To not get the hysteria over the DUP?

[dingit]

Cropping up on Facebook statuses today, photos with rainbows to stand against them.
I admit until last week I knew nothing about them. A quick look at their website does not show them to be homophobic, racist etc. And surely Teresa May has bigger worries than LGBT rights? They have 10 seats!
I'm not posting to be goady, I genuinely don't get it?

They did not brand themselves as the political wing of the IRA. Every time anyone said it, they denied it. I am an old gimmer. I remember.

www.indy100.com/article/dup-theresa-may-tory-deal-alliance-minority-government-quotes-arlene-foster-lgbt-abortion-religion-7783241 Some of the DUP's views in their own words.

Yes and in 5 years op the damage will already have been done.

I'd ask Theresa May why she considers the DUP to be 'her friends'/

The DUP are a shower of bastards too. And TM talking to them is as bad as JC's Sinn Fein arse licking. Oh the irony if it all. The horrible disgusting irony.

I hate the Tories but I have no truck with this "Tories want to euthanise the young/the poor/the disabled/ the old. "That's nonsense.

No one says they want to euthanise the poor and the disabled, I am sure.

Letting people die of poverty and lack of access to medical help, as happens currently all the time in the US, and I have no doubt is something that can be realistically made to happen in the UK, is making them die an ugly death.

"Euthanise" means "good death". Which that is not.

Also, saying that people vote DUP because they agree with their policies demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge of Northern Irish politics and the complex situation here.

Why else would they vote for them? Ignorance? Social pressure? Either you agree with at least SOME of a party's policies, and are okay with the others being implemented, or you don't vote for them.

As a woman, there are VERY few things I would prioritise above my own human rights.

I cannot really believe that all other parties in NI are worse. (Not an UK citizen, I have an excuse for not knowing about NI politics. But seriously, if it is so bad, I would have expected some people to start their own party to have something to vote for.)

Some people vote because of fear Vestel. I can only speak from the unionist side of things but they spin a good line about how if we don't vote for them SF will take over and we will end up a united Ireland. Seriously. Wish I'd kept the DUP election literature that came through my door Stormont election to show.

I personally have never voted for them and never will but I can see how some could fall for it hook, line and sinker and prize that above all their other policies. It's the way it is unfortunately.

I believe people vote for the DUP to keep Sinn Fein at bay and to protect the Union.
Sinn are traditionally Catholic and DUP protestant.
I can remember the end part of the Troubles and I really wouldn't want to return to those times.

The Americans came in at the end to oversee the decommissioning, I'm not going to talk down Clintons role but he didn't start the process.

I'm not as young as I was myself, so I've checked and as early as 1947, IRA members were instructed to join SF. Here's some background information on the more recent policies:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armalite_and_ballot_box_strategy

Auto-correct decided fein was redundant. Sorry.

i dont remember the same hysteria before in 2014 when alex slamond said he could work with the dup

If you have fallen for JC's spin on this, silently , that's on you.

As a woman, there are VERY few things I would prioritise above my own human rights.
yeah and they dont include killing your baby by having an abortion

Anyone watching The Handmaid's Tale. Basically the group that seize power have core values of homophobia and refusing all abortions. Margaret Attwood just took the next doctrinal step in creating that dystopia. They are religious fanatics not moderate at all.

"Oh, and how is putting a rainbow on your Facebook photo going to change a thing?" Are you sure that isn't because it is Pride month?

Don't start, bluegreenyellow. And yes, I was pissed off with Salmond too.

I was born and raised in NI, my brother and I were orphaned as a result of the actions of the IRA.

I fully support the peace process, but have never wanted to be governed by murderers. A return to direct rule would suit me fine if we could trust that the present "commitment to peace" would ensure we didn't return to war.

I don't think the DUP's influence will be any more apparent than it has ever been in Westminster, and I think anyone who uses this defacto coalition as a reason to start questioning the Good Friday Agreement is being disingenuous.

As others have said a vote for the DUP is very rarely a vote in favour of their policies, in much the same way a vote for Sinn Feinn has very little to do with their policies. People vote for one to keep the other out, because despite the rhetoric or idealism there is a fundamental inability to actually work together.

I'm Catholic and my first vote ever at 18 was for the SDLP. My second vote was for Alliance. Sinn Fein were to me terrorists like the fledgling DUP. Both of those were toxic to any person who wanted a centrist viewpoint. This was in the early 80s.

Look times have changed, but to me the only party that has changed for the better is Sinn Fein. Bizarrely. The DUP, if anything, have got worse.

Radishal, I think you've gleaned all of your information from British newspapers which have never been interested or particularly even handed in their reporting of any Republican political activity.

However, I still can't see why you think it's better to ignore your enemies than talk to them.

Elendon - yours sound like my views on this up to and excluding the bit about Sinn Fein. However, if you have been more convinced by them, I accept your view. I'm in England so don't have your perspective on it. I think you have come to your view reasonably.

@Vestal They vote for them because the most important issue TO THEM is that NI remains part of the UK, and they believe that if they don't vote DUP, Sinn Fein will win and unite Ireland. They're wrong, but that attitude is completely ingrained and will take generations to resolve. You have to remember that a lot of people in NI lived through the Troubles, probably had a friend or relative who was killed or injured, and will ALWAYS see it as "us vs them". Policies are, unfortunately, a secondary consideration.

Interestingly, in both the 2015 elections and the recent NI Assembly elections, voting was less polarised and more people were voting for parties that would be seen as less "sectarian" (although basically all parties in NI are either Nationalist or Loyalist, bar the Greens) but Brexit has stirred up the issue again and this time around it was a pretty event Sinn Fein/DUP split.

As for women's rights, the only party in NI that actively campaigns to extend abortion rights is the Greens (who can't possibly win here). Others either don't take a stance or propose extending it only in the case of rape or FFA. So there isn't really a "good" choice.

I've never voted DUP and I never will, but almost half the population here ALWAYS will., regardless of what their policies are. That's why we have to put pressure on the DUP to change their policies and why we can't afford for them to be empowered by this deal with the Tories (never mind the fact that it destablises the GFA).

The USA got involved re NORAID.

@Elendon Agreed, Sinn Fein have reasonable policies and genuinely seem to be making an effort to move past sectarianism. Not so the DUP. They are absolute scum. I'm in East Belfast so vote Alliance but Alliance's recent policy of trying to win over DUP voters by moving to the right has completely turned me off and I won't be voting for them again unless something changes.

Elenden We were a Protestant family, my first votes, and indeed all my votes until I left were for Alliance and then SDLP. We obviously shared the same ideology in trying to vote to the middle where an agreement might be reached more easily. Unfortunately those days seem to have slipped away from us

It's fact, not opinion that Sinn Fien are more socially liberal than the DUP. They have the most right on LGBT policies available in NI and they are not totally opposed to abortion.