Address by the

Minister of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht

Affairs,
Mr. Pat Carey, T.D.,

on the occasion of
the launch of LGBT Diversity Programme

Royal Hibernian Academy

15 Ely Place

Tuesday, 20 July 2010 at 10.00am

It is a great pleasure to be with you all here this
morning to launch your very exciting programme,
Building Sustainable LGBT Communities.

I am really impressed by the coordinated national

approach you are taking to build capacity in the
LGBT sector. Your focus on supporting the
development of LGBT groups in parts of the country
which previously lacked such support is most
welcome.

Let's be honest, Irish society has not always been

as tolerant and supportive of gay people as it
should have been. This has been a particular issue
in rural Ireland. Often young LGBT people have felt
isolated and alone in rural communities, unable to
be true to themselves. They feel forced to move
away to cities and large towns, where they can
engage in a social life that they are comfortable
with. There they can also access important services
unavailable in their home neighbourhoods.
As the Minister responsible for community and
equality affairs, I see it as a cause of sadness and a
terrible waste of potential when a young person is
lost to a rural community because of his or her
sexual orientation or gender identity. So I am
delighted to see the development of a network
which will support LGBT people to play a full an
active role within their communities, wherever they
may be.

I cannot let this opportunity pass without mentioning

the passage of the Civil Partnership Bill 2009.
The Act, which was signed into law yesterday
morning by the President, breaks new ground.
For the first time, the State will recognise and
support the relationships of gay and lesbian couples
who enter civil partnerships. Our laws will validate
and protect the relationships of thousands of
couples who have until now been invisible in the
eyes of the State.
There is no doubt that the absence of official
recognition for same-sex relationships only helped
to reinforce prejudice and inequality in society. The
passage of this Bill shows that the ignorance
and homophobia which gay people and their
families faced in the past has no place in a
modern Ireland.

I am proud to be part of a Government which has

brought forward this legislation. The level of support
for the Bill in the Oireachtas shows that securing the
civil rights of gay people is a mainstream goal for
all. The fact that it passed through the final stages
in the Dail without a vote is testament to that fact.

To be honest, when the Civil Partnership Bill was

introduced last year, many of us thought that it
would not get through Dail Eireann without a vote,
and there was a serious danger that it wouldn’t get
through at all.
There was never an element of inevitability about
the introduction of civil partnerships in this country. I
must pay tribute to the work of the LGBT community
for your advocacy, your quite advocacy, and your
powers of persuasion. The dedication of GLEN, and
others, has been admirable. It has been a long road
and sometimes a difficult one. Quite frankly, we
probably wouldn’t have done it without you. So I
want to thank you all for your support.

Last week, at the launch of the Equality Authority

Annual Report for 2009, I was asked the inevitable
question ‘How far away are we from gay marriage?’.
Further lobbying is going to be required and I
wouldn’t want to be under any illusions about when
society will be ready for that next step. But let’s start
here and continue the development of the progress
which undoubtedly has been achieved.
I also want to speak this morning about the specific
transgender element of your programme. I know
you intend to build up the capacity and
organisational ability of the Transgender Equality
Network Ireland (TENI) and also to engage in policy
development with key government departments on
the issue of gender recognition. As you may know,
my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Mr
Éamonn Ó Cuív, has established a Gender
Recognition Advisory Group to inform policy
development in this area. This is an important and
complex area and I am sure that TENI will have a
constructive role to play going forward.

Finally, I wish you all well. I have found this

morning's event both interesting and informative,
and, to paraphrase from LGBT Diversity's own
ethos, I too believe that every one should be treated
with dignity and respect.

Go raibh maith agaibh agus go n-éirí an t-áth libh.