LGB Rights and Activism in this Country

yellum

Right, I'm thinking a Wiki on the site would be good too, so we can basically post ideas and let people add to them.

Yoda

This also has merit: http://www.stonewall.org.uk/

monument

Originally posted by Yoda
3. "Equal rights for all of Ireland's citizens" is the brief, nach ea?

I agree with the "equal rights for all". How about activism to reflect that?

Yoda

That's what we're talking about, Monument. In my thinking "equal rights" is what we should be talking about, not "gay rights". It may amount to the same thing, as Yellum has said elsewhere, but it's probably useful to keep the high moral ground in language use.

Yoda

http://www.marriageequality.org/ is a very interesting-sounding organization indeed. This bears looking into.

Yoda

I'm off to Oxford for a week. Don't know if I'll be visiting Boards til I get back.

Tomorrow my partner will post three letters for me. One to McDowell asking for details about the "serious constitutional problems" same-sex marriage would "open up". One to Norris asking some questions and letting him know there are some other people who want to help. And one to the Deputy Registrar General asking what specific Irish legislation legislates that two people who marry must be of different sexes.

Annasopra

Why should there just be a website, why not organise a public meeting and set up an organisation. I have been absolutely fascinated by reading some of the above posts.

Do people think that gay people are politically active in this country for gay rights ?
Not enough, they are not visible enough, within LGB circles, they are visible

Do you care about Gay Rights ?
Very much so. I am currently a member of the Union of Students in Ireland Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Working Group and of Johnny

When David Norris retires who is going to champion gay rights ? Why not start here and start now! David is going blind and will retire probably sooner than people expect. We have organisations like the NLGF and GLEN but they seem to be secretive

Do you think enough is being done or should we be content with what we have right now ? I believe that enough people are not active enough politically. David Norris lead many others in campaigning. Why should just accept that and think we have what we want, Impending equality legislation seems to be very unclear. I think that because we are a minority we get hugely ignored by political parties and then they decide to either have a few token gay candidates or LGB friendly policies

If there was an activist group would you take part ?
Absolutely - see above

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As I am currently I have skimmed through some of the lengthy posts above and do not fully understand some of them but in general I agree that the following in no particular order should be priorities

1. Hate Crimes - Saftety - Homphobia
2. Schools - Education - Bullying - Suicide in the young
3. Partnership Equality

yellum

Oh it's not just a website. I'm pretty certain that we'll be an organisation but the website will be tied into it and be a core part.

Being a national organisation a website is probably the best way to allow everyone to get their views and opinion heard. It is also a good starting point.

LegacyUser

So what can we do about this ? Myself and Yoda have been trying to make contact with the NLGF (National Lesbian and Gay Federation) and GLEN (Gay and Lesbian Equality Network) , two groups I had never heard of after many months of looking about. They do not appear to be high profile and do not have websites.

I do think some sort of website with forums is needed where activism can be discussed and collaborated on more and information is shared.

Has anyone managed to contact either organisation? I was actually just thinking about them the other day. Its strange that they're so underground. We need an organistaion like Stonewall or the HRC.

As for the website, the forum on GCN is excellent-www.gcn.ie. Theres also a good page at http://homepage.eircom.net/~jacqdsl/civilunions.htm


Edit: Edited for clarity

Annasopra

This is also being discussed on GCN and USILGB.org

http://www.gcn.ie/newgcn/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2098

http://usilgb.netsoc.tcd.ie/modules.php?op=modload&name=XForum&file=viewthread&tid=268