shOUT!

I was editing the “shOUT Stuff” page, and wanted to add a quote from the President’s speach at the LGBT youth forum that was here in Galway in October 2008, and this quote struck me so much that I wanted it to have a post all to itself here on the shOUT front page:

The job that you are doing is about the business of creating a better world. An open world, a world free of homophobic bullying and bias. A world where people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, at whatever time of their lives they discover that about themselves that they can feel, ‘So what? So what? That’s the world. I live in a world where that’s everyday. Where nobody passes a remark on it. Nobody comments. This is how life is.’ I feel very strongly that what you are doing is such an important step by step by step growth, helping not just yourselves but actually at a much bigger level, helping all of us as community, as society, as Mums, dads, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, colleagues to one another to be a loving caring community. You’re helping us to grow and to go that journey.

So, thank you for your courage and thank you for going that journey and thank you in particular for growing that journey. Go raibh mile maith agat.
- President Mary McAleese. October 2008

Mike and Dani at the shOUT stand for the President’s visit.

I’m sure we all have our opinions about the Civil Partnership bill, but it’s good to see a step in the right direction towards equal rights for all couples and their families. But the Seanad passed the Civil Partnership bill 48 votes to 4 in favour. The bill will now go to President Mary McAleese, who can either sign it into law or send it to the Supreme Court for a constitutionality check. It’s expected that the first Civil Partnership registrations will take place from next January, according to the Irish Times.

As a friend of mine put it recently, “at least this discrimination is better than the current discrimination”, which is a nice reminder that although this is a step in the right direction, we still have some way to go before we’re all treated equally under the law.

The two of the participants in the “Growing Up Gay” documentary were on the Late Late show last night. It’s available to watch on RTÉ’s iPlayer. (jump to about 1 hour into the video).

The first part of the documentary itself is showing on Monday evening on RTÉ 1, at 9:30pm.

A two-part documentary series exploring the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people growing up in Ireland.

As recently as 1993, homosexuality was illegal in Ireland. As the first generation born after decriminalisation comes of age, this series seeks to establish how much has changed in Irish society in the intervening years. For young people, whose lives revolve around school and the family, is it any easier to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender today than it was 17 years ago?

Filmed over 18 months, Growing Up Gay follows the lives of six young people and, in the process, captures the challenging and even hostile experiences which lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people face in their everyday lives. The series also explores the more universal experiences of growing up – from the ups and downs of life at home and at school, to friendships and falling in love. By presenting the human stories behind labels such as ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’, the series aims to alleviate the stigma surrounding various expressions of sexual identity.

I tweaked some little things to do with the design of the website, and just for fun added in these little monster avatars for ye. So, if you don’t have a user icon set up, or one linked with gravatar.com then you’ll get a cute little squiggly monster of your own representing you :)

Everyone will have their own, and they’ll all be different. I think it’s absolutely legend, and that’s why I added it to the site. Heh. It’ll show up whenever you comment on a post on the site.

What do ye think of them?

Bring a dish along to the shOUT meeting tomorrow at 4, as we’re having a pot luck feast and hanging out catching up on all the news after Pride and doing a little bit of planning for what events we’ll be doing this autumn.

shOUT were samba drumming at the head of the March for Marriage Equality organsied last Sunday by LGBT Noise

We ended up being featured in a few of the media reports afterwards:
Herald AM:

We made the main evening news also: RTÉ Six One News (RealPlayer needed). Here’s an alternate link for the news feature, just skip forward to the 5:00min mark in the video (Flash Required): Six One News on the RTÉ iPLayer

And shOUT members in the front of this photo making the Irish Examiner and the Metro:

The wonderful Fionn Kidney snapped a fair few shots of the samba band too:

(more after the jump)
Read More…

Two recent articles in the Irish Times relating to young LGBT people:

Making A Stand Against Homophobia interviews some of the members of BelongTo

Young gay people are more confident and self-assured than ever before – but bullying and prejudice are still major problems
[...]

For youth workers such as Michael Barron, director of Belong To – the country’s first gay youth group – the changes are hugely encouraging.

[...]

“When I started in this service around five or six years ago, the people coming to us were 19, 20 or 21. They were typically coming out for the first time. These days, they’re more likely to be 14, 15 or 16. It’s happening in a very positive and dramatic way.”

Read the full article at the link above :) There are three pieces written by members of Belong To about their experiences of being young LGBT people in Ireland, which are well worth the read.

And then, there’s this wonderful short piece in the radio review: So, When Did You Know You Were Heterosexual where BelongTo member Addy holds his own against Ryan Tubridy’s own personal brand of idiocy.

RADIO REVIEW: Just when you thought it was safe to discuss matters of sexuality on live radio . . . He’s back! Ryan Tubridy, that most recession-proof of broadcasters, had a bumpy landing on The Tubridy Show (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays).

On Monday, he interviewed young gay people about growing up gay. A recent report said homophobic bullying in schools is widespread. These reports are crucial in helping to raise awareness on this issue, and fair play to Tubridy for covering it, but saying that homophobic bullying is widespread is a bit like saying that students smoke behind the bicycle shed.

Addy, who went to school in west Dublin, said he experienced a lot of abuse when he was a student. “I knew I was gay since I was about 12,” he said. “I never didn’t think I was gay.” Tubridy asked, “Twelve is very young. How did you know you were gay?” Addy seemed perplexed, but in a good-humoured sort of way. “I always knew I was gay, kind of like a straight person always knew they were straight.”

It got better. Tubridy said, “Before then did you think that you were equipped mentally and emotionally to know that you might be gay?” Addy responded, “Did you find that you were mentally equipped to be heterosexual when you were 12?” Tubridy said, “Yes, I danced with all the girls at the parties between three and six.” To which Addy replied, “I did too, but I didn’t really enjoy it,” and then he said some of the most important words uttered on the radio this week: “My sexuality was never an issue with me. My sexuality was always an issue with other people.”

That last sentence in the review is fantastic!

Interviewing group members and volunteers, and the wonderful Emma!

There’s a longer podcast interview on the SpunOut website too, which you can listen to by clicking on this link: SpunOut.ie LGBT podcast.

Congrats and well done to all the members of shOUT! who were involved in the video and the podcast, and thank you to SpunOut for asking us to be involved.

You can listen back to the podcast of Mary McGill’s iTalk radio show with two ShOUT members, talking about International Day Against Homophobia! The podcast is a free download on iTunes: click here to get it

Congrats Davy and Meadhbh! You guys were fantastic. :)

IDAHO 2009: One Voice, One Message, Heard Around The World.