President McAleese GALAs Acceptance Speech

TylerIE

President McAleese recieved an award for "Politician of the Year" at the Gay and Lesbian Awards (GALAs) on Saturday night...

She was unable to attend the awards but sent a video message....
Almost got me a little emotional...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pny5Fnapok

rainbow kirby

Comparing that with the presidential debate last night, I can't help but think "Seven more years" would be nice...

apache

i do have great time for mary. she has quite a few openly gay people in her workforce. a couple of my friends work for her in a security capacity. by all accounts she is very fair and good to work with.

number10a

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Comparing that with the presidential debate last night, I can't help but think "Seven more years" would be nice...

"Would be nice" is an understatement. Though she said she is happy to finish after 14 years, I think a referendum on allowing her to serve for more than two terms would be far more fitting than another presidential election. I can't imagine us ever having a president that will ever come anywhere close.

TylerIE

For anybody whos currently in the closet, or has difficulties accepting their sexuality I think a visit to the GALAs next year would work wonders... It gives you the opportunity to be proud of the hard work that so many members of the LGBT community do for others - not just LGBT individuals but for the community at large. It also gives you the opportunity to get massive exposure to some very non-Stereotypical gays, and a few sterotypes also!

President McAleeses speech started out (and gives you just a flavour of the night) but she was followed by many more amazing award winners.

Off the cuff Intel (IIRC the LGBT Friendly Employer), Maman Poulet (Blog), Running Amach (Women L/B Social Club), Greenbow (Hearing Impaired / Allies LGBT group), Marriage Equality (Civil Marriage Campaigning), Gloria (LGBT Choir), Ireland AM (LGBT Friendly Media programme)award collected by Alan Hughes). Conway Communications (LGBT Business Person of the year), and many others got awards. It was also one of the most inclusive events I ever seen - people with special accessibility requirements were accomodated well as were those who use Irish Sign Language - with an ISL nterpretator on stage throughout.

Boards was also thanked by a representative of one organisation (Running Amach I think) for facilitating publicity.

baby and crumble

Just an FYI RUnning Amach isn't a Running Club it's a social club/meetup space for lesbians and bi women. Not being rude, just saying, they organise hundreds of events, not just running (I don't think they even do running!!!) in case anyone was curious.

TylerIE

baby and crumble wrote: »

Just an FYI RUnning Amach isn't a Running Club it's a social club/meetup space for lesbians and bi women. Not being rude, just saying, they organise hundreds of events, not just running (I don't think they even do running!!!) in case anyone was curious.

Much oblidged & Post edited- for some reason (likely the name!) I assumed it was a running club with a huge social element but stand corrected.

Sir Ophiuchus

President Mary McAleese wrote:

We must work to deconstruct the noxious toxin of homophobia...

Magnificent. It was a beautiful speech.

deirdre_dub

President Mary McAleese wrote:

We must work to deconstruct the noxious toxin of homophobia...

Two words. "Trans erasure". Her speech was full of it.

(Now - how long before this thread gets locked?)

apache

deirdre_dub wrote: »

Two words. "Trans erasure". Her speech was full of it.

(Now - how long before this thread gets locked?)

oh god :rolleyes:
she mentioned trans people twice in the speech. do you want a good thread like this to be locked for the sake of nit picking?
hope nobody bites!

Annasopra

deirdre_dub wrote: »

Two words. "Trans erasure". Her speech was full of it.

(Now - how long before this thread gets locked?)

She did mention T several times. It might be helpful and or useful to start a separate thread on trans erasure in a broader context as I think it is linked but also much broader than this speech. Also perhaps trans erasure is something that needs to be raised directly with the NLGF.

Running Amach

Maureen, founder of the Running Amach MeetUp group won Volunteer of the Year and she acknowledged Boards.ie in her acceptance speech for promoting the Club on their site.
Btw some MeetUp Events are organised for running, walking, football etc.
To sign up:
http://www.meetup.com/Dublin-LGBTQ-Womens-Social-Networking-Club

deirdre_dub

mango salsa wrote: »

She did mention T several times.

That's not what trans erasure is about.

Also perhaps trans erasure is something that needs to be raised directly with the NLGF.

It has been. Quite forcefully, in relation to the previous two GALAs, by yours truly.

Azure_sky

What's trans erasure?

Louisevb

Transgender inclusion was raised or the lack of it as Deirdre has said, and there were improvements made by the NGLF mainly in language which became more inclusive. However, while I was not there this year my overall impression from talking to those that were was that trans was all but invisible.

I know TENI were nominated but there is an exclusive gay/lesbian mindset within the LGB community which still needs an enormous amount of work to change. I know there have been strides taken compared to say three years ago. However, I've got to add I'm not a great fan of these kind of events. People work within all sectors not for recognition but for the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile. Events like this can become elitist and that is the problem.

Perhaps if it's thought necessary the transgender community should have an event of their own to raise awareness and lift the profile for everyone., then we can nominate those in the LGB sector who have been most supporting as one category at least?

deirdre_dub

Azure_sky wrote: »

What's trans erasure?

It was illustrated quite well by the quote -

President McAleese wrote:

We must work to deconstruct the noxious toxin of homophobia...

Note that the President said "homophobia" - not one word about "transphobia", which is often a completely different thing. In the context of this speech, trans erasure occurred when there was an assumption that all trans people are covered under the "gay" label, and that trans experiences are the same experiences as gay experiences.

Aard

Jesus. There's a time and place.


Mary.

deirdre_dub

Aard wrote: »

Jesus. There's a time and place.

Plautus

deirdre_dub wrote: »

It was illustrated quite well by the quote -



Note that the President said "homophobia" - not one word about "transphobia", which is often a completely different thing. In the context of this speech, trans erasure occurred when there was an assumption that all trans people are covered under the "gay" label, and that trans experiences are the same experiences as gay experiences.

I find it very hard to criticise McAleese all that harshly for this. I would have thought trans-erasure would be an effort to deny transsexuality validity or the very existence of it.

I suppose she ought to have mentioned transphobia in the same breath as homophobia but do you genuinely believe that's because she bears malicious intent? I can't see any evidence of it.

The problem's larger than her, in the wider discourse so to speak, and I didn't automatically assume that because she spoke out against homophobia that she was either a.) conflating transphobia with it or b.) denying that transphobia happens. There is just no evidence for either proposition in the excerpted statement unless you draw inferences. And that would be to suppose she is transphobic at some level. Again, no evidence of that.

Could you cut her a break on this one? Call it an honest mistake or unintended slight.

baby and crumble

Well, considering the award was presented at the GALA's (Gay and Lesbian Awards) I think that might be the crux of the issue. The main thrust of her speech was the strides that have been made in combatting homophobia and ensuring rights via civil partnership- which we all know is itself inherently transphobic.

floggg

I know this is kinda off topic, but is that not really a problem of having so many diverse groupings under the LGBTQ umbrella.

As a gay man, I empathise with transsexuals,but I can't say that their cause is mine or vice versa. That's not to be dismissive of trans issues, but the overlap between the two isn't clear cut.

Thus given, gays and lesbians, and to a lesser extent bisexuals make up thr bulk of the LGBTQ community, it's only natural their issues will dominate, intentionally or otherwise. Which is why I think the previous suggestion of a trans equivalent night to the GALAs would be an idea if trans people felt they were being ignored.

Just to be clear, not in any way running down trans issues or saying their cause isn't just as important - just explaining why the might not get the prominence they deserve.

Azure_sky

floggg wrote: »

Which is why I think the previous suggestion of a trans equivalent night to the GALAs would be an idea if trans people felt they were being ignored.

I also think this would be a great idea.

deirdre_dub

Plautus wrote: »

I would have thought trans-erasure would be an effort to deny transsexuality validity or the very existence of it.

As I said, transphobia is often a completely different thing to homophobia, yet she only mentioned the latter.

I suppose she ought to have mentioned transphobia in the same breath as homophobia but do you genuinely believe that's because she bears malicious intent?

Where did I say anything about malicious intent?

Obviously if it were malicious it would have hurt more, but it hurts enough that it just happened.

Could you cut her a break on this one? Call it an honest mistake or unintended slight.

The problem is that these "honest mistakes" and "unintended slights" are constantly happening, even in the LGBt community.

deirdre_dub

floggg wrote: »

As a gay man, I empathise with transsexuals,but I can't say that their cause is mine or vice versa. That's not to be dismissive of trans issues, but the overlap between the two isn't clear cut.

How about "breaking gender expectations" as an overlap?

Also, pretty much every single trans person gets slapped with the "gay" label at some point or other. For instance, a pre-op or non-op M2F who is interested in men is going to be seen as "gay", even though she is clearly straight.

Which is why I think the previous suggestion of a trans equivalent night to the GALAs would be an idea if trans people felt they were being ignored.

I think it would be much better to fix the problems with the GALAs in the first place.