Andrew Muir: Civil Service decision on Pride ‘disappointing’, says minister

Last year Belfast Pride decided to exclude Stormont executive parties from their summer parade for supporting a ban on puberty blockers for under 18s.

Puberty blockers are drugs used to delay or prevent puberty happening and have sometimes been prescribed to children questioning their gender.

The move led to a clash of opinions behind the scenes among senior NICS staff over how to respond.

One senior adviser had warned Brady the NICS would be “open to the charge of acting politically” by continuing to take part in Belfast Pride.

But another official said that NICS participation “as an employer” was “different to political attendance”.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) assembly member Jonathan Buckley welcomed the move by the NICS, saying that Pride was a “political event”.

He said that “every employee should be treated with dignity and respect” but the role of the NICS was “not to align itself with overtly political events”.

“Public confidence in the impartiality of our institutions is important, and decisions taken by the Civil Service should always be guided by the law and the interests of all those it serves,” he added.

In a previous statement, DoF said the NICS was “committed to being an inclusive employer”.

It said the “Civil Service LGBTQ+ Staff Network has participated in the Belfast Pride parade since 2018”.

In 2023, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) instructed officers not to participate in Pride parades in uniform, having previously taken part since 2017.