This week Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community marks Pride 2022 – and it promises to be a brilliant celebration.
After two years of lockdowns and restricted public gatherings, we can come together to celebrate, assert our identity and enjoy the end of a difficult period for all Irish people, and mark what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, asexual, and many other forms of identity.
It’s going to be the first full parade and march since 2019.
It’s always a mixture of fun, colour and emotions.
It’s also a protest. It will be great to see people enjoying themselves after a very tough period, getting away from the concerns of daily life.
It will also be a chance to look back over the last few years, which have been so difficult for Irish people here and around the world.
I will be thinking about the thousands of Irish people who haven’t come out yet – whether to themselves, their families, or their friends. It’s sad, but in some ways not surprising, given what seems to be a rise in homophobic violence and the persistence of homophobic bullying and stereotyping.
Dublin Pride 2022 has adopted Uchtach/Courage as its theme, to encourage people to come together in the face of this rising negativity.
It’s something the Government is very concerned about, which is why my colleague Justice Minister Helen McEntee is working on new hate crime legislation.
I was lucky in that my experience of coming out was a very positive one. I know this is not the case for everyone. The most important thing is to come out to yourself first. Your family will almost certainly support you and so will your friends. I don’t know anyone who regrets coming out just that they didn’t sooner.
I feel privileged to be gay in Ireland. We should not forget that only 30 of the 190 countries in the world have marriage equality. In 70 countries it’s still criminalised.
In some places, like Russia and some parts of the United States and Central Europe, it could be argued that things are going backwards for the community.
This weekend I will be thinking particularly about the plight of Ukrainian people – who have enjoyed 30 years of democracy and freedom. A freedom which the iron hand of Vladimir Putin is trying to strip away with his murderous invasion.
Should Putin succeed, he will plunge Ukraine into oppression, and Ukraine’s LGBTQ+ community will see the rights and freedoms they have strived for stripped away, as they have been in Russia. We cannot let that happen.
I will also think about how much Ireland has changed in the last few years, whether it’s the right for gay people to marry, or the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. In the past so many good people left Ireland for America or the United Kingdom, while others were forced to lead secret or double lives. It’s so much better to be the country that we are now, whatever your persuasion.
We have a long way to go, and in Ireland there are still many issues we need to overcome, ranging from homophobic bullying in schools to the availability of sexual health services.
I also want to see us press ahead on gender parity. We made great strides but there is much more to do, from modernising parts of our constitution, to closing the gender pay gap, equal representation in parliament and in the boardroom.
We need to do more for the trans community. We need to improve sexual health services and fight the epidemic of gender-based and sexual violence.
All of this comes together this weekend under the banner of Pride. I hope you can join us – it will be a very special occasion.
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