Several international corporations operating in Northern Ireland including Coca Cola, IBM and Citibank, have started a campaign to pressure the region into deconstructing its marriage laws so as to recognise same-sex unions as marriages.

Leigh Meyer, managing director of the Citi financial services firm’s operation in Belfast, said: “Today is the start of a ground-breaking journey for the business community in Northern Ireland, we make a stand with the LGBT community and apply pressure on the legislative bodies to make marriage equality a reality.”

“It is not just the right thing to do, it is the only thing to do, it is the proper thing to do,” she added.

The businesses released a joint letter which talked of ‘diversity’, ‘inclusion’, ‘rights’, ‘equality’, and ‘prosperity’ but failed to mention ‘children’, ‘mothers’, or ‘fathers’.

They took their campaign to social media under the hashtag #Businesses4LoveEquality.