Ireland’s gay community needs to focus on “the freedoms that we still have to secure”, the grand marshal of Saturday’s Dublin Pride parade said.
Colm O'Gorman, the founder of One in Four and executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, told the thousands attending Saturday's event it was important for Ireland's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to remember its history.
“It’s at times like this that we need to celebrate the freedoms that we’ve secured – the freedom to be who we are, the freedom to march, to express ourselves, to manifest who we are openly in public ... but also to recognise the freedom’s that we still have to secure,” he said.
“Two big things need to be in place by the end of next year ... gender recognition for trans people, which is way overdue in this country and ... marriage equality for LGBT people,” Mr O’Gorman said.
Marriage referendum
Referring to the same-sex marriage referendum, which the Government has indicated will be held next year, drag queen Panti Bliss, aka Rory O’Neill, said some people, including members of the
Iona Institute
, “will be spending the next year turning up on TV, turning up on radio trying to deny us [the] ability to live our own true lives”.
He urged those present to complain when such views were “represented as if they are a normal, regular viewpoint when they are a fringe viewpoint”.
However, reacting to the comments, David Quinn of the Iona Institute said it was "absurd" to say that questioning the "redefinition of marriage" constituted a fringe viewpoint.
“Nobody is stopping anyone getting on with their lives but when you redefine such a crucial institution as marriage ... that is something the whole of society has to be concerned about,” he said.
“Any redefinition of marriage is also about redefining parenthood ... Trying to detach marriage from the question of children and the question of what’s best for them is completely wrong.”
Political parties
A number of political parties were represented at Saturday’s parade, including members of Fine Gael, among them Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald and Minister for Health James Reilly.
Labour’s deputy leader and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said that, while significant progress had been made in terms of equality in Ireland in recent decades, “the job is far from complete”.
“Labour will continue the fight for equality in Ireland – to ensure equal rights from the workplace to the wedding ceremony,” she said, adding that she was looking forward to the same-sex marriage referendum which the Government has indicated will take place next year.
However, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, who also marched in the parade, said the Government should set a date for the referendum: “Nothing less than full equality of rights before the law for the LGBT community should be tolerated in a genuine republic,” he said.