Ms Sophie Nelson:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to represent LGBTQIA+ women in the discussion today on women and constitutional change. I work for HERe NI as a policy development officer. HERe NI is an LGBTQIA+ women’s charity, the only such charity in the North. We work to support lesbian and bisexual women and their families through the provision of peer support groups, family groups, information on pathways to motherhood, and training and lobbying on key issues that affect LGBTQIA+ women. I speak today informed by my experience of working in policy and lobbying in the voluntary and community sector but also of working with service users within our organisation who have engaged in discussions on constitutional issues at a grassroots level.

I want to do three things today, namely identify the current situation for LGBTQIA+ women in the North; outline the barriers for LGBTQIA+ women in engaging in these discussions on constitutional change; and suggest what needs to be included in any new constitution to ensure all women are represented substantively within it. The thread of my argument throughout this discussion is that any constitutional changes following a border poll outlined in the terms of the Good Friday Agreement must not lock out marginalised women, including LGBTQIA+, migrant, and disabled women. We are at the beginning of the process of discussing what constitutional change on this island will look like and as such, the Governments both North and South must take a proactive approach to engaging with women themselves, particularly marginalised women at grassroots level who suffer from a lack of visibility and representation in public life. This is going to take investment, time and planning.

Our current society is failing many LGBTQIA+ women. Currently our organisations are stretched to capacity due to inadequate resources. Our organisation continues to see a high demand for mental health services among women who have experienced hate crime based upon their sexual orientation and-or gender identity, women who have been subject to conversion practices, on which new research was launched in Northern Ireland last week and which our organisation was involved in producing, women who encounter issues accessing fertility treatment due to high costs, as well as women who are unable to receive any form of gender-affirming care.

At the heart of all of these issues lies a lack of access. Our institutions and Governments have not taken the time to assess where there is need for support and devote adequate resources and funding to these areas. Herein lies an opportunity within any new constitution to restore this right of access for LGBTQIA+ women across these areas of health and justice, in particular. As a policy worker, trying to progress some of these issues within a Northern Ireland Assembly is difficult, and at times, feels impossible. Since the Good Friday Agreement we have seen a siloed approach to working on equality issues. Currently, the Department of Communities has the responsibility to deliver on the LGBTQIA+ strategy and the gender equality strategy. However, both strategies will be unable to progress within this mandate without the support of a co-operative Minister. This leaves the sector reliant on support from individual MLAs in drafting Private Member's Bills which may, or may not, make their way to the floor of the House. LGBTQIA+ women’s involvement should not be down to the sympathy of the minister. Instead, it should be enshrined in governance structures and, ultimately, within the constitution.

While we will continue to work with the limited resources we have, the solution has to be a new approach. Over the past eight months I have been involved in two projects working to strengthen civic voice. One is the Civic Initiative project where I sit as a member of the oversight committee. This project aims to empower civic voice and foster participation around shared issues. The second is a joint project between Ulster University and University College Cork on critical epistemologies across borders. My colleague, Jennifer McKinnon, and I took a group of older LGBTQIA+ women from our organisation to Dundalk in February to participate in the critical epistemologies project, where our organisation partnered with LGBT Ireland and engaged in discussions on what an all-island healthcare system would look like. We found that engaging women in decentralised, women-led spaces enabled discussions around shared socioeconomic issues such as healthcare, education, poverty, housing and culture was really effective. It led women to talk about the issue of constitutional change in a way that was not politicised to the same degree that it would be than if we asked women outright their views on constitutional change or how they would vote on a border poll. Discussions between groups who held shared identities, in this case a shared LGBTQIA+ identity, enabled an environment where women were able to find a common dialogue and developed clever and innovative solutions and recommendations for shared problems.

What has emerged through my discussions with women within these spaces is that there are chronic issues with distrust of political institutions.

For the LGBTQIA+ community, these are both historic and current. While there is some LGBTQIA+ representation within the Northern Ireland Assembly, LGBTQIA+ women are still largely invisible. Moreover, tight budgets and spending decisions that cut funds from the sector, rather than investing in the work we do, further harms these relationships. My recommendation to this committee is that the Governments, North and South, must invest in grassroots organisations working with marginalised women, in particular to nurture these projects in spaces that work to rebuild trust within communities. While I, like many other facilitators engaging with women in these discussions, are not constitutional experts, our expertise lies in our ability to know our communities and know our women.

Another unique barrier for LGBTQIA+ women to which it is worth drawing attention is the impact of a hostile and toxic political culture on women’s willingness to participate in public life. We know that both online and offline hostility has grown in recent years, particularly towards members of the trans community. A particular effort needs to be placed on engaging with trans women who suffer from a lack of representation in public life and fear participation within a hostile environment. That brings us to the question of what should be included in a new constitution.

Not only do we need to ensure that the barriers to access are reduced for LGBQTIA+ women, but also that LGBTQIA+ women feel free to participate fully in public life. I take much inspiration from our sisters in Chile who have done some incredible work in drafting an intersectional feminist constitution for the Chilean Republic. While it has not been adopted by the people of Chile, it is worth learning from their process of engagement and representation which included consultation with the diverse make-up of modern society. A new constitution must recognise the right of all women, men, gender-diverse and transgender people to exist in a society free from fear, harm and discrimination. It must encourage LGBTQIA+ women’s substantive representation in public life and reduce any barriers which seek to affect their ability to participate in democracy and citizenship. It must also commit to achieving gender equality and economic parity between all citizens.

In exploring constitutional change, LGBTQIA+ women need to be consulted on when writing any new constitution; need to see themselves reflected within any new constitution and must have equal access across justice, health and all other institutions.

I will conclude by reinforcing the need for investment in this work for grassroots organisations working with marginalised women in the voluntary community sector. We have a unique opportunity to work together to ensure that this process is inclusive, diverse and representative. To begin this forward journey, we need the support and buy in from politicians and Governments, North and South, to continue to engage women in this work and to develop it further. I look forward to deal with any questions that members have.