I'm an Irish Citizen and I'm not equal!

Today, I was proud to be gay. That statement doesn't sit well with me but I am proud and I am gay. I shouldn't feel proud to be gay though, should I? I don't think my straight friends feel proud to be straight. I should just feel proud for being me. I was proud that I went on a march today with my future husband and our dog, Maxie, demanding to be recognised as equal citizens and to have the exact same rights as our straight mates. I want the love for my partner to be recognised as the same love my brother has for his future wife, as my sister has for her future husband, that's all, nothing more, nothing less. I don't want to feel that I'm a second class citizen in a country that once stated to cherish its children. Did they mean cherish us until we come out? Oh, I almost forgot about my previous post! Ireland stopped cherishing it's children along time ago.

It's been reported that there were over 5000 people on today's march demanding that the government afford those from the LGBT community the same rights as everyone else and to take the extra step to give full equality. The civil partnership bill, as it stands, enshrines in law inequality, it says to everyone that I'm not the same as my straight friends. It just doesn't seem fair!

The real moment of feeling proud came when I heard the personal stories from some of the speakers, from a father with a lesbian daughter, a mother with a gay son, and from the young members of the LGBT community. It was those people who gave me a sense of pride. It was those mothers, fathers, sons and daughters that I hope get the message across to the wider society in Ireland who may disagree with us. It is those stories that I hope people can connect with and might sit back and think 'what if it was my son?' I'm not sure how many of those stories will make the mainstream media but at least there was no distraction this time from the message we were trying to communicate. I was disappointed that the first speaker, Brendan Courtney called Brenda Power a "stupid bitch", lets hope this off the cuff comment doesn't take up the headlines, anger towards one columnist in one paper was not the point of today's march. Brenda's two columns in the Sunday Times have definitely given the campaign a momentum that may have otherwise not have been there, perhaps Brendan should have thanked her, maybe he did and I didn't hear but I think those words would've been more powerful.

Panti / Rory O'Neil needs to be commended for his inspiring words when he published his No More Mr Nice Gay blog. He gave us all the kick up the backside we needed, ensured we understood the importance of attending the organised rallies and for facilitating placard making workshops at Pantibar.

Hopefully our TD's have had a nice rest over the summer and have had some quiet time to contemplate how they would feel if their son or daughter was being denied a basic right. In the meantime the fight goes on, keep up the pressure on your local TD's and lets not lose this momentum.

A sign of the Times....well, the Sunday Times.....

As regular readers will know my recent blog post, We Need A Harvey Milk, Not A Panti Bar caused a gay political storm, albeit a minuscule one. I was surprised that my views appeared controversial however I was even more surprised when I received a call from the Sunday Times last Thursday asking if they could publish my blog!

"Who? What? publish? ah yeah sure" I said to the guy on the other end of my phone. "What do I need to do?"

He advised me that my blog would be edited and I told him that I would like to see the edited version before agreeing to publish it. The last thing I wanted was for my point to be lost or skewed after an editor got his or her hands on it. He told me I would receive an email the next day giving me all the details. He told me his name, I even asked for it again, but in my excitement I totally forget it by the time we hung up.

I excitedly ran into my partner and told him all the details. "The Times, The Sunday Times want to publish my blog, oh my god, I can't believe it, I've only been blogging a week" I then told a few close friends and my mother. The last thing I wanted was egg on my face if it wasn't published. I eagerly awaited the verifying email following the telephone discussion. The email didn't arrive Friday nor Saturday and I started to feel deflated about the whole saga. Come Sunday morning, I got up earlier than usual, turned on the Internet, I couldn't find anything relating to my blog on their website. Feck it I thought, it sounded too good to be true, however the curiosity was eating out of me so like a proper pyjama mama I went to the shop to buy the paper.

I scurried through the paper and to by astonishment I did find "some" of my blog in the opinions section of the paper, under the letters heading. All two paragraphs of it! I'd look over it if I actually sent it into the letters section, but they contacted me! I sat there having my Sunday morning cup of tea, with the paper in hand totally perplexed at the whole scenario, thinking that one day, just one day I might be known as Carrie Bradshaw* Conlon, columnist!

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*Carrie Bradshaw is not referring to any previous or future drag name, it's referring to the fictional, famous New York Columnist from Sex in the City!

Divisive or Constructive?

I didn't expect my recent blog, "We need a Harvey Milk not a Panti Bar", to cause such a stir, though after re-reading the last line of my previous blog, "Stiring a man's blood and my 20 year plan", maybe my sub-conscious took over and caused the stir I was talking about.

Some of the comments that have been thrown at me, or blog, depending on your viewpoint, have been, that perhaps I'm a "self loathing homosexual" or even that I have a" 'thing' about Drag which stems from personal issues regarding sexuality",others felt that I didn't appreciate drag as an art form. Let me reassure you that

• I am not a self loathing homosexual.
• That I don't have a thing about drag which stems from personal issues regarding sexuality.
• And I do appreciate drag as an art form.

Other readers felt that my piece was divisive, while some felt that it was constructive. To clear up this matter, I can tell you that I was giving my opinion in what I feel was in a constructive manner. I stand by everything that I wrote and after all it’s only my opinion. We need to remove our personal bias or allegiances and be strategic in delivering our message to those who we need to hear it.

Now with that set to the side, I'm urging you all, under whichever banner you feel you belong,GLEN, Marriage Equality, LGBT Noise or just plain old you, to attend this event on 9th August, meeting City Hall , 1.30pm, More info is on this short you tube video.

See you there!

Time better spent writing to your T.D.

The photos appearing below have been sent to me via my blog email address as the Brenda Power / Panti debate rages on. I'm also led to believe that they appear in a photo album on facebook, belonging to an individual who shall remain unnamed. I am unable to verify this as they are not a direct friend of mine on the social networking site. Surely writing to their TD about marriage equality would have been time better spent. What are they trying to do? Show that we are not educated enough to construct an argument refuting her column or play into the hands of Brenda Power by giving her the ammunition to attack us for being small minded, bitter and resorting to playground tactics. Remind you of anyone?

This kind of behaviour my fellow gays may make you feel better about her comments but it won't do our cause one bit of good if in turn it's used against us.

Photo 1

The caption below this photo read as follows: Breedin' Power at the recent gay pride parade in Dublin. In this picture she can be seen raffling off her 5 children. She explains: "As you know, my brain has been fried since I became a total crack-whore. I needed to score some crack, so I offloaded the kids for some cash to some gays who will no doubt provide them with the stable and loving family environment which I myself am entirely unable to do since I'm a hate-filled bigot. It's a lucky thing I didn't abort them!".

*Note this is Brenda Power photoshopped onto Panti at gay pride 2009.

Photo 2

The caption below this photo read as follows: In a major departure from former Catholic doctrine, his Holiness Pope Breedin' Power X called for pregnant teenagers to seriously consider the option of abortion in order to prevent any chance of the child being adopted by gays. The pope took the unorthodox approach of espousing the new doctrine during Wednesday's Last Word on Today FM.

This photo was also sent, so inthe name of transparency I've included it also.

Photo 3

The caption below this photo read as follows: Using her super powers through the medium of radio, SuperPanti saves the gays yet again from Arch-bigot Breedin' Power.

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To those outside this debate there are links to the articles written by Brenda Power in my previous post . This post has links to Marriage Equality, and Wikipedia profiles of both Brenda Power and Panti.

We need a Harvey Milk - Not a Panti Bar!

Gee bag, slut, whore! Just some of the words used by the "A gays" and the "regular" gays to respond to both of the Brenda Power articles in the Sunday Times. Well guys and gals I think we shot ourselves in the foot with those long thought out articulate responses!

Now let me set the record straight. I think Panti is a great drag artist and entertainer and I think that Brenda Power makes some valid points in her column.

I do disagree with Brenda's opinions regarding marriage, children, and the role of gay pride; I do recognise she has made a few sideways swipes at the LGBT community, however not once did she call us gee bags, sluts or whores, or some of the more regular insults we're used to, faggots, perverts, fudge-packers, dyke's, chicks with dicks; you get the picture.

The gay community need to get an important message across to the rest of society, especially to those that are complacent and / or conservative regarding their views on gay equality and marriage. Do we really want a man dressed as a woman being the public figure for this extremely important argument? I for one don't! I want a representative that is palatable to those who may question my relationship, who may have doubts that gay people can be in love, make a commitment and have a contributing role to play in society. What I certainly don't want people to be thinking is, "Is that a fella or a woman?", "Look at the state of yer man wearing a dress" or "oh I wonder where she got that little number from?".

I want a spokesperson who can relate to the mainstream. I want a spokesperson who can get the message across without the fact that they are wearing a dress or, if they they should be addressed as "he" or "she", distracting from the important and crucial points that need to be made. We need to build relationships with our neighbours, our detesters and our elected representatives not focus their minds on something else or alienate them further.

So the challenge here is for the LGBT community to get together and choose one or two figures who will represent our views, concerns and aspirations to the public, someone who will get the message across without any distractions? Who will unite us in our struggle for equality and who has the capability to identify with those who disagree with us.

Both Brenda and the LGBT community might learn some lessons from Harvey Milk "It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual."

We are not asking our fellow citizens to compromise but to give us absolute equality with them and when asking for this equality we need to respect the opinions of each individual within our democracy who may disagree with us. Responding to a newspaper column by calling someone a gee bag, slut or a whore promotes a lack of respect and understanding, something the gay community has been struggling for, for years.

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Definition

"A Gay" members of the gay community who see themselves at the top of the pecking order within their community and of which mere regular gays should aspire to become a member off. (Definition given to me by an "A gay")