MarriagEquality News July 2010
What's Coming Up? A quick round-up
It's been a busy summer, but the work continues on the Marriage Equality Campaign. With the Civil Partnership Bill most likely to become law in the next few weeks, the focus now for the campaign needs be on keeping TDs attention on equality for same-sex families, so it doesn't slip down the political agenda. Our Voices of Children in September conference is just one of the many exciting events coming up over the next couple of months, which highlight why we need to keep working for equality.
Voices of Children Conference: Experiences of young people/children growing up with LGBT parents in Ireland
Date: Wednesday, 8th September 2010
Venue: Wood Quay venue, Dublin City Council, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8.
Speakers Include:
- Professor Sheila Greene, the Children's Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin
- Helen Statham, Centre for Family Research, Cambridge University, UK
- Mr. Geoffrey Shannon, Child Law Expert & Deputy Director of Education, Law Society of Ireland
- Dr. Machteld Vonk, Assistant Professor of Comparative Law and Family Law, Utrecht University, Netherlands
- Members of the 'Believe in Equality' Group, Young Adults with LGBT Parents
The opening address will be given by Fergus Finlay of Barnardos.
Marriage Equality will also be launching its groundbreaking research on the experiences of young adult children growing up in Ireland with LGBT parents.
Places are limited, so to register your interest, please contact us at info@marriagequality.ie
KAL Case
The Zappone & Gilligan Supreme Court Appeal is due to be scheduled for hearing in late 2010. Since the High Court case in 2006 there have been many positive developments in terms of marriage equality in courts around the world, which provides strong additional support for a successful outcome. We will be launching a Countdown to KAL campaign as soon as we get a hearing date, so that everyone can get involved and show their support for Katherine and Ann Louise in the run up to and during the court case.
The Civil Partnership Bill may well be passed ahead of the Oireachtas break for summer recess on July 8th. This means we will have to increase the pressure on our Politicians over the summer so that they are clear that this is not the end of the road for LGBT families. They need visits, letters, calls and e-mails from us to make sure that they know that Civil Partnership is not enough, that same sex families deserve equality and that only access to civil marriage will make that a reality. If you'd like some "We are Family" postcards to send to your TDs or Senators click on this link for more details http://www.marriagequality.ie/wearefamily/
Edie and Thea: A very long engagement
On Saturday 10 July at 9pm the Galway Film Fleah will be showing the Irish Premiere of the beautiful film Edie and Thea: A very long engagement. This film charts the beautiful love story of Edie and Thea, who after having been together for 42 years, can finally get married. This film has packed out theatres around the world and has just won its 20th international award. This is a film not to be missed! To book tickets, please visit www.tht.ie. You can also find further information on this film at: www.galwayfilmfleadh.com.
Research on older LGBT people "Visible Lives" is a study to identify the experiences and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Ireland who are aged 55 and over. The findings from this study will help to develop policies and improve services for the over-55 LGBT in Ireland. The study is being conducted by a group of researchers in Trinity College Dublin, led by Professor Agnes Higgins (commissioned by GLEN and funded by Age and Opportunity and the HSE ) and they are currently looking for participants to complete an anonymous survey. If you are over 55 years old, identify as LGBT and live in the Republic of Ireland please click on this link and complete the survey http://www.visiblelives.ie or please send it on to anyone you know who might be interested in taking part.
The GALAS
The GALA Awards are Ireland's annual awards celebrating contributions to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) life in Ireland. This year's GALA Awards will take place on Friday, September 24th in the Radisson Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin. Nominations are OPEN TO THE PUBLIC in eleven of the twelve categories. To nominate, simply go to www.galas.ie and tell them who you want to nominate and why! The closing date for nominations is July 31st, 2010. All of the nominations will then be short-listed by LGBT organisations around the country and the winner will be selected from that short-list by the National Lesbian and Gay Federation (NLGF). Tickets are available for The GALAs event at www.tickets.ie and are €45 (including booking fee) In the meantime, GET NOMINATING anyone who YOU think deserves an award! If you think that Marriage Equality deserve one, we'd be honoured if you'd nominate us.
New websites that people have asked us to let you know about are:-
Running Amach 'The Dublin LGBTQ Women's Social Networking Club' http://www.meetup.com/Dublin-LGBTQ-Womens-Social-Networking-Club/
Amach! LGBT http://amachlgbt.com/index.html who are being launched by Senator David Norris on the 5th of July in Galway. "AMACH! LGBT Galway aims to reflect equally the diversity within the LGBT community by encouraging positive participation from the community. We actively campaign to achieve a solid and safe support structure for the LGBT community in Galway"