Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

We are having this discussion because 50 years ago, LGBTQI+ people rioted for their rights at Stonewall in New York. It was an event that lit the spark for a global movement that has forced real, significant change. At the forefront of those protests were trans women, most famously Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. They were among the first to resist the police that day. Marsha and Sylvia went on to open the first shelter for homeless LGBT youth in the US and during the HIV-Aids crisis, Marsha was active in ACT UP and supported gay friends during their illnesses. The example of these two courageous trans women shows how trans people have always been at the forefront of the LGBTQI+ movement. They also demonstrate how conservative forces have tried to exclude them from it and suggest that in order to achieve respectability and mainstream acceptance people who transgress gender norms should be pushed back into the shadows.

That same process is unfolding in front of our eyes again today, for example, through hashtags such as LGBTWithoutTheT. Unfortunately, a growing number of Deputies and Senators are making the Oireachtas an echo chamber for these views. The usual suspects like Senator Rónán Mullen and Deputy Mattie McGrath of course oppose any progressive change that benefits oppressed groups, be it abortion rights for women or gender recognition for trans people. Increasingly, mainstream establishment politicians from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are jumping on the trans exclusionary bandwagon. Recently, Senator Lisa Chambers cited a small Irish clone of the transphobic LGB Alliance in the UK in her speech on the hate crime Bill. A Fine Gael Minister tried to use a small number of emails to falsely claim that ordinary people were more concerned about trans issues than about the ending of the eviction ban. Of course the media laps all of this up, eager for any controversy that will earn clicks and advertising revenue, no matter the impact on marginalised people. All of this is being amplified and driven by the far right. Hateful slurs used against gay and lesbian people for decades are being reintroduced, first for use against trans people and then all other LGBTQI+ people and their allies.

One survey found that 87% of Irish LGBTQI+ people have experienced hate and harassment online in the past year. We are at the stage where anyone who supports LGBTQI+ inclusive, progressive sex education is branded a paedophile on social media. A climate has been created where violent assaults on gay and lesbian people are a regular occurrence. The year 2022 was the most violent year for LGBTQI+ people in Europe in a decade. The latest example in Ireland was the horrific violent attack on a 14-year-old in Navan. Thankfully, there is a fight back. The vast majority recognise that there is no LGBT without the "T" and that trans rights are all of our rights.

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