centre in Belfast's Waring Street on Friday with the aim of securing a change in the law over the course of the Assembly’s next five-year term.

The north is now the only part of the UK and Ireland not to extend civil marriage rights to same sex couples.

Last year, a Stormont motion in support of marriage equality received a slim majority in favour for the first time but the move was only symbolic as it vetoed by the DUP using a petition of concern blocking mechanism.

Love Equality is calling for what is describes as an end to discrimination against LGBT couples.

Campaigner organiser John O'Doherty, director of The Rainbow Project - the north's largest LGBT support group - said since the historic Yes vote in the Republic's referendum on same sex marriage last year the matter has become "a big political issue for many voters – straight and gay – in Northern Ireland".

"On May 5th they will be looking for candidates who promise to deliver equality for everyone," he said.

"Marriage equality is now an election issue.”

Catherine Couvert (53) and Sally Bridge (48) from Belfast, pictured, want the law to give them the choice to get married.

Sally said: “We've been together for 15 years and raised two sons, two cats and a dog together. We're very proud of our family. We want young LGBT people to grow up in a world where they don't feel like second class citizens and we want families like ours to have equal rights.”