A Scouser who moved to Northern Ireland has spoken of his pride after becoming the first openly gay councillors in his new home region.
John Hyland was well known in Liverpool as a co-chair of Liverpool Pride and founder of the Liverpool City Region Pride Foundation. He recently made the decision with his partner Allan to relocate to the Ballymena area of Northern Ireland to be near to Allan's family.
As John, originally from Wavertree, said the area was known to be very conservative. He said: "Whilst my experience since moving to Northern Ireland has been incredibly positive, it is not lost on me that the area I live in is seen as one of the most conservative areas in the country, with plenty of quotes from elected representatives being quite unwelcoming of the LGBTQ+ community.
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"I go to Belfast quite regularly for my day job, and it is not uncommon for me to receive a surprised reaction when I say where I live, simply due to the fact I am gay and live with my partner. There are many LGBTQ+ people from the area who purposefully move to Belfast, or wider afield, simply so they feel comfortable to live their authentic self."
John, 31, decided he wanted to continue his work to promote and fight for the LGBTQ+ community in his new home and he got involved with Northern Ireland's Alliance Party. He said: "I set out to research and educate myself on Northern Ireland history and culture and I kept coming back to the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland - a party that doesn't designate on the constitutional question of United Kingdom, or United Ireland, and simply wants to work for the people of Northern Ireland without labels; to the benefit of all. Honestly, it's probably the closest thing I've felt to a calling in my life.
"Through that, I got to know party members, councillors, MLAs, and eventually was asked by our candidate in North Antrim to be her election agent for May 2022's NI Assembly election, which saw her take a historic win as the first Alliance MLA and first female MLA in the area. Many people were then suggesting I should put myself forward for selection to be co-opted into her Ballymena District Electoral Area council seat."
And that's exactly what he did. John was officially selected as a councillor at the end of last month. Describing the moment, he said: "Whilst I was selected through an internal process, and not formally elected - the fact that the Alliance Party membership selected me as an openly gay man to represent the area on council is still something to celebrate, and something I am proud of."
John said the reaction to his selection has been 'incredibly positive.' He added: "As we always say, representation matters, and that has been the crux of all the feedback. There hasn't been an openly LGBTQ+ representative and it could do wonders for attitudes.
"Seeing a tweet from an individual who felt that they would never see an openly gay councillor in the area hit all the feels and demonstrates the power of representation. It is incredibly important for all facets of society to be represented in our politics, and all barriers removed from us doing so."
And the reaction from back home in Liverpool has been good too. John said: "My mum keeps checking in to make sure I'm not taking on too much, but also knows I can't keep still for long and need to keep my mind occupied.
"It's funny, as most people have commented that they weren't surprised and thought it only a matter of time before I tried my hand at something like this, especially following work with Pride and other LGBTQ+ related things. But everyone has been positive, encouraging, and proud that I am trying to do some good in this world, and we know we could do with some more positivity."
There are now less than 11 months until the next Northern Ireland local elections and John says he wants to hit the ground running and reach out to as many community groups and organisations as possible. He said: "I've said a few times, coming in, through co option, is a bit like joining mid way through a conversation, so we're playing catch up, and only have a short time to demonstrate to constituents that we are capable and can deliver for them on a local level, and that's what I intend to do."
