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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.
