Labour key LGBT rights commitments

lgbt@labour.ie

As published in our manifesto today

http://www.labour.ie/download/pdf/thefairsociety_manifesto2007.pdf

Gay Rights


Labour’s Civil Union Bill was defeated by the present government parties. In government, Labour will reintroduce and enact this legislation. The Bill will create a status relationship equivalent to marriage for the benefit of people who are of the same sex and who, under the current constitutional understanding
of marriage, cannot marry each other.

In most respects, the same rules that apply to marriage will apply to civil unions.

■ Partners in a civil union will have the same rights, privileges and benefits and be subject to the same obligations, penalties and other
sanctions as those that apply to spouses in a marriage.
■ They will also be responsible for the support of one another and for any dependent child to the same degree and in the same manner as married persons.
■ The Bill provides that parties to a civil union who are living together may apply to adopt a child. The Bill also states that all adoption decisions must be made in the best long-term interests of the child.

Our objective, in due course, is to bring about constitutional change to provide for full equality between heterosexual and homosexual couples. In
addition, Labour will take a number of measures to improve the position and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgendered citizens in our society.

We will:
■ Put in place policies to tackle homophobic bullying in our second level education system.
■ Amend employment equality legislation to prohibit schools from discriminating against their employees on the grounds of sexual orientation or marital status.
■ Introduce a gender recognition act to provide transgendered people with the right to realise their gender identity.
■ Introduce a gay and lesbian strand to the National Anti-Poverty Strategy based on updated research on poverty issues among gay and lesbian people.
■ Provide for a lesbian and gay community building framework within the Pobal Strategic Plan and amend the legislation governing Community Development Projects to allow for non-locality based community projects
■ Appoint an official in the Department of Health to have responsibility for advising the Minister on LGBT health issues and for liaising with the LGBT community on same. We are committed to on-going funding of gay HIV strategies.
■ Create a national LGBT monitoring and advisory committee, under the aegis of a relevant government department

moridin

Anyone see Prime Time last night?

Labour, Sinn Féin, the Greens and the PDs are the parties who support full rights (including adoption rights) for gay couples. FF say they'll bring in civil partnership but this woudn't include adoption rights, and FG basically say the same as FF except they shy away from the topic a bit more.

On another note:

We are committed to on-going funding of gay HIV strategies.

I'd prefer if this wasn't lumped in with the "gay friendly" policies. It should be anti-HIV strategies in general seeing as it's a health matter which isn't really confined to the terms of being homosexual or hetrosexual.

Finally, what timeframe are the Labour party thinking of for the implementation of these changes?

Boston

So if FG don't want Gay adoption and you guys do, how will that be resolved.

Stark

I do love this comment in Fíne Gael's policy document:

A Fine Gael-led government would not seek a change
in the Constitution, which would be necessary to term these
partnerships as marriages, as this would only rekindle homophobic
tendencies amongst some in society.

Like wtf? Could you imagine if they said that about any other minority group. "No sorry, we don't want to extend equal rights to black people as it might offend racists".

As for Fianna Fáil and the PDs, they had loads of time to introduce civil partnerships but just kept shooting down bills while proposing nothing themselves.

Boston wrote:

So if FG don't want Gay adoption and you guys do, how will that be resolved.

Convince FG that it would be too much work for them to object?

lgbt@labour.ie

moridin wrote:

Anyone see Prime Time last night?

Labour, Sinn Féin, the Greens and the PDs are the parties who support full rights (including adoption rights) for gay couples. FF say they'll bring in civil partnership but this woudn't include adoption rights, and FG basically say the same as FF except they shy away from the topic a bit more.

On another note:

We are committed to on-going funding of gay HIV strategies.


I'd prefer if this wasn't lumped in with the "gay friendly" policies. It should be anti-HIV strategies in general seeing as it's a health matter which isn't really confined to the terms of being homosexual or hetrosexual.

Finally, what timeframe are the Labour party thinking of for the implementation of these changes?

"Gay HIV Strategies" is an organisation - http://www.glen.ie/ghs.html

There is no specific set timetable for anything yet - this would be agreed in a programme for government

lgbt@labour.ie

Boston wrote:

So if FG don't want Gay adoption and you guys do, how will that be resolved.

It would be negotiated in a programme for government. The Labour party has to have a party conference of all it's members to agree a programme for government. Obviously on this issue Labour will be in a stronger negotiating position if we have more TDs and if the Greens are in too.

What I would say is you feel strongly about this let all canvassers know

Boston

Ah so it's open to compromise, I see.

Where does Joe Costello Stand on this

lgbt@labour.ie

Boston wrote:

Ah so it's open to compromise, I see.

Where does Joe Costello Stand on this

No manifesto commitment given by any party can be guaranteed 100% delivered. Everything is open for negotiation.

Joe Costello is, like all Labour candidates campaigning on the entire Labour party manifesto. The stance on adoption was part of the civil union bill and this had to be agreed by all parliamentary members. In my own personal experience Joe is a great civil libertarian, having campaigned heavily for prisoners rights and divorce.

As I said before if people have strong views on the section on adoption then please raise this at the doorsteps with all candidates

Boston

You know, It's hard to believe its a serious part of your agenda when really you only talk about it with the LGBT community. I mean, are labour candidates actively going door to door talking about Gay rights. i've got one of those Joe Costello leaflets and not a mention. No candidate for any political party is going to come out in support of any commitment unless they know it will be well received.

damien

If Suzy Byrne gives this approval then it's a very good thing. She has.

lgbt@labour.ie

You know, It's hard to believe its a serious part of your agenda when really you only talk about it with the LGBT community. I mean, are labour candidates actively going door to door talking about Gay rights. i've got one of those Joe Costello leaflets and not a mention. No candidate for any political party is going to come out in support of any commitment unless they know it will be well received.

Labour candidates are going door to door actively campaigning on many issues that are important - the health service, transport, education - I would imagine that because gay rights are a minority issue they are not being raised a lot. I don't believe that this demonstrates any lack of taking this agenda seriously.

If these issues were only being discussed within the LGBT community then none of this would have been in the manifesto. In the last few days I've seen Labour candidates interviewed (e.g. hot press) where it has been stated that yes Labour is in favour of gay couples adopting.

If Suzy Byrne gives this approval then it's a very good thing.

Suzys support is obviously welcome. I think she welcomes it because it goes further than just mentioning partnership rights

Stark

My big question is would Labour go into colation with Fianna Fáil rather than Fíne Gael if it came for it. I'd vote for Labour on the basis of their gay rights committment, but I'm not going to vote for Fíne Gael purely for the sake of a FG/Labour coalition when I've yet to be convinced that Fíne Gael have sound policies when it comes to everything else.

lgbt@labour.ie

Stark wrote:

My big question is would Labour go into colation with Fianna Fáil rather than Fíne Gael if it came for it.

Any coalition proposal for the Labour Party has to be approved by a delegate conference of the membership. I don't think such a conference would agree to go into government with FF for various reasons.

1. Over 75% of the membership (I would roughly guess about 80% of TDs also) supported a pact with FG
2. At our conference last February there were surveys done by RTE and Newstalk (can't find them at the moment) which gave a high percentage not supporting FF as a coalition option
3. The entire campaign has been saying we will not put FF back into government
4. There is a strong belief that the electorate turned against us in 1997 for the 1992 decision to join FF in government

That being said the door is open and it can't be 100% ruled out but I am fairly certain personally that it won't happen

lgbt@labour.ie

lgbt@labour.ie wrote:

That being said the door is open and it can't be 100% ruled out but I am fairly certain personally that it won't happen

Do you know if they required a conference vote to go into coalition with FF in 1992 or is it a more recent rule that a conference/party member vote would be needed to change their stance on FF now ?
I can't see Pat Rabbitte talking to FF to be honest.

Hmm_Messiah

Can I ask

1. Is lgbt@labour.ie and individual posting his/her opinions (e.g. would a delegate conference vote to go into coalition with FF) or the user-name of a grouping within Labour? It just seems strange if it was a group/committee thing how there seems to be personal views rather than statements that "its our opinion" etc or no distinguishing between party line and personal

2. Who is Suzy Byrne? (I did google) - are we meant to know automatically? I've noticed occasionally in this forum references made to people/events etc which seem to presume every one gets the reference . Maybe I'm out of the gay loop just might be helpful to through in a few adjectives ...


Not sure I'll get to vote - have exams on the day. I would support Labour in that they at least seem to have this on the agenda more than say McDowell (PD TD/Leader, Minister for Justice, SC, has been compared to rottweiler - the rottweiler is in litigation) who talked very eloquently but seemingly only to a target audience.

My sister is getting married soon, as have my other siblings. I almost did once but it didn't happen (due mostly to me being a nightmare to live with). Now I have an awesome partner who happens to be a guy , I'd quite like to marry him - I'm guessing for the same reasons my family wanted to marry their better halves.

I still don't understand why I can't - and the constitutional argument is nonsense in 2007, it embraces the idea that certain people generations ago can determine how a nation and culture regulates itself. (I do understand that a problem might be getting a referendum passed )

I guess FF/FG are just not inclined, not on a value judgement but simply not to alienate the people who keep them in jobs. If so its sad that the Irish people can't manage to make the term "inclusive" include their own!
In the end of the day I imagine the EU will be leading rather than a a nation who strived so long for independence and self determination actually embracing the responsibilities attached .

lgbt@labour.ie

Hmm_Messiah wrote:

Can I ask

1. Is lgbt@labour.ie and individual posting his/her opinions (e.g. would a delegate conference vote to go into coalition with FF) or the user-name of a grouping within Labour? It just seems strange if it was a group/committee thing how there seems to be personal views rather than statements that "its our opinion" etc or no distinguishing between party line and personal

Yes, I am an individual that is also a member of the Labour LGBT committee. I accept that I should have been much much clearer when expressing my own personal opinions.

Suzy Byrne is a lesbian and disability rights activist activist who would have been very prominent in the late 1980s to mid 1990s on LGB rights issues. She was co-chair of GLEN (Gay and Lesbian Equality Network) during the events leading up to 1993 of decriminalisation.

She wrote a book in 1994 on coming out

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coming-Out-Lesbians-Martello-original/dp/1860230008/ref=sr_1_1/202-4602749-7900662?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179075867&sr=1-1

She has also contributed to a lot of research on

aging and sexual orientation

disability and sexual orientation

Her blog is at www.mamanpoulet.com