Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom were recognised that day. Same-sex marriage continues to be unrecognised in Northern Ireland, following several votes against it and one vote in favour of it by the Northern Ireland Assembly. Same-sex marriages are recognised as civil partnerships. Legislation to allow for the recognition of same-sex marriages in Northern Ireland has been debated in the Northern Ireland Assembly five times since 2012. On four of those occasions, only a minority of assembly members voted in favour of same-sex marriage, though the most recent vote on the issue in November 2015 saw a majority of MLA's vote in favour of same-sex marriage.
Causes of the vote in favour of Brexit elsewhere in the country whilst there was economic stagnation in the North was an incentive for many to vote 'leave' and indeed much of Northern England voted strongly in favour of Brexit. Feeling as though the UK has been rapidly changing and feeling negatively towards that change is considered to have been a reason that many voters backed 'leave'. Goodwin and Milazzo report that identity and preventing a loss of national identity as a result of national change, were highly important to many leave voters. Furthermore, they assert that 73% of people that thought Britain had gotten "a lot worse"