Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It will probably surprise no one that I am going to use my time to talk about Pride and the celebrations, protest and remembering that are coming up this weekend. It is a great honour every time I am able to stand up here as an out Member of our Parliament, to not be afraid to say that and to be proud to be a member of a great community. When we are talking about Pride and the progress we have made, there is no doubt there has been an incredible amount of progress, not only in the past seven years but in the past 30 years. This Pride month and the Pride march this weekend are celebrating 40 years since the first Pride march and 30 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality, and it is still wild to believe that was during my lifetime. It will be a safe family of friendly and fun events. It will be filled with colour, laughter and joy.

For a huge amount of the community we are almost separated from those dark times when people did not feel safe to walk down the streets and when people could not stand up in their national Parliament and say they were out. Other members of the community are still facing harassment daily. They are still facing discrimination because of who they are, whether it is because they are visibly queer or because people have picked up that they are queer. Only last week in Drogheda, two gay men were attacked when they were out walking their dog. They are a married couple and they were attacked by a group of teens. They threatened to kill them and rape their dog and they used homophobic slurs towards them. This is only one example of what a number of us have spoken about here before. These are attacks on our community that we are still hearing of weekly.

There are many people who take great umbrage when I stand up in this House and say, on one hand, we need to celebrate, recognise and be proud of where we have come from but highlight, on the other hand, the fact that not every member of the community still feels safe.Not every member of the community can walk down the street holding hands with their partner because a group of teens might throw stones at them, threaten to rape their dog or put death threats on them. We simply have to recognise that those two things can coexist at the same time. We can recognise the progress and how far we have come in society but also recognise that there continues to be a small cohort of people who look to marginalise, harm and discriminate against our community, particularly the trans community. No matter how loudly those voices shout, members of our community should feel safe walking down the street and, therefore, no one else should feel afraid doing so. They are not wrong; we should not feel afraid walking down the streets. I want every single member of my community to walk down the streets proudly, happily and safe in the knowledge of who they are. Until we can do that, I will continue to call in this House for better protections, supports and care for our community, in addition to a better education system where people are not taught to fear and hate people who are different. It is very important to put that on the record.

Pride takes place this weekend. I hope to see all Members there. It is a great time of celebration and a great time to walk safely, freely and happily down our streets, which will be filled with a lot of laughter, love and colour.