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Anwen Muston, LGBTLabour’s Trans Officer speaking on Transgender Day of Remembrance 2013 said:
“Today we remember the many hundreds of trans people who have lost their lives due to prejudice and transphobia around […]

BeLonG To, Ireland’s national service for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) young people has welcomed a strong statement from Dr. Geoffrey Shannon,
Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, calling for greater supports to be made available to LGBT young people in Ireland.
In a compelling statement to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health & Children, Dr Shannon outlines the vulnerability of LGBT young people when it comes to homelessness and bullying and calls for the Child and Family Agency to work with BeLonG To to support LGBT youth and their families.
In the statement, Dr Shannon calls for a ‘targeted response’ to address the needs of homeless LGBT young people, who he suggests are ‘highly represented among the homeless’.
Responding to Dr Shannon’s remarks, David Carroll, Executive Director with BeLonG To said,
‘By highlighting the experiences of homeless LGBT young people, Dr Shannon demonstrates his understanding of the extreme marginalisation that LGBT young people can experience. We have worked for many years with homeless LGBT young people and it is our opinion that homophobia is a contributing factor to them becoming homeless. In line with Dr Shannon’s recommendations, we call on the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to work with us to research nationally the extent of LGBT youth homelessness and to develop a strategic national response to the situation’.
Referring to the fact that LGBT young people are ‘coming out’ an ever younger age and that homophobia is learnt in childhood, Dr Shannon also called on the Child and Family Agency to work with BeLonG To for the first time to support LGBT young people and their families.
He states:
“Homophobic attitudes begin amongst children while they are at primary school going age. If we are to fundamentally change these attitudes – which in turn can lead to homophobic bullying, which is a profound child protection issue and which can have devastating effects on LGBT young people, we need to start working with primary school children. LGBT young people are realising their identities and ‘coming out’ at an ever earlier age – on average at 12 years old, but often younger. This means that supports should be put in place to support these young people and their families. There is a very important role here for the Child and Family Agency to work in partnership with BeLonG To to provide vital supports to LGBT young people and their families”.
“We agree with Dr Shannon that work to support LGBT young people, who are coming out younger and younger, needs to begin in childhood. We would greatly welcome the opportunity to work with the Child and Family Agency to develop targeted supports to LGBT young people and their families – and we look forward to doing so”, says David Carroll, who continues:
‘’When it comes to tackling homophobic bullying, we also agree with Dr Shannon that this work needs to begin where the problem starts – amongst children at primary school going age. For that reason we are delighted to be working with the Department of Education and Science to pilot or Stand Up Don’t Stand for Homophobic Bullying campaign in primary schools next March. We aim to build on this and work with our partners to ensure that homophobic bullying is challenged and ultimately eradicated from our primary and post primary school system”
With further reference to LGBT issues in schools Dr Shannon calls for the removal section 37(1) of the Employment Equality Act. This section allows for certain discriminations in schools that have a religious ethos, which BeLonG To and others believe is used to discriminate against LGBT teachers.
Dr Shannon stated: “Section 37(1) contributes to the invisibility, bullying, and mental health difficulties experienced by LGBT students and as such urgently needs to be removed. The removal of Section 37 would allow LGBT teachers to be open about their identities and would make possible for them to be role models for LGBT students, in the same way other teachers can be role models”.
The post appeared first on MySoCalledGayLife.co.uk.

Stonewall, supported by Will Young and Mumsnet, today launches a flagship campaign to tackle homophobic language in schools.
The campaign comes exactly ten years since the repeal of Section 28 and is in response […]

On 1 December, Croatian citizens will be called to vote on whether to alter the constitution to define marriage as ‘matrimony between a man and a woman’.
Although family law, including marriage, remains the […]

I remember the campaign against Section 28 from my college days and the pain it caused for so many people.
Yet it also brought together a renewed commitment from the LGBT community and its supporters to stand up […]

Global Connexion, in partnership with ILGA and GLISA announces the launch of GALEAD.com, the first worldwide network dedicated to the LGBTI community in all its diversity.
GALEAD is a unique and secured […]

Stonewall today publishes a ground-breaking review of its annual Workplace Equality Index which finds it continues to be ‘best in class’. The review confirms that organisations that took part year-on-year see […]

This afternoon President Higgins welcomed ten trans activists to Áras an Uachtaráin to discuss trans rights.
It was a landmark occasion, marking the first time that a group has been invited in to discuss transgender human rights and equality.
The delegation consisted of members of TENI staff and board, and included TENI Chair Sarah Phillips.
“This was a milestone for the trans community,” said Phillips. “President Higgins was well-versed on our work, and we had a fruitful conversation about our efforts to gain progressive Gender Recognition legislation for Ireland. As a community that has been marginalised and is still denied basic human rights, being welcomed so warmly to Áras an Uachtaráin gave us encouragement and support in our ongoing work.”
Also in the delegation was Dr Lydia Foy, who has been seeking a birth certificate noting her true gender since 1993. Dr Foy won her case six years ago, when the High Court declared Ireland to be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights in not providing Dr Foy with a pathway to be legally recognised in her true gender. “The President gave us a warm reception and was very generous with his time,” said Foy. “He was supportive of our work, and he spoke knowledgeably about the issues we face.”
Noeline Blackwell, Director General of FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres), commented, “It was a great honour for FLAC to be invited to meet the President with our client Lydia Foy and other transgender rights activists. President Higgins was very much aware of Lydia’s 20-year struggle for recognition and of FLAC’s 16-year role as her legal representatives. This visit was an opportunity to remind the President that Ireland is the last country in the EU to legislate for transgender recognition. We are six years on from the High Court ruling that a law was needed in Ireland to allow trans people to have access to a basic, legally recognised birth cert that reflects their gender identity – but we are still awaiting a law. We only hope that when that law comes, it is the most inclusive and up-to-date law possible.”
The meeting began with President Higgins and Mrs Higgins meeting TENI Director Broden Giambrone, who then introduced the rest of the delegation. Formal photos were taken, and then the group enjoyed refreshments and talked informally about the current work being done for transgender rights and future steps. The delegation was then offered a tour of the formal rooms, and discussed various aspects of the State’s history.
Pictured: Sarah Phillips (Chair, TENI), Louise Hannon (Vice-Chair, TENI), Ben Power (TENI), Sabina Higgins, President Higgins, Dr Orlaith O’Sullivan (TENI), Victoria Mullen (TENI), Darrin Matthews (TENI), Vanessa Lacey (TENI), Yvonne Woods (FLAC)
Not pictured: Dr Lydia Foy, Broden Giambrone (TENI)
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Coronation Street’s Antony Cotton was among the big winners at last night’s Stonewall Awards, held at the V&A and supported by Gender Gap.
The soap favourite was commended for his decade of walking the nation’s […]

Darkest erotica, insightful psychosis, lustful hearts that beat deep into dusk, other kinds of creatures you’ll learn to love in this blood spattered, intensive, yet mysterious ride that will leave you yearning […]

In a judgment in the joint cases of Vallianatos and Mylonas v. Greece and C.S. and others v. Greece delivered today, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Greece had violated the […]

Today the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that people fleeing their country with a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of their sexual orientation may qualify for asylum in the […]

Tomorrow the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) will start working on a new strategy against homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and […]

Matthew Mitcham, the gay Australian Olympic diver and I’m willingly giving him a head start how he can seduce me. 
He is the 2008 Olympic champion in the 10 m platform, having received the highest single-dive […]

Norwegian comedian brothers Bård and Vegard Ylvisåker, aka Ylvis, that created the mega Youtube hit “The Fox”, are coming to the UK in November.
After conquering America, Ylvis brothers are ready to conquering the […]

Quickly rising industrial post-punk rocker Yuzima brings the sexy to NYC’s baddest borough Brooklyn with a Jim Fairfax directed music video starring none other than Yuzima himself.
Yuzima struts the industrial era […]

Stonewall today launches its Global Diversity Champions Programme, a best practice forum for organisations that employ people around the world.
The programme will work with international companies to ensure that […]

At a crossroad between legal progress and increasing social hostility:
European LGBTI movement gathers for its largest annual conference in Zagreb.
On 24-26 October 2013, ILGA-Europe holds its 17th Annual […]

A group of civil society organisations are today calling on politicians to consider the human rights of transgender and intersex people as the Oireachtas Committee debates the Gender Recognition Bill this week.<br […]

Members of the European Parliament were due to vote on a report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights today.
Instead, intense lobbying by right-wing religious and political conservatives mustered enough […]