Iris Robinson, the MP from Northern Ireland who remains the gay community’s public enemy #1 after remarks earlier this year advising gays to get therapy to cure themselves and comparing them to murderers, was mocked at Belfast’s Gay Pride on Sunday which attracted approximately 4,000 people.

“The Strangford MP appeared in the ‘guise’ of several marchers wearing Iris masks in what turned out to be Northern Ireland’s largest Pride rally for years. One float called the ‘Iris Mobile’ joined the procession through Belfast city centre with a giant papier-mâché image of Robinson on the front. The parade took place in a city labelled the most homophobic place in the UK or Ireland. Organisers claimed the large turn-out was in response to the controversy stirred up by the DUP MP, who recently also likened gay sex to child abuse. Her remarks prompted one organisation to become the first Christian gay group to march in the Belfast parade. Changing Attitude Ireland, a new organisation representing gay Christians throughout the island, said they had decided to join Pride in response to the MP’s remarks. ‘This is the first time our banner has been displayed at Pride in Belfast because it was important to increase our visibility and to show people that there are alternative Christian views than those espoused by Iris Robinson,’ said a retired Church of Ireland minister, the Rev Mervyn Kingston.”