Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo agus gabhaim buíochas, mar aon le Teachtaí eile, leis na páirtithe sóisialta, go mór mór an Teachta Dála Seosamh Ó hUiginn. In welcoming the Bill and acknowledging that we are almost unanimous in this House in acknowledging that we need to change section 37, I am reminded of an incident in my younger days as a young teacher knowing that I was gay and being genuinely afraid because of the ethos of the school and the environment that existed. I wondered whether we would ever come to a day where teachers of any description would be free to be who they are. Thankfully, we are moving to that moment in time in our separation of Church and State where all citizens will be free to be who they are. I pay tribute to the Minister of State for the work he has done since becoming Minister of State and before that because he has been very much to the fore with regard to that legislation.

It is important that we acknowledge anecdotally that there are people in our schools who have been refused promotion, be it to the post of year head, another post of responsibility, principal or vice principal. I know them. There are people today who are afraid to come out and who, as the Minister of State alluded to, did not participate in the referendum and went back to school on Monday morning to a workforce that was in its own way delighted with the result. Those people did not have the ability to be free to join that celebration. Surely we are at a point where to deny somebody promotional opportunities because of their sexual orientation, which is deemed to be contrary to the ethos of the school, is no longer tenable. That exists in our schools today. I challenge those who oppose what we are trying to achieve in this House to speak to people who have had that position thrust upon them. Equally, some people from the LGBT community who are substituting or moving from school to school are afraid to reveal who they are because it might hinder their prospects of getting a job in a school. As we heard in another fine contribution, this leads to members of the teaching profession being isolated, promotes invisibility and exclusion and above all, adds to the mental health difficulties and distress of individuals within the gay community. This is wrong and should never be allowed to continue at a time when we have a very strong anti-bullying regime in our schools, which again is to the credit of this Government. I pay tribute to the former Minister for Education and Skills for the work he did in this regard.

To many people outside our education system, section 37 may mean nothing but it casts a huge dark cloud over many within our education system. It is that chill factor that I and many of my colleagues felt where we had to hide who we were for a variety of reasons, one of which was this. I taught religion in a secondary school. One can imagine what would have happened had I ever dared to show certain characteristics, which I did at times to my cost. It is difficult to come in here and speak about that because so many of my colleagues did not come out in school and who were refused promotional opportunities because of their sexual orientation. That is wrong, which is why this debate is about ensuring that regardless of whether it is in our education system or health care setting, religious freedom is allowed and protected but at the same time, those of us who are gay are allowed to be up-front about who we are and our personal lives.

I am often struck by the many wonderful people in our education system who go into school every day, teach and prepare children to be the best they can be. Those of us who have worked in staff rooms know that the staff room is perhaps the most political place one could ever be where people talk about their weekends and their partners and ask you what you did and where you went. You say "I went here and I went there." They ask you "who did you go with?" and you answer "oh, with a gang." Thankfully, we are changing that part of the lexicon of our staff rooms. Teachers can tell their stories about their weekends or holidays with their partners. However, because section 37 stands, it still precludes people from doing that. On a Monday morning over coffee or at lunch time, some people must pick and choose where they sit or the conversation they can have. This is not right. It is not just people from the LGBT community who are affected. In theory, this hovers over people with a different religious perspective, ethos and belief to that of a religious body that operates within the workplace. Our society prevents discrimination and has many strong legal protections in place to protect against unequal treatment because of sexual orientation and religious belief. In celebrating the 22nd anniversary of the Unfair Dismissals Act, it is time that we ensure that a person cannot be fired or even deprived of promotion because of their sexual orientation. The Employment Equality Act was passed 17 years ago this month adding to the protections on the grounds of sexual orientation. We can and will build on these transformative pieces of legislation. We can make them fairer and better.

In his speech, the Minister of State spoke about 23 May 2015. It was probably one of the greatest days we will ever have. It was better than Cork winning the double. It was better than Cork ever beating Kerry. That is how I can describe the euphoria from a Cork man's perspective. Deputy Higgins will understand what I am saying, as will the Minister of State who is a sporting man as well. That day signified that we had moved as a nation in the eyes of the world but equally among ourselves. It was not about liberal or conservative, Catholic or non-Catholic or left versus right. It was the country coming together to say we had moved to a different place. What we are saying in this Bill and the Bill the Minister of State will bring forward is that people from the LGBT community should be treated in the same way as their heterosexual friends and colleagues in the workplace. Even though our people voted overwhelmingly for marriage equality and showed we are an open, progressive society, we also showed that we accept and recognise difference and that we want all of us to be treated equally. When it comes to employment, we continue to have this provision that does provide for discrimination even though I presume it will never be used. It still hovers over us, particularly within the education system. We must be consistent in our approach to discrimination. We cannot accept legislative provisions that potentially facilitate discrimination based on sexual orientation. That inconsistency needs to be addressed. I am confident that the programme for Government commitment will deliver on this and we will see an amendment to section 37. The programme for Government is clear on that. The Minister and Minister for State are quite clear on that.

We will remove this barrier.

I welcome the Minister of State's speech and the work he has done on this issue to date. It is important that we do not divide the House. We must send a unified message on this because we are basically saying the same thing and we should try to reach the end game together. That is why it is important that we all remain sound on this issue, which is about men and women. I wish to pay tribute to the INTO's LGBT group and its chairman, Ann Marie Lillis, for the work it has been doing. That group demonstrated, long before it was popular or acceptable, and served as the voice for the LGBT community within our education system, along with the ASTI and the TUI. We are near completion on this. I understand the difficulties that the Minister of State spoke about earlier. It would be wrong of us to get to the final furlong in this race only to trip up. We need to take this to the final game successfully. As the Minister of State said, there is no room for error on this.

I welcome this debate. Given the progress already made on gender recognition and marriage equality, it is clear that this Government has done a huge amount of work in terms of equality for those of us who are gay. I will finish by quoting Harvey Milk, the famous and great campaigner who said, "It takes no compromise to give people their rights ... it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression". Hopefully, when it comes to equality and people who are gay, this Government will not be found wanting.

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