John Bishop gives moving speech about his gay son
Shirlaine Forrest/Getty
Comedian John Bishop has made a powerful speech, saying he is “massively proud” of his gay son.
The LGBT+ ally also called for same-sex marriage to be legalised in Northern Ireland.
Speaking at the NatWest British LGBT Awards, Bishop said: “I brought my whole family, my wife and my three sons who I love and I am massively proud of.
“Like all parents we have problems with them.
“One of my sons has a tattoo on his ankle that was meant to be Africa but looks like Australia, one of my sons mumbles and one of my sons is a gay man.”
“I’ll be honest, there’s been loads of nights when me and my wife have sat up and worried and worried and worried.”
Bishop, who picked up the award for Ally of the Year, was then met with laughter in the room when he added: “What are we going to do if he doesn’t stop mumbling?”
LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 10: John Bishop attends the after party dinner for the House of Fraser British Academy Television Awards (BAFTA) at The Grosvenor House Hotel on May 10, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)
The 51-year old, who recently finished his Winging It tour, went on to urge Northern Ireland to legalise gay marriage.
He said: “I was in Northern Ireland recently. In Northern Ireland it is still illegal to have a same-sex marriage.
“I went to have a chat with some people from the Rainbow Trust who put together the biggest gay pride in the whole of Ireland and it was a real lesson to me.
“I spoke to them about when the first pride march happened. It is people like this who really paved the way.
“Now the gay pride in Belfast has 60,000 people turn up.
“The first time they did it just fifty brave souls got together and when they walked down the road they were faced with people stood there with placards.
“They had placards shouting at these people ‘You’re going to hell’, ‘Being gay is a sin’, ‘You’re an abomination’.
“Back then there was more protests than marches. Now they dwarf the protestors.”
BLACKPOOL, ENGLAND – JULY 29: John Bishop unveils his new wax figure at Madame Tussauds Blackpool on July 29, 2015 in Blackpool, England. (Photo by Shirlaine Forrest/Getty Images)
Last week, a Conservative MP shot down a cross-party push to bring equal marriage to Northern Ireland.
Labour’s Conor McGinn had brought a bill to the UK Parliament seeking to extend same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland following the collapse of the devolved Northern Irish government.
However, despite support from MPs across the major parties, McGinn’s bill was today denied a second reading in the House of Commons, following an objection from a backbench Conservative MP who moved to block the bill coming to the floor.
