This article will focus primarily on Roman Catholicism as the majority of Irish people were brought up in a Catholic environment or were educated in Catholic schools.

It comes as no surprise that the Pope isn’t the biggest fan of the queer community. In his Christmas address, he stated that homosexuals are “deny[ing] their nature” and will be “stripped of [their] dignity as a creature of God.” With sweeping declarations such as these, is it any wonder that LGBTQ issues are such a divisive topic in the realm of religion?

Image from sundial.csun.edu

I started questioning my spiritual beliefs just before I made my Confirmation. Science and doubt pervaded my thoughts and I flipped between blasphemous atheism and overwhelming Catholic guilt until I was fourteen. At this time, my best friend (who I had met in Church) came out as gay. My love for him and my increasing passion for women’s rights and gay rights was the final nail in the coffin. The church did not accept us, so I was not going to accept it. I soon broke all ties with Catholicism fully and completely. Since then, I have flipped back and forth about Christianity, explored and studied Buddhism, Paganism, and a variety of others looking for something to believe in when my life felt out of control, a limbo between heathen and piety.

Damned if you do

Religion is a double edged sword; it offers a community, hope, support, but in so many cases, dictates that we, as the LGBTQ people of the world, are sick and twisted and wrong. In recent times, particularly amongst lay practitioners of faith, acceptance of the gay community is becoming the norm. With this structural schism within the leaders of organised religions, how is one expected to reconcile this discord within oneself?

Are we in there?

From what I can gather, there are two ways in which this reconciliation occurs. The first is much like my own teenage solution: disconnection. The feelings of guilt and shame about having an identity that is not supported by the Bible or by leaders of the Church can be overwhelming. Often leaving the Church is paired with other reasons, but at the end of the day, you can’t change who you are. Some people are fine with this; they live their lives and a lack of faith doesn’t bother them. Some accept that they will never be okay with religion, that it will always be an internally inconsistent, critical institution which shouldn’t dictate correct sexual behaviour to anyone. There is a black and white in religion that this thought process follows – this part is beyond belief, so I won’t believe in any of it. Simples.

Queening the Bible

Who I find more intriguing are the queer people who have managed to make peace with their God. Ever since I read about the Queen James Version of the Bible, I have been wondering whether I too would be able to harmonize the issues that once so plagued my soul. So far, I am still in limbo, but when questioned on their spiritual journey, I received some interesting answers.

“I believe now in the idea of one core being from which all religions are derived and that core belief is based of love and light”

“It shouldn’t matter. Whatever makes you happy and doesn’t hurt anyone should never be condemned”

“Being gay is part of who I am – and my spiritual beliefs are there to connect me to myself, other people and the universe. They’re my own personal beliefs, and I’m not masochistic enough to impose a “gays are wrong” to my own sense of a higher power”

Related posts:

1. A Question Of Faith
2. Julie Bindel
3. Equal Marriage in UK

Oh my stars, Julie, what are you on about?

Oh, Julie Bindel. There are things that you get so, so, right. For a minute. Before you turn around and make them so, so wrong.

A few months back, Bindel wrote an article for the Huffington Post called “Where’s the Politics in Sex?”. There are things she says that make sense. Like how we all face compulsory heterosexuality from birth. And how she made a positive choice to be a lesbian. Good for her! We really do live in a world that assumes heterosexuality of (almost) all of us. And choosing to embrace your sexuality, to decide who and how you will love is brilliant. I’ll bet there isn’t a person reading this who doesn’t think so.

Unfortunately, this is as far as the good stuff goes. If you’ve had a long day and aren’t in the humour for some good (extremely) old-fashioned biphobia and truly bizarre ideas about women’s sexuality, I’d recommend stopping here, popping “cute pictures of cats” into Google and having a nice cuppa. Me, I’ve had this gallery of cute pictures of Portia and Ellen open the whole time. You might want to do the same.

Sorted? Here we go.

Feminist or Bisexual?

Bindel wonders why many of “us” (I’m assuming she means lesbians here) are uncomfortable with bi women. As a bi woman, I’ve wondered the same thing myself more than a few times. I’ve always figured it was a combination of immaturity, internalised homophobia, and stories they heard about their ex’s best friend who had a sister who once dated a bi woman who was awful, with a bunch of bi erasure and invisibility thrown in. Bindel, however, has other ideas. As she says:

In today’s post-modern, queer-focused world, bisexuality is being promoted to lesbians as the latest fashionable trend. This has resulted in lesbian politics, namely feminism, being passed over for sexual hedonism, where the only thing that matters is sexual pleasure and desire.

Where do I start? Firstly, while lesbianism and feminism are both wonderful things, they are not the same thing. Feminism is every bit as much the purview of straight as queer women, and is about so much more than who we sleep with. In fact, so much of feminism has been dedicated to making sure women are seen as more than just girlfriends, mothers and wives. While lesbian issues absolutely have their place in feminism, so do hundreds of other things.

Now let’s talk about sexual pleasure and desire. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when it comes to sexual orientations, aren’t those really important? I’m not a queer woman because I politically think that women are great, or because I admire women, or because I want to spend time in social spaces defined by women. I’m a queer woman because I desire women! Because women turn my head, because I get ridiculous crushes on women and sometimes fall head over heels in love. Owning our desires, speaking up and naming them and saying that these desires is important isn’t something to be dismissed as hedonism.

Bisexuality is sold to heterosexual women as some type of recreational activity far from their “natural home” of straight sex. It is seen as “temporary lesbianism.

Here, she has a point. This is a thing! Bisexuality is dismissed by massive swathes of the media and of our society. That’s messed up, isn’t it? It’s a pity that Bindel can’t see that the problem here isn’t bisexuals, but perceptions of bisexuality.

But then she goes completely off the rails:

It is more à la mode to have sex with a man if you are a lesbian than if you’re a straight woman, who is merely doing what she is expected to do “naturally.” Lesbians having heterosexual sex are seen as transgressive, when in fact they are simply reverting to a traditional way of being a woman.

Now, I won’t say that I’ve never heard this one before. I’ll bet you all have. It normally seems to happen at a certain hour of the evening in public houses of a heterosexual persuasion. Some charming young bachelor who’s probably a pint or three past his prime comes to the entirely unprecedented conclusion that the only such thing as a lesbian is a woman who hasn’t met him yet. I’m not sure why Bindel, who claims to be a feminist, is making arguments reminiscent of that guy.

All ya need is a good ride

Is it annoying when people say that lesbians should give het sex a go? Absolutely. But sexuality’s not always black and white. While there are many lesbians out there who go through their entire lives without fancying a guy, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. If a lesbian woman meets a guy who makes her tummy do backflips and if the feeling’s mutual, should we really be poo-poohing her desires as “reverting to a traditional way of being a woman”?

It can't be anything I did

Here’s the thing. Being a queer woman is seen as transgressive. Being straight is, I guess, seen as being more ‘traditional’. But those aren’t the reasons why we’re queer or straight. We’re queer and we’re straight because of desire, which is the one thing that traditionally hasn’t been encouraged of women. If tomorrow the world decided that being straight was transgressive and all of us queermos were the traditionalists, it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference to my sexuality. I still love who I love.

I’m not sure what this has to do with bi-identified women, though. Except that I guess Bindel doesn’t see us as transgressive enough. But I’m not with my partner to be transgressive. I’ve never dated anyone for the sake of transgression. I date people because I think they’re the bees knees, because they make my knees go wobbly, because I think they’re the hottest thing since particularly steamy sliced bread.

For bisexual women living under the tyranny of sexism, choosing to be lesbian is a liberatory act… if bisexual women had an ounce of sexual politics, they would stop sleeping with men.

Wow. Um. Wow.

WTF?

I’m not sure how bi women’s liberation is in pretending to be lesbians. I’m not sure how we’re supposed to be ‘liberated’ by sublimating many of our desires, re-closeting ourselves and denying ourselves love if it happens to come in her idea of the ‘wrong’ package. Of course, in Bindel’s world being a lesbian or bisexual doesn’t seem to be about love. It’s about patriarchy and politics and tyranny.

I don’t deny that sexism exists, or that women can sometimes get a raw deal in relationships. But my politics- my sexual politics is about working towards a world where women’s choices and women’s desires are acknowledged and respected. Where we can all be proud of who we are and who we love. I want a world where nobody cares about the gender of the person I walk down the street holding hands with, or make a home with, or have a fluttery daydreamy crush on. That’s my politics. That’s my liberation.

Related posts:

1. Reconciling Religion
2. The F-word
3. Well women

Stone Butch Blues (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Being at a loose end for a good read, I started asking friends what would be on their “essential reading” list. The same title kept coming up over and over again, “Stone Butch Blues”  by Leslie Feinberg. My confession that I hadn’t yet read it caused my dear roommate to actually sprint from the room to retrieve her well-loved copy from her bookshelf, placing it solemnly into my hands as if handing me a rite of passage.

I think everyone knows the feeling of being lost between the pages of an amazing book, but I laughed to break up the seriousness of the moment. After all, when do you expect to be simply handed something that will change your life so profoundly? I embarked on this journey with the scarcest of details about what the story contained, and I can honestly say that, for me,  I don’t think any novel will quite measure up to the emotional rollercoaster contained within these pages.

This fictional account from Feinberg takes inspiration from zer life. The story is an unflinching portrayal of the life of Jess Goldberg, intertwining stories from colleagues, friends, and lovers; men, women, he-shes, butches and femmes alike. Jess “comes out as a young butch lesbian in the pre-stonewall gay drag bars of a blue-collar town” in the 1950s, with their life story laced around profound historical moments, such as the Stonewall riots, the rise of unions, and feminist liberation.

There is an element of aching loneliness in the characters struggling with the complexities of a transgender existence, their gender expression, identity and sexuality; an experience that anyone who has ever felt ostracised or different will resonate with. It is ultimately a wrenching story of survival, giving context to the oppression and alienation felt by those in our community, and those suffering from the criminality of homophobia.

From page one you are welcomed into the brutal reality of Jess’ life, as it opens with a letter full of the raw honesty and familiarity you expect when writing to a lover. The seat-belts are securely fastened, the barrier down, and the rollercoaster has started along the tracks. From that moment you’re caught, locked into this journey however it unfolds.

Many tears were spilled on this journey, and more than once, I was brought to uncontrollably sobbing, forced to put the book down so as not to drench the pages. Set around the time of the stonewall riots, I emoted with those who lived during this integral part of our history. However you just need to look at the news to realise that for far too many people, this is still their present; they’re fighting it every day. To quote a line from the novel, “Imagine a world worth living in, a world worth fighting for”.

Sometimes you need to look at the achievements of those before us to find the passion to keep fighting for what we all deserve. This novel re-awakened that spark in me.

For me, Stone Butch Blues is not just essential reading, but essential to own and have on your bookshelf. There has never been a better time to buy as spring 2013 heralds the release of a special 20^th anniversary edition, with the dedication and proceeds going to the CeCe McDonald campaign. I won’t share any more details; instead I urge you to read and feel that spark ignite in yourself.

Trigger Warning: This story is rife with abuse and homophobia/transphobia.

Related articles

• Leslie Feinberg Arrested in Solidarity with CeCe McDonald (queerd.com)

Related posts:

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2. Review: My Animals & Other Family
3. Review: A Kick Against The Pricks

Over on the HuffPo, Dennis Croft talks about My Transition: Finally Living Right by My Soul (VIDEO)

I trained for the military through JROTC and C.A.P. and felt like I was treated equally and not as a girl. I went to university and studied psychology to find out why I did not feel right in the world. I went into the service and found the politics to be too much for me and left. I got married and had kids, trying to live as a woman. I always had to defend myself to others, without provocation, due to how I felt I was perceived. I tried to convince myself I was normal and a woman: “See? I have kids and a husband.” Then I woke up… I knew who I was, but I was afraid of it. Who would accept me? Would I be able to accept myself?

Staying with the Huffington Post, this gave me a laugh

‘Black Swan’ Draws Record Complaints For Lesbian Sex Scene In Britain

The steamy “Black Swan” love scene between Natalie Portman and co-star Mila Kunis may have been the No. 1 selling point for a fair number of moviegoers not typically interested in a dance-oriented thriller — but not everyone was pleased with the sexy sequence.

Have they not seen Desert Hearts or Kiss Myg? And lest we forget Lip Service? Now those scenes can be called steamy. They must have little to complain about. Or maybe they were complaining about how short the scene was?  That’s probably it.

“While the scene is visually discreet, narratively justified and within the 15 guidelines criteria, some correspondents felt it was pornographic in nature,” the report reads, according to the BBC. “That it was a sex scene between two women was an aggravating factor for some who argued that portrayals of homosexual activity should either be restricted to the 18 category, or not shown at all.”

I would LOVE to see the 15 guidelines criteria. No boobies, no enjoying the sex. Fifteen guidelines! Where can one get a copy of these guidelines?

Wonderful news from our neighbours over in France, France Passes Law Against Transgender Discrimination And Harassment

Still, a number of impassioned speeches preceded the important vote, including from Sen. Michelle Miller (Socialist Party):
MILLER: Transgender people have alerted us to high frequency of harassment and assaults they experience, particularly during the transition period that can last several years. It seems necessary to me to complete the law on discrimination and to add recognition of transphobia

Staying with progress, Chile President Signs Anti-Discrimination Law

The law had been approved by the congress in May after seven years of discussion.

Unfortunately over in Texas, they are not quite as progressive

Lesbian ‘Wedding’ Controversy in Young County

“I didn’t think it was in the best interest of the fort or of Young County,” said Bullock.

I haven’t had a chance to check out the latest episode, be warned, I am a huge Signourey fan so expect gushing and lots of it! Previews were promising, reviews are looking good. Sigourney Weaver is riveting in “Political Animals”

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, this

In a few weeks, Vanessa Redgrave joins the cast as a lesbian Supreme Court Justice, so perhaps the LBGT scale will be balanced by her brilliance and success. Let’s hope so.

Vanessa Redgrave AND Signourey Weaver. Does TV get any better?

The Sun has gotten its panties in a twist. It takes very little in fairness for the poor purists over there.

Sherlock and Watson have gay affair in shock new novel

Literary purists will be horrified by British publishing house Total E-Bound’s adaptation of the timeless favourites – called Clandestine Classics – which will now include raunchy sex scenes and a string of X-rated expletives.

Well these are the people who were so horrified by Black Swan they complained, I can see their heads rotating already at this shocking turn of affairs.

Rejoice! P!nk To Release New Album ‘The Truth About Love’

Finally with less than 2 weeks to go to the Olympics, here’s Ireland’s Golden Girl in action sparring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG8AEChSeQk

Gaelick will have a post up during the week will a full preview of the athletes heading to the games in London.

Related posts:

1. A Suppa Earl Gae
2. A Suppa Earl Gae
3. Suppa Earl Gae: Pride Special

Morning Gaelickers! I don’t quite know what to make of that orange ball in the sky that’s emitting heat but hey, let’s enjoy it while its there eh? I have just about recovered from the Eurovision final, I think I am more disappointed about Albania finising the top 5 than I am about our boys finishing 19th. Seriously, what was with Albania? It was appalling.

For those of you who missed the wonderful Loreen, here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqYtlpZ-9N4

You’re welcome. The lovely wife has said we can go to Sweden next year to savour the atmosphere. That’s love.

Over in Moscow PinkNews reports, A total of 40 people, most of whom are gay rights activists, have been detained in Moscow, after they attempted to hold two demonstrations in Moscow today, demanding the right to hold a gay pride parade in the capital.

Jillian Michaels: New mom to two talks motherhood, her partner:

The news confirms what has largely been an open “secret”: Michaels is in a committed relationship with another woman. Michaels has been coy on the subject in the past, saying that she’s dated both men and women but prefers to keep her private life private.

NY comptroller pushes transgender corporate rights

The traditional courts bill threatens LGBT South Africans:

Since the end of apartheid in South Africa, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities have made unprecedented legal gains under the rubric of the bill of rights.

In California, Doma ruled unconstitutional for denying benefits to same-sex couples:

A federal judge has boosted the campaign for gay marriage by overturning a law which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples.

NZ Prime Minister to support gay adoption

‘This is the issue with gay adoption it’s the same issue with heterosexual adoption and that is that there’s just not enough kids to adopt. I mean there were less than either 100 or 200 non-family adoptions last year.’

Gay football fans warned to keep low profile at Euro 2012

Amnesty International has given the advice saying conditions for gay people in the Eastern European country have deteriorated.

Related posts:

1. A Suppa Earl Gae
2. A Suppa Earl Gae
3. Suppa Earl Gae: Pride Special

Last night, the Dublin City Council offices on Wood Quay played host to the Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) launch of their new book, Touching the Surface: Trans Voices in Ireland. This landmark publication celebrates trans* experiences from across Ireland and was launched by the Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr. Maria Parodi.

The launch formed part of the Dublin City Council Social Inclusion Week and coincided with IDAHOT – the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. The exhibition will run 11th-18th May in the Wood Quay Civic Offices.

The proceedings were kicked off by the Director of TENI, Broden Giambrone, who spoke of spending hours in his university library poring over books trying to find himself represented somewhere and being unable to find anything. This theme was continued in the speech from Vanessa Lacey, TENI’s Development Worker, who shared Broden’s experience of being unable to find any resources or trans* representation while trying to research more about trans* issues. This sums up perfectly why Touching the Surface: Trans Voices in Ireland is such a vitally important publication.

The book has submissions from people who identify across the entire gender spectrum, and will be an invaluable resource for trans* people all over Ireland.  Touching the Surface contains poetry, photographs, and narratives about the trans* experience, as well as examples of art work and drawings.

Some of the poetry from the book was read out at the launch by the authors, and the audience were blown away by some of the submissions.On page 64 of the book there is a drawing of a young trans man and the text on it says

Boy no matter what

So what if I’m 15?

So what if I don’t hate my body?

So what if I’m happy?

No one can set standards of what I need to be to be trans*

I love myself

I’m a boy no matter what you say

The artist behind the picture, 15 year old James (who I will hopefully be having a chat to about his experiences over the next few days and will post back here) absolutely wowed the audience with what he had to say. Best of all, his mother was sitting in the front row to support him.

As Louise Hannon said in her speech, 10 years ago we would have been lucky to have half a dozen people present at the launch, and last night there were easily over a hundred people there, which really shows how far Ireland has come in the past decade.

But there is still so much to do, and as I have written about before, the LGBQ community needs to continue supporting the trans* members of our community and fight for adequate gender recognition legislation, access to healthcare etc.

To sum up the running theme of the evening, we are all human and deserve to be treated as such.

‘Touching the Surface: Trans Voices in Ireland’ will be launched in Cork City on 19th May by the Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr. Tony Fitzgerald. The event will again include readings, performances, and it is your chance to get a copy of the book.

All photos by Joan O’Connell

Related posts:

1. TENI News: Trans Health Forum
2. Report on Dublin Trans Health forum
3. Trans* equality activists protest Minister’s speech

The event will include readings, performances, a photo exhibition of words and images from Touching the Surface, and there will also be special guests from IndividualiTy (a trans group for young trans* identified people which is run by BeLonG To). The launch is also your chance to get a copy of the book!

The exhibition will run 11-18 May in the Wood Quay Civic Offices. All events are part of Dublin City Council Social Inclusion Week and coincide with IDAHOT – the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

In the press release about the event, Orlaith O’Sullivan, Communications Officer for TENI said:

We had a fantastic response to our call for submissions. We received entries from a great diversity of ages and gender identities across Ireland. Portrait photographs, poetry, short stories, memoirs and artworks – the collection reflects the personal, political and creative spheres of trans people across the country.

From well-known figures like Lydia Foy and Panti to anonymous voices from small rural communities, the book marks the wealth of trans experiences in Ireland. It is a beautiful, funny, poignant read. We at TENI hope that it will raise awareness – and a smile.

When

17^th May, 7-9pm

Where

Wood Quay Civic Offices, Dublin

For more information see log onto TENI, check out this site, or find them on Facebook

Related posts:

1. TENI News: Trans Health Forum
2. Report on Dublin Trans Health forum
3. Dublin Pride programme launch tonight!

Over at the HuffPost, Twelve-year-old Isak Atkins-Pearcy loves Legos, doughnuts, and fighting for what he believes in.

“I think in a world where everything is right, you could love anyone you wanted to,” he said.

Bless his cottens!

Staying with the HuffPo, they have a great article on Joan of Arc and And 9 Other ‘Queer’ Saints

Church officials and followers from many different demoninations have long used the Bible to argue that homosexuality and transgender identities are abominations in the eyes of God.

Transgender 101: 15 Things to Know

Classic Judge Judy Clip Calling for Gay Marriage Blows Up All Over Again

This clip of Judge Judy herself, Judith Sheindlin explaining to Larry King how she just can’t understand why anyone would devote time, energy, and legislative power to preventing same-sex couples from marrying may be almost four years old, but that certainly hasn’t stopped more than a dozen people from submitting to the UB batphone tip line today.

Archbishop of Wales comes out in support of gay people

He said: ‘Very often homosexuality is talked about as if real people were not involved, and gays and lesbians complain of being talked about rather than talked to in church.

End of Gender: Melissa Harris-Perry’s “Being Transgender in America” Roundtable

Harris-Perry is used to breaking new ground. In her true fashion, this segment blasts through typical media narratives of trans inequality by covering topics that most media commentators won’t touch.

We posted it on our Facebook page during the week but just in case you missed it, more people are outraged.

Urban Outfitters ‘lesbian kiss’ catalog photo sparks parent outrage

Seriously, they’re upset over that?! Those One Million Mums. I expect to read any day now “Parents Outraged by Finding the Word Gay is in the Dictionary.”

Sheesh.

If you missed it, check out Joan and Rachel’s BlogNation on Gtalk on soundcloud Joan aka Click Here and Rachel aka Hal, they’re on every week so you can keep up with what’s going on out there.

And finally if you’re not already watching it, you should be. ITV’s Scott and Bailey, strong female leads, great dialogue and have I mentioned Suranne Jones as Rachel Bailey. * fans self * What are you wating for, get thee to a TV stat! Hal wrote about Season 1 here

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Let’s start with our old friend Pope Benedict, we posted this on our Facebook page yesterday

Pope Benedict XVI has told an audience of bishops in the US marriage between men and women must be ‘promoted and defended’.

I expect to say billboard advertisements any day now showing a lovely heterosexual couple and their child. Let’s not forget that the only reason they marry is so they can reproduce without the guilt.

Gay marriage: torn asunder from reality

The argument that gay marriage undermines straight marriage is as unconvincing as it is insulting

Good news from Malta

A bill due to arrive at Malta’s parliament which was designed to give cohabiting couples legal rights will include provisions for gay civil partnerships, an official has said.

Over in Syria, a newspaper is blaming us for all its problems. Syrian paper claims gays are ‘infesting society’ through uprising

A loose wrist, a noticeable way of using the fingers, sitting and crossing the legs together in a feminine manner and an interest in gossip and whispers are among homosexuals’ main distinctive features.

This was the introduction to an article about gays in Syria published in local newspaper Baladna on 21 February.

Great article from Winona360

She wears black knee-high boots over skinny jeans topped with a rainbow sweater. Her long, brown, layered hair lightly bounces on her shoulders as she struts through campus. In most ways, she’s an average 19-year-old woman– except for the “M” marked on her license.

Ashley, a sophomore Winona State University, in Winona, Minn., is part of a small population of transgender youth. While there are diverse forms of gender expression, transgenders do not identify with the gender roles they were born into. While teens and young adults are developing their identities, young transgenders add gender to the mix.

Lesbians refused a rose on Valentine’s Day because they ‘weren’t a proper couple’

The countdown begins:‘Lip Service’ Lesbians Grace Diva Mag’s Cover

Bring on the endless Sam V Frankie conversations, my money is on Frankie

I shall leave you with a card from one of my fav sites, Bluntcard.com

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Morning Gaelickers! Hope you are all refreshed after a weekend of rest and relaxation. I am having tech rage with my lovely alarm clock. The stoopid thing decided to reset itself this morning, how does a clock do that? Its a fairly fancy one with an ipod docking station and all that jazz. The really sad thing is I am unsure how to reset it as the lovely wife usually has the knack when it comes to things like alarm clocks and remote controls. I know, I know, really bad. She’s off on a work trip for 2 weeks leaving me to fend for myself with alarm clocks and tellies

News! Let’s start with this because if you haven’t seen it already on our FB page, you really should watch it. Its a beautiful speech that Republican Representative Maureen Walsh made when the bill was passed in Washington approving same-sex marriage.

Its just wow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbmbdWK6338

You can read the full text here

Warms the cockles of your heart eh?

Continuing with the uplifting theme, HuffPo annouces
Australia Gay Marriage: Parliament Proposes Bills Lifting Ban On Same-Sex Unions

CANBERRA, Australia — Two rival bills that would lift a ban on gay marriage in Australia have been introduced into Parliament weeks after the ruling Labor Party lifted its opposition to same-sex unions.

Hawaii celebrate civil unions with Ho’olei at Grand Wailea Celebrates Hawaii Civil Unions With a Maui Getaway Sweepstakes

The Washington Post reports For transgender Pakistanis, newfound rights

It’s never been easy being a sexual minority in Pakistan, but transgender citizens, known here as eunuchs or “hijras,” are getting a surprising amount of judicial protection and newfound civil rights.

Also posted on our FB page during the week: Lesbian mums give birth to half-siblings just five days apart with help from gay sperm donor

How caute are the happy family? They are uncannily alike though! And yes I am linking to what appears to be the Mirror’s site. I do advise you read the story there, do not look anywhere else, and click away as fast as you can.

Another amazing Mom! Aren’t Mom’s great?

A mom defends her gay son after attack at his Ohio school

After the attack, the school principal actually said to Zach, “I don’t have any other problems with any other gay students in this school. The problem seems to be with you. What can we do to change you?”

I was actually speechless when I read the above. The Principal?!

Back to HuffPo, some images Something To Celebrate: 12 Of The Best LGBT Moments Of The Week February 5 – February 11

And finally, maybe you’re sick of seeing them or maybe this is the first time you’ve seen them? Very cute pics of new parents Beyonce and Jay-Z found at their
tumblr account. I dare you not to say, “Aw..!”

I’m off to figure out how my alarm clock works now. Thank Xena kettles and toasters are straight forward

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As you may or may not have read this week, it seems that under current travel regulations in Canada, transgender individuals can be prevented from merely boarding a plane. In a recent post, I wrote about the violations of every day rights faced by T* identified people, and this is a prime example.

This story was first reported by Christin Scarlett Milloy who highlighted the relevant section of the Identity Screening Regulations:

5.2 (1) An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if
(a) the passenger presents a piece of photo identification and does not resemble the photograph

(b) the passenger does not appear to be the age indicated by the date of birth on the identification he or she presents

(c) the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents

Damn it Canada, you used to be cool! This revelation comes hot on the tails of the widespread confusion over marriages of same-sex couples performed in Canada (for more see CanuckJacq’s post ) The current conservative government seems to be doing their best to remove any sort of “LGBTQ heaven” image that Canada has. These travel regulations were set in place by the Conservative Minister of Transportation, Denis Lebel, and the full set of regulations can be rea here (.pdf). As you can see, they further state:

(2) Despite paragraph (1)(a), an air carrier may transport a passenger who presents a piece of photo identification but does not resemble the photograph if

(a) the passenger’s appearance changed for medical reasons after the photograph was taken and the passenger presents the air carrier with a document signed by a health care professional and attesting to that fact

With that section they are demanding that a Trans* person carry a medical document with them when they travel, which is a pretty unfair onus of responsibility to be putting on anyone-travel is stressful enough without having to remember a doctor’s letter, or more to the point, without the added stress of having to go to see a doctor to obtain the relevant document, which will probably also cost a lot of money, just for the appointment. And what then of the T* people who would not be able to obtain said documentation?

As Christin Milloy also points out in her blog post, summing it up better than I could ever hope to:

So for non-operative transgender persons, for gender nonconforming (genderqueer) persons, and for the vast majority of pre-operative transsexual persons, it is literally impossible to obtain proper travel documentation marked with the sex designation which “matches” the gender identity in which they live.

This is obviously a ridiculous situation for people to be left in, and even though there’s be no reports that anyone has been stopped so far, I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a worrying precedent. It’s my second “Is this real life?” moment in under a week… I’m going to hide under a duvet now, wake me up when the world makes sense again.

There is a petition that you can sign if you want to take action.

Related posts:

1. Targeting trans women, or the pathetic pastime of increasingly irrelevant wealthy people
2. Report on Dublin Trans Health forum
3. Trans* equality activists protest Minister’s speech

• This just in from Irene Greene, an Applied Psychology student at University College Cork:

For my final year project I’m conducting research into the effect online support has on the well-being of transgender individuals.

Research in general populations regarding the effectiveness of online social support has found mixed results, but very little research has been carried out looking at the impact of social support on groups such as the transgender community.

We’re interested in examining whether online social support may positively affect the well-being of transgender individuals, as it may provide some people with a greater sense of support than they experience offline.

We hope that this study will lead to a better understanding of the impact of social support on the general well-being of members of the transgender community.

I have a short survey which should only take 15 minutes to complete. It is important for the study to get a large number of respondents in order to achieve reliable results.

If you are willing to take part, you can find the survey here.

Related posts:

1. Online Survey on Hate Speech
2. Targeting trans women, or the pathetic pastime of increasingly irrelevant wealthy people
3. Report on Dublin Trans Health forum

The basic premise of the series is that, due to the recession, two men have to present and pass as women in order to gain employment because ZOMG IT’S A “MANCESSION” LOOK WE’RE SO HILARIOUS. They actually use the term “mancession” and blame the fact that they don’t have jobs on women… In the show, they are told that the pharmaceutical company will only hire women, as the doctors want to “nail” them more. (I really wish I was making this up, believe me.)

On account of how offensive and damaging the show could be to the general public’s perception of trans* people, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) urged a boycott and took out a full page ad in Daily Variety condemning the show. In a statement, the Acting President of GLAAD Mike Thompson said:

This show could contribute to the high levels of job discrimination that transgender Americans face and will give license for people to mock and ridicule those whose gender expression might not fit with what society considers the norm

and that

The media should use this as an opportunity to address the huge number of inaccurate or offensive images of transgender people in news and entertainment today. [http://www.glaad.org/workit]

This is all the more poignant when you go on to read in the same statement that currently in the US, members of the trans* community can be legally fired in 34 states, that 97% of self-identified transgender people reported being harassed or abused at work and 26% reported losing their jobs simply because they are transgender. In Ireland, things aren’t much better. Research from Mayock et al (2009) found that out of 46 trans* identified respondents, over 80% had been verbally insulted, and over 39% had someone threaten to ‘out’ them. The 2009 NLGF Burning Issues Survey found trans* identified respondents stated ‘Equal rights at work’ as their top issue of concern. Harassment and discrimination both in and outside of the workplace is the simple every-day reality faced by trans* people the world over; yet ABC has chosen to make a complete mockery out of this oppression.

The debate began when someone posted a link to an article condemning Work It, adding a comment saying how offensive the show was. On a page that is full of self-identified LGBT Activists, you would naturally assume that most members of the group would be outraged by the mere existence of such a show. Disappointingly, this was far from the case. The first few comments were people basically saying “Ah sure, stereotypes are hilarious, it’s only a bit of fun, people shouldn’t be so sensitive”. I bit my tongue and waited, as I was curious to see where the conversation would go.

I looked at the thread in disbelief for a couple of hours, as comment after comment defended the show and thought Work It was not offensive to trans* people, because it’s only “two guys pretending to be women”. Some group members trudged up comparisons with films and programmes of eras past, justifying that if something like this was funny before than it is harmless now. Others even implied that Work It might even be a platform from which to inform the public about trans* issues sensitively. I found it interesting that the conversation on this activists’ forum page focused more on a debate over if Work It was indeed offensive, rather than a discussion of how it offends, or the best way for us, as LGBT Activists, to take action.

This image sums up perfectly why we shouldn’t need a group to prove to us why something is offensive or oppresive:

Thankfully, the voice of reason soon appeared in the form of Sinead Dolan (author of this post ). After trying and failing to get the others to understand why this show was dangerous to the trans* cause through a serious of well reasoned posts, she came out with this statement, which I think summed up this issue in a brilliant and succinct manner:

This show is about men actually living their lives as women, which is a totally different thing. They are going to be using the same techniques that trans people spend literally their whole lives trying to perfect, and make them into The Biggest Joke. Imagine if you were trans, and had spent years working on the makeup, and the walk, and the voice, and the way you move, literally every tiny thing your body does is a learned skill, a way to make the world see you as you see yourself. Now imagine that ABC has taken all those tiny things that are so, so important to you, to your actual survival, and is using them as the butt of every joke in one of it’s sitcoms. That’s not only offensive, it’s wildly irresponsible.

And that right there is really the crux of the issue in my opinion. Whether intentionally or not (and that’s really not the point here) ABC has created and written a show that is essentially taking the piss out of some people’s actual lives.

To the people who watch the show who are thinking “ah sure it’s grand, it’s only a bit of fun cos stereotypes are hilarious” – well, they’re not. Being the butt of someone’s jokes is never funny, particularly when it is compounded by oppression and discrimination in a similar vein in
your daily life. And the people who think that it’s all ok because the show is “only” making a mockery of drag queens/cross-dressers, well guess what? IT’S STILL NOT OK! Drag kings and queens, cross-dressers and transvestites, as well as people who identify as transsexual, transgender, genderqueer or any other variety of gender identity or expression, are all part of the trans* umbrella and the wider LGBT rainbow. We are all part of the same community, and no one individual’s reality is less than another.

Last night, I forced myself to watch Work It. Sitting through an episode was like an endurance sport, and I honestly wanted to weep by the end of it. I quickly realised how this programme relies on sexism, racism and homophobia alongside its transphobia in order to get cheap laughs at the expense of those of us with marginalised identities. Less than one minute into it, there was a rape joke. The protagonist of the piece apparently regularly compares a prostate exam to the pinball scene in ‘The Accused’ (which if you haven’t seen it, is one of the most horrific rape scenes I have ever seen in a film) in conversation with his wife regarding medical checks. Stay classy, Work It. After hearing that “joke”, I knew it could only get worse. And it really did. Next we had the friend who was bitter towards women for causing the “mancession”, and later a lovely racist joke with “I’m Puerto Rican, I’d be great at selling drugs”. All the women that work in the office are portrayed as total airheads (obviously, because women working in an office isn’t real work). They also make jokes about everything from sexual harassment to someone being a lesbian…because clearly, as she is a lesbian, one of the protagonists can now feel free to hit on her. UGH. Fucking hell, HOW DID THIS SHOW GET GREENLIT?! It is honestly the most offensive show I have ever seen. And I used to watch Family Guy!! Emphasis on the used to part of that…

I’d love to get a good discussion of this issue going here. It’s a sad fact of the LGBT movement in Ireland that so often we ignore the inequalities faced by T identified people of the acronym. And that’s to say nothing of the invisibility of bisexual people, but that’s a whole other discussion we need to have.

The LGBT movement is never going to progress if we don’t fight for the rights of the entire community. We’re either a community or we’re not, we’re either activists or we’re not. We need to wake up and realise that we can’t *just* fight for the rights of lesbian and gay people, we have to fight for equal rights for all. The roots of homophobia and transphobia are the same, in the end we have a shared experience in the LGBT community of breaking gender role stereotypes. Whether we do this through our gender identity or expression, or through our romantic and sexual relationships, we are all punished by wider society for breaking these norms. We will never eradicate homophobia as long as there is transphobia. After all, it was the trans* members of the LGBT community that kicked off the entire global LGBT rights movement in Stonewall over 40 years ago. Without them, where would we be today?

The last couple of years have seen some great leaps forward for the Irish trans* rights movement, when LGBT NOISE started campaigning on trans* issues. A trans* activist spoke at the March for Marriage, raising awareness about the Gender Recognition legislation, and how trans* people are being excluded from Civil Partnership legislation. It seemed that people were finally recognising that the trans* community has stood in solidarity with LGB efforts in Ireland for ages, and realising that we all need to work together to combat transphobia and homophobia. I was hopeful that the situation was improving, that people were coming on board, educating themselves and properly putting the T in LGBT – but then this discussion happened.

I need your help, and your suggestions. What can we do, as an LGBT community, to address this problem? How can we counter the apparent apathy among so many LGB people towards trans* issues? And, most importantly of all, what can we do to educate people on trans* issues?
For information on being a good trans* ally, please see:
http://web.mit.edu/trans/allies.html
For more information on trans* issues in Ireland, visit:
www.teni.ie
To begin exploring the concept of cisgender privilege and how it operates, check out:
http://takesupspace.wordpress.com/cis-privilege-checklist/

Related posts:

1. Julie Bindel
2. Trans Sexual Health Seminar

• Here’s another article from one of our new writers, Tole. Enjoy!

As a young gay (and by young, I mean, fresh off the train, wearing short pants, clutching my suitcase with a wide eyed stare as I entered an unknown village), I had great expectations that I would soon be charming women every night of the week and giving off the impression that I was some type of modern day Casanova.

So when this did not come to fruition, I was greatly surprised. It took me a while to figure out the root of my failings, but when I did, it came down to a number of crucial things:
 

• It appeared I had an inability to converse with people, something I had hitherto excelled at.
• When I did speak, it was often nonsensical and delivered at a very high pitch so that it seemed I was interested only in communicating with seagulls.
• Anybody I did manage to talk to with any motive of intent, was already coupled up or proved stranger and more high pitched than I was. And I couldn’t be dealing with that sort of competition.

So a chance purchase of an L Word box set (which I figured would surely teach me everything I needed to know) also happened to contain three months free membership for an online dating site. This little card gave me some hope that I could navigate the world a bit better from the comfort of my home, where I had control over my actions, free of occasional squawking noises and the like.

So, I now had the opportunity to be an ever dashing charmer with an unlimited amount of messages to woo these potential suitors with. No “soz babes I’m outta messages, if you fancy a chat add me on msn-smiley face, lol” woes for me.

However, the stress of it all proved too much after a while. The excellent banter back and forth only for it stop abruptly, the occasional drink with somebody who turned out to be incredibly boring, or bumping into that hot girl you took seven hours composing a two line message to, only to never hear anything back. My nerves quite simply weren’t able for it. And so I hung up my online lady killer boots which to my shame, never managed to get all that dirty for a finish.

Having upped my social skills a tad since then (I don’t come off as wanting to live my life on a beach anymore), I recently found myself back online. It may have been exam time. It may also have been the month I discovered a love for the unnecessary filing of all my photos in order of the number of people present in them. But if I was to be at my computer ‘revising’, I thought somebody should at least be entertaining me while I did so.

And it certainly was entertaining for a while, as I discovered that many of the same lovely faces were still online. Yet like a solid old man’s pub, they had refused to move with the times. Many of them were still “just out of a relationship, only looking for fun” (which to be fair, is always a bit of a winning statement), “still really new to this, not sure what to say” (really? But it’s three years later), while the amount of people (“new age kids” I like to call them) who spell their names with both letters and numbers was astonishing.

Of course, there were also a few gems of people in there, fun and witty. However, for the most part, it would seem that we all sat around logged in, yet not saying much. I mean, I can’t prove this for definite, just that the masses didn’t seem to be messaging me, which I found strange, given that I had personally awarded myself 4/5 stars for my new profile.

Whatever about communicating with people in real life, I’ve always found that online, you have time to think, to open and reply to a message with a great answer, and if not great, at the least, relatively engaging.

Some of the profiles provide great material to start a conversation, plenty of interests and quirks that can arm you with something slightly original to say. But yet, a lot of people continue to open with ‘Hi, how are you?’. Given that we live in Ireland, surely it’s only natural that a response to this would also include a comment on the weather, followed by an inquiry into the health of the person’s ailing grandmother and before you know it, everybody has lost interest.

I gradually became more annoyed by these messages. I just couldn’t bring myself to reply to them. And so, I asked that, if people were feeling charitable enough to message me, then dear Jesus, make it worthwhile and something that I might actually respond to.

It has kind of worked, I think. Or else I just come across as so demanding that the ‘hi how are you lol’ people, a wily bunch, know I’m probably not worth the effort. But I’ve had some good banter with a few people and have progressed towards ‘friendly acquaintance’ stage.

And just so you know, things online move like this these days:
 

• As usual you chat, and this can range from a few hours, days or weeks.
• You then become friends on Facebook to prove that neither of you is insane/a murdering kidnapper.
• You may find out that you have a few friends in common, but that you are not in fact related. Good to go.
• You maybe meet for a drink and get on well. Excellent.

This is surely the holy grail of online dating. You arrange to actually meet the person. Anything that happens after that is either terrifying or pleasant (it can always go either way to be honest).

The important thing is, that if you plan to while away a number of hours online, then make yourself interesting (although don’t lie about it. If you’re boring, then that’s just how it is), be engaging and if you are really so concerned about the person’s health, or how their weekend went, think how overly concerned you’ll be about them if you actually end up meeting and liking them. Better to open about their penchant for Anne Doyle and the vigil they now they keep for her by their bedside.

Sounds like a winner to me.

Related posts:

1. Online dating
2. Putting my heart online
3. I have a hang up: Online obsessives

Campaigners: Australian PM should represent the 71% of her supporters who want gay marriage

Australian campaigners have “demanded” the Prime Minister act in accordance with public opinion on gay marriage, after a poll which shows 71% of the Prime Minister’s Labor Party voters are in favour of the move.
The statement comes after the Prime Minister re-affirmed her opposition to marriage equality and proposed a conscience vote on the matter.

From Australia to Brazil and the ctpost reports

Brazil grants residency based on same-sex marriage

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s government for the first time has granted a foreign citizen the right to live permanently in the country based on a same-sex relationship with a Brazilian citizen, according to a notice published Monday in the country’s Federal Register.
Spanish man, Antonio Vega Herrera, and his Brazilian partner live in the town of Aracatuba in Sao Paulo state.

In Massachusetts ,Transgender Rights Bill Headed for Vote

The bill would amend the state’s non-discrimination statute and existing hate crime laws to include gender identity and expression. Thirteen other states and Washington, D.C., have passed similar bills.

Iowa Baker Refuses To Bake Lesbian Couple’s Wedding Cake

In Iowa, bakeries aren’t among businesses that are impervious to the tumultuous effects of the downturn economy. Still, one Iowa bakery owner had no hesitations about refusing to bake a wedding cake for one lesbian couple.

“I said, ‘I’ll tell you I’m a Christian, and I do have convictions.’ And I said, ‘I’m sorry to tell you, but I’m not going to be able to do the cake because of my convictions for their lifestyle. It is my right, and it’s not to discriminated against them. It’s not so much to do with them, it’s to do with me and my walk with God and what I will answer [to] Him for.”

Barbara Grier, Publisher of Lesbian Books, Dies at 78

Those scientists are at it again Female orgasm captured in series of brain scans

Scientists have used brain scan images to create the world’s first movie of the female brain as it approaches, experiences and recovers from an orgasm. The animation reveals the steady buildup of activity in the brain as disparate regions flicker into life and then come together in a crescendo of activity before gently settling back down again.

For gay, lesbian workers, Canadian workplaces pulse with change

Donna Renn began her career in the military — and in the closet. But today, the 50-year-old IT business analyst for TD is the poster girl for coming out in the workplace.

Over to Ontop Magazine where Chaz Bono is featured.

Chaz Bono has said he was terrified at transitioning in public.
The 42-year-old Bono was honored Saturday at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center’s 40th Anniversary Gala and Auction with the group’s Board of Directors Award for his transgender activism.

And in case you missed it at the weekend on our Facebook page,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkOQw96cfyE

Related posts:

1. A Suppa Earl Gae

“>The Big Deal at Project Arts Centre from 306″>projectarts on Vimeo

• What? The Big Deal
• Where? Project Arts Centre
• When? Until 5 Nov 2011 at 8:15pm
• How much? Tickets €16/14/12

Dear Cathy,

It’s 10.30pm on Tuesday night. I have just finished your recent email. You are now on the way to recovery. You are here now as you should have been and will be until the day you die. So whilst I struggle slowly onward and upward, you are already there.

Love Deborah

Following the hugely successful premiere of The Big Deal at The Kilkenny Arts Festival 2011, Una McKevitt (Victor and Gord, 565+) brings us an extraordinary real life story of two women who knew from a very young age that they were born into the wrong bodies.

Scripted from original material provided by the contributors – including journals, poems, songs and interviews –The Big Deal charts the incredible personal gains and losses each has made to become the women they have always been.

Gaelick’s HAL spoke with Una McKevitt about the play.

HAL: So, tell us all about the play.

Una: The show presents the real life experiences of two women and charts the personal gains and losses each has made to become the women they have always been. The show is performed by two actresses, Una Kavanagh and Shani Williams.

The two contributors have provided all the text in the play, both kept diaries whilst undergoing gender re-assignment surgery detailing the physical and emotional journey that entailed. The diaries were a departure point for the production but through interviews each contributor has also shared details of their lives before surgery; how the different challenges they have encountered and how their relationships with their loved ones; parent, siblings, partners, children; have shaped their lives.

Our work in this production has been to try and express theatrically the stories the contributors have shared with us and, in turn, with the audience. The contributors are close friends, this friendship is an important feature of the play, and both women have made a decision to share their stories anonymously to protect the privacy of both themselves and their families.

HAL: Where did you come across these women’s stories? When did you think “This will make a good play”?

Una: The contributors are friends of mine and knew of the work I do in documentary theatre. We often spoke together of the theatrical possiblities of a journal that includes correspondance between them and thisispopbaby gave us the opportunity to present a work in progress during their Queer Notions Festival at Project Arts Centre in December 2010. With the help of An Arts Council grant we were then able to develop this work and premiere it at The Kilkenny Arts Festival 2011.

HAL: Without giving too much away, can you tell us their stories?

Una: Whilst we do present details of the physical surgery the women went through during transition, the real heart of the play lies in the details of the women’s friendship and the impact their transition has had on their relationships with their families.

It is also a personal account of the resilience of the human spirit and the profound significance of personal realisation which is something we believe everyone can relate to.

HAL: Did you talk to other trans* people when getting the play together? Do you feel any pressure to represent the trans* community here, as there is very little representation out there?

Una: We wanted to present the stories of two individuals rather than attempt to make a statement about the wider transgender experience and so the personal histories in the show are particular to the two contributors.

We hope through this microcosm we are presenting a story that resonates with anyone who has come through difficult challenges in their personal lives.

It is of course important to us that this production reaches out to the transgender community here in Ireland and we are following the matinee November 5th with a panel discussion ‘We Are Family’ chaired by TENI director Broden Giambrone to highlight the different supports in place for Transgender people and their families.

• The Big Deal runs at the Project Arts Centre until 5th November. Tickets are priced at €16/14/12.

More information:

• The Big Deal at The Project Arts
• “>The Big Deal on Vimeo
• Una McKevitt on Gaelick
• Una McKevitt’s blog
• Una McKevitt on Facebook

Related posts:

1. Singlehood needs YOU!
2. Absolut hoot: Fringe Festival delights
3. How to deal with a very public coming out

Previously, we looked at the family home and finance and immigration and legal procedures. Today in the final of our Missing Pieces articles, we examine the issues affecting parents and children, as well as other miscellaneous issues.

• Parent and child

The findings of Marriage Equality’s audit reflects the concerns already raised by the Ombudsman for Children over the Civil Partnership Bill. Marriage Equality describes “a legal vacuum affecting children being raised in same-sex headed families”.

25 differences in relation to the legal relationship between a parent and their child are identified. For example, adoption: same-sex couples cannot jointly adopt, even though individuals may be considered for adoption regardless of sexual orientation.

Another example relates to guardianship and custody: it is not possible for same-sex couples (or a partner of a same-sex couple) to apply to the courts for these.

An additional example is maintenance: all children, including non-biological children, of married couples are covered by maintenance rules, but this is not the case for children raised by same-sex couples.

Marriage Equality states that there is a deliberate omission of existing provisions in family law which recognise non-biological children (for example, step-children) as dependent children, within married families.

The organisation supports the view of the Ombudsman for Children, who has drawn attention to the serious consequences for children that this approach will have and that this differential treatment of children under the Civil Partnership Act – especially when compared with the relationship between children and step-parents under Irish law – could violate international human rights instruments, to which the Ireland is party.

• Miscellaneous

The final section of the audit covered all remaining provisions identified in the review of existing legislation. 17 differences were found, and focus mainly on the age of majority and administrative provisions in relation to the making and keeping of records by the State.

On the age of majority, the report highlights that, as civil partnership is only available to people 18 years and over, the rights which flow to a person under the age of 18 and who is married, are not accessible to young LGBT people in the same situation (for instance, being able to apply for a passport in their own name without a guardian’s signature).

Also revealed is the fact that civil partners do not have the same rights under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), a serious issue particularly following the death of a partner. For instance, a bereaved civil partner cannot apply under FOI to correct personal information, unlike spouses. (See also Office of the Information Commissioner.)

• Some notes:

- A “Constitutional Convention” is due to take place next year to look at various constitutional issues – including, perhaps, the concept of marriage?

- The Supreme Court has yet to rule in the Zappone and Gilligan case, due to be heard later this year.

- Marriage Equality is due to release a separate report on the Social Welfare Code and the differences between civil partners and married spouses next year. Due to the extensive legislation and rules which govern Social Welfare, a separate audit and report is needed.

- MarriagEquality: Website / Twitter / Facebook / YouTube

• Previously:

The Family Home and Finance

Immigration and Legal Procedures

Related posts:

1. Zappone & Gilligan launch fresh legal challenge for equality
2. BREAKING: Minister Shatter makes commitment to children of same-sex couples
3. The Children’s Referendum proposals and equality

Yesterday, we looked at the family home and finance. Today, we examine the issues of immigration and legal procedures.

• Immigration

A key factor in immigration procedures generally is the fact that decisions are made largely on a discretionary basis (i.e. under non-statutory administrative procedures by the Minister for Justice or his officials), rather than based on legislation. In effect, therefore, those in civil partnerships are reliant on discretion due to the absence of legislative immigration provisions relating to civil partnership.

The findings of the Marriage Equality report highlight the gap between official policy – that civil partners will be treated equally to spouses for immigration purposes – and the legislative reality, and reveals over 22 differences in treatment under immigration law and regulations.

Legislation: Only two sections in the Civil Partnership Act relate specifically to the immigration status or entitlements of civil partners:

The first concerns diplomatic immunity, and extends such immunity to civil partners.

The second provision relates to refugees. Under the Refugee Act, a person who is recognised as a refugee has the right to apply for family re-unification. The Civil Partnership Act allows such persons to make an application for family re-unification in relation to a civil partner.

(This is somewhat curious, I think: typically, family re-unification applications relate to family members who are not in Ireland. Ireland’s Civil Partnerships can only take place under Ireland’s jurisdiction, however. So how could it arise that a refugee in Ireland would have a civil partner abroad? Unless the person has entered Ireland for the purposes of the civil partnership ceremony and (maybe) has subsequently left? Or perhaps the couple has been married/partnered/unioned already in another jurisdiction and are seeking to have that recognised by the State as a civil partnership? Is that likely? But I digress..)

A person who does not meet the criteria of being a refugee, may nevertheless qualify for what is called subsidiary protection. (For instance, a person may not be persecuted for a particular reason, but may still be at risk if they return to a situation of armed conflict.) As with recognised refugees, a person who is eligible for subsidiary protection may apply for family re-unification, including their spouse. Notably, this right has not been extended to include civil partners.

So, if I’ve got this correct, this leaves us with the following situation regarding people who are entitled to international protection: heterosexuals can apply to have their spouse join them in Ireland if they are a refugee or have been granted subsidiary protection; homosexuals can apply to have their civil partner join them in Ireland if they are a refugee, but not if they have been granted subsidiary protection.

Lawyers, sharpen your quills!

Ministerial discretion: Apart from the issues of diplomatic immunity and recognised refugees, in all other immigration matters (including the above subsidiary protection issue), the equal treatment of civil partners depends on the exercise of discretion, rather than legislative entitlement.

A significant finding of the audit is the failure to include civil partners in the definition of ‘qualifying family members’ under EU free movement regulations. This may mean the Irish government is in breach of their obligations under this EU directive. (The EU directive is implemented into Irish law by regulations.)

Furthermore, in the event of divorce or annulment between a non-EU and EU citizen, under the same EU directive family members retain their right of residence. The regulations in Irish law are silent, however, when it comes to the dissolution of a civil partnership.

This potentially means that, an ex-civil partner of an Irish citizen is liable to deportation upon the dissolution of their registered civil partnership, and is reliant on discretionary immigration policy to ensure that is not the case.

As a result of the approach taken to deal with civil partnership immigration issues through the exercise of discretion, rather than by amending immigration legislation, the Marriage Equality report highlights that civil partners are left without the protection and certainty of the law.

• Legal procedures

The audit of legal procedures covered a broad range of legislation, including: the formation and dissolution of marital relationships; minimum age; recognition of foreign marriages; gender identity; and testimony during legal proceedings.

The audit uncovered 62 differences between the treatment of married and civil partner couples. Many of the differences have symbolic significance as well as legal and practical implications for same-sex couples who have registered a civil partnership.

Engagement: There is no equivalent legal status to engagement for civil partners. This means that provisions within the Family Law Acts governing disputes in relation to gifts and property of an engaged couple who end their relationship have not been extended to same-sex couples planning to register a civil partnership.

Minimum age: Someone under the age of 18 can marry where they acquire a waiver from the court. There is no provision under the Civil Partnership Act for a person under the age of 18 to acquire a court waiver to enter into a civil partnership.

Foreign marriages and civil partnership: Unlike marriage law, there is no provision allowing the courts to recognise foreign civil partnerships and same-sex marriages. Instead, that power is reserved for the Minister for Justice: the Civil Partnership Act allows the Minister to designate certain classes of relationships entered into abroad as having the same legal effects as an Irish civil partnership. There is no obligation on the Minister to recognise a class of foreign relationship, however; rather (and this is comparable with the situation regarding immigration and discretion), the Minister has a power to do so using statutory instruments (i.e. secondary legislation).

The effect is that if the Minister has not included a certain jurisdiction in the statutory instrument, then a couple seeking recognition of their foreign marriage/partnership/union from that jurisdiction will have to wait until (or, if) the Minister does include it at a later stage.

In any event, a foreign same-sex marriage will only be recognised as a civil partnership (as, for example, in Canada, Spain or the Netherlands, where there is full marriage equality).

Trans* rights: Currently in Ireland there is no legal mechanism to recognise a person’s preferred gender identity other than the gender that was recorded for them at birth.

The Gender Recognition Advisory Group (GRAG) – established to advise the government on gender recognition legislation for Ireland – has recently published its report and proposes establishing a scheme for legal recognition, however.

Disappointingly, their proposals include a recommendation that applicants who are married be excluded from the scheme. This means that an already married transgender person will be required to divorce their spouse before they can have their preferred gender legally recognised.

Likewise, any transgender person who is in a registered civil partnership will need to dissolve their civil partnership, if they wish to apply under the scheme.

Read more about the GRAG report here.

Interestingly, Marriage Equality notes, GRAG stated that registered civil partners acquire less protection from registering their partnership than spouses acquire from civil marriage: In outlining their argument to exclude a civil partner from the right to apply to be recognised in a different gender, it stated that “such a scenario would effectively result in a State-recognised opposite-sex relationship that does not benefit from the full protection afforded to marriage”.

Separation and dissolution: While married couples have the option of executing a separation agreement, obtaining a judicial separation, or obtaining a divorce, the Civil Partnership Act makes no provision for civil partners to apply to court for a judicial separation.

This means that, while civil partners can execute a deed of separation, if no agreement can be reached they have no choice but to apply for dissolution of their registered civil partnership.

In practice, separated opposite sex couples do not always opt for the finality of a divorce and prefer instead to legally separate. This may have to do with the economic dependency of one partner on the other or where children are involved, to avoid further distress or change for them.

Whatever the reason, judicial separation provides these couples with a mechanism to legally sort out the issues surrounding their separation; this is not available, however, to civil partners who wish to separate.

Period of separation: Civil partners must be living apart for 2 of the previous 3 years in order to apply to dissolve their partnership, whereas spouses must be living apart for 4 of the previous 5 years to apply for a divorce.

Marriage Equality’s report notes that while this is not equal treatment, it may be more sensible treatment and partly helps to make up for the lack of option to apply for a judicial separation in the Act. It reinforces, however, the greater importance afforded to marriage by the Irish State, with more onerous criteria to be met in order to dissolve a marriage when compared with a civil partnership.

Mediation requirement: To obtain a divorce there is a constitutional requirement for the married couple to consider mediation, and divorce legislation obliges solicitors to advise clients about what mediation services are available.

There is no such requirement in respect of civil partners who wish to dissolve their partnership and therefore no such obligation on solicitors, again demonstrating the greater importance afforded to marriage by the State.

In fact, when the Civil Partnership Bill was making its way through the Oireachtas, the then Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, justified this difference in treatment by reference to the risk of “upsetting the constitutional balance” and to “maintaining a distinction between marriage and civil partnership”; he did not elaborate on that, beyond referring to (though not specifying) advice received from the Attorney General. He stated that the government was “erring on the side of caution” by taking this approach.

Children: An example of the almost total lack of provisions relating to the children of civil partners emerged in this section under the laws governing dissolution. (Marriage Equality dealt with the overall issue of parents and children separately, however. See our next article on issues relating to parents and children.)

Criminal trials and the giving of evidence: Legislative provisions relating to the giving of evidence in a criminal trial highlight serious differences in treatment of the marital relationship versus civil partnerships.

A legal principle exists that spouses cannot be compelled to testify against one another. Two main justifications for this are: the principle of unity, i.e. the principle that for some purposes (although not all) husband and wife were considered as one by the law; and that there is a public interest in avoiding discord within the marital relationship – a recognition that testifying against one’s spouse, particularly if compelled to do so, would risk disharmony within the relationship.

These provisions have not been extended to civil partners, meaning that a civil partner may be compelled to give evidence against his or her partner, despite the potential problems this may create between the couple.

Next:

• Parent and Child, and Miscellaneous Provisions

Previously:

• The Family Home and Finance

Related posts:

1. Zappone & Gilligan launch fresh legal challenge for equality
2. Trans* equality activists protest Minister’s speech
3. BREAKING: Minister Shatter makes commitment to children of same-sex couples

Let’s start with sport cause our ladies seem to be doing alright in the Solheim Cup. The Irish Times reports Europe quietly gain upper hand

GOLF: SERENADED OFF the first tee with lyrics adapted to the rugby anthem, Ireland’s Call, and also a peculiar version of Danny Boy with a golfing twist by a supporting choir donned in curly blue wigs, Europe’s golfers for much of a long day let their clubs make their own sweet music in this 12th edition of the Solheim Cup.

Staying with sport, I know I know, but its all go this weekend, Irish Central reports New York Ladies GAA team aim for history at All-Ireland level

The New York Ladies football side head to Ireland on Wednesday, September 21 with the junior All-Ireland title in their sight. They play Wicklow on Sunday as the curtain raiser at Croke Park. The ladies intermediate and senior finals will follow.

and finally I can actually mention Westmeath and Gaa in the same sentence without being embarrassed, it seems our intermediate ladies are doing better then our senior boys

Westmeath to prevail

Of course the big one is the Women’s Senior Football final with the nearly always present Cork playing Monaghan. You can catch all 3 games tomorrow on TG4 from 12.

In Britain, Lesbians Separate at Half the Rate Heteros Do

Bad news for those looking for unequivocal proof that gays just simply aren’t cut out for this whole marriage thing: According to a U.K. government analysis, lesbians couples in civil partnerships (the training wheels for real marriage) separate at a shockingly high rate of … 2.5 percent, according to The Telegraph.

Girl with Dragon Tattoo offers deja vu [Trailer]

Intense and familiar are two words that come to mind upon viewing the extended trailer for David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” which of course tells of magazine-man Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) and hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) teaming up to solve a decades-old murder on a remote Swedish island.

Didn’t see the first one so I suppose I should start there.

‘Entourage’ star says Lynch’s lesbian joke wasn’t fair

“A lot people are very curious as to why I’m a lesbian — ladies and gentleman, the cast of Entourage,” she cracked.
But was the “Glee” star off the mark about the testosterone-fueled series? Kevin Dillon, aka Johnny Drama, thinks so…

“It was funny, but I think it’s not fair at the same time,” Dillon told me at the HBO party at the Pacific Design Center. “We all have good senses of humor but I think the men of ‘Entourage’ treat women well for the most part.

Again I’ve never seen an episode of Entourage so I can’t comment. I’ve got Rizzoli and Isles, Glee and The Good Wife to keep me amused, there’s not enough hours in the day sometimes

And in junk science of the bleeding obvious this week NU study finds bisexual men attracted to both genders

A new study conducted by Northwestern researchers found bisexual men are sexually stimulated by images of both genders. For Medill senior Chris Garcia, the results confirm what he’s known for years: he’s attracted to men and women.

I kid you not. I wonder when they do the same study on women will they get the same results? I’ll be here. On the edge of my seat.

Lawmakers Push Sex-Change Bill in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES – Legislators from Argentina’s ruling party are pushing debate on a bill to allow sex-change operations without previous judicial authorization, the press reported Sunday.

and with him yet to secure a nomination, David Norris heads the pack in the race for the Áras, according to the latest opinion poll.

Related posts:

1. A Suppa Earl Gae

'Still waiting' - Copyright Lisa Tiffany Photography

It was with a mixture of anticipation and excitement that I made my way to the official release of the Report from the Gender Recognition Advisory Group (GRAG), by Social Protection Minister Joan Burton yesterday morning.

A full 14 months has passed since the GRAG was established, 10 months since the closing date for acceptance of submissions on gender recognition legislation, and almost 9 months to the date when I presented my views on gender recognition to a panel of 3 government representatives, I finally held in my hand the document that should have culminated all that work. Instead, the disappointment of trans* individuals, allies and friends hung in the air.

The report was not made publicly available until after the launch this morning, meaning that we all only had a frantic 10 minutes flicking through the document until the launch began. With bated breath, everyone poured through the 65 pages, in the same way that you would your exam results; all hoping for the best outcome, but fearful of hidden surprises. The only sounds punctuating the room were exclamations of ridiculous inclusions, and the turning of pages.

Yesterday should have been a landmark day in Irish Trans* History. Instead, it was a huge letdown for the vast majority of people in the community.  In the few hours since its release, I’ve been angry, upset, hurt, in tears, and have come back to optimism again; because realistically, what else can you do?

Dr. Lydia Foy (right) stated in her address, that it’s not what we were hoping for, but as with civil partnership, it is at least a stepping stone in the right direction for trans* rights. Or is it? If we waited this long just to get gender recognition, who knows how long this ‘stepping stone’ will last. It may never be changed, or those who need and want the changes now may not be around to see it. Later is not good enough.

As Minister Burton stated in the press conference, this report has been read and approved by the cabinet, so the legislation should be implemented in the near future. However, some major discussions will soon be underway in the Oireachtas regarding the official implementation of this legislation.

“I am delighted to announce that I intend to bring forward legislation later this year providing for the recognition of the acquired gender of transgender people.  The High Court’s ruling in the Foy case that the State was in breach of its commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights in its failure to provide this recognition was delivered in 2008.  This Government is determined to implement legislation in this matter as soon as possible.”

So what can we expect from the gender recognition legislation?

(1)   Applications accepted from: Irish nations, Irish residents and those on the Foreign Births Register.

The issue with this is that there is no provision made for refugees, including those fearing persecution due to gender identity, as person must be an ordinary resident for two years prior to application.

(2)   The minimum age for application is 18 years.

(3)   A statutory declaration that they intend to live in their preferred gender for the rest of their lives, is required.

(4)   The applicant must have completed a minimum of two years “real life test”, living 24/7 as their preferred gender prior to application.

However, they do allow this period to begin from the age of 16 years, meaning that you can have all your documentation in order by your 18^th birthday and potentially get your GRC. The unfortunate addition to this clause is that, to be able to use any period of time prior to your 18^th birthday, the panel will require evidence from the applicants treating mental health professional stating that the applicant “had the requisite mental capacity at 16 and 17 years to understand the nature and effect of the treatment he/she was undergoing”.

(5)   Medical criteria: The applicant must have EITHER (A) a diagnosis of GID (plus “confirmation that the applicant is not suffering from any debarring mental health condition”) OR (B) have undergone gender re-assignment surgery.

If (B), you need your surgeon to have provided a formal declaration. Otherwise you will be required to have a physical examination by a medical professional to confirm this, which a lot of people are understandably distraught about. Surgery is (at least) not a requirement, but has been included so that many of the trans* individuals in Ireland who have already opted for surgery, can automatically avail of GRC.

Although it supports your case further, and should be provided if you have it, you do NOT need to have undergone hormone therapy etc. Other additions to support your application, that fall into this “relevant evidence” category are things such as electrolysis, waxing, vocal coaching….. (Remind me to write an article outlining these when the legislation comes through!); though there is something absurd about trans people having to give evidence of leg waxing to get a piece of paper declaring they’re a woman.

Possibly the worst addition to the report is the following,

(6)   The applicant cannot be in an existing valid marriage or civil partnership.

This means that in order to obtain a GRC, the applicant must be single. Annulment is not mandated for, as it goes against the Irish constitution, so the only way is through divorce, which requires a 4 year separation period.

When questioned on this topic further by two separate women, both in loving relationships with children, the reasoning from Minister Burton was “Failing to exclude people in an existing marriage would be constitutionally unsound”. GRAG Chairperson Oliver Ryan stated if the legislation was introduced without any reference to marital status, it could “in effect” be regarded as bringing in same sex marriage; further admitting the proposal left couples in “a practically impossible situation”.

“It leaves two [married] people who want to stay together in a practically impossible situation,” admitted Mr Ryan.

As read out by Minister Burton,

“For the majority of transgender persons who were married in their former gender but have since transitioned to the opposite gender, the marriage will have broken down by the time the transgender spouse wishes to apply for gender recognition…respondents…suggest that there is likely to be a small number of cases where the spouses wish to stay together…(the state) cannot be required to make allowances for the small number of marriages where both partners with to continue”.

Therefore, according to this statement, they believe that this decision to exclude those in marriages is compatible with the European Convention of Human Rights. But because it’s going to be a supposed ‘small number of cases’, it’s ok. As far as the government is concerned, this issue has been put to rest.

(7)   Intersex people are excluded from legislation on the basis that they (apparently) have no way of official diagnosis (as with GID). Inclusion “required more research and medical expertise than was available”.

The enforcement of a medical diagnosis means that intersex individuals cannot access legislation due to ‘a pre-occurring condition’, despite the fact that the lives of these two communities overlap considerably. In some cases, it is the fault of the medical ‘professionals’ that their gender identity and assigned gender doesn’t correlate, as doctors have been allowed to choose a gender for the child, sometimes conducting ‘corrective surgeries’ when the gender was not immediately certain. No allowances will be made in legislation at all; not even a diagnosis of being intersex or a chance to explain their situation to the GRC panel.

As I said with my own personal submission to GRAG, and what was voiced by another emotional activist, Minister Burton could have made her legacy in trans* rights with this report, ensuring that our legislation is at the forefront of European Human rights with regard to gender identity, and set a precedent for other countries to follow suit. Instead, it seems like we got an almost copy of the UK legislation; a few things a little better, and others a lot worse.

Flipping through the pages, you have no idea how upsetting it is to see excerpts from my proposal in every “it was suggested” section, and yet almost none of it get actually implemented. It seems like my ideas got all the way to the final panel, and then were over-ruled for more conservative suggestions. They heard us, but they didn’t listen.

When questioned about the medicalisation implemented in this report (either diagnosis or surgery required), Mr Ryan had the audacity to say something to the effect of ‘well some countries even require sterilisation and we didn’t include that’ in a tone that said to me take what you’ve been given, and be thankful. When it was asked why they didn’t take the chance to be a leader of human rights legislation, and follow in the footsteps of other countries such as the new draft of the German gender identity laws (proposing a sworn affidavit for gender recognition, which can be legally upheld, is cost effective and qualifies under EU human rights policies.), the response was one of “(their legislation) hasn’t been changed yet”.

Although they reference the recent case of Louise Hannon, the report states that “the existing legislation….(is) adequate to discourage and prevent discrimination against persons who are making the transition from one gender to the other”; further clarifying this point in panel, saying that no provisions will be made for discrimination on the grounds of trans* status. This should have been provided for in the Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Act.

Another nugget of interest is that “the bill should provide for a revocation and correction process for GRCs”; a point that is not clearly explained anywhere in the report, that I can see. Who gets to decide on revoking GRCs? Presumably the government aren’t going to leave a legal loop that will allow anyone other than the applicant to revoke their GRC?! But after the mistakes made in this document, nothing would surprise me.

There is also the concern for trans* youth. Setting the age of gender recognition to 18 years, this could become an issue for Trans* youth in schools when registering their preferred name and gender. There is already a mountain of pressure surrounding young people in schools without accounting for bullying and transphobia.

Minister Burton did state that this was not in the original scope of the gender recognition advisory group, but having come across the mounting evidence that this will become a huge issue, they have instead chosen to pass on the information to the Department of Health and Children to be dealt with at a later stage, rather than ensuring that provisions are in place for these minors now. The “medical professional” consulted on this issue states in the report that “there is evidence from the literature that minors who desire a gender change frequently change their minds as they reach adulthood”; a claim that I would really like references for, as I can’t find a single source.

Everything in this report has been put ‘on the long finger’,  to be done “sometime in the future” (maybe); the future probably being at some later date, when the rest of the world has done it first and there is mounting pressure on Ireland to follow suit. The Minister made it clear to me that they were laying down legislation to comply with the Lydia Foy ruling, doing what needed to be done, but no more. After all, why would they, when they don’t ‘have to’? That’s just not good enough, Ireland.

So, being optimistic, what can we take from the report?

(1) There is no fee to obtain the GRC

(2) The process with be predominantly administrative. In the vast majority of cases, there should be a form to fill out, along with photocopies of all the required documentation. This will then be passed on to a panel to examine and decide on each application, in accordance with criteria outlined in the bill. The panel will be composed of a person with medical expertise, one with legal expertise and a third “lay-person representing wider civil society as chair”. Only in exceptional circumstances will the applicant be called forward for an oral meeting with the panel, but they may be accompanied by a person of their choosing.

(3) If unsuccessful, an appeals process will be set up to deal with claims and re-evaluation.

(4) If successful, the panel will pass this information on to the general registrar via confidential means, who will then contact you regarding providing your new certificate.

(5) The link between the original birth entry and the new GRC entry will be maintained confidentially, similar to adoptive records.

(6) The original birth certificate will be flagged so that it may not be obtained by anyone without owners consent; unless required for legal reasons (eg. Criminal investigation)

(7) The new GRC will be identical to the certificate produced in the year of your birth, meaning if you were born in 1945, the style of certificate used in that year will be implemented. This will ensure further privacy.

(8) Parental rights are completely unaffected by the GRC (I can’t, however, find information on adoptive children, or children by marriage).

(9) Once your GRC has been processed, you may marry / have a civil partnership, and obtain the full rights issued by those institutions.

At the launch, Minister Burton affirmed her commitment to the process, noting that there is an “open door”. She welcomed submissions on the legislation for consideration until legislation has been passed.

So there is still some hope, however slight. If you’re motivated to do something right, please read the report in full, sleep on it, and present a FEW points that you’ve researched well to Minister Burton(joan.burton@oireachtas.ie), as they explain their rational for each decision in the report.

A few strong points make a bigger impact than an essay. Reference the report, debunk their reasoning and provide a method of implementing your opinion, (preferably without breaking constitution) and most importantly, write from the heart.  A simple idea has more ground to get included, but can make a profound difference to the lives of our trans* family.

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