Orangemen aim for 'touchy, feely'

By Raymond Buchanan
BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Live

You normally hear the flutes and the drums before you see the costumes, the banners and the hangers-on.

Orangemen have been marching for centuries

It's a tradition imported from Northern Ireland which has found a home on the streets of the west of Scotland.

This is marching season where the men, women and children of the Orange Order exercise their "civil and religious rights".

Saturday was juvenile parade day and thousands of followers took to the streets of Glasgow and Bellshill.

The march came after a sensitive week with calls for the tradition to be banned, or at least restricted.

Many communities on the routes of parades claim they feel intimidated, but Orangemen say they are misunderstood.

Clark Fulston is an Orangeman in Hamilton. He denies the order provides a home for religious intolerance.

Mr Fulston said: "I personally haven't come up against anyone in the 15 or 16 years I've been in the organisation that I could classify as a bigot.

We think of the 12th of July as a celebration of our civil liberties Clark Fulston

"As with every organisation there are bad apples in the cart. We're not perfect, we don't claim to be perfect, but we're trying to move in the right direction, so that we can make our membership more touchy, feely, friendly."

But that's not how it seems to some. The priest at St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Glasgow, Peter Smith, has called for a ban.

Writing in The Herald, he described an attempted attack on him and hisses of abuse aimed at his parishioners.

Monsignor Smith told the newspaper: "If we are truly to incorporate tolerance, respect and diversity into the fabric of our society then we will first of all have to strip out the threads of bile, bigotry and boorishness.

"If that means hanging up the bowler hats and sashes for good, then it is a price worth paying."

But those wearing the bowler hats feel they are being unfairly labelled.

King William

They believe that they are exercising historic rights and are not practitioners of Protestant tribalism, but simply celebrating their heritage.

"We think of 12 July as a celebration of our civil liberties," said Clark Fulston.

"We are not out there to be triumphalist... we are out there to celebrate our freedom.

"People see Orangeism and they think we don't like you, people hate you and call you a bigot.

"But it is those people who are intolerant of us - we don't do the shouting."

The debate over Orange marches is nothing new. They have been controversial since they started over 200 years ago.

The historical figure of the organisation is King William of Orange.

He defeated a Catholic uprising in Ireland at the Battle of the Boyne on 12 July 1690 - ironically with the support of the then Pope.

But it was a century later before the organisation which takes his name was created.

There are about 50,000 Orangemen in Scotland

The Orange Order has its foundations in another Irish rebellion, this time in 1798.

Then, it was formed to defend Irish Protestants from Catholics.

Its lodges made their way across the Irish Sea, courtesy of Ulstermen migrating to Scotland and ex-servicemen, bringing their new found principles home.

As the years passed the Orange Order became a popular haven for working class Protestant men.

But in recent decades its influence has declined.

The Order now estimates its membership to be 50,000 in Scotland - almost all in Glasgow and Lanarkshire.

The Scottish Executive is now looking at ways of giving more powers to communities which are affected by parades.

An adviser will be appointed in the next month to examine the issue.

Many complain that the parades bring with them loutish hangers-on.

Modern society

This is the biggest problem according to Strathclyde Police Chief Superintendent Kevin Smith.

According to him "the vast majority of marches are well organised and pass off peacefully".

Chief Supt Smith is in charge of over 120 parades in the east end of Glasgow. He said: "If there is any trouble its from those who accompany the parades who drink and commit public order offences."

This week on Sunday Live we discussed if the Orange Order should have its marches banned and whether it still has any relevance in modern society.

On the programme were the anti-sectarian campaigning MSP Donald Gorrie and Ian Wilson, the Grand Master of the Orange Order in Scotland.

Have your say by e-mailing the programme at [e-mail]. Sunday Live is on BBC Radio Scotland every Sunday from 0900 BST to 1030 BST.