It is to be hoped that following their impassioned speeches in the Dáil last week about the cruel realities of life as gay men in Ireland that TDs Jerry Buttimer and John Lyons will hold their seats at the next election. What they said prompted the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, to say on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme last Sunday that “the gay community in Ireland has suffered enormously. When I heard the debates in the Dáil . . . what do I say when I hear somebody spat at them? That’s a horrendous thing to happen to anybody.” [Continue Reading]
Address at the Memorial Service for the Revd Mervyn Kingston
8 February 2014
This was one of three adresses celebrating the life of the Reverend George Mervyn Kingston at a memorial service held at St George’s Church, Belfast on 8 February 2014. Mervyn was a wonderful priest, a loyal friend and an unlikely prophet, whose prophetic ministry was particularly concerned with reconciliation between Northern Ireland’s churches and communities. He co-founded Changing Attitude Ireland with his husband and partner, Dr Richard O’Leary. [Continue Reading]
Video: Panti Bliss’ Noble Call at the Abbey Theatre
2 February 2014
“My name is Panti and for the benefit of the visually impaired or the incredibly naïve, I am a drag queen, a performer, and an accidental and occasional gay rights activist.” [Continue Reading]
Church of Ireland Gazette: Suicide among gay people
13 December 2013
As the Director of Cara- Friend, an LGBT mental health organisation, it was with particular interest that I noted the recent letters of the Revd Andrew Rawding and the Revd Patrick Burke (Gazette, 8th and 22nd November). In May 2013, I gave a presentation to a well attended fringe meeting of the Church of Ireland General Synod in Armagh which discussed the particular evidence for Church influenced poor mental health amongst many LGBT people. [Continue Reading]
