Same sex marriage is still not legal in NI, so you're not quite right for "UK". And gay people were only allowed to marry in 2014.
The UK does better than most countries for supporting LGBT rights, but it took a long time. The UK discriminated against homosexuals for many years, and we still have some way to go to fully recognising rights of LGBT people.
>And gay people were only allowed to marry in 2014.
This is true, of course, but potentially a little misleading for people not familiar with the UK, since civil partnerships have been available since 2004.
