So far seven Irish MEP’s have signed the 10 point pledge on LGBT rights issues.

So Liam Aylward, Mairead McGuinness, Gay Mitchell (remember him?), Pat (The Cope) Gallagher, Brian Crowley, whenever you are ready?

More on this fabulous European campaign and the organisations behind it.

My experience in Ireland has been that many lesbians are involved in work in the area of domestic violence but refuse to work on or acknowledge domestic violence in same sex relationships. But no all lesbians want to do is get married. There have been some changes but there is much more discussion, acknowledgement and action needed. Where would Irish based women experiencing domestic abuse from another woman go? (Garda LGBT Liaison officer list as of November 2011 is here - other suggestions in the comments please!)

Are we so insecure about our sexuality and identity that we have to rush out examples of ‘good’ families and fawn after them. I know I’ve even done this myself at times over the past 20 years.

Why are ‘good’ examples in response to the right’s vilification of queer parents sought as part of campaign strategies?  The construction of the same sex marriage narrative as an economic development tool often accompanies this message tethering people to each other and their state to the disadvantage of others.

Single lesbians and gay men and single heterosexuals raise ‘good’ children too.  But the ‘two is better than one’ and ‘two marrieds is even betterer’ (it’s my blog and I can make up words if I want to) message of the marriage for gays and lesbian movement gathers offensive moss.

Non church going,  non ring wearing, anti cake topping,  attachment parenting disrespectful, possibly fuck buddying queers are raising babies or not raising babies.  They even vote.  And if they don’t marry or raise a child (or proud pooch) in a long term relationship akin to long term heterosexual relationships that doesn’t mean we’re not equal or not worth identifying and respecting in and out of our communities.  Equality for all should mean more than a big day out or another emotional heart tugging video.

The study was commissioned by GLEN, funded by Age and Opportunity through the Get Vocal programme and the Health Service Executive, and conducted by a team of researchers from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin.

The findings cover both the coming out and ageing experiences of older LGBT’s and makes proposals on how services should be delivered and policies developed so that growing older in Ireland is a positive experience.

I did postgraduate study on this area (my unfinished PhD) and from my first reading the Visible Lives study makes for remarkable and important reading on the experience of older LGBT people in experiencing health services, preparation for ageing, coming out and forming relationships and friendships and social supports as one grows older. There is a sense of pride and resilience amongst participants as the first cohort of out older LGBT people in Ireland whilst identifying the discrimination facing all older people and the added issues which face older LGBT people.

“We are the generation who are giving meaning to being ‘older LGBTs’, so there is challenge, adventure, a degree of excitement and surprise – and tremendous freedom!” Survey Participant

The current economic crisis is worrying many participants as it is many people growing older and worrying about pensions and contemplating working longer as they cannot afford to retire.

I do [have worries] but it’s nothing to do with being gay. It’s to do with the fact of the economic situation and pension-wise and I’m on a three day week, which is why I’m here now. Those are the worries I have but those are the worries of many people I’m sure now. (17 GM 61)

I think the other [worry] would be the financial bit. There is a security in knowing that you could afford a nursing home; there is no security if you’re depending on the State. (19 LF 58)

I spent most of my life working in [names country] without building up [an] adequate pension. Nearly all my friends live abroad and I am concerned that my financial situation will prevent me from seeing them again. (Survey participant)

Main Findings

- Most older people surveyed went through the whole of their adolescence and their early adulthood without disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity to anyone and without any contact with other LGBT people.
- Over a third (35%) still feel that friends will reject them if they tell them they about their sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Over a quarter (28%) are not ‘out’ to any of their neighbours.
- One in ten are not ‘out’ to any of their close family.
- More than a quarter (26%) are not ‘out’ to any of their healthcare providers because of fear of negative reaction.

The recommendations of the report include
– creating a dedicated role to progress the implementation of the recommendations of the Visible Lives report;
– engaging with policy makers to ensure that the National Positive Ageing Strategy and other relevant policies and strategies are inclusive of the needs and circumstances of older LGBT people;
- supporting capacity building work in the older people’s sector and mobilisation of this sector to respond to the needs of older LGBT people;
- engaging with the HSE and HIQA to establish standards for the care of older LGBT people and ensure that nursing homes and residential care services communicate a positive message of inclusiveness and respect for older LGBT people;
- engaging with health and social care services to ensure that policies and practice are responsive to the needs of older LGBT people and are embracing the principles of equality, inclusion and respect for diversity.

The summary and the full report are online. The launch is being broadcast live also.

While Norris himself was working behind the scenes this week seeking nominations rather than election to the office itself (might have been better doing that first time out), members of the public have been calling their public representatives, emailing or contacting them on facebook.

Many of them don’t take no for an answer easily. Others according to a member of the Fine Gael parliamentary party I was in touch with today have been receiving plenty of abuse. One who answered the phone themselves was called a ‘wanker’ while he tried to explain that the party were nominating their own candidate while another had to calm a member of staff who had a morning of handling calls to the office including people who screamed down the phone at her.

Most of the people involved in supporting Norris have not a clue on how the political system works or how party politics operates. Some of them have no manners either. Their views on democracy are all one way traffic too. Democracy is about also about saying no , it’s about the right to make a decision, not making a decision the way you want it made. Pity the councillors this weekend before the votes next week. They are probably going to vote the way the pack want and I doubt Norris knows what is happening outside of Leinster House.

I think the independent Oireachtas members have probably had it worse and as the number of votes required (and available) have decreased the volume of the invective has increased considerably. Listening to Senator Jillian Van Turnhout speak about her experiences of abusive ‘lobbying’ on the radio this morning and reading the comments about her online has truly saddened me. That someone who has fought for the rights of children and young people for so long cannot be understood or respected for her decisions by some leading members of gay organisations and others with a high profile in the gay community is incredible to observe. Including people who libelled other candidates last month in their fit of pique.

Norris will get his nomination. But in the campaign are we going to witness people being called homophobic if they don’t vote for him? Because that is where this type of hysteria is leading us. That is a witch-hunt. It is the politics of Family Solidarity, Campaign for Conscience and other squinting windows organisations who for decades controlled the country and it’s politics by fear. Way to go. Is this the legacy of campaigns and movements for marriage equality, the narrow vision and it’s sense of selfish entitlement at all costs, especially ignoring others who are vulnerable, living in poverty or discriminated against or violated?

Not all involved in the abuse are gay or lesbian, the anti establishment crew are also involved, and those who think Ireland will be a better place with a gay president. Invective turned tonight to Mary Davis for not handing back her nominations. She can’t hand back the ones she already has but that fact unsurprisingly didn’t seem to be understood by those leaving abusive comments on her Facebook page.

I doubt we’ll see such a clamour in a children’s rights referendum from those in this ‘group’. Can’t see further than the end of their nose most of them.

And yet there is more dirt and many more personal attacks to emerge in this campaign as we have have hardly yet begun.

NorthWest Pride is the first pride event in Ireland to genuinely make access a priority -  the group haveit’s own access officer and have assessed all events and widely publicised the service  and is to be highly commended for this initiative.   After the disappointment of last weeks Gaze Film Festival in Dublin and it’s inaccessible venue it’s great to see a small non hipster community based organisation postively reaching out to lgbt’s with disabilities and offer assistance to enable people to attend and fully participate.  Congratulations to Isolde Carmody and her colleagues for all their efforts, maybe they can teach the rest of the lgbt community how to do this including the Pride events with large bank balances and more media hype.

Whomever I vote for in the Presidential election they have to deserve my vote, not because they are gay, or have worked with people with disabilites or will bring jobs to the country or initiate conversations. I wasn’t voting for Norris before this. I can’t join in the chorus of this whole thing being an anti gay smear campaign even if it was there and chipping away. This was an incident waiting to happen. I know many young gay people are devastated and it suits to point to the anti gay, anti Palestinian, anti liberal forces. And no, gay candidates don’t have higher bench marks to reach, presidential candidates do. Because this is about character. There was a hush in the LGBT ‘community’ about not dissenting even if there were skeletons.

Norris’s own campaign was poor despite the status he had in the polls. There was a feeling that he deserved it and that Ireland should be able to be grown up and vote for a gay man in the Aras and sure isn’t he funny and eccentric, a great story teller.

When the Magill stuff came out he ran for the hills and hid from the media, when he did appear on the media there were disasters and something felt missing. His local authority campaign was poor with councillors reporting an arrogance and a failure to connect and even properly ask for support. The guilt trip in Leinster House began, ‘deserves to run’ being the phrase du jour, week, month.

Without a party machine and even expertise in running a national election Norris faced a huge disadvantage. Not telling your team the full story and preparing for the problems is fatal. The letter he wrote in defence of Ezra is very David, full of mentions of himself and his thoughts and opinions in a manner where he thought they were of consequence. Some feel that the letter might point to flaws and fears about what he might do if elected – this isn’t important. It’s about whether someone really deserves to be there and what he thinks of himself.

I still feel terribly sorry for David after all this. Because he’s human, hurting and stood up so many times and spoke out. But there now are too many reasons to withdraw and questions about him now and secrets too.

Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn accompanied by Deputies Kevin Humphreys and John Lyons with the President of the Irish National Teachers Organisation Noreen Flynn and members of the INTO LGBT group.   (Pic: K Mulhern)

So that work is going well regarding Section 37 Minister?

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner on Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg is outspoken on LGBT issues and particularly has been vocal on the rights of transgendered people. (The unit’s work on LGBT issues is accessible here.)

Hammarberg has visited Ireland and expressed concern at the eroding of the equality infrastructure here.   Most recently he criticised Ireland’s lack of legislation on abortion.   Hammarberg’s weekly human rights comments are a must read, last weeks looking at the impact of austerity budgets.

Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe is based on two years of work combining visits and data gathering conducted by staff in the Council of Europe’s Office on Human Rights together with other research including data from the EU Fundamental Rights Agency

The report not only reflects on the legal situation in each country but also on the response of society to LGBT people and opinions and debates on LGBT issues within member states.  The impact of homophobic discourse and hate crime and the failure of member states to respond to the impact of these is of note as well as issues concerning freedom of assembly and Pride Marches.

Ireland is criticised regarding the failure to provide information on Homosexuality in schools. (However there are recent developments which saw the Minister for Education launch a guide for secondary school principals and an initiative on tackling homophobia in primary schools with Educate Together. )  Further criticisms are made regarding the lack of legislation supporting gender recognition.  Ireland’s legislation support for equality in the provision of services and employment is noted as is the  work on LGBT health issues being located within mainstream health policy.

The report makes recommendations in terms of legislative reforms and also other changes that are required within member states.  The work will inform the human rights visits and audits which are conducted of member states and governments and human rights agencies can expect the COE to continue to raise the matters.

Why are we doing this study?

There remains a lack of relevant research on the mental health needs of LGBT people, particularly in relation to mainstream mental health services. To address this gap, this study will collect data through both anonymous surveys and then interviews. The findings from this study will be used to highlight areas of good practice that encourage social inclusion at all
levels. Also, recommendations will be made on how to respond to the key issues identified in the research as they relate to LGBT people in an Irish context.

You can find out more about the study and what is involved on LGBT Minds - the survey can be completed online, by post or over the phone.    They are seeking LGBT participants over 18 years of age who have been in contact with mainsteam mental health services in the past five years.