Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)

Pride is about continuing solidarity with the members of the LGBT community we are lucky enough to call friends, privileged enough to call family and also the wider community. It is also about remembering how far that community has come, how we got here and why we, as a collective, must never take the progress made for granted. The LGBT+ community has in the past been a painful contradiction, with warmth and acceptance from that community and their families but silence and cruelty from the State. The latter meant that it was 1993 before being gay was finally not considered a crime. Even after the law changed, much else remained the same. I refer to the fear, the stigma and the inequality.

I commend my colleague Deputy Ó Snodaigh for introducing the Disregard of Historic Offences for Consensual Sexual Activity Between Men Bill 2025 recently. When Declan Flynn was murdered and his killers walked away with suspended sentences, the message to the LGBTQ+ people was chilling, namely "Your life is not worth the same". That can never be forgotten. Declan's memory inspired a new generation of campaigners who organised protested and refused to be invisible.

Ireland has changed. When the people voted proudly and decisively for marriage equality, that moment told LGBTQ+ people that they are equal and that they belong. The work of equality did not end with the vote; it is what comes in the weeks, months and years since and to come. What has happened in recent years give me some cause for concern. The rise of anti-LGBTQ+ crimes and rhetoric is alarming. The brutal murders in Sligo three years ago are a heartbreaking reminder that violence is not in the distant past. Our LGBTQ+ community, though strong and resilient, needs the remainder of us to be allies not just for one day but every day and in every space. We must not let imported culture wars distract or divide us. Our future path must be based on equality. Pride is not performative, it is powerful. It is built on the memories of those lost and the hope for those today and in the future.

Let us make future generations look back at us and say that, in our time, we had the courage to stand up, the strength to speak out and the unity to move forward to equality together.

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