It is the only part of the UK in which what campaigners term marriage equality has not been legalised due to religious-inspired opposition from its largest party, DUP.
Justin McAleese was a prominent campaigner in the Irish Republic’s watershed referendum campaign in 2015, when he discussed his experience growing up as a gay man.
Mr McAleese said he had a “huge problem” with the level of leadership in the Catholic Church but urged advocates of change to engage in difficult conversations with those who think differently.
He said: “Faith has no place in secular, registry office marriage.”
The campaigner attended an event in Belfast as part of the annual Pride festival.
The Democratic Unionists, Prime Minister Theresa May’s close allies, hold that Christian marriage is between a man and a woman and have used a parliamentary mechanism at Stormont to veto efforts to legislate in Northern Ireland.
Mr McAleese said the Church of Ireland and Catholic Church was entitled to its definition of marriage but should not be able to force that view on everyone else in the secular world.
He said: “Coming at this debate through the prism of one definition of marriage from the tradition of religion is simply not good enough when you are talking about civil registry office marriage in secular Northern Ireland.”
He added: “We need to talk about marriage… one kind of marriage, everyone…
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