Colm Finlay | LGBT Correspondent
Tuesday saw the launch of USI’s campaign for a yes vote in the Marriage Equality Referendum in Wood Quay Venue in Dublin. There was a full house and in attendance were representatives of USI and TCDSU, Q Soc and other LGBT societies, LGBT campaigners, members of the media and politicians.
USI President, Laura Harmon, opened proceedings, she said that USI was there to campaign on issues of importance to its members and that the student movement was united behind the cause of marriage equality. Harmon spoke of the need to shape the Ireland that we want to live in and to create a fairer and more equal society. She said ‘a holistic approach will be necessary to win the referendum’ and that allies will be of vital importance during the campaign. She also paid tribute to the SUs around Ireland who doubled their own target after signing up 20000 students to the electoral register. She spoke also of the USI’s campaign to move the date of the referendum from May to April due to sitting of exams, but that USI will put everything into winning this referendum regardless of the date. “There is nothing more powerful than love” she told us, “it is time to make grá the law”, before giving the floor to USI Vice-President for Equality and Citizenship, Annie Hoey.
Hoey talked about the history of USI and campaigning for equality. From 1970, USI campaigned for the decriminalisation of sodomy which was finally achieved in 1993, and since then USI has been at the fore of campaigning for equality, a step by step process, which has led to this referendum. ‘This is the last legal glitch, Ireland is ready for full equality’. Hoey argued strongly for civil marriage equality; civil partnership alone, she said, was not enough and actually contributed to the stigma against LGBT people, however full civil marriage equality would lead to better health outcomes for people who are LGBT as well as improving Ireland’s human rights record. She said that marriage equality would be a positive measure on all fronts and that we all had to argue strongly against those who are against marriage equality and their ‘notions of opposition’. ‘Notions’ is exactly what they are, Hoey argued, marriage is a civil, not a religious institution and allowing same-sex couples to partake in it can only possibly strengthen the institution. Whether we look at marriage on the level of the individual, the family or the community, marriage equality is about respect and dignity, and does not ever infringe upon the rights of anyone else. Hoey then introduced two members of USI directly affected by the lack of civil marriage equality, Catherine and Amy.
Catherine and Amy are both students and members of USI and have been together for several years. They spoke of a wedding in Mullingar that they attended recently together and that despite the happiness of such an occasion, the wedding was tinged with sadness for them. Catherine and Amy are currently engaged to be married, an eventuality which is currently impossible under the eyes of Irish law. They spoke also of the prejudice they face in society on a daily basis while doing things such as walking down the street, hand in hand, and therefore, the need to overcome this prejudice and to create an equal society.
The next speaker was Patrick Dempsey, another student, who spoke about his own experiences of being gay in Ireland. Patrick came out as gay seven years ago, at the age of 15, and was bullied and threatened in school as a result. He had already been faced with bullying in school, because of people’s perception of him as gay, and this treatment worsened after coming out. He spoke of being verbally and physically harassed while in school, and how teachers would overlook this behaviour, and sometimes even contribute to it. The staff of the school later voted down putting up LGBT inclusiveness posters in the school and inviting in BeLonGTo, an organisation working with LGBT young people that Patrick would later become heavily involved with. As a result of these experiences in school, Patrick ended up leaving education without a Leaving Certificate. Patrick said that no young person should have to go through those experiences and should not have to face an ongoing fight for their own equality, and that passing civil marriage equality was an important step in providing political equality for everyone.
Hoey then spoke again to conclude the launch. She presented USI’s new marriage equality website, voteforlove.ie and spoke once more about the importance of the unity of the LGBTQ community and allies on this issue, as well as the importance of door-to-door canvassing, all over Ireland, and not just in Dublin. She then played a video made at last year’s Pink Training, available on the website, which spoke of ‘the importance of persuading others to persuade others’. The message was to speak to people like relatives who might not be voting in favour of marriage equality about why they should, and to encourage others to do the same. The video ended with a voice-over from Fine Gael’s LGBT chair, Deputy Jerry Buttimer, who appealed to not wanting to continue to live as second class citizens in this country, and for the need to ignore the opinion polls in the run-up to the referendum, and for each one of us not to be complacent, but to win the argument every day.
I spoke to Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD afterwards who told me that the ‘launch was great and USI is very active on the issue. Young people’s votes will make the difference in this referendum, I’ve seen many ineffective registration drives over the years, and this wasn’t one of them, this is a referendum we have a great chance of actually winning.”
