Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am honoured to second the motion and follow Senator Zappone's powerful speech proposing it. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, to the House. I am delighted that he is present to respond to our contributions. I also welcome members of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, GLEN, Marriage Equality and others in the Visitors Gallery. In particular, I acknowledge Ms Gilligan, Senator Zappone's wife.

This motion covers a number of issues. I commend Senator Zappone on framing it so carefully. The motion recognises the importance of having a public debate on free speech, homophobia and the public service role of the State broadcaster and explores the issues in the context of the forthcoming referendum on marriage equality. The motion has strong cross-party support arising from the recent events to which the Senator referred. A number of us have already been active on this issue. Senator Power raised the events concerning Rory O'Neill, his speech on the Abbey Theatre's stage and his earlier interview on Mr. Brendan O'Connor's "Saturday Night Show". Senator Power was the first to raise the matter in Leinster House. She and I attended the LGBT Noise event some weeks ago in support of Rory O'Neill and at which Senator Norris spoke powerfully. Before this motion, there has been a good deal of context.

As everyone is aware, Rory O'Neill appeared on the "Saturday Night Show" on Saturday, 11 January. Subsequent to his appearance, his remarks about people - I have the transcript - being horrible and mean to gays and his description of his direct experience of people, RTE made a settlement to the Iona Institute and other individuals, the speed and scale of which shocked people. This was one of those events that have a slow momentum. What surprised people is the fact that legal advice to RTE had trumped the editorial judgment of the broadcaster and any consideration of its obligations as a public service broadcaster under the Broadcasting Act, particularly section 25. It also seems as if there was inadequate consideration of running a defence of honest opinion, to which Senator Zappone referred, under section 20 of the Defamation Act. Regardless of whether one agrees with Rory O'Neill's use of the term "homophobia", he was clearly entitled to describe his own experience of homophobia. In his speech at the Abbey Theatre on 1 February, he eloquently described his experience of homophobia, discrimination and prejudice. In doing so, he has done the State a great service.

As Senator Zappone stated, the definition of "homophobia" has changed. It certainly is not confined to the Oxford dictionary definition, as other dictionaries, such as the Marian dictionary, describe it in much broader terms as discrimination against persons on the basis of their sexuality. The EU's definition has also broadened our understanding of the term "homophobia" to encompass a range of negative attitudes and discrimination towards gay people. The barrister, Mr. Brian Barrington, has made that point powerfully.

In the Dáil, our colleagues Deputies Lyons and Buttimer powerfully named their experiences of discrimination and prejudice following the outcry about RTE's decision. Through the work undertaken by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, on tackling homophobic bullying in schools, we know that it remains a terrible experience for many young people. BeLongTo and other groups have highlighted this issue.

A sequence of events has transpired since 11 January, the positive consequence of which is that society is generally much more aware of LGBT individuals' experience of discrimination, prejudice and homophobia. On stage, Panty described the experience of checking one self in public spaces. According to surveys, individuals in same-sex relationships are fearful of holding hands in public because of the discrimination or prejudice they may encounter. It is positive that these experiences have been highlighted. It would be negative if people were to believe that they could close down debates about marriage equality by lawyering up, particularly where people have used robust terms like "Feminazis" in debates. I do not like that term. It has been used against me, but I will certainly not sue anyone over it.

As the motion points out, it is important that the debate on marriage equality be conducted in a fair, open and impartial manner. Not for one moment does anyone believe that everyone who opposes marriage equality is homophobic.

However, campaigning against it, actively seeking to continue discrimination against gay people and seeking to prevent equal recognition of their relationship, that amounts to homophobia.

A number of things need to be done to ensure a debate is conducted in a fair, open and impartial manner. It is important that RTE appears before the communications committee, and I understand that its representatives are doing so. Senator Zappone has spoken about guidelines, and she is right to welcome the Minister's proposal to amend section 39(1)(d) of the Broadcasting Act 2009 to ensure that simply causing offence is not enough, and that it must be undue offence of some kind. We need to look at the language there. It would be useful to review an amendment to the Defamation Act 2009. I am not sure whether the Act itself was the problem or the interpretation of the Act in this instance. Finally, we need to bring forward legislation amending section 37 of the Employment Equality Act 1998 to counter the real fear of prejudice and discrimination that gay teachers, in particular, continue to experience on a daily basis. We have tried to do that in the Seanad. Senator Power and I have introduced a Bill which passed Second Stage this time last year, and I am actively working with the Minister for Education and Science and the Minister for Justice and Equality to ensure that we can move that Bill forward and have legislation in place that will amend section 37.

We had a debate last night in my local Dublin Bay South Labour Party organisation with Brian Sheehan from GLEN, where we spoke about the real experience of homophobia that young people suffer every day at school. That must be a key priority for any Government strategy on tackling homophobia.