Pride has to be the part of the LGBTQ calendar that I look forward to most.  Cycling up the quays yesterday I saw the rainbow flags flying high and, as always, I felt myself smile.  You just can’t help yourself when you see those flags flutter up and down the river.  The highlight of the festival is the parade and this year it will take place on Saturday June 26th. It’s a day when you can take to the streets of Dublin with your partner, family and friends to say you are here and you are proud.

This year why not bring your loved ones to the parade and march with Marriage Equality and LGBT Noise?  They are marching under the theme We Are Family to help end the discrimination LGBT families experience. These worthwhile organisations need you to help make the call for equality the loudest and most effective to-date.

We Are Family is a campaign which gives visibility to LGBT families living in Ireland and is being rolled out by Marriage Equality nation wide this month.

So why join in the campaign, well according to Marriage Equality:

Equal marriage rights for same-sex couples will lead to the recognition and protection of lesbian and gay families. The Government’s Civil Partnership Bill on the other hand, continues to deny the existence of same-sex families and ignores their children entirely. This leaves these families legally vulnerable in matters such as inheritance, access, maintenance and so on. The simple solution is for the Irish Government to make this issue a priority for their Programme for Government

So how do you and I go about helping the government see that this issues needs to be “a priority for their Programme for Government”?  Well Marriage Equality have made it easy for us with their TD Campaign.

The Government will be encouraged to make this a matter of priority if members of the public contact their locally elected representative and raise the issue with them. All families deserve equality and We Are Family carries this important message and call to action to the Irish public

Marriage Equality and LGBT Noise are asking people who intend on marching with them at the Dublin Pride parade to register their interest today by emailing info@marriagequality.ie or info@lgbtnoise.ie.

They are asking people to bring their biological or logical family members, boyfriends, girlfriends or friends.  Make banners by printing We Are Family posters from their site or have some personalised t-shirts made that carry your own message.

Whatever you do for the day make sure the message is clear, civil marriage will legally recognise and protect LGBT families, civil partnership will not.

LGBT families deserve the same rights and protections as any other family. We deserve equality. So join them on the day and make some noise.

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