Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)

I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, on her speech, for her allyship and for speaking out. I know it is not easy. She has our full support. We hope to work together to progress trans healthcare and the Minister of State has the support of many of us across the House. I look forward to working with her to progress that. I thank her for her allyship and her words. They matter to many people.

I am delighted to be contributing to statements on Pride. I am proud to be a member of the LGBT community. Being a part of the community has been one of the most positive aspects of my life. The LGBT community is like a second chosen family for many of us. It is a tribe like no other. I am also proud to have spent many years working as an LGBT advocate with Cork Gay Project and LGBT Ireland, and as a volunteer. I am now proud to be an openly gay Member of Parliament. I am just one of many from the different parties in the Houses.

However, it was not always like this. It was often a lonely path for many. One person in particular who walked that lonely journey was former Senator David Norris. He was the only out LGBT Member of the Houses for 24 years. I thank and commend him. His was a powerful voice. He did Trojan work for a very long time. I often think of his words on the day of the marriage equality referendum. He said, "The message from this small independent republic to the entire world is one of dignity, freedom and tolerance. Liberté, fratnernité, égalité." I often think of those words when I come to this House.

Ten years on from the marriage equality moment, we must look back and think about what has changed and improved, and ask what we have done in the decade since. We have not done enough and have not made enough of that moment and the huge swell of support that was there. While we have won the right to walk down the aisle, many of us still look over our shoulder as we walk down the street and I do not think it is good enough. We are ranked 14th in Europe for LGBT human rights and policy protections. We have been stuck at 14th for many years and are not making the progress we need to make.

I welcome the national LGBT strategy. In a previous role with LGBT Ireland, I did a painstaking analysis of the previous Government strategy. We went through every single action and graded it. The Government got a C-plus for that strategy. The senior Minister used to be a schoolteacher. If she were giving a C-plus to a student, she would tell him or her to do better. The Government got an F grade in respect of trans rights and intersex rights. There is work to be done.

Many people in the House have talked about the progress that has been made. It is always worth acknowledging that it is rarely the politicians who make progress. It was the activists. People took cases. People, including David Norris, Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan, sued the State. Lydia Foy sued in respect of gender recognition. These are the people who forced the State, kicking and screaming, to make progress on rights. Other activists, such as Arthur Leahy and Siobhán O'Dowd, who was mentioned earlier, pushed and pushed. That is why we have seen progress on these issues.

There is a lot of work to do. Some of it has been mentioned. We have talked about trans healthcare, which is lifesaving. We need to improve the Gender Recognition Act. We need gender recognition for non-binary people. We need to ban conversion practices. We need to update the incitement to hatred Act. We need to commence the assisted reproduction Act. We need to commence, in particular, the Parts relating to the Children and Family Relationships Act, which are ready to go. I do not understand why they have not been commenced. We need to pass the disregard legislation. We have not even started to talk about intersex rights, which need to be radically advanced. We also need to improve sexual health services across the country. I could go on. There is a lot of work to do and we need to work together, across these Houses, to advance rights. Collectively, we should set the goal of becoming the best country in Europe to be LGBT. It is a target that we can reach if we work together to do some of the things on the checklist.

I say to queer people across the country, particularly those who are still struggling with their sexuality or gender identity, that it does get better. Coming out is transformative. It has a positive impact on your life. As the Minister of State said, this is a good place to be LGBT. I commend the Minister of State again. I welcome these statements.

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