EILE Magazine – January 2015 (Vol.2, Issue 8)

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Magazine V2 Issue 8 – January 2015

Marriage Referendum LGBT politicians speak out

PinkSixty News Colin Fallesen on the online news service

Paul M music, bears and hopes for 2015

Leelah Remembered Inside:

Fashion | Film | Music | History | Opinion | Interviews

EILE Magazine | Who’s Who

Contributors Mark Anthony Mark is from Port Laoise and is an event producer, having worked on several fashion shows in Ireland. He is EILE’s resident style writer.

Jenny Butler Jenny is a writer, broadcast journalist and radio producer, living in County Kildare.

M. Butler M. Butler is a writer and editor, with a keen interest in human rights, and has studied philosophy and psychology.

Scott De Buitléir Scott is the creator of EILE Magazine and is a writer and broadcaster from Dublin.

He also hosts The Cosmo, RTÉ’s LGBT radio show, every Wednesday at 10pm.

Alan Lambert Alan is a writer, reviewer and blogger, based in Dublin.

Deirdre O’Byrne Deirdre is a radio broadcaster, writer, social commentator and trans rights activist, based in County Longford.

Lisa Reynolds Originally from County Meath, Lisa is a fashion industry student living in Bray, County Wicklow.

Stephen Spillane Stephen is a political activist with Young Fine Gael, and was Secretary of Cork Pride 2014. He is also involved with the Church of Ireland’s LGBT group.

William Quill William is a law student at King’s Inns Dublin, and is an active member of Fine Gael’s LGBT group. He is from Bray, County Wicklow, where is lives today.

Frances Winston Frances Winston is EILE’s resident film buff, and has contributed to many publications such as The Irish Independent and Irish Tatler.

Rick Watts Based in Los Angeles, Rick is an LGBT activist and contributor to the NewsWrap segment of LGBT radio, This Way Out. He is also a board member of TWO’s production company, Overnight Productions.

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EILE Magazine | Welcome

Highlights January 2015 Gar Cox – P.6

Volume 2, Issue 08

We chat to the book-loving singer & songwriter about life, love and his new EP

Editor-in-Chief: Scott De Buitléir Features Editor: MKB

Remembering Leelah – P.10 Leelah Alcorn’s passing sparked an international debate on transgender issues and rights

Paul M – P.22 We chat with the charming singer/ songwriter ahead of his Dublin performance at Béar Féile 2015

Chris Curran & Patrick McKee – Pgs. XX & XX Interviews with the openly-gay councillors from both Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil

Contributors: Mark Anthony, Jenny Butler, M. Butler, Alan Lambert, Deirdre O’Byrne, Lisa Reynolds, Stephen Donnan, Stephen Spillane, William Quill, Frances Winston, Rick Watts NB: All images in th is publication are either under Creative Commons licence, or used with permission. Image credits, where necessary, are printed on the correspinding page(s). Any queries can be made to hello@eile. ie Special Thanks to MKB for all her hard work, dedication and support.

Web: http://eile.ie Contact: hello@eile.ie Twitter: @EileMagazine Facebook: http://fb.com/eilemagazine Note: All opinions expressed in this issue are the writers’ own.

Films with Frances – P.52

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Frances Winston reviews Foxcatcher and Testament of Youth, both out this month (BZ &VSPQFBO 5PVSJTN "TTPDJBUJPO

…and much more!

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EILE Magazine | Editor’s Letter

Contents 6-

Gar Cox

10 -

Remembering Leelah

14 -

Paul M

22 -

Cllr. Chris Curran

26 -

Cllr. Patrick McKee

30 -

Menswear

36 -

Fashion on Film

40 - Stephen Donnan 42 -

PinkSixty News

46 -

The Tudors

50 -

California Dispatch

56 -

Theatre

58 -

Film Reviews

66 -

Jenny Butler

68 -

Law

70 -

Beware the Polls

A Bittersweet Beginning Happy New Year! By now, you’ve celebrated, partied and once again pretended you knew the words to ‘Auld Lang Syne’ – well done for making it this far!

2015 is going to be a majorly important year for LGBT rights in Ireland, and we have only a few months to make sure that the majority of our compatriots vote yes in the marriage referendum.

EILE will be covering the campaign, as well as providing comment, opinion and analysis.

This month has an unavoidably sad tone to it, as we pay tribute to Leelah Alcorn, who died tragically last month. Her death sparked a worldwide discussion on trans rights, respect and recognition. Her death will not be in vain, but it is tragic that it took her death to make people aware of such horrid treatment of transgender people.

We move forward, however, with a renewed sense of purpose and hope; for LGBT youth, for gay & lesbian couples, and for overall equality for everyone.

We were all shocked and saddened by Leelah’s passing, but it is for that very same reason that we should work to making this a better new year for all.

Scott De Buitléir Founder / Editor-in-Chief

EILE Magazine

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Information and support for women who need someone to talk to

DLL – Phone: (01) 872 9911 (Callback facility available)

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Gar Cox

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The book-loving singer-songwriter chats to EILE Magazine about life, music and his upcoming EP First of all, tell us a little about yourself. What led you to become a musician?

I’ve always been a musician from the time I was schlepping around to practise before class in school. I wasn’t cut out to be an accountant, so when I was old enough, I took off, and I carried my guitar with me.

I was a bit of a hobo I guess, hitchhiking, jumping trains and living the good life. I got to see lots of places and meet lots of people; I got to know the railway stations and service stations of Britain and Europe very well.

Living here in Ireland, or traipsing around the less known cities and towns in Europe, I’ve found the best way to reconcile myself with new people and places is to include them in a song, one way or another.

There are a lot of stories in my music, so another important thing for me is to always have something to read. Being absorbed by a book is another type of travel – you can be transported to a place that’s safe, foreign, whatever you like.

At the moment I’m putting the finishing touches on an EP, “Support Your Local Bookshop” that reflects on places and movement, and on how important it is to have the constancy of books in our lives, wherever we go.

You once did a wonderful cover of Phil Chevron’s “Under Clery’s Clock”, which is a little-known song about a guy waiting for his male date at the iconic location. When/how did you come across the song?

I covered “Under Clery’s Clock” last year as a cover for the Record Store Gay album, a collection of gay anthems by Irish bands and musicians that’s put out every year as a fundraiser for the great Outhouse space. I chose “Under Clery’s Clock” because it’s an epic torch song that also explains the difficulties of gay life in Ireland before decriminalisation. As well as being the front man of The Radiators from Space, one of the all time great Irish bands, Phil Chevron wrote the phenomenal Pogues song Thousands are Sailing, about

the alienation of the Irish. As an out gay Irishman who wrote incredible songs, Phil Chevron felt like the perfect choice for me to cover.

What was it like to be involved with the Record Store Gay event? Do you think the LGBT community is a good launch pad for gay musicians?

Record Store Gay is a great thing – they put on a great show, put out a lovely record, and provide a whale of a time.

It’s a great occasion for a great cause, because Outhouse is such a terrific resource. Also, as somebody who has been a little bit reticent about putting out work over the years, it gave me a shove to start putting together my own EP. One problem for LGBT musicians who are starting out is that there aren’t very many LGBT events that are centred on live, original music. It’s a shame in some ways, because – while I love to play for all kinds of audiences, and to listen to musicians from all different backgrounds – some of my songs are pretty fruity,

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so it would be great to see more opportunities to play them in that context.

Having said that, I did get to play my Christmas single “Too Late for Christmas” in The George the week before Christmas and it got a really lovely and thoughtful response. I actually think the LGBT community would really welcome more live music events.

You’re in a relationship with another musician, The Late David Turpin; do you make sure to keep your styles different, or do you give each other advice when writing music? Or, do you collaborate at all?

bit of a plan to invite a few LGBT performers to come and join me in A Big Gay Cavalcade this spring. It’ll be a hootenanny – gays with guitars, banjos and fiddles.

I was really inspired by playing The Outing in Lisdoonvarna last year, and I wouldn’t miss it this year either. After all that it might be nice to take a little autumn break. Autumn’s a special time of year, and it’s not too hot.

– Find out more about Gar Cox’s music by visiting http://breakingtunes.com/garcox

I am in a relationship with the wonderful David Turpin, and while we do have very different styles, we like an awful lot of the same things.

For starters, we both love books – although I’m all for potboilers and the political histrionics of Dickens, while David has more refined tastes.

Musically, we actually like a lot of the same things – I like blowsy showgirls, country, and folkie trad, while David listens to Laurie Anderson and Arthur Russell, but we share a love of the greatest of them all, K. D. Lang.

We do give each other some advice when we are making work, but most of the time we are just there for support and tea breaks. We have worked on some pieces together – one of which is a really interesting reworking of a poem by W. H. Auden, for my EP – although the best advice David ever had for me was telling me to read a book by Patrick Dennis, and to watch the DVD of Liza with a “Z”.

With 2015 now upon us, what are your plans for the year ahead, and beyond?

I’ve run out of excuses and life’s too short, so I’ve decided to release things that I’ve been playing for years but have never recorded. I’m really concentrating on having the EP out in February, and I hope to tour around a little with that.

There are great venues and bookshops all over Ireland so I would love to go to some of these and play and have a bit of craic. I also have a

Photos of Gar by Leo Byrne

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Suicide of trans teen Leelah Alcorn galvanises worldwide trans community

by Deirdre O’Byrne In the early morning hours of 28th December, trans woman Leelah Alcorn from Kings Mill, Ohio, walked 4 miles from her home into traffic on Interstate 71, where she was killed by a tractor-trailer. Before she left, she queued a note on the social media web site Tumblr – a note which started with “If you are reading this, it means that I have committed suicide and obviously failed to delete this post from my queue”.

In her suicide note, she said that she knew she was transgender since the age of 4, but it wasn’t until she was 14 that she learned what transgender was, and that it was possible to transition: “After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was.

I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn’t make mistakes, that I am wrong. If you are reading

this, parents, please don’t tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don’t ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won’t do anything but make them hate them self. That’s exactly what it did to me”.

“My mom started taking me to a therapist, but would only take me to christian therapists, (who were all very biased) so I never actually got the therapy I needed to cure me of my depression. I only got more christians telling me that I was selfish and wrong and that I should look to God for help”.

“When I was 16 I realized that my parents would never come around, and that I would have to wait until I was 18 to start any sort of transitioning treatment, which absolutely broke my heart. The longer you wait, the harder it is to transition”.

“On my 16th birthday, when I didn’t receive consent from my parents to start transitioning, I cried myself to

sleep”.

In October, in a post on reddit, she said about her parents that “they would say things like “You’ll never be a real girl” [..]or “God’s going to send you straight to hell”. These all made me feel awful about myself, I was christian at the time so I thought that God hated me and that I didn’t deserve to be alive. I cut myself at least once every couple days, and I was constantly thinking about suicide”.

“Eventually I lied to them and told them I was straight and that I was a boy, and then the derogatory speech and neglect started to fade.

I tried my absolute hardest to live up to their standards and be a straight male, but eventually I realized that I hated religion and my parents.

I came out as gay in school, hoping to ease my friends into the whole LGBT thing before I came out as trans. Although my friends reactions were mostly positive my parents were beyond pissed. They took me out of public school, took

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I was like this for 5 months, completely and utterly alone.

I wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone outside of church and I wasn’t allowed to be with any of my friends, I just had to stay in my house and be quiet”.

“Eventually they came around and gave me my phone back, but they heavily monitored my facebook/twitter/tumblr profiles in case I did anything “stupid” again. Although I got my friends back I wasn’t allowed to talk to them about anything LGBT”.

On Christmas Day, she wrote about the presents she received. “Some socks and some boy clothes. It sucks watching your sisters get dresses and having your family compliment how pretty they are when if I wore a dress I’d get kicked out of the house”.

Her mother wrote on facebook “My sweet 16-year-old son, [male name], went home to Heaven this morning. He was out for an early morning walk and was hit by a truck. Thank you for the messages and kindness and concern you have sent our way. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.”

The post has since been taken down.

Leelah left a call to arms at the end of her suicide note – a call to arms that has resonated throughout the worldwide transgender community:

“The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren’t treated the way I was, they’re treated like humans, with valid feelings and human rights. Gender needs to be taught about in schools, the earlier the better.

My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say “that’s f**ked up” and fix it. Fix society.

Please”.

In response, the twitter hashtag #RealLiveTransAdult

has emerged, in which trans adults share their stories with trans teens, in an attempt to cut through the despair that trans teens often feel.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam

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Leelah Alcorn’s Mother Speaks To CNN Leelah Alcorn, the transgender teen (17 years old) from Ohio, left a suicide note cued on tumbler, and then walked into traffic, where she was hit by a tractor-trailer just after Christmas.

In her note, she criticises her parents, who would not accept her as transgender, and would not let her transition on her 16th birthday. She wanted her death to mean something, that parents would understand their transgender children, and that transgender people would be accepted in society.

There was huge reaction and social media backlash against her parents, who still used male pronouns and nouns to speak about Leelah after her death.

CNN quote Leelah’s mother, Carla, who told them that when Leelah said she wanted to live as a girl, they wouldn’t stand for it:

“We don’t support that, religiously,” Alcorn’s mother told CNN on Wednesday, her voice breaking. “But we told him that we loved him unconditionally. We loved him no matter what. I loved my son. People need to know that I loved him. He was a good kid, a good boy.”

Carla also told CNN that Leelah was depressed, and medical professionals had given her medication, after which she stopped talking about being transgender.

However, in Leelah’s suicide note, she explains that as being the stage where she saw that talking to her parents was hopeless, and had also had her mobile phone taken from her, effectively cutting her off from her friends and social media.

Her mother also referred to Leelah asking for transition surgery, but says she told Leelah no, as they didn’t have the money for it.

Carla Alcorn also stated that the “hateful messages” were making them out to be horrible people, and that her other

children were really sad that they had lost a sibling.

She explained that there had not been a service yet as people were threatening to protest.

Even to the end of speaking to CNN, Carla was still using male pronouns and nouns for Leelah: “He was an amazing musician and artist, he was an amazing boy”.

Shane Morgan, the executive director of TransOhio, told CNN that Leelah’s death brought back memories of what he went through 15 years ago, as he struggled with being transgender.

He said that if he could have talked to Leelah, he “would have said that he understood how tough it is and how awful it feels. He would have told her that when she got a little bit older, she would be freer to adopt another kind of family — one of friends who would accept and cherish her”.

MKB

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The need for a rethink of Ireland’s Gender Recognition Bill?

by M. Butler The sad case of Ohio transgender girl, Leelah Alcorn (17) has highlighted the need for a rethink in Ireland of the Gender Recognition Bill, in regard to 16 and 17 year-olds.

Leelah was refused permission by her parents to transition on her 16th birthday, and wrote in her tumbler suicide note: “I feel like a girl trapped in a boy’s body, and I’ve felt that way ever since I was 4″.

This tragedy, which could possibly have been averted if the parental consent rule for 16 year-olds was changed, should inform the Irish government in relation to the conditions it has laid down for transitioning of 16 and 17 year-olds. Here in Ireland, this age group will also need parental consent, a medical certificate, a certificate from a psychiatrist or endocrinologist, AND a court

order.

According to Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI): “..the process that is being proposed is onerous. In order to be legally recognised, young people aged 16 and 17 will, in most cases, require parental consent, a certificate from their primary treating medical practitioner, a second certificate from ‘an endocrinologist or psychiatrist, who has no connection to the child’, and a court order”.

Even more worrying is that under 16s are excluded from the Bill.

TENI chair, Sara Phillips, recently criticised the Gender Recognition Bill: “We are very disappointed

that this Bill does not go further in protecting the rights of trans people in this country. This is a moment we should be celebrating as we are one step closer to legal recognition. However, many members of our community are still excluded in this legislation. We remain hopeful that the Government will work closely with the trans community to improve this legislation before it becomes law. There is still time to do the right thing.

Gender recognition legislation has the capacity to greatly improve the lives of trans people, and to ensure that trans people are treated with dignity and respect as they live their day to day lives.

This is, and always has been, a human rights issue. Trans people deserve the respect of being recognised and protected for who they are.”

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EILE catches up with the singer/ songwriter ahead of his Dublin performance at Béar Féile

Paul M

FoodEILE | Christmas Treats Magazine 15 EILE: When we last spoke, you were raising funds for Cancer Research UK and performing as part of the Take That Experience.

What have you been up to since our July chat?

PM: It’s been a lot of gigging and shows, but also recording my new album/ EP- ‘Covers 2’. The recording process is so much fun. Also got a new website - www.paulmmusic. com EILE: You’ll be coming over to Ireland later this year to perform at Dublin’s Béar Féile, but it’s not your first ‘bear’ appearance! What are you hoping to get up to in Dublin?

PM: I love Dublin. Cannot wait. I’m so excited. Been coming here for about 6 years and it’s a special city with very, very special people. Irish guys are so damn friendly and welcoming. It’s a quick visit as I have a show back in England, but I will be catching up with some close friends. Singing my heart out. Hanging out.

Trying to like Guinness and looking forward to meeting new people.

EILE: You once mentioned that the gay crowd in Soho were overwhelmingly supportive of you; do you think there’s still a good bear community in London?

PM: Absolutely. It is very welcoming. The heart of

it is that there is a really strong community of bears, not just from London, but from all over the world, that make up a loving, fun, diverse bear community. It’s not just London now that is being supportive, but other countries. Youtube have these results where it tells you who watches you. I get many views from USA, Germany, parts of Asia and South America which is mad.

EILE: Tell us about your new album, and how it differs from ‘Covers’.

Love is love no matter who or where you are.

This album is different in the sense that I have tried to show more of my personality in terms of music I like. I did a dancey version of ‘These Days’ by Take That. Also did a quirky song called ‘Budapest’

by George Ezra. It’s more midtempo, but a fun song that is great fun to do live. This album still has the ballads like John Legend’s ‘All of Me’, and I did a slow ballad version of Ne-yo’s ‘Let Me Love You’. It still has twists on a couple of songs.

EILE: Marriage equality is now in place across Britain, and we in Ireland are hoping to see similar soon. Does being gay affect your career in music at all, or is it just another part of being you?

PM: Love is love no matter who or where you are. Parts of the world need to realise that and not be blinded by bullshit.

I love music and being gay EILE Magazine 45

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has not affected me at all. Look at Sam Smithmassive in the USA and other parts of the world. The music and my love of music comes first. I’m an artist, a singer, being gay is a big part of that, but doesn’t define me or what I do.

Where lots of songs that I cover are based on personal experiences and people I care about, I try to be inclusive for everyone.

For me, music should be bringing everyone together. Of course, there are times when music can be personal and you want to share a part of your soul, which is fine as well. You just hope people get what you are saying and appreciate it.

EILE: What does 2015 hold for Paul Middleton? Any surprises up your sleeves?

Might be having an album launch party very soon for my new album, which is lovely, in London at The Eagle. Check out my Paul M Facebook page for details for that.

There is one which I’m really excited about, but I hate tempting fate. If I say it and it doesn’t happen I will be gutted. It involves an original song I wrote in November. That’s all I can say.

Click on Cover Art to hear ‘Covers 2’

Glen Chair: Kieran Rose

GLEN: Equality for gay couples closer as Government name marriage referendum date GLEN has welcomed the Government’s announcement that the referendum on civil marriage equality will be held in May 2015, following on from the recommendation of the Constitutional Convention in April 2013.

“We welcome the Government decision to outline the timeframe for the referendum.

The referendum will put the question of equality in the Constitution for lesbian and gay couples to the people, as recommended by the Constitutional Convention.

The referendum, if carried, will complete the remarkable journey to Constitutional equality for lesbian and gay people in Ireland” said Kieran Rose, GLEN Chair.

“We look forward to a positive campaign which focuses on the value of marriage to everyone in Irish society and explains why marriage matters to lesbian and gay couples” continued Rose.

“Recent polls show that a majority of the Irish people in every age group, in every region of the country, across every social class and across all political affiliations now support equal access to civil marriage for lesbian and gay couples” said Rose.

“However, we do not take the outcome of the referendum for granted. Despite the strong support in the polls currently, we know that we will need every single possible vote on the day in order to win the referendum” continued Rose.

“Irish people rightly take constitutional change very seriously and our job over the next five months will be to engage with and listen to as many voters as possible, to understand and assuage any concerns...”

“Irish people rightly take constitutional change very seriously and our job over the next five months will be to engage with and listen to as many voters as possible, to understand and assuage any concerns, and to encourage people to have their voices heard on the day” concluded Rose.

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Monster Hero & Record Store Gay Open Little Gem Records The guys behind I Heart The Monster Hero and Record Store Gay have joined forces to open a brand new independent music store, right in the heart of Dublin.

Opening last month, December 6, Little Gem Records will be specialising in independent bands and labels, stocking records, cassettes, CDs, and other musical goodies.

Andy Walsh of Little Gem, who is also a musician, told EILE

Magazine that the team behind the new music store aim to support independent and upand-coming musicians and artists, by helping to share, promote and sell their works.

While a little on the minimalistic side at the moment, the store’s team should be making more details available over the next few days on their website, littlegemrecords. tumblr.com.

In the meantime, music lovers, city dwellers and Dubliners new and old alike are invited to visit the store and say hello at 5 Cavendish Row, Dublin 1.

News | Round-Up

LGBT Monthly News Roun First Same-Sex Weddings in Scotland Take Place on Hogmanay

Two couples have tied the knot on the stroke of midnight in Scotland’s first same-sex weddings.

Joe Schofield and Malcolm Brown, both 42, and Susan Douglas-Scott, 54, and Gerrie Douglas-Scott, 59, are the first of 17 couples to marry on Hogmanay.

MSPs passed the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill in February, making Scotland the 17th country in the world to legalise same-sex ceremonies.

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Music Matters – First Transgender Choir Looking For Members

News | Round-Up

nd-Up

Taking the LGBT Out of “Pride” – LGSM Reference Removed It’s 1984 in London, Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer) is watching a news bulletin featuring union leader, Arthur Scargill discussing the ongoing miners strike. Ashton notices the parallels between the treatment of the miners and his own situation, so begins a collection to support the miners. His group would go on to be the largest supporters of the mining strike raising over £11,000, which was mainly down to the organization of a benefit concert “The Pits and The Perverts”.

Who were this group and why did they find something in common with the strikers?

From reading the cover of the US DVD release of Pride, you won’t know.

The distributors of the DVD have opted to remove any

reference to the group LGSM (Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners) even going so far as to alter the picture on the back cover to remove a prominent banner, instead opting to refer to them as a group of Londonbased activists.

sites selling the DVD, such as Amazon.com, still contains the unedited version.

Pride will be released on DVD in the UK and Ireland in March.

Alan Lambert

CBS Films, who released the DVD alongside Sony Pictures, told Pink News: “We’re looking into this now and our page for the film remains the same as it has for months.” http:// cbsfilms.com/pride/ Perhaps the distributor felt that the film would make more money from unsuspecting members of the public who wouldn’t want to watch a film about social pariahs. The irony is that the film is a story about solidarity and friendship, that doesn’t shy away from the hypocrisy or pure hatred aimed towards both groups.

It is worth noting that while the DVD cover no longer contains references to the LGBT element of the story, the synopsis on US online EILE Magazine 21

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Chris Curran EILE Magazine chats to Sinn Fein LGBT councillor, Chris Curran about politics and LGBT rights

First of all, tell us a little about yourself, and how you came to get into politics.

Well I suppose I’ve always been involved in politics to some extent. As a child, whenever a current affairs program was on TV or radio, we’d be tuned in. Our house was a hive of community activity. People were always in and out of the house. Although my parents were not members of any political party, local TDs and councillors would have been amongst those visitors to the house.

I joined Fianna Fáil when I was young, helped out on a few election campaigns, but never felt like I fitted in. I just couldn’t be myself, I couldn’t relate because I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t out, and [was] terrified of being gay.

In my teens, being gay was illegal, I understood from the church that I was evil, in the schoolyard I was scared of being exposed as being gay, and those I knew who were gay were referred to as “funny” by neighbours.

In all, it was horrible time for me and shared by so many in our community. I’ll never forget the fear & isolation, and I think it’s what drives me today.

Isn’t it no wonder LGBT people are more likely to suffer mental health difficulties?

Did being gay affect how you perceived Irish politics, or your own party, at all?

Eventually, when I came out and life began to settle down, I felt like I wanted to be part of something positive, something that would change our country.

The preceding years saw the IRA ceasefire, the excitement of the Good Friday Agreement and our island had for the first time in hundreds of years known peace.

I was totally invigorated by my time on a Peace & Reconciliation course in South Africa. I worked in a centre for victims of torture, witnessed HIV/AIDS first hand, and saw how Sinn Féin was seen very positively on a global stage.

To me, supporting Sinn Féin was the right thing to do. If I’ve to be honest, I had my preconceptions, and I needed to challenge them.

When I joined Sinn Féin I stated I was gay, and found it an incredibly receptive place for me. My ideas were listened to, respected, and in some cases acted upon.

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I felt I could relate here. I felt like I’d found a home. Probably because Sinn Féin and I had both been marginalised. My preconceptions were shattered and political life began for me.

Sinn Féin has a long record of advocating for LGBT rights and equality, and Gerry Adams himself launched the party’s policies on LGBT equality and antidiscrimination last year.

Is there much else that Sinn Féin can do towards combatting prejudice and forms of homophobia?

In Dublin alone, we have 3 elected councillors - Fintan Warfeild, Emma Murphy and myself.

The LGBT community is grossly under-represented across the country, and I believe that LGBT people should unashamedly exercise their democratic right to stand for election and come forward.

You ask is “there much else” that Sinn Féin can do towards combatting prejudice and homophobia? I think there are a few strands to this, amongst which are political and social.

Over the years, I’ve got to know Gerry a bit. He’s such a down-toearth guy yet will be remembered in Irish history for massive political change, and I feel privileged to work with him.

At a political level, equality under the law will be a massive step towards the full attainment of our rights, but that’s the easy part, as all political parties support LGBT equality.

He’s so well tuned-in to the LGBT agenda. He has a real, true, genuine interest in our agenda.

He didn’t need to be asked to launch our LGBT discussion document. He wanted to be there, because he cares. It’s not a political issue as such, it’s a matter of human rights.

However, Sinn Féin believe that a Bill of Rights is required to solidify those rights, and that for any person, body, or institution to breach those rights will see the full weight of the law leveraged against those who infringe it.

Next year’s Ard Fheis will see a motion go forward that, if passed, will give Sinn Féin LGBT full constitutional status within the party. The result will be another clear demonstration of our commitment to equality, and should increase representation of LGBT members on the Ard Comhairle of the organisation.

As far as I know Sinn Féin has the highest number of elected political representatives from the LGBT community. We have LGBT members on councils North, East, West & South.

Social change has seen our country unrecognisable from the Ireland of 30 years ago, but prejudice and homophobia are still pervasive in so many ways.

If a person were attacked for the colour or his/her skin or religion, there would be uproar. Yet LGBT people can be attacked for being LGBT with the crime unrecorded as such.

I believe that the Garda Pulse System should be extended to at least begin gathering ‘informal’ statistics to start quantifying the extent of suspected hate crime.

Granted proving hate crime may, at present, be difficult, but we

need a starting point.

The work of groups like Belongto should receive much greater support from the state. Their work offers so much to future generations to successfully change attitudes towards LGBT people.

The celebration of diversity is vital to the continuation of building an open, free society.

We need to reach the stage that homophobia is treated with equal distaste as racism, and that such prejudice will not be tolerated in Irish society.

At council level, Sinn Féin LGBT’s councillors have been putting forward motions to support practical access to council services. For example Dùn Laoghaire Rathdown County Council had motions passed to bring Pride events to the county, as well as initiating the council’s engagement on workplace diversity programs.

In the next couple of months, we’ll see a motion go before the council to allow a person to choose how they wish to express their own gender identity on documents and forms.

As we all know, prejudice tends to be based on ignorance. Sinn Féin have been long time advocates of community restorative justice programs. Restorative Justice programs give the offender the opportunity to see the effect of his/her actions. They have proven very successful, cathartic for the victim, and can neutralise prejudice. Perhaps it’s worth exploring.

With the marriage equality referendum coming up, what role will you – and the party – have to play in

EILE Magazine 25 the upcoming campaign?

Do you have any fears that this could be a north/south, urban/rural, or even male/ female divide in terms of who will vote Yes? Interesting question, I believe our enemy is complacency.

Sometimes the electorate can express its wrath on the government at such times.

In this case, I expect not.

However our research tells us that there is confusion in rural areas, and this concerns me.

The question needs to be explicitly clear and void of any confusion as to it meaning.

The Family & Relationship Bill needs to be enacted and gone over the horizon long before the referendum.

One of my fears will be how the media choose to report the campaign. There’s nothing like a sensational headline to sell a few papers. I hope the editors and subeditors can keep their heads, and remember that this is a very serious issue affecting the lives of so many of us.

Another concern is that the campaign must remain party neutral. Of course, the parties can offer their support of Yes, but to gain political capital would be inappropriate.

Party politics on such matters can be fairly off-putting to the electorate, and on this occasion, hopefully the swords will be left in the closet.

As regards the role of Sinn Féin, the party will play its part as agreed with the Marriage Equality campaign.

We have already had some

discussions on the matter, and are looking forward to the campaign.

My hopes are that this we be a very positive campaign, not just for our community, but for our country. The symbolism will be huge.

The newspaper headlines of a Yes result will resonate around the world, and will challenge the preconceptions about our country.

From a personal perspective, I will be fully committed to the campaign - not just from a human rights angle but because my partner and I intend to tie the knot next August.

Sometimes it overwhelms [me] when I consider my darkest days of isolation, that we are on the verge of something so historic.

As we bid goodbye to the last 12 months, what moments were you most proud of, either for you personally, or from a party perspective?

Well, for a start, and considering those dark days, I never thought I’d fall in love with another man and be proposed to in 2014.

I never envisaged that in 2014 I’d be elected, let alone putting forward progressive motions on LGBT to my party or council.

Panti’s call resonated with society - it sent a clear message out about homophobia, and challenged the stereotypes held about us and our identity.

It brought visibility to that pervasive ignorance and prejudice. It brought about additional pathways in our fight for equality, in that our rights should be not just protected under the law, but that we should be protected as people in society,

and our diversity should not just be celebrated as LGBT but used as a model for acceptance across broader society Finally, where next for you in 2015?

At the moment I’m still getting used to life as a councillor, and beginning to enjoy it. So I look forward to learning more in 2015. In March we’ll have our Ard Fhéis, and the referendum in May. In August, I hope be married or civil partnered.

Next year may also see a snap general election. My role in that is as yet undetermined, but either way, 2015 looks to be very busy indeed.

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NI: Amnesty Predicts 2015 Court Challenge To Same-sex Marriage Ban Amnesty International has welcomed the first same-sex weddings in Scotland and said it looked forward to a court challenge in 2015 to the continuing ban on such marriages in Northern Ireland.

December 31st saw the first same-sex marriages take place in Scotland, where the law changed earlier in December. Same-sex marriage was legalised in England and Wales early in 2014, with the first weddings taking place in March. The changes leave Northern Ireland as the only part of the UK with a ban still in place.

In April 2014, the Northern Ireland Assembly rejected a motion calling for the introduction of same-sex marriage – the third time in 18 months that Stormont rejected

such proposals.

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Programme Director, said: “It is great to see Hogmanay in Scotland being marked by a celebration of love with these longed-for weddings.

Sadly, as we enter 2015, same-sex couples in Northern Ireland continue to face a ban on marriage as a result of discrimination based on their sexual orientation.

We look forward to seeing that discrimination being challenged in the Northern Ireland courts during 2015.

We have long predicted that, should Northern Ireland’s politicians fail in their duty to end such discrimination, then gay people will resort to the legal system to have their human rights as equal citizens vindicated. We expect that to happen in 2015″.

Mr Corrigan continued:

“States may not discriminate with regards to the right to marry and found a family, on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

That obligation is clear in international law. This means that marriage should be available to same-sex couples in Northern Ireland, just as it is now in Scotland, England and Wales.

There is still a chance for Northern Ireland’s politicians to do the right thing in 2015.

However, if they continue to abdicate their responsibilities, judges instead will be asked to uphold the right of all our citizens not to face discrimination.”

The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey in 2012 found clear public support in Northern Ireland for the legalisation of samesex marriage. 57% of those surveyed indicated they were in favour of the legalisation of same-sex marriages.

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EILE chats to Kilkenny County Councillor Patrick McKee, about being a young LGBT politician in Fianna Fáil, and what made him proud in 2014.

Patrick McKee on Kilkenny & Equality EILE: First of all, tell us a little about yourself, and how you came to get into politics.

PMcK: I’m 26 and currently employed in a legal practice in Kilkenny City. I graduated from both Waterford Institute of Technology and University College Cork with qualifications in Law and Business. I joined Ógra Fhianna Fáil as fresher in 2006 and I haven’t looked back.

I suppose you could say that I come from a working class

background. I was the first member of my family to attend University, and that’s something I’m quite proud of. Politics was never an obvious part of my upbringing.

Although looking back there was always a keen sense of social justice, and a strong emphasis put on contributing to our community. I can remember being brought out at a young age with my Grandfather, delivering meals on wheels to the elderly and vulnerable in Kilkenny City and County. Those memories have stuck with me, and play a

significant role in my political outlook. Party politics certainly weren’t something that came up too often around the dinner table. The main focus was always community rather than party politics, and I think that’s a good place to start when you’re getting involved in politics. I think it allows you to be more objective when considering political issues.

You don’t have any baggage.

EILE: Did being gay affect how you perceived Irish politics, or your own party, at all?

EILE Magazine 27 PMcK: I wouldn’t say it affected my perception of Irish politics or Fianna Fáil in any dramatic way. Of course, being gay gives you an insight into the inequalities that unfortunately still exist in Irish society, but I think that I would feel as passionate about tackling those inequalities whether or not I was gay. I strongly believe that issues affecting the LGBT community are issues that affect the whole of Irish society, as they have at their core an inequality.

Any inequality that exists is a societal problem, and not simply a problem for the part of the community that is directly affected. I feel that’s an important message. We’re all in it together.

EILE: Unlike the other major parties, Fianna Fáil doesn’t have an active (or publicly active) LGBT group. Is there a reason for this, do you reckon? Or is it just not enough of an issue for the party?

PMcK: It’s true to say that Fianna Fáil doesn’t have a publicly active LGBT Group, but that’s not the important issue. The fact that the Party is fully behind the equality agenda, and delivering a successful outcome to this year’s referendum on marriage equality is the important issue.

Other parties may have seen the need to establish an LGBT Group for various internal reasons. We haven’t. Fianna Fail is very supportive of the LGBT community. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be a Fianna Fail public representative.

EILE: With the marriage equality referendum coming up, what role will you – and the party – have to play in the upcoming campaign? Do you have any fears that this could be a north/south, urban/ rural, or even male/female divide in terms of who will vote Yes? PMcK: Firstly, I am sure that Fianna Fail will take a leading role in the referendum campaign. For my part I will be doing all I can in Kilkenny to deliver a positive outcome, and up to now I must say that the support coming from all parts of the community has been positive. Of course, you will have opposition, but I don’t think you can say that opposition is manifesting itself in any one part of our community. I don’t like to talk in stereotypical terms. There will be people who will oppose marriage equality for all sorts of reasons. But ultimately, if you believe in equality, you will vote for marriage equality, and if you don’t believe in equality, then you will oppose it; that the simple truth.

EILE: As we bid goodbye to the last 12 months, what moments were you most proud of, either for you personally, or from a party perspective?

PMcK: I suppose the proudest moment I experienced in 2014 was being elected to Kilkenny County Council. To have my family, friends, and supporters standing beside me in the count centre, when it was declared that I had won the

seat is something I will never forget. It was an incredible experience. I’m now doing my best to live up to expectations.

EILE: Finally, where next for you in 2015?

PMcK: Personally, improving my ‘Gaeilge’ is something I hope to do over the coming months. Also, getting back to playing some sport would be nice. Since being elected, I haven’t had much of a chance to get out to the golf course. I’ll put aside some time in 2015 to play some golf. I used to help coach the kids in my local golf club before I was elected, and that was something I enjoyed immensely.

In terms of politics, who knows? Unpredictability is something that goes hand in hand with politics as we all know. All I can hope to do is my best by the people I represent. If I can do that, I’ll be happy.

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Documentary Film: Apple of the Golan Documentary film, Apples of the Golan, tells the epic story of Majdal Shams, one of five remaining Arab villages in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Before the occupation there were 136 such villages, which have now mostly been destroyed. Cut off from their homeland since the events of the Six Day War, the villagers fight to maintain their national identity amid political uncertainty, border disputes and the Syrian Civil War. They are all connected to, and owe their existence to, the apples which grow all around the village.

Irish film-makers Keith Walsh and Jill Beardsworth spent five years among the people of the village and have woven together, from the interlocking lives of the apple growers, rappers, salsa dancers, holy men, traitors, and freedom fighters that make up this unique community, a film that is a complex portrait of a place, a people, and the apple trees that root them to land. Apples of the Golan covers the four year period up until the Syrian conflict begins to turn into civil war, as the effects are being felt in the Golan Heights. It is a portrait of a village’s survival but also documents the beginning of its journey into the unknown.

Commenting on the cinema release, director Jill Beardsworth said: “We are delighted that our film is being released at a time when the Golan Heights region is at the centre of political discourse, both nationally and internationally.” Keith Walsh added: “The film was five years in the making, and it’s great that the story of this little known tribe and this forgotten Israeli occupation is being exposed will now be told, its story of separation, love, death and war is one that we feel will resonate.”

IFI Cinemas, Dublin on Friday 16th January – Wildcard Distribution

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Style | Festive Fashion

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IFI Cinemas, Dublin on Friday 16th January – Wildcard Distribution

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2015 – Time To Change Th Mark Anthony tells us how to mix the smart with the casual for a completely new look Whether you’re suffering from a seriously depleted bank balance, or carrying a few extra pounds postChristmas, there are several reasons why your personal style may be taking a back seat at the moment.

But it’s time to buck up and look sharp! 2015 is just around the corner, and the start of a new year is the perfect time to re-evaluate and refresh your personal style.

After all, our wardrobes and looks can quickly become stale, if we don’t experiment and push ourselves to try new things. With this in mind, we break down six easy ways you can switch up your style game this year…

Rediscover Your Jeans Those trusty wardrobe

staples - that serve as a blank canvas for virtually any look you may decide to come up with – will be taking centre stage this Spring/Summer.

The coming months will see many of us using our denim pieces – which go beyond jeans and trucker jackets to pea coats, blazers and even full suits for SS15 – in a slightly different way.

Instead of anchoring your outfit, these items will become the focal point, as seen on the runways at Prada (where exaggerated jeans stitching and detailing made an impression) and Dior Homme (where denim came washed and paint-splattered).

As far as silhouette is concerned, although we’re seeing slightly more relaxed cuts than in previous seasons,

anything from slim to straight fit is your best bet for 2015. With designers continuing to re-interpret denim each season, it’s high time we started viewing this fabric as more than simply the makings of a sturdy jacket or pair of jeans.

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hings Up! Stripes, Stripes, Stripes Striped tailoring is going to be a key 2015 trend that can be easily adapted to your personal taste and confidence level.

Classic tailoring devotees will appreciate the return of the pinstripe suit (as seen on the SS15 runways of labels such as Dior Homme), while those leaning towards the casual end of the spectrum can choose from boating blazers covered in colourful block-stripes, cricketinspired designs, as well as sleek and contemporary monochrome versions.

Necking It Neckerchiefs, cravats, foulards… whatever you want to call them, they’re a great way to individualise your casual wear. Whether printed or in solid colours, these once comically flamboyant accoutrements are now legitimately wearable accessories, provided everything else in your look is on point. For ways to wear, look to Hermès, long-time proponents of the neck scarf, whose SS15 collection saw vivid, printed scarves draped around the neck to brilliantly set off looks in beige and navy.

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From Dark To Light A welcome departure from the dark, sombre colours of winter, soft shades of green, blue, yellow and pink will soon be dominating stores, in anticipation of improved weather. If you’re looking to give your casual outfits an instant lift, opt for washed or garmentdyed pieces in pastel tones, and lightweight fabrics such as cotton or linen.

The Bag We’ve spent a good chunk of the past decade trying to navigate the relatively uncharted territory of ‘man bags’ – from ‘murses’ to ‘mlutches’ – with varying degrees of success.

In 2015, we’re coming full circle and bringing the backpack back like never before. Designers blew the familiar backpack up for Spring/Summer 2015, giving this functional mainstay some groundbreaking treatments. At Fendi, there were bold fur-covered styles, while Versace’s over the top, fully equipped, rucksack suddenly made backpacking look a hell of a lot more luxurious.

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Loosen Up Clothes could be set to get a little roomier in 2015. But don’t panic, this doesn’t mean you’ll be going back to baggy, 1990s-inspired skater styles. Rather, we’re finally moving away from the skin-tight tailoring and denim that has epitomised the last decade. Given their popularity on the runways, and growing presence on shop floors, wide-legged trousers and roomier shirts aren’t just a trend, but a new and burgeoning direction in menswear, changing the way we dress for the long run.

Whether you want to build on, or completely start afresh style-wise, these six suggestions won’t fail to keep you looking first-rate in 2015. Will you be giving one (or all) of these suggestions a go?

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Event: ‘Eirebrushed’ @ Irish Arts Centre, New York City on Jan 21, 2015 New York City’s oldest LGBT theater company and its all-inclusive St. Patrick’s Day parade have joined forces to present a benefit reading of Irish playwright Brian Merriman’s new play, Eirebrushed, at the Irish Arts Center, Wednesday, January 21 at 7:30pm.

Eirebrushed premiered at the 2014 International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival to sellout houses, extensive coverage in the Irish media and discussion on the floor of Dáil Éireann.

Merriman’s play depicts four of the lesbian and gay heroes and heroines of the Irish Rebellion of 1916, whose lives as gay men and lesbians were kept secret, downplayed or erased; one of the historical figures was literally airbrushed out of the official picture of the surrender by the British.

Directed by TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence) Artistic Director Mark Finley, the reading features a cast of Irish and American actors.

Performance artist/novelist Honor Molloy will play Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell, who carried the flag of surrender, only to be removed from the picture; award-winning actor and producer Aiden Moloney

(Dancing at Lughnasa, Irish Rep) will play author, labor organizer and activist Eva Gore Booth, who advocated for her sister, Countess Markewicz and for Sir Roger Casement; playwright and actor Chris Weikel (Penny Penniworth, Talk of the Town, The 39 Steps) will play Roger Casement, the Irish peer executed for treason for his role in importing weapons from Germany for the Rebellion; Nicholas Wuehrmann (James Joyce’s The Dead) will play Padraig Pearse, the schoolmasterturned-revolutionary.

“The International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival has presented work by many New York City companies, and St. Pat’s for All still carries the banner for equality today, using Padraig Pearse’s own words,” said Kathleen Warnock, a TOSOS playwright whose work has been seen at the IDGTF since 2008, and who marches in the annual inclusive St. Patrick’s parade in Sunnyside.

“Brian’s play has a lot to say to us now, as both TOSOS and the co-chairs of the parade, Brendan Fay and Kathleen Walsh D’Arcy, realized.”

“The premise is ‘can a flawed

person be a hero’?” explains writer Brian Merriman.

“Equality must be personal and did their heroic efforts just replace a political oppressor with a conscience oppressor?

Could Pearse actually have been free to be himself in an independent Ireland?. This 75 minute play challenges the conventional Irish stereotype, to set out the contribution of some lesbian and gay people at a time of struggle to overcome oppression in Ireland. The play records their inspirational poetry, speeches and politics as they struggled to create a society ‘where no minority would be subject to the will of the majority’.”

“We are delighted,” concluded Merriman, “having made Dublin the home of international gay theatre that Eirebrushed is the first time an Irish play has transferred from the festival internationally”.

The theater and the parade’s organizers have joined together to present the reading as a benefit for both non-profit groups.

Tickets are $25 and on sale now. The event includes the reading, and a reception afterward with light refreshments.

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Five Fashion Films Lisa Reynolds writes about five of her favourite films featuring fashion!

of five such films, Fashion is which evoke all of these emotions with amazing. ease, because of their Fact. Film is authenticity and amazing. Fact. dialogue.

So when you Yves Saint combine the Laurent two together, Director Jalil Lespert helps to bring the you are interesting times of bound to get Algerian designer, Yves Saint Laurent, to something life in this incredible biopic. downright magical, right? The film gives Well not always, but there have been numerous films, dealing with the theme of fashion, which have fallen into the category of magical over the years. Films that make you laugh, cry or feel intrigued by someone’s life. Films that stay with you. Films that you watch over and over again.

Below I have compiled a list

viewers an insight into the designer’s love-life and career, with outstanding performances by Pierre Niney as Saint Laurent, and Guillaume Gallienne, who plays Saint Laurent’s partner in life and in business, industrialist Pierre Bergé.

It is a stunning love story,

while also revealing Saint Laurent’s drug and alcohol addictions, and incorporating his exclusive frocks into the film, with credit going to costume designer, Madeline Fontaine, for her amazing work on the film.

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Coco Avant Chanel This film was very intriguing because it dealt only with Coco Chanel’s life before she rose to fame, which director Anne Fontaine has admitted was always her aim with this particular movie.

Starring Audrey Tautou as Chanel, and Benoit Poelvoorde and Alessandro Nivola as her two key partners, Baron Etienne Balsan and Englishman Arthur Capel respectively, the movie shows the early life of a woman destined for a vocation that she didn’t initially want.

The film ends with Coco on the cusp of success, having come such a long way since the day that her father left her in an orphanage and never came back.

The costume designer, Catherine Leterrier, nominated for many awards, and winning best costume at the 2010 César Awards, also creates costumes that are replicas of the original designs, and are absolutely stunning.

A Single Man A Single Man was American designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut (he also co-wrote the screenplay) starring an amazing cast, including Colin Firth as George Falconer, Matthew Goode as Jim, Nicholas Hoult as Kenny Potter, and Julianne Moore as Charlotte (Charley).

Based on the emotionally-fuelled book of the same name by author Christopher Isherwood, it tells the story of George Falconer, a Los Angeles-based English professor, after he has lost the love of his life (a sixteen-year relationship) Jim, and how he deals with that incredibly difficult situation.

It is a story of love, grief, and cherishing every moment of life, which Tom Ford directs beautifully.

It was interesting to see that even though Ford is a fashion designer, he ensured that the story was at the heart of the film, with the style being an extra component. However, the style was stunningly created too, as was the overall visual aspect of the movie.

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The Devil Wears Prada

McQueen & I

The Devil Wears Prada, starring Meryl Streep as Miranda, Anne Hathaway as Andrea, Emily Blunt as Emily, Stanley Tucci as Nigel, Adrian Grenier as Nate, and Simon Baker as Christian, tells the story of Andrea Sachs, who goes to work for the demanding editor-in-chief of Runway magazine, Miranda Priestly.

This documentary, directed

by Louise Osmond, about the amazing British designer Alexander McQueen, gives a great insight into the man as well as the artist. The film is also archival, featuring actual footage of Isabella Blow, Tom Ford, Naomi Campbell, and McQueen himself.

It follows Andrea’s story, as she struggles to be diplomatic in the job that “a million girls would kill for”, in a bid to advance her journalistic career.

Based on the book by Lauren Weisberger, it is a fun and witty tale of love, and desire to succeed.

Much of the film is based on his troubled friendship with the woman who discovered him, Isabella Blow, and how this working-class man, with steely determination, set out to change his life completely.

Justice Minister Welcomes Date For Marriage Equality Referendum Frances Fitzgerald T.D., Minister for Justice and Equality, welcomed the Government’s approval of her proposals to hold a referendum on Marriage Equality in May. Announcing the decision, Minister Fitzgerald said: “I am delighted that the Government has accepted my approach to the referendum on marriage equality. I believe that we should put a clear question to the people, asking them if same-sex couples should have a right to marriage equality.”

The Minister continued: “The referendum will provide an important opportunity for people to decide whether all couples, regardless of their sexual orientation, will have the opportunity to get married and to have constitutionally protected relationships.”

Following yesterday’s decision, the Government will now proceed to drafting the precise

wording of the constitutional amendment to be put to the people in a referendum in May 2015. Government today also approved the establishment of a Referendum Commission to provide the necessary public information on the referendum proposals.

Additionally, Minister Fitzgerald’s proposal that legislation to amend the constitution would be forwarded to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality for pre-legislative scrutiny was accepted. Minister Fitzgerald continued: “I very much hope that in a referendum where many will have strong and sincerely held views on either side, we can campaign in a mutually respectful way.”

Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin T.D., welcomed the decision stating:

“I am delighted to see that the Government has approved today’s memorandum on the holding of a Marriage Equality Referendum next year. This referendum will provide the people of Ireland with the opportunity to have their say on what is a crucial equality issue.

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate groups such as the Union of Students in Ireland who registered over 20,000 students to vote last November. Their successful voter registration drive will allow for many young people and new voters to have their say on constitutional reform for the first time in 2015.

The approach that was agreed today will, I hope, allow for a calm and considered debate on the topic and I look forward to taking part in the future discussions.”

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Opinion: The DUP ‘Conscience Clause’ And Its Possible Implications Steven Donnan unpacks the possible implications for the LGBT community of a Conscience Clause, put forward by the DUP in Northern Ireland I have been trying to write this piece for over a week now, and every time I sit down to think about it, it baffles me that I have to write down a detailed and coherent argument, as to why I don’t want the Northern Ireland Assembly to endorse, and pass, a Bill that would effectively make me a secondclass citizen. Because that is exactly what the proposed Conscience Clause Bill, put forward by DUP MLA Paul Givan, will do.

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The Bill itself has been launched in response to the now-infamous decision, by Belfast-based Asher’s Bakery, not to produce a cake that featured an image in support of equal marriage. The NI Equality Commission has launched legal action against the bakery for its refusal to do so, and, in its infinite wisdom, the DUP has backed the bakery, under the premise that it is defending religious freedom, by attempting to legislate the bakery owner’s religious view of homosexuality into our own equality laws.

The one thing I have been saying, since the start of this emotive debate, is that the cake isn’t the issue. The issue is that some people want to run their public-facing business the same way that they run their private home. The DUP appear to be supporting the notion that the ‘conscience’ of a religious person is worth more than my rights, or the rights of the thousands of LGBT people

that live in Northern Ireland to access goods, facilities, and services, without conditions that don’t involve money. The draft Bill states as follows: “It would mean that an Evangelical photographer would not be required by law to choose between either taking photos of a civil partnership ceremony, and thereby act in violation of their faith identity by endorsing, promoting and celebrating same-sex unions – or lose their livelihood.”

Basically, they would legislate to allow anyone of any faith (a chosen identity) that condemns homosexuality (something that is not a choice) to refuse access to goods, facilities and services, if they believe that by doing so it could affirm, endorse or acknowledge a same-sex relationship. You might think that this is pretty clear cut, but let me give you some examples of how far-reaching the implications of this vague

EILE Magazine 41 Ireland | Politics and poorly-worded legislation would be: -A child of a lesbian couple could be refused entry to a nursery school place if the Principal thinks it would endorse a same-sex relationship.

-A same-sex couple could be denied access to relationship counselling services, if the organsation or the counsellor in question believes it would endorse a same-sex relationship.

-A landlord could cite the proposed legislation as grounds for evicting a samesex couple from their home.

-A restaurant could refuse a same-sex couple a table, if the owner believes that it would endorse a same-sex relationship.

-A B&B or hotelier could refuse a room to two men, or women, if they believe they are a couple, as this would endorse a same-sex relationship.

-A caterer/photographer/ florist/ could refuse service to a wedding planner if they are organising a Civil Partnership, as this would endorse a samesex relationship.

-A private tutoring company could refuse to tutor a child in the foster care of a same-sex couple.

-Honeymoon packages and mortgage applications could be refused on the basis of religion to a same-sex couple.

-Pension providers/life insurance companies could refuse to allow Civil Partners or unmarried same-sex couples to register each other as next of kin.

-Registrars in local authorities could decline to register

Civil Partnerships, namechange documents or similar provisions, if they believe it to conflict with their religious beliefs.

These examples are in no way exhaustive, and some may even say unlikely, but if you read the proposals, you will see that they are so vague and could be so loosely interpreted, that it would be difficult for the judiciary to keep up with the sheer amount of legal challenges from the dozens of businesses and individuals affected by this legislation.

We could see suppliers refuse to sell goods to businesses that offer services for Civil Partnerships for example, or business owners harassed and targeted for holding religious beliefs. This is a very dangerous situation, where the DUP’s proposals, supported

by NI First Minister, Peter Robinson, will be affecting real people’s lives and livelihoods.

They appear to be confusing human rights with privileges, and that is exactly what this Bill will do. If you start legislating for opt-out clauses in equality laws, then you create privileges and not rights.

The fact that gay couples will have to think twice about where they can go and spend their money, without being turned away, is a national disgrace. Have you ever been in that position? Have you ever had to think before going into a hotel with your boyfriend, and wondering

if you’ll be given hassle, or treated differently, because of your sexuality? That your kids might have to be taught in a different class from the other kids, because the teacher has a problem with homosexuality?

This isn’t about clashing rights, this is about legislating for bigotry and discrimination.

Similar laws were passed just recently in Michigan, and have been legislated for in other US States too. The religious freedom of business owners is not being infringed by gay couples utilising their services and goods.

A similar attitude was adopted by a small number of businesses in 1970s San Francisco, and they went out of business. Gay people spend money, gay people vote, and gay people are part of society, as much as the DUP, or the owners of Asher’s bakery.

I fully expect other parties of the Assembly to block this Bill, either by a simple majority vote, or via a Petition of Concern. So far the Green Party, Alliance, and Sinn Féin have condemned the Bill, and I would expect each to vote accordingly. We will not be treated as second-class citizens, nor will we allow legislation to push us into the margins of society.

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pinksixty news

Colin Fallesen chats to EILE Magazine about his plans for the online news service EILE: PinkSixty News is an online news service for the LGBT community; where did the idea for the news service come from?

touch it, and so after 5 years development and a year of broadcasting we had to close.

I decided to keep Pinksixty going and have made it every day for over 4 years.

CF: Seven years ago I set up an LGBT multi-channel online TV service & movie library, and Pinksixty News was made each day to play out across some of our channels. We had a fantastic management team, hailing from the BBC, Channel 4, five and Sky, but due to it being a ‘gay’ service, we couldn’t get investors to

EILE: It has no doubt developed since its inception, how so? Has its journey (so far) been what you expected?

52 EILE Magazine

CF: Initially, we partnered with Millivres to extend their Pinkpaper brand, but they closed that service down

completely, so I had to go it alone for a while.

Gaydar Nation showed interest, but decided to have a go at making it on their own - which sadly, was a bit of a mess. Putting a show like this together requires technical skill, and a lot of hard work, as well as experience in broadcast news production.

During my career I’ve worked with Sky News, BBC News and ITN, amongst others, so working in a live, intense news environment was how I cut my

Book Review

teeth.

Two years ago I decided to reduce the amount of weekly shows from 7 to 5.

The production schedule was punishing, and I couldn’t get any time off. These days, 5 shows a week is plenty. The reception that the show gets worldwide is pretty amazing.

We syndicate to over 50 LGBTi news websites, the audio track plays out each day on a number of international radio stations, and OUTtv in Canada play the show at top of every hour in the evening, so the audience there are our most appreciative. OUTtv Benelux carried the show for a while 3 years ago, but the time difference and subtitling issues made it impractical.

EILE: As we move more into an era of equality (especially regarding

marriage rights) for the gay community, do you think there’s still a need for LGBT-orientated media? Or is our media mainstreaming a positive thing?

CF: I wrestle with the topic of ‘integration’ against ’separation’ all the time. Being of an age where I fought for equality, suffered at the inequalities within the law, and observed the gradual increase in LGBT representation in TV and film, I like to think that we now have choices. If separately identifiable LGBT venues and services vanish, then we don’t have a choice, so I’m for separation and representation.

It amazes me though, how young people don’t feel the need to visit gay pubs, or read the gay press, but the freedoms we enjoy here in the UK & Ireland are not common across

the world.

The great thing about the internet, is that Pinksixty News reaches people who really need it. People in oppressed cultures and also young people struggling to identify their sexuality.

We also have a pretty good straight following, with messages of support coming in from all over the world, expressing surprise at the stories we cover, and offering words of encouragement to carry on.

EILE: You’ve entered into an exciting partnership with OutTV – tell us a little more about this!

CF: OUTtv is one of the world’s longest-running LGBTi TV services, based in Canada, but EILE Magazine 59

EILE Magazine 44

also with a limited service in Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. They’ve supported Pinksixty News for a couple of years now, and their audience is very keen to get more content from us.

1 minute just isn’t enough, so launching [in] January we are producing a new weekly half hour show called Pinksixty Plus, for broadcast on their Canadian cable TV service, and also on their YouTube channel, which is expanding in 2015 to reach an international audience, with a wide selection of programming.

Pinksixty Plus will be a flagship independent production for this service. The show is a mixture of news, current affairs and culture from every corner of the globe, and is already in early production for its launch on the 2nd weekend in January. We invite people to contribute stories, recommend inspirational LGBT people to profile, and become involved in producing the packages that will run in each show.

EILE: Aside from OutTV, what else should we expect from PinkSixty News in 2015?

CF: Isn’t that enough? ;-) All Pinksixty productions are produced by me, but with Pinksixty Plus, that requires a team of editors, producers, camera-people and content contributors. I think for now, we just need to concentrate on getting the production schedule running smoothly, and then we’ll take it from there. Who knows what the future holds?!

LGBT News Updated 5 Days a Week

www.pinksixtynews.tv

EILE Magazine 46

An interview with Gareth Russell about his latest book: an illustrated introduction to

The Tudors

EILE: What was it about this kind of history that first fascinated you? How did you come to be so interested in it?

GR: I was always interested in history, and I can probably accredit the first real interest to Sunday School. Every week, we were studying a different Bible story, and I can remember even then being captivated by the stories of the Old Testament, a little bit more than the New. But with the Tudors, it began on a rain-soaked afternoon in Ballybunnion in County Kerry.

My family had taken a house there for the summer, and on a rained-out day, RTÉ showed a movie called Anne of the Thousand Days from 1969. It is a beautiful old-school costume drama about the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, with Richard Burton and Geneviève

Bujold in the starring roles. I was eight yearsold and utterly entranced.

From then on, I read everything I could about the Tudors, and it soon expanded to take in the whole British monarchy. When I started at Oxford, my first module was the British Isles between 1450 and 1650 under the supervision of the wonderful Dr Steven Gunn. There’s something epic and intimate in the Tudor story, the bizarre and the banal, and it helps that it’s not just interesting, but also vitally important to these islands’ story.

EILE: Were you surprised at the various LGBT stories you’ve come across in your research and writing (some of which we’ve featured in EILE)?

GR: I am always surprised by them, yes. And

you know it’s not just by the stories of people who were gay, lesbian or bisexual, but also those who were ‘accused’ of it that sends a shiver. The story that perhaps stands out in my mind is Anne Boleyn’s brother, George, who was executed alongside her in 1536.

Ever since the publication of the theories of an American academic called Retha Warnicke in 1985, which suggested that George may have been romantically or sexually involved with several men at his brother-in-law’s court, debate has raged about his sexuality. There is, admittedly, very little firm evidence to support the theory that George was involved with either Mark Smeaton or Francis Weston, but what struck me as surprising was how angry some people got about the suggestion that he was.

The buzz-words used in many an article about it included the author’s intention to ‘defend’ George from the ‘accusation’ that he was ‘guilty’ of homosexuality. One could never use that language about a twenty-first century individual, yet it flowed unchecked in twenty-first century accounts of George Boleyn. There is something totemic about history, I think, and there was something of residual, and deeply unsettling, homophobia in the rebuttals of Warnicke’s theory, which, as I’ve said myself, I’m highly unconvinced by.

EILE: When you consider the politics, the scandals and the tragedies featured in the book,

what has changed between the Europe of the featured era and today? (Apart from borders and tech, of course!)

GR: We are less certain; we are less likely to die for what we believe in, and thus less likely to kill for it, too.

The downside of that is I think we’ve lost the ability to understand the mindset of those who still will, and Tudor history certainly helps with comprehending that mentality.

I think we also expect to marry for love. They didn’t, although they did believe that love could grow, and that respect and friendship were more important in the early days of a marriage, because passion was so fleeting. But once marriage ceased to become about the merging and protection of estates, and from that procreation, the nature of the institution began to evolve, until its primary justification became an open declaration of a commitment to love. From there, I would say marriage equality between the genders became the next logical step.

EILE: What one character surprised you the most when researching for this book?

GR: There were all my old favourites there, of course, but I actually found myself fascinated by Edward VI, Henry VIII’s son, who died at the age of fifteen in 1553. He was so phenomenally bright, I think the suggestion that he had a photographic memory seems convincing, and as a child he was taught ancient Greek by the regius professor at Cambridge. I was struck by how clever this young man

EILE Magazine 47 was, but also how the image of the ‘boy-king’ sells him short. He was a gentleman who knew his own mind and, even as he lay dying, he remained committed to preserving the fledgling Protestant religion in his kingdoms. He was neither as sweet nor as likable as he’s usually imagined, but he was certainly a lot more interesting, and I loved having a chance to write about in more depth in the chapter ‘A spirit of capacity’.

EILE: What next for you? Any upcoming literary plans?

GR: It’s back to the sixteenth century for the next few months, and a lot of travelling, as I’m writing a biography called “Young and Damned and Fair: The Life and Tragedy of Catherine Howard at the Court of Henry VIII”, which will be published by Simon & Schuster in the US, and HarperCollins in the UK and Commonwealth.

I’ll also be promoting a book with MadeGlobal, “A History of the English Monarchy from Boadicea to Elizabeth I” early in 2015, which looks at the story of the English Crown, and how it interacted with its Scottish, Irish and Welsh neighbours. I finished it recently, and I’m excited for it to be released. It’s supposed to be for regular history readers, as well as those who simply have an interest in politics in the British Isles.

Gareth Russell’s ‘An Illustrated Introduction to The Tudors’ is now available via Amazon.

EILE Magazine 48

EILE Magazine Media Partners for BĂŠar FĂŠile 2015

EILE Magazine 49

EILE Magazine is delighted to announce that it is teaming up with Dublin Bears to become Official Media Partner for Béar Féile 2015, the jam-packed bear weekend which will take place next March.

Over the coming months in the lead-up to March, you can find out about the latest news and event updates from the Dublin Bears here on EILE Magazine – both on our daily-updated website and in our monthly editions.

Tom O’Connor of the Dublin Bears said of the announcement:

Dublin Bears are delighted to have EILE magazine on board as our Media Partner. It’s a perfect marriage of a community group and a community magazine. We look forward to some interesting articles and features over the next few months and into the future.

EILE will have details of upcoming Dublin Bears events, including the groups various fundraisers for charity.

With a few tricks up our sleeves yet to be announced, EILE Magazine will ensure that Béar Féile 2015 will be accessible, enjoyable and shareable. Meanwhile, you can read up about the Dublin Bears’ upcoming Christmas Party and New Year’s Eve Party on Page 5 of the December issue of EILE. EILE’s Founder and Editor-inChief, Scott De Buitléir, said: Both Béar Féile and its organising group, Dublin

Bears, have the LGBT community at the heart of all they do. On top of some brilliant events lined up already for 2015, Béar Féile and Dublin Bears regularly organise fundraisers for Irish charities and services, such as Gay Switchboard Ireland and Pieta House.

As a publication that focuses more on the community aspects of the LGBT social calendar, EILE Magazine is both proud and excited to be Media Partner.

For more information on the Dublin Bears, simply visit dublinbears.ie, and stay tuned here on EILE Magazine!

California Dispatch

Californ

Some Unex

Rick Watts writes on being grateful for second chances The winter holidays, falling as they do so close to the end of one year and the beginning of a new one, appropriately nudge many of us toward rituals of celebration, remembrance, gratitude and reflection.

I ruminate upon the prior twelve months to measure them against prior years of my life, the hopes and expectations that just-ended year started with, versus how things turned out…and hopefully, find me grateful for at least some unexpected, and heretoforeunrecognized, blessings.

50 EILE Magazine

I then compose a to-do list of resolutions; of how, mindful of those blessings, I might make the coming year better than the one just past, whether it’s better health habits, more kindness, a tidier home…or an end to the over-commitment and resulting procrastination that inevitably leave me exhausted, embarrassed, and frustrated in my failure to live up to even my own expectations.

As I type away, sitting in a living room recliner in front of a 2,429-light over-bedecked Christmas tree and fireplace, I can hear the wind outside the apartment; gusts threatening

to overturn the potted plants, as the temperature on this first night of winter plunges to “barely sixty degrees Fahrenheit!” (Hey, this is southern California, after all—and for us, this is winter!)

My grumbling and obfuscating aside, it did get me out of “having” to attend yet another Christmas party—and all the unneeded extra calories and alcohol that I would doubtless have consumed; adding to those packed on during the physical inactivity induced by two surgeries, three hospitalizations, and monthslong convalescence for my newly-diagnosed “reactive

California Dispatch

nia Dispatch:

xpected Blessings arthritis.”

So, as I sit here this night— December 21—tapping away in front of what is, (despite too many lights and ornaments) a beautiful, multicolored, tinseled Tannenbaum, contemplating the late date, I note how early darkness has arrived. And it occurs to me that this night marks the winter solstice—the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, occasioned by the “wobble” inflicted on Earth’s rotation by the 4-plus billion year-ago glancing collision with a proto-planet, during the “Great Bombardment” period of our solar system’s early formation.

That long-ago cataclysm for our then-dead rock in one instant introduced enough extra mass to increase gravity, to the point where Earth could hang onto an atmosphere, remelted the planet, kick-started its magnetic field that ever since deflects the solar wind

and protects the atmosphere (and in turn protects surface life), and introduced the additional metals and trace elements that enable life itself, as well as so much of modern industry.

And because of that new rotational wobble, at regular phased intervals it causes, alternately, either the north or south hemisphere to be pointing more directly toward or away from the sun. It thereby gives us the seasons, which in turn give us long warm sunlit days with quenching summer rains—or long cold nights with snows that eventually might fill the reservoirs of drought-stricken places like California, so that our state can continue providing so much fresh produce to the rest of the United States and world.

Indeed, the debris from that long-ago collision eventually coalesced into the moon that causes the twice-daily tides,

that ebb and flow to every port in every land. So I guess that— as horrible as it might have seemed at the time—we puny humans should be grateful for that chance collision so long ago. For if it were not so, life itself, and the seasons that color it, likely would not have become possible here. In a very real sense, that collision gave what was a dead world a second chance at life.

But as I contemplated the long winter’s night—the longest of the year, in fact—it occurred to me that because by definition December 21 is the deepest of nights…the next day would thereby herald just as surely the first of increasingly longer days that, by and by, would become warmer; announcing the first days of spring, green gardens, flowers, honey bees and humming birds.

At first thought it seems odd that the ancient pagans would have celebrated the longest night. But on further consideration, what they were really celebrating was the end of increasing darkness—and the promise of new light, and the better days that surely would follow that darkest night.

While some biblical scholars think it more likely that Jesus’ EILE Magazine 51

g

California Dispatch actual birth was perhaps more likely sometime toward spring, the early Christian councils that first decided when that day might be celebrated thought it propitious to appropriate (and thereby co-opt) a day already being celebrated by their pagan counterparts. But it was also fitting because, according to their faith, doing so gave the religious occasion additional symbolism, as the introduction of their faith-defined light coincided with the return of literal life-giving light to their world.

Just as a doctor marks the breaking—or peak—of a patient’s fever as the hopeful beginning of the return to good health, that turning-point is therefore, not marking so much the “darkest moment” or the “worst” of the illness: It is, rather, that the darkest moment - the worst of the illness - has PASSED, and that better days are therefore surely ahead.

One year ago this past week, as I traveled to Mississippi for the much different funeral of my just-deceased 94-year old father, my heart was heavy at his death. But as I composed his eulogy, and then the obituary which announced to the community his passing, I reminisced on my life with Dad; on his life, and works, and experiences, before I was even born. I thought of the rural hospital he founded in New Mexico, and the lives saved and healed as a result in the ensuing years.

And I remembered our arguments (including over my taking too-long hot showers, when if I took too long he would 52 EILE Magazine

turn off the hot water heater to make his point!) But then I also remembered our hugs, and the values he imparted to me, along with my sometimes too-loud or confused conscience, and the sometimes-faltering faith in a hereafter…and the love he gave me, and all the second chances he gave me, as he FORgave me when I messed up.

I was there to remember his capacity to change and grow, even as an adult, as he made good on his own second chances, and shed his onceracist, homophobic views, and softened and warmed into the man I loved and looked up to—and I was there to mourn.

Sad as I was in that motel room two days before his burial, it was nonetheless Christmas. So earlier that evening, I drove the short distance to New Orleans, picked up some simple gifts, wrapping paper and decorations before dropping off several dozen cases of donated toiletries—and Dad’s clothes—to the LGBT-friendly Metropolitan Community Church, where I then attended their Christmas Eve candlelight service.

Afterward, upon returning to my motel, I wrapped those gifts for the Ramada Inn staff who’d been so kind…And then, using some packing tape, an armload of extra towels, and the left-over gift-wrap tube secured upright in the middle of my open suitcase on the floor, I erected a Christmas “tree” and adorned it with a couple small strings of lights, some bows and candy canes, so that I would have at least some cheer.

I was watching Charles Dickens’

“A Christmas Carol” on TV by the light of my sorry little Christmas “towel tree” when, as the movie interrupted for a commercial break, I heard it: The hot water on the bathroom sink faucet had somehow turned itself on full blast during the movie. As I wondered how that faucet could have turned itself on, I suddenly remembered those rudelyinterrupted too-long showers of so long ago…and then Dad’s capacity to demonstrate how to forgive. And I smiled as I turned off that “misbehaving faucet”—for I now had one more reason to thank my dad—and it dawned on me that perhaps, just perhaps, “someone” was reminding me that the word “here” is in “hereafter” for a reason.

I thought of that experience many times over this past year— especially during the several months of my hospitalizations and frustratingly-prolonged incapacitation and convalescence, as medical staff did their best to heal me and to make me comfortable; and as my housemate, and other friends and neighbors, took time out of their own busy schedules and gave me rides, visits, performed errands, and delivered food, when I was in too much pain to navigate the kitchen.

As I got better, I remembered their many kindnesses, and how they make me feel so blessed to be among them; and how, as I healed and regained my ability to walk, I was again getting another of those “second chances.”

Fast forward to this December:

Quality LGBT News and Features – Produced from Los Angeles Available via podcast on our website (thiswayout.org) or on iTunes, and on 200+ Radio Stations Worldwide!

thiswayout.org | Twitter: @TWORadio Overnight Productions (Inc.)/”This Way Out” Post Office Box 1065 Los Angeles, CA 90078 U.S.A.

EILE Magazine 54 Here in Los Angeles County, in part because of its forgiving “winter” weather (which at times can reach into the 80s Fahrenheit on a January day), our population has grown so much over the years, that housing has become increasingly unaffordable for those on fixed incomes.

Homeless persons here number in the tens of thousands. But even sadder than the days and nights of living on the streets, is when someone dies there…and, for whatever reason, their remains go unclaimed by family, friends or loved ones.

Try as they might, county morgue officials and investigators attempt to contact family; waiting as long as three years for a claimant. Unfortunately, sometimes there simply is no one who comes calling. So several years ago, our county, with the participation of community activists and faith representatives, began holding an annual interfaith service and mass burial of those unclaimed cremated remains, at the small cemetery next to the county crematorium.

Through occasional tears, I joined more than 100 people at this year’s ceremony, to be a witness as the ashes of 1,489 homeless men, women, and children were interred.

If statistics are valid, then of the deceased youth, some 40 percent of them were LGBT throw-aways or runaways. One dignitary addressing the crowd noted that:

“We are witnesses to the fact that they lived; that they were here, and their lives mattered to someone, somewhere, sometime. They each were someone’s child; someone’s friend, even though their remains have gone unclaimed due to broken relationships or broken lives. And so we remember them here, even if we do not know their names.

And we give thanks that they were here. For their presence and this service shines a light on their plight and the plight of those like them wherever they might be in the world. And they challenge us as a society and as individuals caring for those in our midst to do better for those who still call the streets home.”

I am so grateful to them all.

Likewise, I am grateful just to “be”; and to have a place to come home to, a warm safe bed to lay my head upon, and food to eat. But for the grace of others, I would not be here, lamenting the lateness of my column, as I reach for another bite of home-made beef stew, and a sip of eggnog with rum by a too-beautiful-for-words Christmas tree, pondering another year gone by, and how far behind I am on everything because of the arthritis. And I am so grateful for everything and everyone.

Rick Watts is an LGBT For that lesson, and for the activist and contributor to existence of our individual ‘This Way Out’. He lives in Los consciences which impel Angeles. our paying it heed, we should indeed in no small sense be grateful, and resolve that in the “second chance” that we are given by the return to light, and life, that the longer days of the coming new year grant us, we will do better.

As I left that interfaith service, I thought about the past year.

And, despite—or perhaps because of—the challenges, the prolonged physical incapacity, and financial woes I endured Listen to This Way Out via as a result, I again remembered http://thiswayout.org the help and comfort rendered, not only by hospital staff and pharmacists, but by my roommate and friends who visited, comforted, and ran errands for me; who continue to forgive me when I screw up, either by acts I commit or omit.

Civil Marriage Referendum Date a Step Closer to Equality The Irish Government has committed to a May equal marriage referendum bringing Ireland a step closer to a Republic where all citizens are treated equally. Marriage Equality is appealing to Irish people’s sense of fairness and common sense when considering their vote, while also urging supporters against complacency.

Moninne Griffith, Co-Director, Marriage Equality commented, “Marriage Equality has been campaigning on the ground for this announcement for almost a decade and we are delighted the countdown is officially on.

This referendum is a people’s referendum, it’s a chance for us to directly shape the Ireland we

want to live in. Lesbian and gay couples want to marry for the same reason as all couples – as a public display of their love and commitment.”

She continued, “Irish people are incredibly fair and have an innate sense of justice which this referendum appeals to.

Most people in Ireland have a gay or lesbian son or daughter, grandson, relative and friend.

Denying their love through civil marriage makes no sense.

Irish people are ready for marriage equality.”

Andrew Hyland, CoDirector, Marriage Equality, commented, “The high support for marriage equality among Irish people of all ages is encouraging. Our biggest threat is our supporters taking these figures as fact and bowing out of voting. Our message is ‘Every Vote Counts’, if you want to see marriage

equality in Ireland then vote and get your family and friends to vote, the power is in your hands.”

He continued, “We want to see as many young people vote as possible. This is about them creating the Ireland they want to live in. Equally, it’s an opportunity for older people to leave a legacy they can be proud of. This referendum isn’t about politics. It’s about real lives, real people and real love.

It’s a referendum from the people for the people.”

Marriage Equality is a not-for-profit, single issue, national grassroots advocacy organisation whose goal is to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Ireland through the extension of civil marriage rights to same-sex couples.

EILE Magazine 56

Theatre Review: ‘The Gate of The Yea EILE’s Stephen Donnan takes a trip to the theatre to see the new version of Gareth Russell’s play, The Gate of the Year, and is impressed with the revision Brian Friel Theatre, Queen’s University Belfast, 4-5 December Rating: * * * * * ‘Sweat, fear […] blood and fire.’ is how one character describes the revolution that takes place over the course of three hours on a small stage in the Brian Friel Theatre. It’s evident that many of those elements were put into this production by all involved.

With a stand-out cast of amateur actors who deliver a polished and gripping

performance, and a clearly talented director, it is safe to say that The Gate of the Year is arguably one of the best stage productions in Belfast this year.

Gareth Russell’s direction pulls the audience exactly where they need to go, as he masterfully brings the French Revolution of 1789 into modern day. It had echoes of Julie Taymor’s 1999 masterpiece, Titus, in its ability to transcend anachronistic barriers, and transport us to a timeless world in chaos.

As a fan of history, I was already hooked on the nuances and manoeuvres of a dying aristocracy clinging to its glory as the revolution crashes towards it, but it was brought to life by a cast that at once knew their roles, felt comfortable in their own skin, and who bounced off each other majestically.

David Paulin was stellar as he portrayed the rage, jealousy and arrogance of Charles, the King’s brother. In one particular scene, he tries to make his brother see the violence that the revolution has brought to France, and we can almost see the flames of

a burning Versailles through his mastery of the stage.

We were treated to a remarkable performance from Stephanie Dale as Marie Antoinette, beautifully and believably depicted as a woman on the edge of the abyss, as her family and country burn around her. It was almost a competition between Dale and Paulin, as both effortlessly dominated the space of the stage. I predict big things for both actors, if this is the calibre of performance they have to offer in the early stages of their careers.

Amos McCormack was very convincing in his portrayal as Jack Necker, the French Prime Minister. Russell’s clever use of sectarian divisions in politics and society in France during the revolution, certainly touched a nerve with me and I suspect the audience, as both McCormack as Necker and Daniel Kelly (portraying violent revolutionary Jean Paul Marat) masterfully deliver their roles as men under pressure to do great things for their country, no matter the cost.

We are given a terrifying

News | Botswana

ar’ insight into the mind and meat of what a revolution looks like, without a shot being fired on stage. Gareth Russell’s use of language and subtle references to 20th century events (the JFK assassination, Bloody Sunday, the Corporals Killings in 1988 to name a few) pack a punch that almost feels very close to the bone at some moments. But that’s the beauty of it. Revolution is not a romantic affair, even as Marat scrubs the fresh blood of a murdered policeman from his hands, we are given the honest truth of what revolution means by Mercedes Sharma as Charlotte Corday. I couldn’t wait for the next scene with both she and Daniel Kelly.

Spectacularly gripping in their roles.

A haunting soundtrack in the interlude perfectly sets the mood for the second act, further bringing to life a piece of history so largely forgotten by ourselves, and yet so tangible and relevant. I can’t recommend The Gate Of the Year highly enough. I was left wanting more at the finale, undoubtedly the hallmark of a masterpiece.

Review by

Stephen Donnan EILE Magazine 77

EILE Magazine 58

FOXCATCHER

41 EILE Magazine

Out Jan. 9

EILE Magazine 58

Frances Winston on Movies Director: Bennett Miller Starring: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, Sienna Miller, Anthony Michael Hall Three of Hollywood’s leading men underwent dramatic transformations for this film, based on the true story of the murder of Olympic gold medal winning wrestler Dave Schultz (Ruffalo) at the hands of millionaire philanthropist John Du Pont (Carrell) in 1996. The pair originally met thanks to Dave’s younger brother Mark (Tatum) who had been persuaded to join Du Pont’s private wrestling team Foxcatcher.

Although an Olympic champion himself, Mark lives in his more skilled older brother’s shadow, so when Du Pont approaches him he is thrilled to be recognised on his own merits.

Hypnotised by Du Pont’s lavish lifestyle and fabulous training facilities, he agrees to join the team. Living in a guest house and with top notch facilities at his disposal, Mark thrives, and wins gold at the 1987 World Wrestling Championships, and he and Du Pont become close friends.

However, Du Pont has been angling to get Dave to join the team from the start, and after a falling out with Mark, he somehow persuades Dave to uproot his family and move to Foxcatcher. With the team preparing for the 1988 Olympic preliminaries, there is tension

in the ranks, as a jealous Mark refuses to train with Dave.

Meanwhile, Dave is struggling with the fact that Du Pont sees himself as some sort of mentor to him. Despite the turmoil, and after a difficult qualifying round, Mark manages to make the cut for the competition, although he doesn’t repeat his previous success, and arrives home empty-handed. Deflated, he leaves Foxcatcher, but Dave manages to persuade Du Pont to continue supporting him.

Dave continues to live at Foxcatcher, and train with the team, but Du Pont is slowly becoming more and more unstable, and is unhappy about the time he spends with his family. One day, after watching a documentary he commissioned about the teams bid for Olympic glory, he snaps. Driving to Dave’s house, he shoots him point blank as he fixes his car, before hiding away until the police find him and arrest him.

This is pretty much a threehander between Tatum, Ruffalo and Carrell. The three men are rarely off screen, and the whole movie rests on their performances, which thankfully are excellent. Even the usually wooden Tatum acquits himself here, although his character isn’t the most animated of people, so he didn’t really have to stretch himself.

Their physical transformations are also impressive. The usually clean-cut Carrell is withered and sleazy, and his trademark broad

grin is replaced by tiny yellowing teeth. Ruffalo trades his crumpled handsomeness for a far stockier, hairier look than we are used to seeing on him, and even heart-throb Tatum gets in on the act, sporting cauliflower ears alongside other more subtle facial prosthetics throughout.

If you’re not a fan of wrestling you will probably find the training and fight scenes somewhat tedious, but the oneon-one scenes between the leads are gripping and intriguing.

Some of the best scenes occur as Mark falls deeper under Du Pont’s influence, and starts indulging in cocaine and living a party-boy lifestyle.

Unfortunately, we never really get a sense of what it was that tipped Du Pont over the edge, and having spent nearly two hours building up to the murder, you still don’t really understand what triggered it, and the ending feels somewhat rushed. This aside, this is an intriguing watch that doesn’t rely on special effects and bells and whistles to sell itself, but rather trusts in the narrative.

Extremely dark, there is a pervading sense of inevitability hanging over it. Far more enjoyable than the premise belies, it is the kind of factbased drama that makes you immediately want to Google more information on the events afterwards, which is probably the best compliment you can pay a film like this.

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EILE Magazine 60

Testament of Youth Directed by: James Kent Starring: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Taron Egerton, Colin Morgan, Dominic West, Emily Watson, Hayley Atwell, Anna Chancellor, Miranda Richardson In cinemas January 16th

Based on the internationally acclaimed best-selling memoirs of writer and pacifist Vera Brittain, and released to coincide with the centenary of the beginning of World War I, this documents her experiences of love and loss as she worked as a nurse during the conflict, having put her academic aspirations on hold.

Brittain wrote Testament of Youth in 1933, and it has never been out of print. Widely regarded as one of the most important accounts of the realities of the First World War, it doesn’t tiptoe around the devastation and death caused by the fighting. Brittain was a privileged young girl from a well to do family, with

EILE Magazine 61 aspirations to be a writer, who had just been accepted to Oxford when the war broke out.

As her brother, fiancé, and friends joined up to play their part, she felt unable to sit idly by and so volunteered as a nurse. As the war raged on she lost them all on the battlefield, and saw things that changed her forever. At the end of the war she returned to Oxford, but was changed, and what she saw and experienced influenced all her future choices.

Brittain is played here by Swedish actress Vikander, who was surely selected for the role thanks to her ability to cry on demand. She weeps and wails her way through this, managing to remain serenely beautiful despite the floods of tears. Game of Thrones star, Kit Harrington, is almost unrecognisable as Brittain’s fiancée, Roland Leighton, having cut his trademark curly hair and shaved off his beard for the role. He proves himself a surprisingly competent actor here, and really shakes off his fantasy hero persona.

Of course they are ably supported by some fantastic veteran actors, including Miranda Richardson, who is one of the UK’s leading character actresses, and Emily Watson, who never really reached the heights that her talent deserved. Dominic West dons his best stiff upper lip as Brittain’s father, but does have one beautiful moment, when his son Edward ships

out to war, and Hayley Atwell turns in an eye opening performance as a cynical and somewhat sadistic sister in a military hospital. Overall it is impossible to fault the performances, with all of the actors working well together and truly embodying their roles.

This cinematography is beautiful in this, with the romantic English landscape contrasting nicely with the harshness of the Front. The soundtrack also compliments the story beautifully, and never overshadows the story. The script is somewhat insipid at times though, and the characters are written far more stoically than you would imagine most of the situations they find themselves in dictate.

This is a BBC production, and there is always an underlying feeling that they were unsure if it was going to get a cinema release or be broadcast on television, and at times it feels like the producers hedged their bets. Even at its most epic, there is always a bit of a sense of the “made for TV” about this. You never really get the full sense of the brutality of the war, and it all feels a bit romanticised.

With the First World War in the news for the past few months, this is likely to find an audience that it otherwise wouldn’t. No doubt the presence of Harrington will draw in a younger demographic, who would not normally go to see this kind of film. Since that period is an

important part of history, that is a good thing.

This is a fascinating account of the personal price paid by people during the Great War, and deserves to be seen.

However, it never really gets as gritty as it could, and while it is enjoyable it is almost Jane Austen-esque at times. It looks stunning and is very engaging, but it could have been a lot more brutal, which would have been a truer reflection of the period. It’s definitely worth a look though, if only to remind yourself how lucky you are that you didn’t have to live through something like this.

- Frances Winston

SportMagazine EILE | Michael 62 Sam

Censored Fairytale Book Featuring Same-Sex Couples To Be Re-Released Together, Neringa Dangvydė, a Lithuanian author of the banned collection of fairytales book, Amber Heart (Gintarinė Širdis) and four NGOs are planning to republish her book by mid-December.

Earlier this year the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences scandalously removed their collection of Amber Heart from bookstores and proclaimed it to be “harmful, primitive and purposeful propaganda of homosexuality”. The Lithuanian Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics concluded that the two stories containing same-sex couples were harmful and manipulative to children and needed to be rated as N-14, due to complaints by a group of Conservative MPs. Both decisions were fiercely criticized by local and international human rights NGO’s. As a response, to what they call unlawful limitation of freedom of expression, four Lithuanian NGO’s – House of Diversity and Education,

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Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights, Center for Equality Advancement and Tolerant Youth Association, launched an international crowd funding platform and expect to collect 1,100 US dollars to send one hundred copies of Amber Heart to Lithuanian libraries. The campaign will be a part of Dalia Grybauskaitė’s, President of Lithuania, national Christmas of Books campaign, which encourages people to donate books, written by Lithuanian authors to local libraries.

Jūratė Juškaitė, from Tolerant Youth Association, explains that, “Everybody who contributes as little as 11 US dollars will send a copy of the book to libraries whose funding was cut due to the financial crisis. I think this is a great Christmas present and a strong message to politicians that civil society will not obey Putinesque censorship”.

Author, Neringa Dangvydė, who has updated the second edition with new illustrations and recommendations on how to read fairy tales to children, says that with the help from the crowd funding platform she expects the

book to reach even the most remote regions of Lithuania.

The author also stressed that this time the distribution of the book will continue even if the governmental bodies issue another unfavorable decision. “The four NGO’s are determined to fight to the very end. It is so important that the children of Lithuania have access to stories that contain diversity, love and acceptance. By fighting this censorship we are ensuring that our next generation is open minded, tolerant and understanding and that this type of discrimination will not happen in their children’s life time”.

The second edition will be circulated in 600 copies. One hundred of them will be sent to libraries, the rest of the books will be sold publicly for 25 litas (11 US dollars) to cover the publishing expenses.

The IndieGoGo campaign will close on Christmas Eve, December 24. You can donate by visiting IndieGoGo here.

Sport | Michael Sam

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21st Century Life: Gay People Speak About Their Experiences In The Modern World Lisa Reynolds in her continuing series on modern gay life, interviews Flavio from Brazil Name: Flavio Location: London, originally from Brazil Age: 32 When did you realise that you were gay?

I think I have always known I was gay since I was a very young child, of course like everyone else, I had that confusing teenager period, but settled more after my 18th, and from then on I knew exactly who I was.

Have you ever experienced any discrimination because of your sexuality in your life?

I come from Brazil and a religious family, and the time I was living there, gays were not accepted, so yes lots of times I experienced discrimination, at school, in my family, or even at my work place (even

though not many people knew I was gay), things are changing there now, but still not as acceptable as in the UK, this is one of the reasons I like living in the UK. Who has been the most influential person in your life?

A very good friend who never judged me.

Do you think that the world has become more welcoming to gay people in more modern times or do

you think there is still a long way to go?

I think parts of the world have become more welcoming to gay people, but in general still a long way to go, my view is that sometime in some years time in the future the world will look back and say: Oh, really? We had sexuality issues in the past?.. I believe we gays are just another type of human being the same as we have different races, colors shapes etc, and at some point we will be able to live in peace together

with everyone.

Were your family and friends always supportive?

No, my family were not supportive at all. I could not tell them back then, because the attitude they had towards gays, I didn’t tell them until I was 27, but now that they know I am gay, and I know they don’t approve but they accept it and to be honest I was very surprised how much they accept it. My father stopped talking to me since I told him, and because I live so far away from my family I will probably not see him for a long time. (I did try to approach him but he doesn’t want me to make contacts). The rest of my family are still in contact with me like my mum and sister and some relatives.

What would you say to someone who is struggling with their own sexuality or with coming out or who is being bullied or discriminated against because of who they are?

I know it is a difficult issue, but never be what the others want you to be, never repress your sexuality, that is the worse

thing to do. My suggestion is to talk to a close friend that can be supportive, if you think your family is not going to support you, but as we all know family should always be supportive, as I mentioned before I was surprised how much part of my family accepted me after I told them. In terms of bullying maybe seek advice from a specialist, I am sure there are organizations that help people with bullying issues. Nowadays especially in the UK people are much more open towards gays, and more and more support is at hand either with friends relatives or even organizations.

Are you religious?

What do you think of the Church’s attitude towards gay people?

I am not a religious person, I do believe in God but I don’t believe in Church. I came from a very religious family, and I got away from the Church when I was 13 (thank God), in my view Church should be a place to accept and welcome all, but unfortunately most are not, or not yet.

Are you political?

If so, is there any organisation whose

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work you particularly admire?

No I am not a political person, as there are lots wrong in politics in my view, although I do think politics in this country is much better in compare where I come from, I vote liberal democratic.

Have you ever been in love?

Yes.

Are you married? If so, what was your wedding day like? If not, would you like to get married someday?

No I am not married, but I do have a partner and we live together, and yes probably I would like to get married one day.

Are you a father? If so, what does fatherhood mean to you? If not, would you like to be a father someday?

I am not a father, but yes I would like to be a father someday. I know it is easier said than done, but I would try my best to pass on the best example and education that a father could pass to his child, treat him or her with respect and raise them to respect the others.

EILE Magazine 66

Reflections Jenny Butler on the need for reflections rather than resolutions for the New Year At the time of writing this, it is a mild New Year’s Eve in Dublin City, and just a short stroll out of the City Centre, I am cosy and content at a friend’s apartment, enjoying the view of the Canal through the window. There are two swans currently patrolling the same stretch of canal bank, where a couple who were walking by had thrown some bread to them. The light from the street lamp shines on the water, as the wind appears to hurry it along towards Portobello Lock. This will be the kind of New Year’s Eve that I need; quiet and reflective.

I think that the latter is something we often neglect to make time for during the year - reflection. It is easy for your mind to think back and take stock of the year that has gone by, once the year is drawing to a close.

However, rather than waiting 365 days to reflect on things, it might be helpful to do a continuous assessment of your progress. This allows you to stay on track, rewarding ‘minigoals’ as a way of motivating yourself to continue to forge ahead with your plans.

In doing this you will also begin to realise your potential, and how far you can go in short spaces of time, rather than banking on completing a mammoth task over 365 days, without giving yourself a chance to reevaluate things at some point during the year.

New year’s resolutions are great, but they usually involve instant change, because we tend to get caught up in the end-result, rather than planning out the steps that it will take for us to achieve our

goals.

How many of us have joined the gym and bailed after a month? Or how many of us have said “no more junk food!”, only to order takeout two weeks later? Gradual change can often be the key to success, rather than instant, aggressive change, which can be catastrophic; although I do recognise the need for instant change in some cases as the only way to move forward.

When we have an ‘all or nothing’ attitude towards our goals, we forget that if we do not reach the end goal, we may have still achieved many ‘mini-goals’ along the way.

The path to the end goal may have been full of amazing lessons learned, and incredible applications of our skills, but if we do not see this, and focus solely on the fact that we did not achieve our main goal, we can sometimes feel like we have failed.

Feeling like you’ve failed at something obviously isn’t going to instil a good sense of self-worth in you when you try to plan other goals. Instead of

having new year’s resolutions, try new year realisations; realise your potential, realise that your goals are achievable, but that you will need a strategic plan in place to get to where you want to be, and realise that you are capable of many things now that you may never have thought possible last year. With these things in mind, make 2015 part of an ongoing evolution of who you are.

Wishing you a happy, healthy new year filled with realisations of your potential!

EILE Magazine 68

Legal Change To Affect The LGBT Community In 2015

By William Quill 2015 is set to be the busiest year to date for legal change affecting the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people living in Ireland.

In December, the government’s Gender Recognition Bill finally came to the Seanad. This was the culmination of many years of legal proceedings, first initiated by Dr Lydia Foy, with the assistance of the Free Legal Advice Centre in 1997, seeking a birth cert that would recognise her as female.

The European Court of Human Rights had ruled in a similar case against the United Kingdom in 2002, that such a prohibition contravened the European Convention on Human Rights. The British government responded swiftly with the Gender Recognition Act 2004. In Ireland, proceedings moved between courts, until the government settled the case with Dr Foy out of court late last year, on the promise of this legislation.

The Bill is undoubtedly a major advancement. For

the first time, it will be possible for people to change official recognition to that of their preferred gender.

However, it is restrictive compared to legislation that has been introduced in other countries recently. For example, while the Gender Identity Law introduced in Argentina in 2012 was based on self-identification, the Irish legislation will require certification from a medical practitioner.

The Irish scheme will also be unavailable to those under 16. Given the proportion of single-sex schools here, this is a deficiency. It will also be unavailable to those currently married or in a civil partnership, a provision which will hopefully be revisited after the constitutional change on marriage.

The Minister for Justice and Equality, France Fitzgerald, has published a draft of a Children and Family Relationships Bill.

Its overarching aim is to modernise the law regarding the parental rights of children living in diverse family forms.

This includes guardianship rights for non-marital fathers,

and increasing the emphasis on the interests of the child.

Pertinently here, it will recognise both parties in a couple as parents in cases of assisted reproduction, and it will enable civil partners, or cohabiting couples, to apply jointly to adopt children. This will reflect the reality that there [are] many children across the country with two mothers or two fathers.

This legislation has yet to be introduced in the Oireachtas.

While it deserves careful scrutiny, we should also hope that it is passed through all stages without any unnecessary delay. As far as is possible, the debate on this bill should be separated from the full-scale referendum campaign on marriage.

Which leads us on to the big event of the year: The Marriage Referendum.

While a date has yet to be confirmed, I’d predict Friday 8 May. Just four months, and that time will fly. This means the campaign will officially start in early April.

Let’s hope the wording in the bill is a simple one. All it needs to state is that couples of the

EILE Magazine 69

same sex are permitted to marry, and perhaps a clarification of the distinction between civil marriage and religious marriage.

after, so that we can see couples marrying early in the second half of this year. Ireland will then join seventeen other countries, now including most of western Europe.

This campaign won’t be easy.

Though the opinion polls signal a favourable result, in practically all referendum campaigns, the support for the Yes side dropped substantially in the month of the campaign.

We need to be sure that the question in the public mind is simple: should two people who can currently enter a civil partnership be allowed to enter a civil marriage?

The Employment Equality Act 1998 provided protection against discrimination across nine grounds, including sexual orientation, marital status and family status.

However, Section 37 provides an exemption to institutions which hold a religious ethos.

This has a chilling effect on LGBT teachers and other professionals, who can be fearful of being truly open about their personal lives, for fear that they will not be hired or promoted. This, in turn, has a negative effect on children, deprived of the opportunity to see a positive role model in their teacher, or hear them speak out with force against homophobic and transphobic bullying. The Minister for Education and Skills has promised legislation to change this, which we will hopefully see this year too.

And we need to keep the focus on the personal impact of this change, what this will mean to individual couples and their families. If you were wondering when might be the right time to talk more openly to others in your family, or your work, about your life or relationship, this will be the year to do so!

Hopefully the accompanying legislation will follow soon

In response to attacks against the Roma community, Aodhán Ó Riordáin, Junior Minister for Justice, promised legislation to deal with hate crime. This is also in line with an EU Directive mandating greater protection for victims of crime, which is to be implemented by November of this year.

The Directive also includes mandatory monitoring of crimes affecting particular minorities. This means that activists, within the LGBT community, can work constructively with the Department and an Garda Síochána, to ensure policing that better protects the safety of LGBT people on our streets.

We can all play a part in ensuring the best possible legislation to bring greater equality to Ireland next year, lobbying departments or Oireachtas members, and getting involved in the campaign to introduce constitutional recognition for equal civil marriage.

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Marriage is in Sight but beware the Polls!

Stephen Spillane cautions against complacency in the upcoming Marriage Referendum, and says that polls have been wrong before 2015 will be a big year for the LGBT community in Ireland, with the Gender Recognition Bill and the Children and Family Relationship Bill going before the Dáil, and of course the Referendum on Marriage in April/ May. But how confident can we be of it’s success at the ballot box?

Some seem to suggest that the Marriage Referendum is guaranteed to pass, but I hate to break it to you, nothing is further from the truth.

Yes, opinion polls are showing the Yes Vote to be between 70%-80% Yes, but how likely is it that every single one of those will turn up to vote?

For this to pass we need to encourage every single person who supports Marriage

Equality to go out and vote.

This isn’t an easy task. Those most in favour - young people and the LGBT Community - typically have the lowest turnout in any form of election in Ireland. So we need to change this, but how? We as a community aren’t used to this type of campaigning. We are great at raising awareness and lobbying, but going out there and talking to people, convincing people, and begging people to go out and vote, isn’t something most of us have done.

The timing of the Referendum too does not suit turnout, with many college exams taking place in April and May, so every vote will count.

This campaign is not about getting 70% or 80% of the vote, this campaign is about winning the vote, which is half the votes cast plus one vote. That’s what we need.

That is our aim. We need to be focused on that.

Opinion polls don’t have a fantastic record of forecasting results. Five days before the Referendum to abolish the

Seanad in October 2013, polling had the Yes vote on 44% to the No vote on 27%, but in the end the result was 51.73% No and 48.27% Yes. Not a great referendum for the polling companies’ performance record.

Polling companies also got the Children’s Rights Referendum in 2012 wrong. During this referendum campaign the polling companies suggested that Yes Vote was at 78%, but in reality the vote on the day was only 58% Yes. Was this due to the fact that people assumed it would pass?

Are we now heading into a situation where we could make the same mistake?

A major issue during this campaign will of course be the required 50:50 coverage on TV and radio. Compared to the massive chorus of voices on the Yes side – made up of political parties and civil society – the NO campaign has few organisations, yet is

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guaranteed the same level of coverage. You can expect much obfuscation and statements trying to muddy the water, which will then have to be responded to.

While there is no onus on the print media to be balanced on the issue, I am sure that for balance, many papers will try to facilitate debate on their opinion and letter pages. This is where we as a community, and our allies, can play a role.

We can write letters, prove points, and generally show the size of the support for Marriage

Equality in Ireland.

land of equals.

As someone who is a veteran of Referendum campaigns, I know they are tough - I know there are days when you question why we are doing it.

But never give up hope. Always remind yourself of the goal at the end of it all.

To paraphrase Tiernan Brady of GLEN, at 10pm on the day the polls close, every single one of us who want a Yes vote to be successful, need to go to bed content in the knowledge that there was nothing else we could have done to get another vote - not one person we could have talked to, not one door we didn’t knock on, or not one letter we didn’t write.

Then, and only then, can we countenance the possibility of a successful Yes vote.

Equality.

Equality not just for you, but your brother, your sister, your cousin, your uncle, your aunt, your friend, your teachers and so on. Let us make Ireland a

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US: Medicare Lawsuit Win Allows Gender Reassignment Surgery for Seniors A landmark legal case in the United States means that senior transgender Americans can now avail of gender reassignment surgery through Medicaid.

securing equal rights for transgender people.

Denee Mallon, 74, was the first to undergo gender reassignment surgery, paid for

by Medicaid. The operation was made possible after Ms. Mallon challenged the U.S. government’s insurance program to lift its ban on covering such procedures for transgender patients.

“I feel congruent, like I’m finally one complete human being where my body matches my innermost feelings, my psyche. I feel complete.”

According to NBC News: Mallon’s victory opened the door for other seniors to access this care and may influence whether more insurers – private and public – will cover them. LGBT advocates also hailed her case as another step forward to

Ms Mallon, from New Mexico, spoke to the American channel two days after her operation in Chicago, and said that the procedure now made her feel “complete”:

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US: ACLU Virginia Urge School To Reject Discriminatory Trans Bathroom Policy The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia sent a letter last month (4th) to the Gloucester County School Board urging it to reject a proposed policy that would limit school restrooms and locker rooms to “the corresponding biological genders” and would require transgender students either to use facilities that are inconsistent with their gender identity or use “an alternative private facility.” The school board is scheduled to vote on the policy on December 9.

“There is broad medical consensus that transgender teenagers should live according to their gender identity in every possible respect, including using the appropriate bathrooms,” said ACLU of Virginia legal director Rebecca Glenberg, one of the signatories to the letter.

“Forcing transgender students to use segregated facilities is intensely stigmatizing.”

The policy was proposed after officials at Gloucester County High School decided this fall to allow Gavin Grimm, a transgender boy, to use the boys’ restrooms. This decision has not resulted in any disruption at the school, where students appear supportive of Gavin’s right to use restrooms that are consistent with his gender identity.

“Gloucester High School is doing the right thing by treating Gavin like any other boy at the school. The school board should not step in to undermine the supportive and welcoming environment that administrators, teachers, and students have created” said Glenberg.

According to the ACLU letter, the proposed policy would violate Title IX of the United States Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits schools that receive federal funds from discriminating on the basis of sex. Federal courts, as well as the U.S. Department of Education and

Department of Justice, have recognized that discrimination based on gender identity violates Title IX. Both DOE and DOJ have settled discrimination cases against school districts by requiring school districts to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that accord with their gender identity.

This week, in a guidance document on single-sex education, the DOE recognized that “[u]nder Title IX, a recipient generally must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity in all aspects of the planning, implementation, enrollment, operation, and evaluation of single-sex classes.”

The ACLU letter to the Gloucester County School Board can be read here: http://acluva.org/wp-content/ uploads/2014/12/141205LtrToGloucester-CountyPublic-Schools.pdf h/t ACLU

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Luxembourg Celebrates First Same-Sex Marriage Jean Paul Olinger & Henri Lorenzo Huber were the first same-sex Luxembourger couple to wed on New Year’s Day. [Photo: Claude Piscitelli] New Year’s Day saw the special celebration of Luxembourg’s first samesex marriage ceremony, as Jean Paul Olinger and Henri Lorenzo Huber tied the knot in the small country, with thanks to a new marriage law that came into force on January 1.

Olinger and Huber, both in their 60s, got married in the Town Hall of Differdange on January 1, with mayor Roberto Traversini officiating the ceremony. The town hall is normally closed on New Year’s Day, but the venue was opened specially for the

26 EILE Magazine

couple to make their vows as the first same-sex couple to wed in Luxembourg.

marriage,while same-sex marriage is to become legal in Finland from March 2017.

Luxembourg’s parliament voted in favour of the country’s new marriage law, granting the right to marriage, as well as adoption rights, to same-sex couples.

Eleven countries in Europe now have same-sex marriage, with nine of them being in the European Union.

In an interview with national broadcaster RTL, Mayor Traversini said that one other couple was interested in marrying on January 1, but was unable to find a venue for their reception.

Elsewhere in the country, January wedding dates are also set, with two women to wed in Walferdange on Friday, and the first same-sex ceremony in Luxembourg City scheduled for January 16, according to RTL.

Austria, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland are considering legislation to introduce same-sex

Feature | News Rainbow | Kenya Duck

Next OUTWEST Event TF-Royal Hotel, Castlebar, Co. Mayo Saturday 28th February 2015

Late bar until 2 am – Residents’ Bar Details of preferential room rates and hotel booking information will be given here as soon as they become available.

OutWest, the social and support group for the LGBT community in the West of Ireland, are pleased to announce that they are holding their next disco in the TF-Royal Hotel, Castlebar, For further information TEXT Co Mayo, on Saturday 28th the OUTWEST information line February 2015. on 087 972 5586 , email info@ outwestireland.ie or check out DJ John Gleeson – Doors open their Facebook page or website 10.30 pm for the latest updates.

Entrance: €10 (€7 student rate) EILE Magazine 27

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Attention: Youth & Community Workers – Stand Up! Awareness Week 2015 Free Advanced Training on LGBT Issues BeLonG To would like to let youth and community workers know about Stand Up! Awareness Week 2015, and the free training which will help combat homophobic and transphobic bullying.

This year Stand Up Week Against Homophobic and Transphobic Bullying will take place from 20th – 24th April.

In BeLonG To Youth Services, they know that youth workers and youth services play a very influential role in their local communities. They would like to invite you to help to tackle the homophobia and transphobia that young people

experience in their communities and schools.

They are very pleased that this year Stand Up has been endorsed by the National Youth Council of Ireland, Youth Work Ireland and Foróige, and are very happy to let you know that for Stand Up 2015 they will be offering free advance training in late March 2015. These workshops will be specifically designed for youth workers to help you with preparations for Stand Up. See below for details about the training – and how to register.

Why do we need Stand Up? Unfortunately, young people across Ireland face high levels of homophobic and transphobic bullying. Stand Up! Awareness Week takes place in postprimary schools and youth services, and aims to tackle homophobic and transphobic bullying, by increasing friendship and support for LGBT young people by other

young people, and by raising positive awareness of LGBT young people.

What Stand Up! training sessions will offer The training will be delivered by senior staff from BeLonG To and will offer: A chance to increase your confidence in tacking and preventing homophobic and transphobic bullying.

A chance to better equip yourself with skills to support LGBT students.

Insights into the challenges faced by LGBT students.

A chance to increase your confidence in developing antibullying policies that address homophobic and transphobic bullying.

Ways to implement Stand Up in your school.

Small-group discussions.

Opportunities to ask questions.

Contact details for further information.

Hand-outs.

Copies of useful print and DVD

News | Tim Cook

resources.

Find a Stand Up! training session near you: Athlone – Monday 23 March 2015, 11.00am – 3.00pm, Monsignor McCarthy Complex, Battery Heights, Athlone, Co. Westmeath Cork – Tuesday 03 March 2015, 11.00am – 3.00pm, Millennium Hall, City Hall, Cork City Centre, Co. Cork Dublin – Thursday 05 March, 11.00am – 3.00pm, Youth Work Ireland National Office, 20 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin 1 ***Refreshments served at each session*** BeLonGTo would be delighted if you would take part in this Stand Up! training and are

looking forward to seeing you at a training session. They’ll be sending out Stand Up! Educational Packs in February 2015.

To Register for Training, visit www.belongto.org Feedback from previous BeLonG To training: “The training surpassed my expectations – excellently presented with wonderful insights.”

“The training gave me greater confidence that I am delivering the correct information to teenagers and in the future I will have more ideas on what to do/say.”

“I really enjoyed the training and feel I could deal more

appropriately if confronted with LGBT issues or instances of homophobic or transphobic bullying.”

“The training more than met my expectations. I have received training from BeLonG To before and I am amazed to have learned so much more.”

Style | Festive Fashion

Hundreds of Law Enforcement, Clergy and Businesses Sign To Support Florida Marriage Ban Challenge In more than 25 unique amicus briefs that have been or will be submitted this week to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, scores of first responders, law enforcement officials, states, cities, faith leaders, and businesses urge the court to end Florida’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples.

The briefs show the depth and diversity of support for the plaintiffs in the Florida cases, and for the freedom of gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Florida is one of 15 states where same-sex couples do not have the fundamental right to marry. On Aug. 21, a District Court judge ruled that Florida’s marriage ban is unconstitutional, but the ruling was stayed until Jan. 5, 2015.

Just last week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to extend the stay, refusing to delay the freedom to marry in Florida.

The stay will now expire on Jan. 5, even as the appeal in the Florida marriage cases proceeds in the 11th Circuit.

An oral argument in Atlanta, where the 11th Circuit is based, is not yet scheduled.

Some of the notable briefs that have been or will be submitted include: First responders and law enforcement: More than 200 first responders and law enforcement signed on to a brief, including Chief Jane Castor, Chief of Police, Tampa Police Department; Chief David Frisby, Police Chief (Ret.), Monticello Police Department; Chief Sharon Lippman, Battalion Chief (Ret.), Tallahassee

EILENews Magazine 79 | GLAAD Fire Department; Chief Walt McNeil, Police Chief (Ret.), Tallahassee Police; and Cindy Dick, Fire Chief (Ret.), Tallahassee Fire Department.

“I have worked beside and supervised lesbian cops. They did the same job and paid the same dues as I did. They deserve the same legal rights and protections that I enjoy,” said Chief Frisby.

Clergy and Religious Leaders. Leo Frade, Bishop of the Diocese of Southeast Florida, Trinity Cathedral, Episcopalian, Miami; and Rev. Gloria Van Houten, United Church of Christ Minister and Member of The Open and Affirming Ministry Team, Sarasota, are among the more than 200 signatories of a religious communities brief.

“Jesus saw fit to conduct his first miracle at a wedding at Cana in Galilee,” said Bishop Frade. “As I near the end of my tenure here as Bishop of Southeast Florida, I hope my last miracle will be to marry two friends in Christ who have been prevented from doing so for far too long.”

Businesses. Major American companies located in Florida, Alabama and Georgia, including Delta Air Lines, Inc.; Alcoa; Bloomberg; Levi Strauss & Co.; CBS Corporation; eBay, Inc.; General Electric Company; Marriott International, Inc.; Pfizer, Inc.; Symantec Corporation;

Viacom Inc.; Deutsche Bank AG; Electronic Arts Inc.; Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, LLC; Staples; Sun Life Financial U.S.; Target; United Therapeutics; and SHS Management, LLC, signed onto a business and employers brief.

The brief also includes dozens of small businesses across the three states and argues: “State laws and constitutions denying marriage to gay and lesbian citizens are bad for our businesses. Amici are forced to bear unnecessary costs, complexity, and risk in managing our companies, and we are hampered in our efforts to recruit and retain the most talented workforce possible—all of which places us at a competitive disadvantage.

Our success depends upon the welfare and morale of all employees, without distinction.”

Cities and Counties.

Representing cities and counties across Florida; Broward County, Palm Beach County, Orange County, Alachua County, City of Coconut Creek, City of Gainesville, City of Hallandale Beach, City of Key West, City of Miami Beach, City of Orlando, City of St. Petersburg, City of South Miami, City of Tallahassee, City of Tampa, City of West Palm Beach, City of Wilton Manors and Village of Biscayne Park signed onto a brief.

“Miami Beach is proud to lead the government voice for marriage equality in Florida as the only party – public or

private – to appear in every single appeal challenging Florida’s denial of marriage,” said Robert Rosenwald, First Assistant City Attorney for Miami Beach. “Now 16 large local governments join us in arguing that Florida’s prohibition on marriage for gay and lesbian couples impedes our ability to fulfill our core mission of providing for the health and welfare of our residents.”

“The breadth and depth of these amici briefs demonstrate the groundswell of support for the freedom to marry,” said Nadine Smith, CEO of Equality Florida. “A Federal district court in Florida has now joined the 60 other state and federal courts – including four federal appellate courts – who over the past year have affirmed the freedom to marry and held the denial of marriage to be unconstitutional. We believe when the 11th Circuit justices consider this case and makes note of the diversity of support, they, too, will affirm the right of everyone to marry the person they love.”

The Florida cases before the 11th Circuit are Armstrong v. Brenner, filed by private counsel, and Secretary, Florida Dept of Health v. Grimsley, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida on behalf of SAVE, an LGBT organization in Miami, and almost a dozen married and unmarried same-sex couples seeking the freedom to marry or respect for their marriages legally performed in other states.

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Tropical Medical Bureau – Health Risks With Returning Travellers With the holiday season well and truly upon us, people have been returning home from all corners of the world to celebrate with their families or taking a festive break.

While this is a great time for reunions and celebration, some people can get so caught up in it that they miss symptoms of illnesses that they could have carried home with them.

For example some respiratory illnesses can develop slowly over a few days before you realise you are sick and, in some cases, by this time you may have already spread it to your loved ones, ensuring a not so happy Christmas for everyone!

Being covered with the ‘flu vaccine (before you travel but also for any of the higher risk groups at home) will help lessen this risk, though of course there are a lot of other problems out there.

It is also a common misconception that only people who have travelled to far flung countries can contract diseases such as Malaria or Dengue Fever.

Dr Graham Fry, Medical Director of Tropical

Medical Bureau says, “Whether you are returning from an exotic location or simply from a festive getaway, be aware of your health upon your return and if you are not feeling well contact your GP or (for currently registered TMB patients) our 24/7 urgent support service to rule out more serious illnesses.”

Andrew Lewis, CEO of TMB added, “The Tropical Medical Bureau offer a follow-up service for all registered TMB patients who may have concerns when they return from their travels as well as a 24/7 hotline and postexposure service for all returning travellers.”

Tropical Medical Bureau has 20 clinics nationwide. To book an appointment, please contact TMB on 1850 487674 or visit www. tmb.ie.

EILE Magazine 81

Australian Same-Sex Couples Read #5DaysofEquality Support Messages During the 7th to 12th of December last year (2013) Australia’s ACT (Australian Capital Territory, i.e. greater Canberra) government began granting marriage licenses to samesex couples, for the first time. Thirty-one couples were married in the city-state, until the Australian federal government ruled that the ACT’s actions were unconstitutional. The Australian High Court later invalidated all these marriages.

Earlier this month, however, GLAAD inspired people on social media to use the hashtag #5DaysOfEquality to show their support and recognition of those married during those five days last year.

Participants included George Takei, Jennifer

Knapp, Omar Sharif Jr., and GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis.

As the tradition of one year anniversary is regarded as the “paper anniversary,” these social media posts were made into custommade cards donated by Smudge Ink. The cards were shared with the couples at a GLAAD party in Canberra, Australia. It was an anniversary party that celebrated their love, and shared these messages of support from around the world.

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BeLonGTo: Published Gender Recognition Bill Falls Short of Trans Needs BeLonG To, the national LGBT organisation, acknowledges the publication of the Gender Recognition bill but says that the bill falls far short of meeting the needs of Trans people, especially Trans young people.

with BeLonG To said “We acknowledge the inclusion of Trans young people in the bill however, we are concerned that young people without parental consent will not have access to a Gender Recognition Certificate under the current proposals. The The Bill introduces a four-fold requirement for mechanism whereby young parental consent, a court people aged 16 and 17 can order and two medical letters obtain a Gender Recognition is unneccessarily arduous on Certificate. While the inclusion young people who are often of under 18’s within the bill at an extremely vulnerable represents some progress, the and stressful moment in the process they would have to lives. These requirements follow is, BeLonG To believes, reinforce exclusion and will too arduous, impartical and not contribute to descreasing unfair on young people. marginalisation and isolation amongst Trans young people.”

The process for 16 and 17 year olds will require parental IndividualiTy, a weekly peer consent, a court order, a support group for Trans letter from a primary treating identified young people aged medical practitioner and a 14 – 23 is one of BeLonG concurring opinion from an To’s core groups, and has independent endocrinologist experienced a huge rise in or psychiatrist. attendance in recent years with an ever reducing age of DAVID_CARROLL young people reaching out for David Carroll support.

Speaking today, David Carroll, Executive Director Mr. Carroll continued, ” Often

parents contact us seeking support for their Trans children and despite their best efforts, families all too often report feeling isolated, frustrated and left extremely vulnerable’ While the introduction of this Bill is another step forward in creating a Trans inclusive legal framework it falls far short of meeting needs of Trans young people. As it stands the Bill is also out of synch with Advice from the Ombudsman for Children’s Office on the General Scheme of the Gender Recognition Bill 2013.

We are committed to advancing the rights of Trans young people as the Bill moves through the legislative process.

You can access the full report at www.belongto.org

Church Of Scotland Statement On Gay Ordination Protest Group Although the good news recently was that the majority of presbyteries of the Church of Scotland have voted in favour of appointing ministers who are in civil partnerships ahead of the voting deadline of New Year’s Eve, there is a group forming which is against the appointment of gay and lesbian ministers.

The Church of Scotland issued a statement in response to the formation of the group, launched in Glasgow, called the Covenant Fellowship, opposed to the ordination of gay ministers.

Rev Prof Andrew McGowan, minister of Inverness East Church, is one of those involved in Covenant Fellowship.

He said: “Today, members and adherents of the Church of Scotland are being asked to express support for a Covenant Fellowship. We invite everyone in the Church who feels the

same way to stand with us.

matter.

“The hope is that the Covenant Fellowship, which begins today as a protest against recent events, will grow to become an effective campaign group within the Church on behalf of those who believe in Christian orthodoxy.”

“This pain and disillusionment has been felt by those, like Professor McGowan, who think the Church is going in the wrong direction and those who desperately want a Church which would go further on their chosen route. Yet the issue has to be discussed and we are a Church which recognises “liberty of opinion.”

Our General Assembly has agreed that this proposal – to allow a congregation call a minister in a civil partnership – falls into that category. It is not, therefore, an attack on the fundamental doctrines of the Christian Faith.

Acting Principal Clerk for the Church of Scotland, Rev Dr George Whyte, said: “The Church of Scotland welcomes Professor McGowan’s continued commitment to remain a member and a minister but there are in his statement accusations which we believe are not accurate.

“The proposed legislation which is the focus of the group’s criticism has been painstakingly considered by the Church across the nation.

We know that for many people the discussion has been difficult and it has always been clear that we could never come to a common mind on the

“We share Professor McGowan’s abhorrence of further disruption and we hope and pray that across Scotland Christians will find ways to continue to work together despite their varied opinions.”

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Human Rights Watch New Report: Licence to Harm In a report entitled Licence To Harm: Violence And Harassment Against LGBT People And Activists In Russia, Human Rights Watch have detailed the actual effects of the anti-gay legislation brought in by the Russian government last year.

The report states: In June 2013 Russia passed a law banning the distribution of information about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) relationships to children. The law effectively legalizes discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Its passage coincided with a 28 EILE Magazine

ratcheting up of homophobic rhetoric in state media and an increase in homophobic violence around the country.

All over Russia there has been an increase in attacks by vigilante groups and individuals against LGBT people in the past two years.

There has also been an increase in attacks on LGBT activists, and anti-gay groups have used the 2013 law to justify mounting campaigns of harassment and intimidation of LGBT teachers and other school or college staff to get them fired from their jobs.

Although Russian law enforcement agencies have the tools to prosecute homophobic violence, there appears to be no will to do so and no policy or instructions from the leadership to take homophobic violence seriously. Aside from several isolated investigations, the authorities have done little

to hold assailants accountable.

Instead of publicly denouncing anti-LGBT violence and rhetoric, Russia’s leadership has remained silent. In some cases public officials have engaged in explicit anti-LGBT hate speech.

This inaction has only served to perpetuate the cycle of discrimination, harassment, and violence. Moreover, it contravenes Russia’s obligations under domestic law and many key international human rights treaties to which it is a party to protect all people, including LGBT people of all ages, from violence and discrimination.

This report documents the spread of homophobic and transphobic violence and everyday harassment against LGBT people and activists that has taken place in the lead-up to and aftermath of

News | Zachary Quinto the adoption of the 2013 antiLGBT law. It is based on 94 interviews with LGBT people and activists from 16 cities and towns in Russia. LGBT people and activists described the types of abuse they were subjected to and the obstacles they encounter when they seek redress.

Human Rights Watch criticises law enforcement agencies for ignoring the ‘hate’ element in hate crimes: Law enforcement agencies deliberately ignore hatred of LGBT people as a key criminal motive behind the attacks. Although Russia has hate crime laws, Russian law enforcement agencies do not treat even the most blatantly homophobic violence as hate crimes. Not a single case documented in this report was investigated as a hate crime.

Police treat most homophobic attacks as common crime, such as hooliganism or assault and battery.

The report gives various recommendations to the Russian government to address the violence against LGBT people, which includes: to publicly condemn such violence, to commit to taking steps to end the abuse, and to repeal the anti-gay propaganda laws, not only because of the abuse, but also because they violate Russia’s international human rights obligations.

You can access the full HRW report HERE

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EILE Magazine History | Gareth86 Russell

BeLonGTo: Stand Up! Awareness Week 2015 – Registration & Training BeLonG To will be offering free advance training for teachers in late March 2015, ahead of the organisation’s annual ‘Stand Up’ awareness week against homophobic & transphobic bullying, which takes place from the 20th to 24th of April.

These workshops are in response to requests for training that the organisation received during the recent evaluation of Stand Up! These training sessions may be of interest to teachers and other school staff, who might be interested in the topic of training such as Guidance Counselors, SPHE Coordinators and Teachers, Pastrol Care Teams, Anti-Bullying Coordinators, School Chaplains etc.

Why do we need Stand Up? Stand Up! Awareness Week takes place in postprimary schools throughout Ireland. It aims to tackle homophobic and transphobic bullying by increasing friendship and support for LGBT students by other students, and raising awareness of LGBT youth issues.

Stand Up! was recommended for funding in the Department of Education’s Action Plan on Bullying, which said:

“In light of the identified need to combat bullying against LGBT young people or young people perceived to be LGBT, DES should support the Stand Up awareness campaign.”

(DES Action Plan on Bullying, 2013, p. 111.)

And, the DES Anti-Bullying Procedures include the following points: LGBT students are among the ‘more vulnerable pupils’ (p. 14.)

Prevention should specifically address homophobic and transphobic bullying (p.6.)

Positive school climates (pp. 21-27) should be encouraged by, e.g. ‘open dialogue’ across school communities, awareness-raising, and ‘specific statements of welcome and respect for LGBT members of the school community’ (p.

26), etc.

What Stand Up! training sessions will offer BeLonG To is happy to offer these training sessions in response to feedback on previous Stand Up! campaigns. Teachers asked BeLonG To for more training around supporting their LGBT students and having safe and inclusive schools. The training’s will be delivered by senior staff from BeLonG To and will offer: A chance to increase your confidence in tacking and preventing homophobic and transphobic bullying.

A chance to better equip yourself with skills to

Magazine 87 NewsEILE | Mr Gay Ireland

support LGBT students.

Insights into the challenges faced by LGBT students.

A chance to increase your confidence in developing anti-bullying policies that address homophobic and transphobic bullying.

Ways to implement Stand Up in your school.

Small-group discussions.

Opportunities to ask questions.

Contact details for further information.

Hand-outs.

Copies of useful print and DVD resources.

Tá áthas ar BeLonG To a fhógairt go mbeidh an pacáiste oideachais ‘Seas an fód’ ar fáil i nGaeilge. (Cuirfear an pacáiste sa phost chugat i mí Feabhra 2015). Tá brón orthu nach féidir leo seisiúin oiliúna a chur ar fáil trí Ghaeilge.

Feedback from previous BeLonG To trainings: “The training surpassed my expectations – excellently presented with wonderful insights.”

“The training gave me greater confidence that I am delivering the correct information to teenagers and in the future I will have more ideas on what to do/say.”

“I really enjoyed the training and feel I could deal more appropriately if confronted with LGBT issues or instances of homophobic or transphobic bullying.”

“One of the best workshops I have attended! I feel I have gained so much that will help me in my work with students.”

“The training more than met my expectations. I have received training from BeLonG To before and I am amazed to have learned so much more.”

Cork – Wednesday 25 March, 4:30pm-6:30pm, Cork Education Support Centre, The Rectory, Western Road, Co. Cork Donegal (in partnership with HSE West Health Promotion) – Tuesday 24 March 2015, 1:00pm4:00pm, St. Conal’s Campus (in The Vestry), Letterkenny, Co. Donegal Dublin (Drumcondra) – Thursday 19 March 2015, 7:30pm-9:30pm, Drumcondra Education Centre (St. Patrick’s College), Drumcondra, Dublin 9 Dublin (Blackrock) – Monday 23 March 2015, 5:30pm-7:30pm, Blackrock Education Centre, Kill Avenue, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin Dublin West – Wednesday 25 March 2015, 5:00pm-7:00pm, Dublin West Education Centre, Old Blessington Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24 Galway – Thursday 19 March 2015, 4:30pm6:30pm, Galway Education Centre, Cluain Mhuire, Wellpark, Co. Galway Limerick – Thursday 26 March 2015, 7:00pm9:00pm, Limerick Education Centre, 1stFloor, Marshall House, Dooradoyle, Co. Limerick Waterford – Tuesday 24 March 2015, 4:306:30pm, Waterford Teachers’ Centre, Newtown Road, Waterford ***Refreshments served at each session*** BeLonG To are looking forward to seeing you at a training session. The team will be sending Stand Up! Educational Packs to you in February 2015, and would be delighted if you and your school would take part in Stand Up! Click here to register for your local training session.

Find a Stand Up! training session near you: Athlone – Monday 23 March 2015, 7:30pm9:30pm, Athlone Education Centre, Moydrum Road, Athlone, Co. Westmeath

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Indiana: Court Orders Gender Change On Birth-Cert Of Transgender Man In the US, the Transgender Law Center celebrated the decision issued last month by the Indiana Court of Appeals, recognizing the legal change of gender of a transgender man.

The decision reversed a lower court ruling that had denied the request because no Indiana statute addresses courts’ authority to issue such orders.

The Transgender Law Center represented the man, known in court filings only as “John 54 EILE Magazine

Doe,” along with the pro bono assistance of the law firm of Faegre Baker Daniels.

“I’m so relieved. My birth certificate will finally show who I really am. Privacy is very important to me, and having a birth certificate that listed my sex as female was kind of scary – it could have outed me at any time and I never knew when someone might discriminate against me, or even try to hurt me, if they found out I’m transgender. I’m really grateful to Transgender Law Center for taking on my case,” said Doe.

the common-sense principle that courts everywhere have the authority to issue orders recognizing a person’s legal gender. That’s simply part of what courts do, regardless of whether a particular statute gives them that specific authority.”

Doe, a 25-year old African American man, was assigned the sex of female at birth, but has long identified and lived as a man. He successfully changed several of his identification documents to reflect his male gender, but when he attempted to change Transgender Law Center Legal the gender marker on his Director Ilona Turner added, Indiana birth certificate in 2012, the state Department of “We’re thrilled we were able Health informed him that he to win this victory for our would need to obtain a court client, which will also benefit order recognizing his change transgender people throughout of gender before they would Indiana as well as across the update the gender marker on country. This decision confirms his birth certificate. He filed a

EILE Magazine 89 Travel | Manchester petition in the state trial court seeking an order recognizing his male gender, submitting extensive evidence in support of the petition. The trial court, however, denied the petition, concluding that it did not have authority under state law to issue such an order.

The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed that ruling.

The decision issued by a unanimous three-judge panel noted that “the vast majority of states, including Indiana” have long allowed legal gender changes. While Indiana does not have a specific statute permitting changes of gender on birth certificates, the court held that under the Indiana statute that provides “general authority for the amendment of birth certificates,” as well as the “inherent equity power” of courts, the trial court did have authority to grant the order.

The appeals court further noted that a trial court’s “ultimate focus” in considering such an order “should be on whether the petition is made in good faith and not for a fraudulent or unlawful purpose”—not on whether the person has had any particular type of medical treatment, such as surgery. The Court of Appeals instructed the trial court to issue an order directing the state health department to amend Doe’s birth certificate “to reflect his male gender.” tlc

“I’m so relieved.

My birth certificate will finally show who I really am. Privacy is very important to me, and having a birth certificate that listed my sex as female was kind of scary – it could have outed me at any time and I never knew when someone might discriminate against me, or even try to hurt me, if they found out I’m transgender” EILE Magazine 55

LGBT Community Christmas Carol Service A HeartWarming Affair The 16th Annual Christmas Carol Service for the LGBT Community at the Unitarian Church yesterday evening was a really

welcoming and heartwarming get-together, featuring guest speaker Moninne Griffith, who spoke eloquently about why

Civil Marriage Equality would be good for the whole of Ireland, not just the LGBT community, and spoke of the campaign ahead.

The Unitarian Church made everyone feel very welcome, and Brian Glennon opened the service. There were readings from Kevin Dobson of the Unitarian Church, Seamus Dooley of GLEN, and the Irish Council of Civil Liberties. The Rev Bridget Spain, Minister with the Unitarian Church, also welcomed the gathering, and there were two young readers from BeLonGTo who read the Prayers of Intercession.

Night, unable to read our hymn-sheets in the dark, so we relied on The Gay Men’s Chorus to fill in the gaps for us.

Interspersed among the various spoken pieces, were hymns and carols from the wonderful Dublin Gay Men’s Chorus, whose Gaudete was perfection itself, In The Bleak Midwinter a pleasure to the ear, and who gave a beautiful rendering of O Holy Night.

The service ended with us all singing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, and we were then treated to mince pies, and for those who wished to partake, mulled wine.

After the candle-lighting ceremony, where the lights were dimmed, we all tried to sing Silent

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Then The Blessing was sung solo and unaccompanied by Barry Joyce of the chorus, and he sang the melodious piece beautifully with ease, smoothness, and a confidence and voice-control evocative of a professional performer.

What a lovely evening!

From The Sublime To The Angelic, Glória Nailed It Again And Again!

From the sublime to the angelic, the mix of beautiful hymns, and uplifting Christmas carols and classics,

combined to make this year’s Glória Christmas Concert the best yet.

From the opening bars of the uplifting Breath of Heaven, and the light angelic golden strains of Lux Aurumque, to the beautiful Ave Maria, humourous Santa Baby, and on to Rutter’s sublime hymn, Angels‘ Carol, the choir, under the watchful gaze and finely tuned ear of musical director, Ian Packham, nailed it again

and again.

The joy was palpable, and there was an almost visual quality to the Snowman’s Walking In The Air, as the music surged and then softened, and the choir and musicians took you from the floor of the cathedral, up into the eaves, floating and spinning, to finally rest you gently back on terra firma, and back in your seat.

The audience enthusiastically struggled to match the choir’s excellence when their turn came, with O Come All Ye Faithful, and the spirit of Ian Packham urged you to sing with all your might, even if you

are normally shy and wouldn’t have sung in public in a fit.

that can allow the expression of both.

As the music of the choir continued, I became lost in reverie.

When everything worldly, worrying and drab can melt away at the sound of human voice in unison, soaring to ethereal heights, and resonating with something inside you that leads you to that level, you allow yourself to be led.

How beautiful the soul is, when it’s given a means to express that beauty. How beautiful the human voice is, when it is allowed, unimpeded, to soar to the utmost limits to express that soul. How beautiful the human mind is, when it can pen the sort of music

Yes, Glória nailed it last night, under the guidance of Ian Packham, and in doing so, opened themselves up to greatness.

Marian Butler eile.ie 13/12/2014 EILE Magazine 19

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Marking international observance, UN declares ‘Every day is Human Rights Day’ The universal reach of human rights should not be restricted to one day alone but extended to every day of the year, top United Nations officials declared as they marked Human Rights Day – an annual UN-backed event commemorating the date on which the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Spearheaded by the Office of 60 EILE Magazine

the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), this year’s observance – celebrated under the banner of Human Rights 365 – encompasses the idea that “every day is Human Rights Day” and that “each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights.”

“On Human Rights Day we speak out,”Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proclaimed in his message.

“We declare that human rights are for all of us, all the time: whoever we are and wherever we are from; no matter our class, our opinions, our sexual orientation.”

“Violations of human rights are more than personal tragedies,” Mr. Ban continued. “They are alarm bells that may warn of a much

bigger crisis.

The Secretary-General explained that as a result of those “alarms,” his Human Rights Up Front campaign – launched in 2013 – sought to anticipate violations before they degenerate into mass atrocities or war crimes while advancing the struggle against injustice, intolerance and extremism.

The initiative includes training UN staff on the world body’s core purpose of promoting respect for human rights; providing Member States with the information needed to respond to human rights violations; and ensuring that UN personnel around the world are more attuned to situations where there is a risk of serious human rights abuses and are equipped for the responsibilities that such potential crises entail.

The strategy also includes achieving more

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Organizational coherence by strengthening engagement with the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council and providing earlier and more streamlined support to teams on the ground before a crisis emerges; and better organization of human rights staff so that they can identify risks of serious violations of human rights that could lead to atrocities.

Finally, underpinning all these activities will be better information management on threats and risks to populations for planning operational activities and for sharing with Member States.

In his statement issued for the Day, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, echoed Mr. Ban’s appeal and underscored the power of the Universal Declaration to “change the world.”

“Human rights are not country-specific.

They are not a reward for good behaviour or particular to a certain era or social group. They are the inalienable entitlements of all people,

at all times and everywhere, 365 days a year,” affirmed Mr. Zeid.

As part of its celebration of the Day, the OHCHR has launched a social media campaign encouraging the public to explain on a sixsecond Vine post why year-round human rights matter. The Vine videos will then be collected and published together on OHCHR’s Storify account.

“The UN Human Rights Office stands with the millions of people around the world whose voices are denied,” Mr. Zeid continued, as he called on the public to join OHCHR “via social media or in person.”

“Together, we must demand what should be guaranteed: our human rights, universal, indivisible, inalienable, for everyone, 365 days a year.”

TENI: Transgender People in Ireland Face High Rates of Violence Today (9th December) the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) launched a ground-breaking report ‘Being Trans in the European Union‘.

The report points to how trans people experience frequent discrimination and harassment, and draws upon the responses to FRA’s wider EU LGBT survey. The survey’s most striking result is the high level of repetitive violence and hate-motivated crime trans persons suffer.

“Despite significant advances, Ireland is not a safe place for trans people,” said TENI Chief Executive Broden Giambrone.

“The report shows, again, that trans people’s lives are marred by violence and harassment.”

According to the results of this report, Ireland holds the ignoble distinction of having the second highest prevalence (13%) of hate‑motivated violence in the last 12 months in EU Member States, following Lithuania. This is significantly higher than the EU average of 8%.

The report also found Ireland to be in the top 5 member states when it came to hatemotivated harassment in the last 12 months, with a prevalence of 31%. This compares negatively to the average of 22%.

Respondents were asked if they avoided expressing their gender or avoided certain places for fear of assault, threat or harassment. Of the Irish respondents, 43% said that they avoided expressing their gender and 66% stated that they avoided certain places.

Again, Ireland fared poorly as the EU trans average was 32% and 52% respectfully.

“These are incredibly troubling findings. There are real people behind these statistics and violence and harassment effects not just trans people but also their families and communities.

There is an urgent need for action to deal with this,” said Giambrone.

Feature | Kiss Me Kill Me

STAD – Stop Transphobia and Discrimination In June of this year, TENI launched the STAD: Stop Transphobia and Discrimination Report.

The STAD report documents hate crimes against transgender people in Ireland and was the first report of its kind. The data was captured using an online reporting mechanism, allowing people to report incidents of transphobia and discrimination in a safe and anonymous manner.

The STAD report found that 88% of respondents had experienced verbal abuse or insults, 28% experienced threats of violence, 19% experienced physical violence and 6% experienced sexual harassment.

Despite the experiences recorded in the STAD report, however, transgender people are not expressly protected under any equality or hate crime legislation in the Republic of Ireland.

Speaking at the launch of the report, TENI’s Chief Executive Broden Giambrone said, “Trans people, like all Irish people, are striving to live authentic lives and to thrive in society. There is no doubt that Irish society is changing but the violence and discrimination the trans community faces must stop. To change the way that trans people are treated we need to understand the full extent of the problem and look for viable solutions. The STAD report holds a mirror up to Irish society and show us we must be better.”

The STAD report is now available to download here.

You can also find details of this year’s STAD campaign here.

Or contact TENI at teni.ie

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BeLonG To welcomes the publication of EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency Report ‘Being Trans in the EU’ BeLonG To the national organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans young people in Ireland welcomes the publication of ‘Being Trans in the EU’ by the FRA. This report represents the most comprehensive research into the lived experiences of Trans people across the European Union and will form the bedrock of important policy development across member states into the future.

The report sheds light on the extent of transphobia faced by Trans people across

the EU member states and stresses that some groups are left particularly vulnerable: young people, the unemployed (including many trans young people), and those at an economic disadvantage.

Speaking on the publication of the report today, David Carroll, Executive Director at BeLonG To said: “We are increasingly worried about vulnerable young people who hide their Trans identity while at school. We’re also aware of significant numbers of Trans young people from previous research who do not know from an early age how to describe their gender identity, due mainly to a lack of information on transgenderism and the possibility for identification as a Trans

person”.

The report mirrors the findings of Supporting LGBT Lives, A Study of Mental Health & Wellbeing of LGBT People (2009) in illustrating a rather negative atmosphere towards LGBT people in secondary school. A breakdown by EU Member State shows that respondents from Ireland , Greece, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, the United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria and Romania are the least likely to have experienced a positive LGBT atmosphere at school.

Our research clearly shows the one of the most effective interventions in ending homophobia and transphobia is to provide training to educational professionals on how to approach LGBT

News | United Nations

issues in education and on how to deal with incidents of homophobic & transphobic bullying and harassment.

Further investment is required in the appropriate training to secondary teachers to ensure they are equipped with the skills they need to deliver on the above.

Mr. Carroll continued: “While training is pivotal in equipping educators to respond fully to homophobia & transphobia, we must not lose site of the positive initiatives underway within secondary schools in Ireland to create a more open and inclusive school climate for all LGBT

young people. The national Anti-Bullying Action plan announced by former Minister Quinn in January 2013 is eradicating homophobic and transphobic bullying from Irish schools and remains the only national action plan on bullying in the world to include LGBT young people specifically.”

BeLonG To’s Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Week is a core component of the national Action Plan on Bullying and is generously supported by the educational partners and the Departments of Education & Skills and Children and Youth Affairs.

Appropriate and accessible gender recognition is one of the cornerstones of protecting the human rights of Trans individuals. Such recognition will go a long way towards improving the mental health and wellbeing of Trans people and we call on the Government to introduce an inclusive and respectful Gender Recognition Bill to Dáil Éireann without delay.

To access the fra report, click HERE

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Seoul: City’s Human Rights Watchdog Says Charter Should Be Enacted Moon Kyung-Ran, Chief of the Human Rights Commitee for the Seoul municipal government, has stated yesterday, 8th December, that the mayor (Park Won-Soon) has a duty to enact the human rights charter, despite the antigay controversy.

“It is unacceptable that the Seoul city has ignored the decision made through democratic procedures”, she said.

She cited Seoul’s human rights ordinance, and said it was the mayor’s duty to establish the rights charter, which was agreed upon by vote, urging the government to “accept the outcome of the vote, and then make it public as planned”.

The mayor is himself a South Korean lawyer, elected as an independent candidate with the support of the democratic party in 2011, and on his way to becoming mayor was no stranger to activism. He is said to have an eye on the presidency in 2017.

The human rights commitee also demanded an investigation into suspicions that the Citizens

Commitee was obstructed deliberately during its last meeting, and to bring those responsible to justice.

The most controversial clause was one stipulating that discrimination against all minorities be abolished, including LGBT minorities. The government’s excuse for rejecting the charter had been that these issues had been decided upon as the result of a vote, which it declared was a failure, because it wanted consensus from the commitee. The commitee stated that “there is no public policy that can be determined unanimously”.

Jeon Hyogwan, chief of the Seoul Innovation Bureau, had stated: “We have demanded that the commitee determine all 50 clauses by consensus, because clauses that were decided by a vote can evoke social conflicts”.

The city’s rights watchdog has said the charter should be enacted on December 10th, Human Rights Day, as originally planned, despite the controversy over LGBT rights.

MKB

News | Trans Issues

Seoul City Hall

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BAI Code Manipulated to Silence and Strike Fear, Says Marriage Equality The group Marriage Equality have publicly supported journalist Úna Mullally’s writing in the Irish Times yesterday.

Andrew Hyland, Co-Director Marriage Equality, commented: “The BAI code is being manipulated to create an environment whereby some media are reluctant discussing marriage equality on air for fear of backlash.

Mullally’s article is on the money when she discusses the censorship in place and the dark cloud hanging over Ireland’s social change to-date.”

He continued, “Irish people largely support equal marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples due to our innate sense of fairness. What is not fair is the expectation that lesbian and gay lives and love are continually open to criticism and hurt in the

form of anti-equality opponents on air.”

Moninne Griffith, Co-Director Marriage Equality, said, “Loving and committed lesbian and gay couples remain vulnerable in Ireland due to the lack of constitutional protections civil marriage will provide.

This vulnerability is heightened when it is considered acceptable to always have an opponent on air to place hurdles on their path to equality.”

She continued, “Expecting everyday supporters of marriage equality to always have their hopes and dreams shot down and degraded on radio and T.V. by opposition in the name of balance is unacceptable. What’s fair is that LGBT people should be allowed talk about their lives without being told it’s wrong and undeserving of equality.”

Marriage Equality is a campaign working to promote equality for LGBT people in Ireland. Further information can be found on www.marriagequality.ie.

News | NI

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Flaws in ICANN ‘community evaluation’ of dotgay results in risk of domain being auctioned to highest bidder BeLonG To, the ownership of the national the future .GAY organisation top-level domain. for lesbian, gay, ICANN is in the process bisexual and trans of creating new top-level young people in domains (gTLDs), like .COM, .EU, and .INFO. Ireland has coAmong those to be created signed a letter is .GAY, which has great with over 50 potential value to commercial operators who can sell .GAY businesses and domains to high-value sites organisations & commercial interests, but worldwide also to LGBT individuals and organizations, for whose asking ICANN, benefit dotgay LLC applied to the Internet administer the name on the Corporation for basis of “community priority evaluation” (CPE).

Assigned Names and Numbers, The Economist Intelligence to reconsider Unit, contracted to carry out these evaluations, their refusal reported weeks ago that of community in their opinion, dotgay priority LLC did not qualify as a evaluation status community operator, in large part because they to dotgay LLC for

believed that the worldwide LGBT population had not supported this application.

This was despite the fact that 240 organisations, including IGLA, the most representative body in the world for LGBT interests, had expressed their support on multiple occasions.

Winning this status would have made dotgay LLC the automatic owner of .GAY and allowed it to protect the .GAY name from commercial exploitation, to create shared spaces (for example community-run portals like “health.gay”), and return a portion of profits to the community.

Because of the results of the CPE, the domain will now be auctioned off, with dotgay LLC facing off against well-financed commercial operators who will sell .GAY domains to any client,

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potentially drowning any community use of the .GAY domain and making it useless for LGBT groups. Even if dotgay LLC finds a financial partner for the auction and is successful, it means a significant change in business model, which at best puts off for many years any financial return to LGBT groups.

BeLonG To Youth Services has been a long-time defender of the principle of community priority for .GAY, and has supported dotgay LLC’s application. The last chance to avoid an auction is the current #reICANN campaign, for “reconsider, ICANN”. As part of this campaign, letters have been sent to ICANN from the National Gay and Lesbian

Chamber of Commerce and ILGA. Now the Federation of Gay Games has written a letter that serves as the focus of support for over 50 businesses and non-profit organizations which BeLonG To has co-signed.

The hope is that the campaign will induce ICANN to reconsider the manner in which the community priority evaluation was structured and carried out, offering a last chance for the future .GAY domain to become a safe space for LGBT people and groups online.

A copy of the letter by the Federation of Gay Games, co-signed by BeLonG To can

be found online here: https:// www.icann.org/en/system/ files/correspondence/johnsonto-bgc-28nov14-en.pdf

Feature | Dublin Lesbian Line

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