British actor Sir Ian McKellen has
encouraged Northern Ireland to “catch up” on the issue of gay
marriage.
After Ireland last month became the
first nation to legalize such unions through a referendum, Northern
Ireland became the last country in western Europe where gay couples
cannot legally marry.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast,
McKellen, who is promoting his latest film, Mr. Holmes,
discussed the historic vote.
“Whenever the vote came through, that
wasn't the big turning point,” he
said.
“The turning point had been already
happening and this was confirmation that Ireland had changed, and
that leads onto the future very well indeed.”
“I hope, as a result, Northern
Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, will catch up with the rest of
us now and bring in same-gender marriage, because it's rather
unseemly that that little corner of our country doesn't have quite as
liberal laws as the rest,” McKellen said.
(Related: 20,000
call for marriage equality during Belfast rally.)