Ms Sophie Nelson:

I thank Deputy Feighan for the great questions. I will try to move through them one by one. On the question as to whether the need for support is just within the North or is it in the South as well, working on that cross-Border project around credible epistemologies and having people in the room from HERe NI, my organisation, but also LGBT Ireland, there were many cross-cutting issues shared between both groups. These were issues such as access to healthcare, high costs of fertility treatment for LGBTQIA+ women seeking to become mothers and access to trans healthcare was a big one. While I am aware that progress around some of these social issues has been made in the South in recent years and, as a result, that there needs to be a bigger push in the North, I believe many of these issues are shared. This means that when discussing questions around constitutional change, there needs to a shared approach because of the shared issues.

In terms of the work that the Department for Communities has been doing, there has already been work done on the LGBTQIA+ strategy. The work is there. The group which developed that work has not met since the Assembly has been back up and running. What we have seen is that some of the other social inclusion strategies are being talked about within the Department, such as, for example, the anti-poverty strategy and, to an extent, the gender equality strategy.

There is still kind of a silence when it comes to the LGBTQIA+ strategy, which is not good enough because we need to get progressing. As I said before, the sympathy of an individual Minister should not mean that the strategy does not progress, because there are so many cross-cutting issues within it that are so important. That cannot be overstated. The rates of mental health issues within the community are really high. We had roughly 146 service users for our mental health advocacy project last year. The funding for that project has now run out and that project has not been refunded. Within a relatively small community of LGBTQIA+ women, a figure of 146 people is still a lot of people who are missing out on mental health funding and support. We need to get moving on the strategy.

In terms of co-operation, I am unaware of the co-operation. It is probably good for me to note that I was not in post when the initial work around this strategy was being conducted. One of my colleagues may be able to comment better on that. There is a need there for cross-Border support and there is a lot we can learn from committees and working groups down here to progress with the strategy. On the Deputy's question of whether any Ministers or MLAs have been proactive on these issues, the answer is yes. I should say MLAs, rather than Ministers. We currently have an MLA working with us on drafting a Private Member's Bill around ending conversion practices. We will work with whoever wants to work with us and there are strong representatives who support some of the issues that we present to the Northern Ireland Assembly. However, we need more support and we see, within unionism specifically, there is perhaps a lack of engagement with our community from some parties in particular. We need to see that strengthen but we will be committed to working to with anyone who is willing. We do meet a range of MLAs and political party representatives.

Yes, the Government should be investing in the work of grassroots organisations. I completely agree with the Deputy. Our organisation currently does not receive any Government funding for our posts. If a person were to say that the Northern Ireland Assembly is investing in the work of grassroots marginalised women's organisations, I would tell him or her it is not investing in ours. There is funding that goes to the voluntary community sector from the Department for Communities, but it is not coming to our organisation at the minute. The point the Deputy made about the hostile environment is a really good one. It is important to address it because it does act as a barrier to LGBTQIA+ women's participation in public life and increases fear. Hate crimes in the North are all too prevalent. For trans women in particular, our hate crime legislation is not updated to include gender as a protected characteristic - I know that is something they are working on down here as well - which puts trans women at risk in particular. It is also good to mention that this is a class issue as well. LGBTQIA+ women in working-class areas often face a more hostile environment than others. The work of paramilitary groups, for example, needs to be looked at in terms of acting as a barrier to women's participation because we know that paramilitary groups can have an ability to silence certain women's voices within the community. They can create and embolden this hostile environment and environment of hate. They were great questions, I hope I have provided an answer for some of them.