irish queers

Press release: Protest planned; LGBT groups call on Kelly to pull NYPD contingents out.

2011-03-15T19:20:00.002-04:00

PROTEST PLANNED AT NYC ST. PATRICK'S PARADE, AS LGBT GROUPS CALL ON COMMISSIONER KELLY TO PULL NYPD CONTINGENTS OUT OF ANTI-GAY MARCH.

Protest: Thursday 3/17, 11am-1pm, Fifth Ave. between 56th & 57th Streets.

New York – Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists today announced plans to protest NYPD participation in the New York City St. Patrick's Parade, which takes place this Thursday. The parade is touted by organizers as an explicitly “anti-gay, Catholic” event, and has been defined in court as a “private, religious procession” in order to preserve the right to exclude LGBT marchers. Protesters, organized by the group Irish Queers, contend that NYPD participation in such a parade is a violation of New York City's human rights code.

“Year after year, we watch thousands of uniformed NYPD participate in this anti-gay march. It reinforces everything LGBT people already fear about police: we're not safe with them, they haven't rejected discrimination, and they won't object when someone else discriminates,” said J.F. Mulligan, who plans to protest with Irish Queers.

“The very public anti-gay message that the police and the parade are sending makes us increasingly unsafe. This is the bigotry that tells thugs that it's fine to go to bash and kill queers, and alienates queer kids to the point where they commit suicide,” said Gaby Cryan of Irish Queers. “They're representing the city when they wear that uniform – and they're saying very clearly that the city is not for us.”

In advance of the parade, a group of eleven LGBT community organizations delivered a letter to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly calling for the full withdrawal of uniformed officers from the anti-gay march. Commissioner Kelly failed to respond to a similar request made last September.

The letter to Kelly connected participation in the anti-gay parade to “...ongoing problems of homophobic police departmental culture – including, at times, directly threatening or violent messages – visited on LGBT people by officers in environments where police control physical or cultural space,” and “...concerns that police are willing to treat homophobia in immigrant and religious community spaces as 'normal' or 'acceptable,' and are therefore unavailable to LGBT people in those zones.”

The letter, delivered earlier today, is signed by Irish Queers, ACT UP-NY, the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, Metropolitan Community Church of NY, the NY Association for Gender Rights Advocacy, OUTlaw (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law), Queerocracy, Queers for Economic Justice and SALGA-NYC, Serving the Desi Queer Community, as well as the LGBT Advisory Committee to the NYPD. Full text is at www.irishqueers.org.

IQ and LGBT groups to NYPD Commissioner: pull out of anti-gay parade!

2011-03-15T14:45:00.005-04:00

Irish Queers sent a letter to NY's Police Commissioner Ray Kelly today, calling for a withdrawal of uniformed NYPD contingents from the homophobic NYC St. Patrick's Day parade.

Joining IQ in the letter were ACT UP-NY, the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, Metropolitan Community Church of NY, the NY Association for Gender Rights Advocacy, OUTlaw (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law), Queerocracy and SALGA-NYC, Serving the Desi Queer Community and the LGBT Advisory Committee to the New York City Police Department.

Here's the letter, with plain text below.

Commissioner Raymond Kelly
New York City Police Department
1 Police Plaza, New York, NY 10007
By fax to: 646-610-5865
By email to: pc.office@nypd.org

March 15, 2011

Dear Commissioner Kelly:

On September 22, 2010 your office received a letter from Irish Queers expressing our serious concerns presented to the LGBT community regarding the NYPD’s continued involvement in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, and requesting a timely response. No response has yet been received.

The explicit homophobic message of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is of great concern to members of the LGBT community. There is a long history of clashes between police and individuals protesting LGBT exclusion from the parade. These incidents reflect ongoing problems of homophobic police departmental culture – including, at times, directly threatening or violent messages – visited on LGBT people by officers in environments where police control physical or cultural space. They also reflect ongoing concerns that police are willing to treat homophobia in immigrant and religious community spaces as “normal” or “acceptable,” and are therefore unavailable to LGBT people in those zones. These issues, of course, are compounded by the many other vulnerable identities carried by LGBT people, as immigrants, people of color, survivors of violence and more.

The violent impact of homophobia on LGBT people has rarely been clearer than in recent months. Rampant LGBT suicides driven by homophobia, and gay-bashings whose perpetrators are driven and supported by widespread anti-gay messages, make clear what the LGBT community already knows: expressions of disregard for LGBT people, whether hateful and violent or “merely” dehumanizing and marginalizing, directly affect our safety. Such expressions by the NYPD have an outsized impact, given the public and official nature of police expressions, and the direct relationship of police to public safety.

We insist the NYPD immediately stop its participation in the NYC St. Patrick’s Parade and any other such explicitly anti-gay event, and provide the LGBT community a response on this matter.

Specifically, we urgently ask that you halt any official NYPD role in organizing contingents and disallow uniformed NYPD representatives from marching in the NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade as long as the parade bears a message of such discrimination. For over twenty years parade organizers have officially excluded gays from marching, maintaining in the courts and in public statements to press that the parade is a religious and anti-gay happening. The LGBT community does not associate the event with a celebration of cultural heritage or pride. The parade is widely considered a homophobic event throughout the LGBT community New York City.

In recent years, New York City and the NYPD have taken steps ostensibly intended to counter their turbulent history with the LGBT community, and safeguard LGBT rights. Some of these include a NYPD LGBT Community Liaison to enhance communications and trust with the LGBT community, and a Hate Crimes Task Force and Hotline. In 2009, as part of its Rainbow Pilgrimage Campaign, New York City advertised itself as a vibrant gay and lesbian-friendly travel destination. The City’s newest campaign is its 2010 “Love Love, Hate Hate” campaign, “designed to apply to all hate crimes, but drawing special attention to crimes against the LGBT community… Our DIVERSITY is our STRENGTH. When any New Yorker is attacked for who they are, what they believe, or whom they LOVE it is a crime against all of us. Keep our city strong. LOVE LOVE. HATE HATE.”

NYPD participation in the anti-gay St. Patrick’s Day Parade directly contravenes the City’s position on improving LGBT policing and safety

We look forward to your prompt response and action.

Sincerely,

Irish Queers //Gaby Cryan, Contact

ACT UP - NY // John Riley, Contact

Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club // Allen Roskoff, President

Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn // Tom Burrows, Co-President

LGBT Advisory Committee to the NYPD // Andy Velez, Planning Committee Chair

Metropolitan Community Church // Rev. Pat Bumgardner, Pastor

New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA) // Pauline Park, Chair

OUTlaw (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law) // Tristan Blaine, Chair

Queerocracy // Cassidy Garder, Contact

SALGA-NYC, Serving the Desi Queer Community // Aneesa Sen, Support Co-Chair

2011 Parade Protest!

2011-03-07T02:04:00.005-05:00

Please join us at our annual protest on March 17th on Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th street (on the west side) from 11am - 1pm.We'll be there with signs and banners all we need is you!

For more information, send us an e-mail.

Irish Voice on IQ's bid to keep NYPD out of anti-gay parade, and McAleese refusal to join the bigots

2010-09-30T16:51:00.008-04:00

"The news that President McAleese declined the invitation to lead the 250th St. Patrick’s Day parade has sparked a new level of controversy that should lead to a new dialogue. This is very good news for the Irish community in New York. We need to talk to one another about this issue that has divided and embarrassed us for too long now"...

Read the whole thing here. The letters page in the print edition is also an interesting read. No one there questions whether the parade is a display of anti-gay bigotry -- just whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. So far, the NYPD has voted with its feet for "good thing." But we're looking out for NYPD Commissioner Kelly's response by October 15th in case that changes.

Mary McAleese says nope to Grand Marshal invite

2010-09-22T15:34:00.004-04:00

Irish President Mary McAleese turned down an invite to be the Grand Marshal of the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade. Irish Central, the Irish Voice's website, says it's because of the parade's explicit anti-gay stance. The comments are a good read...

IQ asks NYPD to stop marching in anti-gay parade

2010-09-22T15:32:00.002-04:00

PRESS RELEASE - For immediate release

Date: September 22, 2010

NYC’s anti-gay St. Pat’s Parade takes another hit: As Irish President McAleese refuses to lead parade, Irish-American LGBT groups asks NYPD’s Kelly to stop uniformed cops from marching.

New York – The NYC group Irish Queers today asked NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly to pull uniformed police officers from the anti-gay St. Patrick’s Day parade. In a letter to the Commissioner, the group charges that police participation is an endorsement of homophobia and a violation of LGBT communities’ right to expect equal access to police services.

The Irish Queers request comes on the same day as news of Irish president Mary McAleese’s decision to skip the parade, viewed in Irish American political circles as a refusal to endorse the parade’s discriminatory message.

The St. Patrick’s parade organizers have asserted the right to exclude LGBT people on the grounds of free speech, and have repeatedly affirmed that the parade has an explicitly anti-gay message.

Each year, thousands of uniformed NYPD officers march in the parade, comprising more than a dozen contingents. Other city uniformed personnel marching in an official capacity include the Fire Department and Emergency Services.

Parade organizers have long touted the parade as “a private religious procession” as a basis for excluding LGBT Irish groups, but have counted on strong participation from the city and its representatives.

###

South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association Marched in India Day Parade

2010-08-16T10:54:00.003-04:00

For the first time in 10 years, the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (SALGA) marched in the India Day Parade. Congrats to SALGA!

For a full article and video, check out the NY1 story here.

Colin Farrell is standing up against homophobia...and so should you!

2010-04-09T12:27:00.002-04:00

BeLonG To is a national organisation in Ireland for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) young people, aged between 14 and 23. This press release about their STAND UP! Campaign against homophobic bullying was taken from their website.

April 8, 2010

Speaking from Los Angeles actor Colin Farrell has issued a statement in support of BeLonG To Youth Service’s STAND UP! Campaign against homophobic bullying of gay young people.
Colin recalls is memories of how his gay brother Eamon was terribly treated when they were young and growing up in Dublin.

Colin Farrell’s statement:

"I can't remember much about the years of physical and emotional abuse my brother Eamon suffered. I was very small. The thing i do remember though, quite literally, is blood on his school shirt when he came home in the afternoon. The beatings and taunting were very frequent for my him and a constant part of his school years. I didn't understand at that time the concept of 'difference'. Back then, as now, he was just my big brother. If I did understand what difference was I understood it in the most pure and unaffected childlike way. To me then, as a child, difference meant being left out. Joy and laughter came with being included, being embraced , and BELONGING to.

People are often afraid of difference. They feel that anything that causes fear, should be turned away from. My brother represented fear for so many people, but caused joy in my life. From a very young age he made me laugh with his intelligence and wit, made me aspire to his strength and goodness. He was to be embraced. To many of the students of his school however he was to be feared. He was to be turned away from. I didn't understand it then, and I still don't know. As a race we humans are united and divided by emotions. The mother and father of all emotions, the queen and king are love and fear. Love unites, it brings us closer to an understanding of the possibility of beauty amidst all the confusion and pain that life can bring. Hate is a disease. It is fear's messenger and it makes us do terrible things in a shadow of our better selves, of what we could be.

Intolerance is not genetically encoded - it is taught. It is learned at home. It is learned in the classrooms and it is learned anywhere else we gather as a group. But it is usually learned early and added onto from there. If there is nothing to feared, there is nothing to hate. If there is nothing to hate there is no pain. My brother was so forceful in standing up for who he was, and for the good that he knew wa inside of him. Many people missed out on an opportunity, not only to enjoy him, but to enjoy themselves by embracing his "difference". They missed out because they saw him as a threat - not as a testament to the kaleidoscope and diversity of this beautiful world. Bullying is torture, it is another betrayal of basic human decency and its scars reach way into the future of its survivors. But the saddest truth is that not all children survive it. It is a potentially fatal societal illness and must be respected and not feared. Respected and dealt with as a very real problem and as an adversary of a potentially harmonious world, that should have no place for bullies or bullying."

- From Colin Farrell

The STAND UP! Campaign comes from BeLonG To Youth Services, Ireland’s national youth service for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people.

Some pictures from our protest....

2010-03-22T11:31:00.003-04:00

All photos taken by Garry Rissman:

PRESS RELEASE: LGBT ire as NYPD Commissioner Kelly leads anti-gay St. Patrick's Parade

2010-03-17T13:20:00.002-04:00

PRESS RELEASE – immediate release

Date: March 17, 2010

Contact: JF Mulligan 914-489-9204
Emmaia Gelman 917-517-3627

LGBT IRE AS NYPD COMMISSIONER KELLY LEADS ANTI-GAY ST. PAT’S PARADE;

“IRISH QUEERS” INTEND LAWSUIT TO STOP NYPD & FDNY FROM MARCHING

New York – Lining the side of the NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade with civil rights slogans and chants, the NYC-based group Irish Queers protested the famously anti-gay parade today. Protesters charged that the participation of more than a dozen uniformed NYPD and FDNY contingents, featuring tens of thousands of marching police and firefighters, is a violation of both city law and LGBT civil rights. Parade spectators cheered the protest on, and many stopped to join in.

Since 1993, the parade’s organizers have claimed an explicitly anti-gay message in the event, and have redefined the parade as a “private religious procession.” New York City law protects LGBT people against discrimination by police, firefighters and other arms of city administration.

“The NYC St. Patrick’s parade has been a battleground where the religious right tries to erase LGBT people,” said Tierney Gleason of Irish Queers. “The historically homophobic NYPD and FDNY support that exclusion by marching in uniform, en masse in this anti-gay demonstration.”

“Anti-gay discrimination is now illegal in both Ireland and New York City. The NYPD, FDNY and Mayor Bloomberg need catch up. As city representatives, they cannot legally march until parade organizers renounce their discriminatory message,” said JF Mulligan of Irish Queers.

“For two decades, we’ve stood on the parade sidelines and watched hordes of uniformed cops, firefighters and EMTs march in a parade that has been defined in court, by its organizers, as a homophobic parade. We’ve heard them call out, as they march past, that the only way we’ll march in ‘their’ parade is in coffins,” said Emmaia Gelman of Irish Queers.

“We’ve had our permits to protest the parade mysteriously held up and denied by the NYPD, and we’ve seen the city spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cement any ‘NO’ they can legally hand out to us. When we’ve resorted to civil disobedience, we’ve experienced violent police hostility toward queers inside NYPD precincts – and toward those who challenge the parade’s hateful message. There is no remaining question about the meaning of NYPD participation in this parade,” Gelman said.

“The police presence at the parade is a strong symbol of the antipathy we already feel from them as LGBT people,” said Eustacia Smith, a protester with Irish Queers. “Every year, the parade reminds us that, if you’re queer, it’s often safer to avoid the police than to call on them for help.”

As Irish Queers pursues a civil rights lawsuit, protest against LGBT Irish groups’ exclusion from the parade continues. “The St. Patrick's Day parade is meant to celebrate Irish American heritage in general. We will be there to visibly remind parade goers that we are a thread of Irish American culture,” said Gabrielle Cryan of Irish Queers.

A statement released yesterday by Dublin LGBT groups censured the NYC St. Patrick’s Parade Committee from abroad. “[The exclusion of LGBT people] is deeply un-Irish and something that we cannot allow to happen in the name of an event that is about celebrating Ireland's rich cultural heritage, of which the LGBT community are a corner stone here in Ireland.”

For more info: www.irishqueers.org

Dublin Pride reprehends New York City's Patrick's Day parade organisers

2010-03-16T23:06:00.003-04:00

16/03/2010

Dublin LGBTQ Pride has today criticised the St Patrick's Day Parade in New York City for its failure to include and allow representatives from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender groups to participate.

The exclusion of these groups from the St Patrick's Day festivities is inherently discriminatory and un-Irish, the group has claimed.

"The exclusion of any groups from celebrating our national holiday abroad is deeply discriminatory and rooted in close mindedness", said Frank Cleary, chairperson of Dublin Pride.

"This is deeply un-Irish and something that we cannot allow to happen in the name of an event that is about celebrating Ireland's rich cultural heritage, of which the LGBT community are a corner stone here in Ireland.

"Dublin Pride is calling on the organisers of the St. Patrick's Day festival in New York to cease their discrimination and to facilitate a full expression of the cultural diversity that exists in Ireland."

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/ireland/dublin-pride-reprehends-new-york-citys-patricks-day-parade-organisers-450266.html

(Thanks for the shout-out, Dublin Pride!)

$inn Fein Hypocrisy

2010-03-16T13:15:00.007-04:00

Once again, Gerry Adams lost his principles some where over the Atlantic between Belfast and Boston. Last weekend, Adams participated in the anti-gay St. Patrick's Day Parade in Southie and made a speech at the Clover Club which does not allow women. It should be noted than many local politicians boycott the Southie parade because of its homophobia, just as many local politicians do not go to the Clover Club because of its inherent sexism.

Press was also barred from his speech at the Clover Club. He subsequently told the Irish Times:

"Obviously, I'm against exclusion, I'm for inclusivity. I made that point. I'm sorry you weren't allowed in, you should have been allowed in."

We think that his position is not obvious, and that he failed miserably to make his point. The best way to make the point would be refusing to attend. But that would jeopoardize the whole point of his trip, which is to raise funds from wealthy, right-wing, Irish American men wouldn't it?

*****UPDATE*****

From the blog of Gerry Adams....

There has been controversy around some of the parades, particularly those in New York and Boston because they refuse to allow gay and lesbian groups to participate. $inn Féin long ago made clear our opposition to exclusion. Our policy in support of gay and lesbian rights is long standing. However, we are not prepared to exclude ourselves from opportunitie$ to promote the peace process and $inn Féin’s objective of Irish unity.

This pathetic explanation tells us what we already know....LGBT people are not part of the "we" or the "our." If SF truly valued LGBT people, we would be part of the "we."

2010 St. Patrick's Day Protest Press Advisory

2010-03-15T10:11:00.009-04:00

Date: March 15, 2010
Contact: Emmaia Gelman 917-517-3627

IRISH QUEERS PROTEST ANTI-GAY NYC ST. PATRICK’S PARADE FOR 20TH YEAR;
PLAN TO FILE SUIT TO BAR NYPD AND FDNY FROM MARCHING.

What:

At annual protest against anti-gay NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Irish Queers announce intention to file lawsuit barring uniformed NYPD and FDNY from marching in 2011 and future years.

Who:

Irish Queers, NYC-based group that has organized protest against the explicit homophobia of the NYC St. Patrick’s Parade over the past two decades. IQ is joined by representatives from the NYC lesbian, gay, bi and trans community, and other civil rights supporters.

When:

March 17, 2010 at 11am

Where:

Fifth Avenue at 57th Street (West side of the Avenue)

More info:

“For 20 years, the NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade has been a battleground where the religious right has tried to erase and exclude LGBT people,” said Tierney Gleason of Irish Queers. “Historically homophobic institutions like the NYPD and FDNY have happily supported that exclusion by marching in uniform and en masse in this anti-gay demonstration.”

“Fortunately, anti-gay discrimination is now illegal in both Ireland and New York City. The NYPD, FDNY and Mayor Bloomberg need to do some catching up. As city representatives, they cannot legally march in the parade until the organizers renounce the homophobic exclusion of LGBT Irish groups,” said JF Mulligan of Irish Queers.

New York City law protects LGBT people against discrimination by police, firefighters and other arms of city administration. The organizers of the NYC St. Patrick’s Day have affirmed, over and over, that their parade carries an explicitly anti-gay religious message. Irish Queers has long asserted that participation by uniformed members of the NYPD and FDNY, as well as New York City mayors and other officials, is a violation of city law.

Deepening the link between the NYPD and the parade organizers’ message, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly will lead this year’s parade as Grand Marshal.

Irish Queers meet year-round as members of both Irish and queer communities. IQ, which evolved out of the Irish Lesbian & Gay Organization, works for immigrant justice, Northern Ireland self-determination, anti-racism and other issues.

Irish American LGBT Group Marching in Buffalo

2010-03-14T13:30:00.008-04:00

Outspoken for Equality will be the first LGBT organization to march in Buffalo's "Old Neighborhood" St. Patrick's Day Parade. For more info, read this posting from Outcome (Buffalo's Gay Newspaper) and this interview with Kitty Lambert, one of the organizers.

Annual Parade Protest

2010-03-11T15:12:00.001-05:00

Please join us at our annual protest on March 17th on Fifth Avenue @ 57th street (on the west side) from 11am - 12pm.

For more information, send us an e-mail.

Looking for LGBT Law Students

2010-03-02T11:22:00.003-05:00

Irish Queers is looking for LGBT law students to help us with research for a new angle to challenge LGBT exclusion from the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade. Please e-mail us if you would like to get involved. We promise.........it *will* be worth it.

From EDGE Boston: St. Patrick’s Day: NOT a great day to be Irish if you’re LGBT

2010-03-01T16:33:00.003-05:00

"Private organizations, they said (Supreme Court), are protected under the First Amendment - even those that take up a large city’s main street for a day, cause traffic congestion, leave large amounts of refuse, include every public figure and huge contingents of public workers, and entail huge cost overruns for local police departments."

According to this article in EDGE Boston, there are only 3 Irish/St. Patrick's Day Parades that welcome our community - San Francisco's St. Patrick's Day Parade, Key West's St. Patrick's Day Parade, and St. Pat's for All in Queens.

Click here to read the full article about the history of LGBT exclusion from St. Patrick's Day parades in Boston and New York.

To cut costs, city wants parades reduced by 25%......after St. Patrick's Day

2010-02-23T21:56:00.002-05:00

This NY Times article says it all, especially the last paragraph.

LGBTQ Contingent in the Lunar New Year Parade

2010-02-23T21:31:00.004-05:00

For the first time ever, an LGBTQ contingent marched in the Lunar New Year Parade in Chinatown. Very exciting! Congrats to the everyone that marched, and an extra-special congrats to the organizing team, Lunar New Year For All.

To read the NY Daily News article and watch the video footage, click here.

Please take the poll featured next to the article about Irish/Irish American LGBTQ people marching in the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade. (Although it is annoying that NY Daily News is turning this historic moment for Asian/Asian American LGBTQ folks turns back on to questions about St. Patrick's Day.)

Trans recognition laws to come before Irish parliament

2009-12-01T10:09:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the article from PinkNews.co.uk.

Trans Day of Remembrance & Welfare Justice Campaign Launch Tomorrow

2009-11-19T12:03:00.006-05:00

Come out tomorrow for the Trans Day of Remembrance to honor the trans and gender non-conforming people in our community. There will also be an update about the welfare justice campaign (click here to learn more and sign the petition).

WHEN: Tomorrow, November 20th
6-8pm for the Trans Day of Remembrance
8-11pm for the Welfare Justice Launch party

WHERE: The Audre Lorde Project / 85 South Oxford Street in Brooklyn
(Directions to ALP can be found here.)

This event is being organized by: Audre Lorde Project/TransJustice, Housing Works, Queers for Economic Justice, and Sylvia Rivera Law Project.

"A Man of No Importance" in Nyack

2009-11-19T11:39:00.006-05:00

A Man of No Importance, a musical with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and book by Terrence McNally (a former ILGO supporter!), is based on the 1994 Irish film, A Man of No Importance, starring Albert Finney. The story is about a community theatre group led by a closeted gay man who is determined to stage a version of Salome (by Oscar Wilde) at their church despite objections from church authorities.

A Man of No Importance is playing at the Elmwood Playhouse in Nyack until December 12th.

RALLY AGAINST UGANDA'S ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL!

2009-11-16T17:39:00.005-05:00

WHEN: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19 AT 12:30pm

WHERE: UGANDA HOUSE, 336 EAST 45th St. (off 1st Ave.)
#4, 5, 6, 7 or S `Shuttle` train to GrandCentral - 42 St.; M42 or M104 both via 42nd St.;M15 via 1st & 2nd Aves.; M27 or M50 both via 50th St.

WHY: This demonstration is being organized in response to the global call for action from November 9thto December 10th, Human Rights Day, by SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda) a network of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people's organizations based Uganda.

Join with Human Rights Watch, African Services Committee, IGLHRC (International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission), Health GAP and many other local HIV/AIDS and social justice organizations in the area on Thursday, November19, at 12:30 p.m. outside the Ugandan Consulate in New York, to protest Uganda's proposed "Anti-Homosexuality Bill." This repressive measure, now being debated in Uganda's Parliament, would deny all basic rights to Uganda's LGBT people. It threatens civil societyand human rights defenders, and would devastatingly impair Uganda's response to HIV and AIDS.

"Burning Issues" in the Republic of Ireland

2009-11-15T22:48:00.004-05:00

The National Gay and Lesbian Foundation (NGLF) in Ireland surveyed 1,100 gays and lesbians to ask their their priorities and found that workplace equality and anti-gay violence were top concerns.

To read more about the study, click here.

Irish Queers ♥'s The Lesbian Herstory Archives

2009-11-15T19:39:00.001-05:00

Check them out by clicking here.

WE'RE BACK!!!

2009-11-12T17:24:00.001-05:00

We're back and meeting regularly again. We've got new tricks up our sleeves, so if you'd like to get involved, send us an e-mail for more details.

South Asian Lesbian Gay Association (SALGA) shut out of Manhattan's Indian Independence Day Parade

2009-08-20T14:38:00.006-04:00

(photo by Roopa Singh/ politicalpoet.wordpress.com)

From Colorlines...

Lesbian and gay Indo-Americans and their allies marched and demonstrated last Sunday along the route of Manhattan’s annual India Day Parade today, with signs reading “Gay Hind,” “Indian Gay Proud,” and “Shame Shame FIA, Homophobia is so last year.”

Click here to read the rest of the article by Minal Hajratwala.

Stand up for a definition of Irishness that values human rights and diverse communities!

2009-03-06T10:58:00.003-05:00

Please join Irish Queers as we protest LGBT exclusion from the NewYork City St. Patrick's Day Parade. For 18 years, Irish and Irish American queers have been challenging the narrow definition of Irishness set forth by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a conservative, Catholic, all-male organization that runs many St. Patrick's Day Parades across the country. As a right wing organization, the AOH prohibits all LGBT people and anyone that is pro-choice from OPENLY taking part in their events.

Although the parade has been billed as the largest celebration of Irish culture in the world, the New York Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Catholic Archdiocese have redefined it as a private, religious event (taking place on public streets) where many Irish people are not welcome.

While our fight began in the 1990s within New York's Irish and church institutions, we have learned that the City, the NYPD and the courts are all willing to trample and erase the diverse fabric of the Irish community. Our struggle is not just with the parade organizers and Catholic hierarchy, but with military organizations, the NYPD, the FDNY and other public servants who use the parade to express sentiments of hate and superiority that are disallowed anywhere else.

Please join us on March 17th on Fifth Avenue @ 57th street (on the west side) from 11am - 1pm. Stand up for a definition of Irishness that values human rights and diverse communities!

For more information, send us an e-mail.

"Gay-bashing tirade shames Christians" opinion piece in Irish Independent

2008-12-28T11:42:00.003-05:00

"Since coming to America, I've had any number of people assume that I'm virulently Catholic. To them, that's as Irish as shamrocks and St Patrick's Day drunkenness. In fact, like most Irish people my age -- I'll be 30 in '09 -- I'm not religious at all. And so it would be easy for me to think that the ramblings of old red socks in Rome have no bearing whatsoever on my day-to-day life. He raises his doddery old head above the parapet every so often to say we shouldn't use condoms and that gay people are bad and we all just roll our eyes and vaguely wonder when will he die?"

To read more of this opinion piece by Donal Lynch in response to the pope's latest sexist, homophobic speech, click here.

In the news...

2008-11-23T13:20:00.004-05:00

Irish boyband Boyzone has a male love interest for its openly gay member, Stephen Gately, in their latest music video. Reverend David McCullough, minister of Dromore Reformed Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland, had this to say about the video:

The message of the Boyzone video is yet another subtle effort of the homosexual propaganda machine. This video, that will be watched by millions, is sending out a deadly message to young people. (?!!!?)

To read more, click here. To watch the video, click here.

Click here to read Maureen Dowd's op-ed column on the soon to be released Harvey Milk biopic and Proposition 8. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official in American history and served on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors. He was murdered by Dan White, an Irish Catholic former policeman and former city supervisor who opposed Milk’s equal rights initiatives for gays.

New report on LGBT people in the West of Ireland reveals isolation and discrimination

2008-11-18T14:33:00.002-05:00

Many LGBT people feel isolated and socially excluded. Isolation and social exclusion are linked to poorer health, lower educational attainments, lower economic success and lower degrees of happiness and fulfilment. Conversely, embracing diversity is known to have proven effects on the individual and larger community. This very important piece of research contains evidence of the realities faced by LGBT people in the region. It is my hope that this will result in a more inclusive society here in the West of Ireland, where being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender will no longer result in experiencing discrimination or isolation.

- Éamon Ó Cuív, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs speaking on a new report on LGBT people in the West of Ireland.

To read more about the report, click here.

Donate to Hate - More lies from the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee

2008-11-17T15:39:00.009-05:00

The Irish Echo recently ran an article about how the NYC St. Patrick's Day Committee "needs a helping hand" and is launching an online donation drive. Like every other nonprofit on the planet, the parade committee is bracing itself for a decrease in donations due to the economy.

But in true AOH fashion, the committee is using manipulation and lies in its plea for donations for their annual procession of religious bigotry. They claim the parade is completely funded by individuals, or as they say in their fundraising letter, "completely funded by donations from generous people just like you." This is not entirely true. In a 2007 article published by the Irish Examiner USA, John Dunleavy bragged about the parade committee's links to corporations:

Dunleavy credits his good friend, the late Jim Barker, for bringing in sponsorship for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, which costs between $600,000 - $700,000 to run annually. The figure includes $300,000 for the TV air time, $23,000 for the reviewing stands on Fifth Avenue, as well as permits, sashes, port-o-potties, painting the green line up Fifth Avenue, and other expenses. Until a few years ago, Dunleavy ran the whole operation out of his home. The committee now has a small office in the Bronx and hired an administrative assistant to handle things as the parade continues to increase in size.

"Jim was a master salesman, a modern day PT Barnum," Dunleavy said. "A number of years ago, WPIX-TV, which had broadcast the parade for 35 years, cut back the hours because they couldn't sell the ads. We decided to switch to WNBC-TV, which made it easier to sell the sponsorships. We buy the time, hire our own producer, Mike Mathies, and control the content. Major supporters include Quinnipiac University, Guinness, and Ford Motor Company."

"Jim went to Villanova with Jim O'Connor, an executive at Ford. The Guinness sponsorship is a natural one," Dunleavy explained. "We are fortunate that Frank Comerford, president of WNBC, is on the board of the St. Parade's Parade Committee. In order to get work done, you need a combination of Irish and Irish Americans."

So what is really going on here? Buying air time? Selling sponsorships? It's hard to tell. According to the parade committee's 2007 990, they raised $96,265 in direct public support (translation: from generous homophobic people like you, including foundations and corporations). They raised $388,000 in indirect public support (translation: from other organizations like colleges, AOH chapters and Catholic churches).

In addition to the sponsors mentioned by Dunleavy to the Irish Examiner, other corporate sponsors of the parade include: Yonkers Raceway, CelticBrands.com, The Padded Wagon, Turtle Wax, and US Bank Irish Connections Visa Card.

During the last decade, the parade has had its financial integrity questioned by both AOH insiders and outsiders. In 2001, the New York Times ran an article on William J. Flynn's resignation as president from the parade committee. One of the main reasons mentioned in the article for his resignation were around financial transparency. In 2002, former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer investigated the parade committee's finances. It was alleged that the late Jim Barker and his public relations firm accepted payments from the Ford auto company for parade advertising instead of making payments to the nonprofit entity.

To top it all off, the fundraising plea on one of the parade committee's websites mentions that the city "offers no financial subsidies to the Parade despite the fact that the City take (sic) in millions of dollars in tax revenue from Parade participants."

Well AOH folks, this is the price you pay for having a private, religious procession down Fifth Avenue (a public space) on March 17th. We still have a separation between church and state, and the City has anti-discrimination laws, so your discriminatory event should not be entitled to any financial subsidies.

With the passing of Proposition 8 in California, much attention is being paid to the Mormon Church and other groups that invested so heavily in homophobia. This ridiculous fundraising plea in the Irish Echo has re-reminded us to step up following the homophobic money floating around the Irish American community sponsoring this discriminatory parade.

Meeting News

2008-10-22T15:39:00.002-04:00

Irish Queers will no longer be meeting at the LGBT Center on the first Tuesday of each month. Please e-mail for details about how to connect & get involved.

New AOH President Against Coalition Building for Immigration Reform

2008-08-11T19:58:00.005-04:00

Remember AOH President Jack Meehan and his pledge to ramp up the AOH's anti-choice efforts? He just got voted out at the AOH convention in New Orleans at the end of July. The new AOH president, Seamus Boyle of Philadelphia, has pledged to make immigration reform the main focus of his presidency. Below is a snippet of an interview he gave to IrishPhiladelphia.com:

Q. Do you feel like the Irish need to work with other immigrant groups to achieve reform? I mean, fundamentally, this is not an Irish issue so much as an immigrant issue, is it? Can we really achieve any progress on Irish immigration without finding common cause with, say, Latin American or Asian groups?

A. I think that the Irish have more to offer than some of the other groups and I do not mean to degrade any nationality. The Irish have a head start on other groups because the have a tremendous work ethic, great education and speak English, and that is an advantage for employers. We as Irish are not looking for anything except to be treated fairly.

Sounds pretty racist from over here, Seamus. If you don't mean to degrade any nationality, why are you implying non-Irish immigrants don't have a strong work ethic, are not well educated, and don't speak English? Seamus Boyle and the modern day AOH have much more in common with nativists than they'd like to think, that's for sure.

NYC Outraged By Cops Gone Wild

2008-08-05T10:16:00.005-04:00

WHAT: A Press conference to denounce Cops Gone Wild, a call for an end to the criminalization of those who lawfully document police activities. Speakers will also address the lack of discipline for those who harass, intimidate, and physically assault New Yorkers, especially those Officers who intentionally makes false official statements regarding their misconduct.

WHEN: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 10 am

WHERE: In front of One Police Plaza

The latest episodes of police brutality and misconduct captured on video will be the focus of a press conference on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 10am, in front of One Police Plaza. The event will bring together an unprecedented number of elected officials, social justice organizations and civil rights groups who are outraged and determined to put a stop to police brutality and the criminalization of those who document it.

Among the groups and individuals expected are: Attorney Norman Siegel, AudreLorde Project, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, Casa Atabex Ache, Center for Constitutional Rights, Council Members Rosie Mendez and Charles Barron, FreeWheels Bicycle Defense Fund, Immigrant Justice Solidarity Project,International Action Center, Justice Committee, Make The Road NY, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights, Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, Peoples' Justice for Community Control & Police Accountability, Social Justice Leadership, Times Up! Environmental Group and VAMOS Unidos.

Click here to watch a 12 minute video showing NYPD officers harass and arrest cyclists and those documenting these arrests during one ride lastyear.

Click here to watch video of NYPD officer repeatedly beating a handcuffed army veteran on the ground with a metal Baton.

Click here to watch video of Officer Patrick Pogan violently knocking Christopher Long off his bicycle on July 25th.

In the news.....

2008-07-30T21:27:00.006-04:00

Iris Robinson is still making news for her homophobic views, most recently comparing same-sex relationships to child abuse. Whatever.

The Northern Ireland Parades Commission has given permission for Belfast Pride to go ahead this Saturday without any restrictions. During the Belfast Pride festivities last weekend, Peter Tatchell, speaking at the "Love is a Human Right" dinner sponsored by Amnesty International, called on Iris Robinson to step down AND claimed King William of Orange had male lovers. To read more, click here.

Foyle Pride was officially launched today in Derry. The festival, which will take place from August 18-25 will feature an "Iris Robinson tribute." Last weekend, the iconic Free Derry wall was painted over to coincide with Pride week by over 100 artists. Check it out:

The Free Derry wall normally looks like this:

2 of convictions of New Jersey 4 overturned

2008-06-23T09:57:00.008-04:00

Last Thursday, a NY state appeals court overturned the convictions of 2 of the NJ4.

Terrain Dandridge, 21, whom a jury found guilty of second-degree gang assault, had her conviction reversed and indictment dismissed. Originally, she had been sentenced to 3 1/2 years. She cannot be re-tried on any charges and was expected to be released from prison yesterday. She is expected to meet with Angela Davis in the Bay Area today.

The court also overturned the charges against Renata Hill, 26, who was found guilty of second-degree gang assault and third-degree assault, but she can be re-tried. The court ruled that the judge's instructions to the jury on the gang assault charge in the original trial were incorrect, therefore her conviction on that charge could not be upheld. Hill was originally sentenced to eight years in prison, but hopefully she will be released from prison since she has already been incarcerated beyond the 1 year maximum penalty for the third-degree assault.

Following this case has been very important to the work of Irish Queers in New York City. First and foremost, because of our history as Irish/Irish American people, we understand the importance of self-defense and honor the bravery of those that dare to rise up against hatred. No woman, queer or otherwise, should EVER be incarcerated for defending herself against someone that is threatening their safety, but sadly this is an all to familiar story in our racist/sexist/classist/homophobic "criminal justice" system.

(And for those that might be unclear, street harassment (cat-calling), addressing people as "fucking dykes", spitting on them, choking them, pulling out chunks of their hair, and saying, "I'll fuck you straight", is threatening behavior. This behavior is even more triggering when you've already seen one of your friends, Sakia Gunn, murdered in 2003 for proclaiming her queerness and rejecting the advances of a straight man).

Secondly, we see the harsh sentences (and insulting comments) handed down by Judge Edward J. McLaughlin in the original trial within the context of the infamous homophobia of the NY Irish/Irish American community. Every year on March 17th at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, men like Judge McLaughlin are given our city streets to proudly celebrate their bigotry and assimilation under the guise of preserving and protecting "traditional" (?) Irish culture, as if homophobia/transphobia/misogyny/racism/classism are essentially Irish. While some in the queer community don't understand why we bother to continually challenge the St. Patrick's Day Parade, we see Judge McLaughlin's actions in the case of the NJ4 as a perfect example why our work is necessary…because Irish/Irish American bigotry has severe consequences in the LGBT community.

While we are happy that the convictions of Terrain Dandridge and Renata Hill have been overturned and that Judge McLaughlin's biases and incompetence have been called out, it doesn't make up for what these women have gone through. We will keep following this case and will post more information as it becomes available. Appeals for the remaining NJ4, Patreese Johnson and Venice Brown, are under way.

Dublin Pride and the Irish Queer Archive

2008-06-21T17:29:00.003-04:00

Check out this article on Dublin Pride and the Irish Queer Archive that was transferred to the National Library of Ireland earlier this week.

Acquitted!

2008-06-11T17:48:00.005-04:00

A Belfast court today unanimously acquitted of six protesters from the Derry Anti-War Coalition of destroying property belonging to Raytheon, a multinational arms company. For article from The Derry Journal, click here.

Going to see Prisoner of the Crown

2008-06-10T12:04:00.003-04:00

We've picked a night to go see Prisoner of the Crown at the Irish Rep. E-mail us for details.

Support the 4th Annual NYC Trans Day of Action for Social & Economic Justice

2008-06-10T10:39:00.011-04:00

Irish Queers has signed on as allies of the 4th Annual Trans Day of Action. Though we are probably most well known for our 17 year (and counting) stand-off on Fifth Avenue over the St. Patrick's Day Parade with the bigots of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (and FDNY & NYPD), we are active on a variety of social justice issues. Unlike most of the NYC Irish/Irish American community, we hold in our hearts a reading of Irish history that champions resistance and fights oppression against all odds. For this reason, we see standing with TransJustice and all Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color as not only an expression of our loyalty and solidarity to our queer community, but also as an expression of what being Irish truly means to us. Please stand with us and support this important march @ City Hall Park @ 3pm on Friday, June 27 to kick off Pride weekend.

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The 4th Annual NYC Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic Justice

Points of Unity

Initiated by TransJustice of the Audre Lorde Project, a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color Center for Community Organizing

We call on our Trans and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) community and on all of our allies from many movements to join us for the 4th Annual Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic Justice. We as TGNC People of Color (POC) recognize the importance of working together alongside other movements to change the world we want to see. We live in a time when people of color, immigrants and poor people are disproportionately underserved, face higher levels of discrimination, heightened surveillance and experience increased violence at the hands of the state. It is critical that we unite and work together towards dismantling the transphobia, racism, classism, sexism, ageism, ableism, homophobia and xenophobia that permeates throughout our movements for social justice. Let’s come together to let the world know that TGNC rights will not be undermined and together we will not be silenced! These are the points of unity, which hold together the purpose of this important march:

*We demand that TGNC people have equal access to employment and education opportunities. We are outraged by the high numbers of TGNC people who are unemployed. Many TGNC people continue to face blatant discrimination and harassment from employers due to systemic transphobia. Few TGNC people have access to opportunities for learning in a safe school environment. TGNC people demand that all employers and educational institutions implement non-discrimination policies that respect the rights of all workers and students and that they comply with the NYC Human Rights Law that prohibits discrimination against gender identity and expression!

*We demand that all people receiving public assistance entitlements including TGNC People of Color, be treated with respect and dignity. We stand in solidarity with all people living on public assistance. The NYC agency responsible for the administration of public welfare, the Human Resources Administration (HRA), continues to ignore our demands to address the systemic problems that exist internally and perpetuate the transphobia and harassment faced by TGNC people of color when applying for benefits such as welfare, access to shelters, access to culturally competent and sensitive healthcare, drug treatment programs, adult protective services, eviction prevention, and other essential services. We demand that the NYC HRA: conduct an internal investigation of these incidents; follow NYC ‘Guidelines Regarding Gender Identity Discrimination’ and develop means of enforcement; implement mandatory cultural competency training on gender identity/expression; implement a fully accessible process for reporting incidents of discrimination; and, commit to prioritize hiring of TGNC employees.

*We demand the full legalization of all immigrants. TGNC people deserve the right to access competent and respectful immigration services. We demand that the consulates of all countries respect and honor our identities and issue passports and other documentation that accurately reflects who we are. We oppose the guest worker program, the Real ID Act, enforcement provisions to build more walls and give greater powers to the Department of Homeland Security, increased barriers for asylum seekers, the HIV ban and other anti-immigrant policies that continue to divide our communities.

*We stand in solidarity with all prisoners, especially the many TGNC people behind the walls who are often invisible even within prisoner’s rights movements. We call attention to the under-reported accounts of severe violence and rape that our community faces at the hands of correction officers and other prisoners. We demand an end to the torture and high level of discrimination TGNC prisoners face. We demand that all TGNC prisoners receive competent and respectful healthcare. We oppose the continued growth of the prison industrial complex that continues to target our communities, yet we recognize that TGNC people need access to services and facilities that lessen our vulnerability to violence within the present jails and prisons. We are opposed to the closing of the “gay and Trans housing” unit on Rikers. We call attention to the criminal injustice system that increasingly puts POC, immigrants, TGNC people and poor people behind bars - further criminalizing our communities and our lives.

*We demand that TGNC people have access to respectful and safe living spaces. Many TGNC people face severe discrimination from landlords and housing administrators displacing us from our homes due to gender identity or expression. A disproportionate number of TGNC people have been or are currently homeless. However, many homeless TGNC people continue to face discrimination when trying to access shelters and other assisted living programs. NYC law and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) state that people will be placed in shelters according to that person’s gender identity and that discrimination based on gender identity will not be tolerated. We demand that all DHS shelter administrators continue to provide adequate Trans sensitivity trainings for all personnel and enforce clear non-discrimination policies that respect the dignity of all homeless people.

*We demand that all children and youth, under the jurisdiction of the Administration of Children Services (ACS) and Private Foster Care Agencies, have the right to the freedom of gender expression and identity. In the 2002-landmark case Jean Doe v. Bell, it was established that children in NYC’s foster care system cannot be discriminated against for being transgender and cannot be forced to only wear clothing associated with their birth gender. Government institutions like ACS and private foster care agencies must be accountable for the health of people under their care, and recognize that this responsibility must include TGNC people and Trans related health care. We demand that ACS initiates a full investigation of all the incidents of misallocation of personal funds and the violations of confidentiality issues that have negatively affected the lives of children and youth under their care.

*We oppose the Bush Administration’s “War on Terrorism” as an excuse to legitimize the expansion of the U.S. as a imperial super power and to justify a national security strategy that is really meant to militarize our boarders and heighten surveillance and control over people living in the U.S., separating our communities by fostering feelings of hate, xenophobia, and violence. Every day we see more and more of our basic human rights like healthcare, jobs, education, housing, privacy, self-determination and the right of dissent slipping away from all of us. We must stand up now to demand the immediate removal of all U.S. troops from all countries under occupation and demand an end of use of U.S. dollars to cultivate and sponsor wars against people in the U.S. and abroad.

*We demand justice for the many TGNC people who have been beaten, assaulted, raped, and murdered yet these incidents continue to be silenced, misclassified or blamed on the victim. The police and the media continue to criminalize us even when we try to defend ourselves. An increase in hate crime laws will not solve the problem but will give increased power to the state to put more people in jail. Instead we call for a unified effort for all of us to look deeper into the root causes of why these incidents happen. As a society that seeks social justice we seek to find ways of holding people accountable and coming to a joint understanding of how we can make our communities safer for all of us. Like many other oppressed communities like communities of color, immigrants and the poor, TGNC people are also targeted, profiled and brutalized by the police. We demand an end to the profiling, harassment, arrest, brutality and murder that occurs at the hands of the police! These incidents of violence do not occur in isolation, and are aggravated by racism, sexism, classism, xenophobia, misogyny, ageism and damaging strict heterosexist values.

We stand in solidarity with the family of Sean Bell, who are still tirelessly working towards justice after the police were later acquitted of charges. We stand in solidarity with the Jersey 4, 4 Lesbian women arrested in the West Village for defending themselves from a man that assaulted them. We stand in solidarity with Miriam, a transgender woman who was pushed out the window of her 4th floor apt and left for dead. We commemorate the memory of Amanda Milan, Sakia Gunn, Ruby Ordeñana, Gwen Araujo, Erika Keels, Victoria Arellano, Lawrence King, Saneesha Stewart and the many other brave souls we have lost, who struggled and lived their lives fearlessly day in and day out, being true to who they were. They keep the fire of struggle burning within all of us.

On June 27, 2008, TGNC People of Color and allies will take on the streets of New York City once again and demand justice to let the world know that the Stonewall rebellion is not over and we will continue fighting for social and economic justice, raising our voices until we are heard. We call on all social justice activists from communities of color, the LGBT movement, immigrant rights movement, the anti-war movement, the reproductive rights movement, youth and student groups, trade unions and worker organizations, religious communities and HIV/AIDS and social service agencies, both local and organizations around the country to endorse this call to action and to build contingents to march in solidarity together on June 27, 2008.

Click here for more information about TransJustice.

Same old DUP homophobia

2008-06-10T09:37:00.008-04:00

Last Friday, Iris Robinson, MP representing Strangford and Chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly's Health Committee....as well as the wife of new First Minister Peter Robinson, suggested that a man that was viciously queer-bashed and left for dead could be "cured" of his queerness through therapy.

Stephen Scott, 27, was attacked last Wednesday night by 3 youths as he walked home near Ballyduff Brae in Newtownabbey (Co. Antrim). He was treated for broken ribs, as well as head and leg injuries. He spoke to the BBC News and urged other victims of homophobic violence to come forward.

Iris Robinson made her now infamous comments on BBC Radio Ulster, where she graciously offered up a "a lovely psychiatrist who works with me and who tries to help homosexuals turn away from what they are engaged in. He is a Born Again Christian and has links all over the world and I have met people who have been turned around to become heterosexual and who have gone on to get married and raise families."

What the f&*k ever.

She also said homosexuality was "disgusting, nauseous, loathsome, shamefully wicked and vile", that her strong Christian upbringing meant she would never change her views, and nothing would stop her from speaking out on the issue.

Meanwhile, Martina Anderson of Sinn Fein has described the remarks as "outrageous" and claims Mrs. Robinson's comments call into question her ability to chair the Assembly Health Committee. Sinn Fein is calling on Mrs. Robinson to resign as Chair of the committee.

Court room support needed today for NJ4

2008-06-03T12:33:00.002-04:00

Two of the New Jersey 4, Renata Hill and Terrain Dandrige, have their appeal hearings TODAY at 2pm. If you can attend, please be advised that lawyers for the 4 have all asked supporters be extremely quiet and respectful in the courtroom since its different than a regular jury trial. Please come out if you can!

Tuesday June 3rd
2pm
27 Madison Ave. (Enter at 25th street & there is only one court room.)

Monthly meeting at the Center tonight.....

2008-06-03T12:27:00.001-04:00

is CANCELLED.

Events Today

2008-06-01T10:56:00.003-04:00

Counter-Protest at the Salute to Israel Parade - Join Adalah-NY and other New York groups to support Palestinian rights and to inform New Yorkers that 60 years of ethnic cleansing, dispossession and apartheid is nothing to celebrate. Counter-Protest is from 11AM-3PM on the west side of 5th Avenue between 58th & 59th streets (a location that is very familiar to us Irish Queers). Take the R, N to 5th Avenue (use only west exit marked Central Park South near downtown end of platform); F to 57th St. (at 6th Av.); Q to 57th St.-7th Ave; take 4, 5, 6 to 59th St (at Lex.)

Queens Pride Parade & Festival - The parade kicks off at 12pm at 89th Street and 37th Avenue, and goes down 37th Avenue, ending at 75th Street. The Multicutural Festival begins at 11:00AM and ends at 6:00PM and is located on 37th Road and stretches from 73rd Street to 77th Street. Take take the E,F,R,G subway trains to Roosevelt Avenue/Jackson Heights station, or take the #7 subway train to 74th Street - Broadway station.

On Gay Marriage & Gavin Newsom...

2008-05-31T12:49:00.007-04:00

After reading Cahir O'Doherty's May 29th Irish Voice article titled, Newsom Applauds Gay Marriage Ruling, we couldn't help but make a few comments.

It's great to see the Irish Voice covering LGBT issues! Not all Irish/Irish Americans are hardcore homophobes, and it's nice to see an Irish paper profiling issues pertaining to those of us Irish folks that fall outside of an ultra-conservative Catholic world view.

While it is positive that Gavin Newsom, an Irish Catholic heterosexual man from a privileged family, has stood by the affluent sector of the LGBT community in the fight for marriage equality, it is important to remember that Newsom is not a friend to all sectors of the LGBT community.

In the city of San Francisco, Newsom was responsible for Care Not Cash (Proposition N), a paternalistic program designed to cut cash grants given to homeless people in general assistance programs in exchange for encouraging them to enter shelters and seek other social services. This program limited the autonomy of homeless people and attempted to keep them off the street and out of sight, and was also meant to ensure any cash issued was not being used to buy drugs or alcohol.

In another attempt to "improve the quality of life" in San Franciso, Newsom also sponsored Proposition M, known as the "aggressive anti-panhandling measure." This measure defined "aggressive panhandling" as touching, following or threatening people and banned all forms of begging near ATMs, parking lots, check-cashing businesses, median strips, highway ramps, and on public transportation. (This measure even made it so that Girl Scouts could no longer peddle their cookies in Safeway supermarket parking lots.)

(And that's just a bit on two of Newsom's policies. Really, we could go on and on.)

We point this out because contrary to stereotypes, not all LGBT people are rich & white. Our community is every community - Black, Asian, Indigenous, Latino, white, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, rich, poor, working class, middle class....you get the picture. The gay marriage ruling in California is a step forward, and it is commendable that Governor Paterson here in NY is seeking to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, but it is crucial that LGBT folks stay active on issues beyond gay marriage. To us, Gavin Newsom cannot be considered a hero to the LGBT community when he has such a strong record on "quality of life" issues that criminalize poor folks, which includes LGBT folks.

So again, kudos to the Irish Voice for covering more Irish/Irish American LGBT issues, but we can't in good conscience join in on any Gavin Newsom admiration. But blogs were made for this very reason, to debate and voice other opinions. And in our case, our opinions always veer to the left and are always tied to a human rights for all framework.

Support the Raytheon 9!

2008-05-30T10:35:00.005-04:00

In 2006, members of the Derry Antiwar Coalition organized an occupation of a local facility of Raytheon, a U.S.-based weapons maker and world's largest producer of guided missiles to protest Israel's war on Lebanon. Nine activists were arrested and charged with vandalizing the building. They are currently on trial and could face time in prison if convicted.

For daily trial updates, click here.

To read Shaun Harkin's interview with Eamonn McCann, click here.

Click here to sign the petition in support of the Raytheon 9.

Film about Bobby Sands wins award at Cannes

2008-05-26T21:09:00.004-04:00

Hunger, a film about Bobby Sands, received the Camera d'Or award at the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival. For more information about the film, click here and here.

Bobby Sands died on May 5, 1981 after 66 days on hunger strike in the struggle for human rights and political status for all Irish Republican political prisoners incarcerated in Northern Ireland. He was only 27 years old. Bobby Sands was one of ten men to die in the Hunger Strike of '81. The demands of the prisoners included:

The right not to wear a prisoner uniform (since they were not criminals)
The right to free association amongst Republican political prisoners
The right as political prisoners not to do prison work
The right to organize their own educational and recreational facilities
The right to one weekly visit, letter and parcel

For more information on the Hunger Strike of '81, click here.

More on Prisoner of the Crown...

2008-05-26T20:30:00.008-04:00

(Painting by Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin)

The Irish ultimately replied that – straight or gay – Casement had died for Ireland, and they honored his sacrifice. When his coffin lay in state in Dublin’s Garrison Church of the Sacred Heart, 165,000 mourners filed past to pay their respects.

Click here for the full Irish Voice review of Prisoner of the Crown.

Wanna go see Prisoner of the Crown at the Irish Rep?

2008-05-19T13:34:00.010-04:00

Wanna join Irish Queers to see Prisoner of the Crown, a play about Roger Casement? Send us an e-mail and we'll let you know when we're thinking of going.

From the Irish Rep's website:

PRISONER OF THE CROWN, a broad and bitter indictment of judicial abuse, is the riveting story of the trial of Sir Roger Casement, an Irish patriot and one of the world's great humanitarians. A few short years after being knighted, Casement was sentenced to be hanged for treason in what was called, "The Trial of the Century." The sensational trial was tainted by the presence of the "Black Diaries," --an alleged explicit account of Casement's promiscuous homosexual lifestyle. Were the diaries real? Or, were they, as many believed, forged by the crown forces determined that he pay the ultimate price for his role in the Easter, 1916 uprising? The play, set in the jury room of the Old Bailey and in the minds of the jury, features 49 characters and paints a captivating picture of heroism, passion, and manipulative deception.

Roger Casement was born in Kingstown, now Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin, in 1864. In the 1890s Casement joined the British consular service, and in 1903 gained an international reputation for his humanitarian efforts in the Congo and later in Peru where he exposed atrocities to which natives were subjected by agents of rubber companies using forced labor. His reports created an international sensation for which resulted in his knighthood. He was one of the world’s first great humanitarians in the modern sense. He retired from the consular service in 1912 and was hanged for high treason August 3, 1916.

Click here for Irish Voice article Irish Rep Season Ends With a Bang.

Race for Economic Justice this Saturday 5/17

2008-05-12T19:02:00.003-04:00

This Saturday Queers for Economic Justice (QEJ) will be holding its Amazingly Queer Race for Economic Justice. This city-wide event will bring together a multitude of social justice organizations, celebrities, businesses and local and national community members to raise awareness of and gain support for QEJ and to further the necessary, unique and groundbreaking social and political work we do for low-income New Yorkers. This event will be comprised of 100 people, working in pairs as 50 teams, competing in a skill-based race/scavenger hunt throughout the city. Each team will be sponsored by family, friends, community members, organizations and businesses.

If you are interested in participating, please visit their MySpace page by clicking here. Please support this event by either volunteering or making a donation.

Queers for Economic Justice (QEJ) is a progressive non-profit organization committed to challenging the systems that create poverty and economic injustice in our communities and promoting an economic system that enhances sexual and gender diversity. They work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people who are homeless, are on public assistance and/or are immigrants.

Nuala O'Faolain dies at 68

2008-05-12T18:51:00.003-04:00

To read her NY Times obituary, click here.

Memorial for Bob Kohler this Sunday 5/18

2008-05-12T18:33:00.007-04:00

Memorial for Bob Kohler, queer activist extraordinaire (and anti-racist, feminist, music & theater-lover, West Village hero plus much more...)

Sunday, May 18th
2:30-5pm
The LGBTQ Center
208 West 13th Street, between 7th & 8th Avenues

Subway & PATH Directions
1, 2, or 3 to 14th Street and 7th Avenue
A, C, E, or L to 14th Street and 8th Avenue
F or V to 14th Street and 6th Avenue
PATH to 14th Street and 6th Avenue

Please join us on the day after Bob's birthday to celebrate the impact he had in our lives and on our communities. There will be speakers, star-studded performances, art, video and the launch of an ongoing archive of Bob's life.

May Day March for Immigrant Rights

2008-05-01T20:45:00.019-04:00

Members of IQ marched down Broadway yesterday in support of immigrant rights.

From the streets of Queens.....WE ARE ALL SEAN BELL!

2008-04-26T11:33:00.000-04:00

UNDERCOVER NYPD = DEATH SQUAD

2008-04-26T09:55:00.012-04:00

.....and yesterday, we learned (once again) that they can kill anybody they want and get away with it.

Here are pictures from the rally & march organized by People's Justice Coalition last night...

Sean Bell's step brother addressed the crowd

Justice for Sean Bell This Friday 4/25 in Queens

2008-04-24T16:07:00.006-04:00

JUSTICE FOR SEAN BELL AND ALL VICTIMS OF POLICE VIOLENCE!!
COME OUT APRIL 25th, THE DAY OF THE VERDICT!!

In Nov. 2006, Sean Bell was murdered by the NYPD in a hail of 50 bullets. His friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, were seriously injured. 3 of the officers involved now await the verdict of their trial. The judge has stated that he will announce the verdict on FRIDAY, APRIL 25th. PEOPLES JUSTICE for Community Control and Police Accountability is calling for a rally and community speak-out in front of the Queens DA's office ON THIS DAY*.

COME OUT: APRIL 25th at 5:30 pm
To the Queens DA's Office
125-01 Queens Blvd. (between Hoover Ave & 82nd Ave.)
E or F train to Union Turnpike

The NYPD's murder of Bell and attempted murders of Benefield and Guzman are NOT isolated or random events. They represent the continued targeting of communities of color by the police and the lack of accountability for police misconduct and abuse.

Endorsers (list in formation): Allianza Dominicana, Audre Lorde Project, Black Radical Congress-NY, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, Center for Constitutional Rights, Congress for Korean Reunification, Critical Resistance, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), DJ Chela, Domestic Workers United (DWU), El Puente, FIERCE, Fr. Luis Barrios – St. Mary's Episcopal Church (West Harlem, Manhattan), Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), Hasan Salaam, Hip Hop Caucus, Immigrant Justice Solidarity Project, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas, International Action Center, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), Justice Committee, Lynne Stewart Organization, Make the Road by Walking, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Mano a Mano, May 1st Coalition, National Hip Hop Political Convention, New Abolitionists, Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, October 22nd Coalition, Parents Against Police Brutality, Party for the People, Rebel Diaz, Regeneracion, Revolting in Pink (R.I.P), Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities (RIPPD), Sylvia Rivera Law Project, VAMOS Unidos. War Resisters League, Where We Live Radio Program/WBAI-FM NY.
For more information about the April 25th rally/community speak-out, Peoples' Justice, and other cases of police violence go to: peoplesjustice.org and myspace.com/peoplesjustice or email info{AT}peoplesjustice.org.

Speaking of Shaz Oye...

2008-04-18T14:48:00.006-04:00

Speaking of Shaz Oye, this article appeared in the Irish Voice a few weeks back. We realize that it's a bit late in blog-time, but it's never to late to call out bigotry, right? Of Shaz, Mike Farragher wrote:

A BLACK lesbian Irish activist who shaves her head. Uh-huh. Yeah,right. I thought the same thing as you while I prepared to meet Shaz Oye before her gig at Asbury Park's the Saint.

Would she challenge me to an arm wrestle, or brand me a clueless Yank cracker for still hoping that Michael Bloomberg enters the race and saves us from our lame presidential alternatives?

Nothing could be further from the truth. In person, this delightful folk sensation has a warm flannel personality and a smile that lights up the room.

Okay, where should we start?

While we applaud the fact that the Irish Voice is covering more issues pertaining to the Irish/Irish American LGBT community lately, the"humor" in the opening of this article is unacceptable....yet very predictable. Writing (and capitalizing) A BLACK lesbian Irish activist who shaves her head appeals to the assumed inner bigot of Irish Voice readers and reflects their attitudes about people of color, lesbians, and those do not conform to gender norms. Oh, and those uppity activists, that are often people of color, women, queers, and gender non-conformers that are driven to be activists because our lives are reduced to jokes and jabs (and far worse) by the Mike Farraghers of the world.

Farragher then stresses that in person Shaz was nothing like his bigoted, stereotypical assumptions. Great......so now the New York Irish community can take a deep breath and go buy Shaz's CD or see her in concert because she might actually be a decent person & artist? This was an otherwise nice article about an Irish artist that is so worthy of attention, but using humor that depends on racism, sexism, and homophobia to succeed says so much more about Mike Farragher & the people that would share his thoughts than it does those being made fun of.

Why does the New York Irish American community wear its bigotry like a badge of pride and honor?

Listen to "Ireland: LGBT activism from the North to the South" on Out FM

2008-04-17T19:49:00.006-04:00

Click here to listen to the April 7th Out FM show featuring part 1 of an interview with Black Irish Lesbian performer and activist Shaz Oye AND an interview with QueerSpace Belfast organizer, Gareth Lee, talking about the 10th anniversary of their community center and the impact the center has on politics in North Ireland.

Marching for economic justice......

2008-04-17T19:17:00.006-04:00

....is a beautiful thing.

Jay Toole from QEJ speaking at the rally

March for Economic Justice TODAY

2008-04-17T09:28:00.005-04:00

Join Irish Queers today as we join Queers for Economic Justice in their day of action for economic justice.

The Rally - 3pm in Union Square Park

The March down Broadway - 4-5pm

Community Dinner/Celebration - 5-7:30pm at Judson Memorial Church

See you there!

April 17th Economic Justice Day of Action – Points of Unity

The Economic Justice Day of Action is an initiative of the Welfare Warriors, a project of Queers for Economic Justice. We are a group of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Gender Non-conforming (LGBTGNC) people with experience of poverty, who organize to make the welfare system accountable to low-income LGBTGNC people, and to improve the benefits available for all low-income people. Through direct action, community education, and coalition-building with other progressive organizations we seek to empower our communities, and to connect our struggle for welfare rights to larger struggles for social justice.

On April 17th, 2008 LGBTGNC people facing issues of poverty will have the opportunity to give voice to our struggles in a rally, march and community event. Despite the dominant media images of gay, white, affluent men, innumerable queer, trans and gender nonconforming people of color and white people survive high levels of poverty and economic based violence on a daily basis.

Classism and the Mainstream LGBT Movement
For too long our voices have been stifled by a homophobic/transphobic society. Moreover, because of racism and classism, our issues are overlooked and thereby not part of the mainstream LGBT-rights agenda.

Prior to the gay marriage movement, numerous LGBT organizations were busy fighting hate crimes by using conservative, tough-on-crime tactics of increased jail time, instead of progressive alternatives.

Today the fight for state-sanctioned marriage has completely eclipsed other attempts to address more pressing issues faced by poor LGBTGNC people such as, homelessness, unemployment, inadequate healthcare, immigrant-rights, police brutality, etc.

Poor LGBTGNC people are frequently profiled and pushed out of LGBT spaces that should be open us. All too often our behaviors are policed and we are labeled as being too poor, uneducated/unqualified, “acting ghetto”, too ethnic, or simply not exhibiting characteristics stereotypically linked to a white, middle-class upbringing.

We urge economically privileged Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people to challenge this policing against our community and work hard to ensure that it is not reproduced within spaces they control.

Welfare Rights

Since the 1996 welfare reform act we have seen the steady erosion of welfare rights and benefits, which has led to increased homelessness and hunger in NY. We fight for the guarantee of economic security both because it is fundamental to our personal well-being, as well as critical for our ability to collectively organize in our communities, instead of just surviving.

We demand that the Human Resources Administration (HRA) comply with NYC Human Rights Law, which protects trans and gender non-conforming people from discrimination.
We condemn current welfare policies that:

increase proof of citizenship requirements for Medicaid applicants and denial of health coverage to non-citizens or people who can not prove citizenship.

relegate poor people to low-skilled jobs, through welfare programs like the Work Experience Program, where we are not offered living wages, benefits and/or opportunities to learn new skills.

cut States’ welfare funding if they fail to plug enough poor people into low-paying, dead-end jobs.

do not recognize non-biological lesbian mothers as family

force LGBTGNC substance users, who are addicted and seek public assistance, into homophobic/transphobic treatment programs, where they sometimes drop out and are denied benefit

enable discrimination and harassment of LGBTGNC people at welfare centers and/or workfare sites, which eventually compels us drop out and earn a living in ways that are criminalized by the State.

enforce heterosexual marriage by allocating $100 million for marriage promotion and $50 million for “responsible fatherhood” programs.

deny homeless LGBTGNC youth, who have been thrown out of their homes by homophobic/transphobic guardians, access to benefits because they can not provide letters from parents attesting to their independence

Housing/ Homeless Crisis in NYC
We are witnessing the crystallization of a comprehensive strategy to displace low-income people from New York. Corrupt and undemocratic political structures, such as the Rent Guidelines Board, erode affordable housing and fail to hold irresponsible landlords accountable for code violations and illegal evictions. At the same time the homeless population is increasingly criminalized through selective law enforcement that protects the “quality of life” of economically privileged New Yorkers. We oppose the concerted effort to gentrify and privatize public spaces homeless people call home, which typically leads to intensified targeting of poor and homeless people by the NYPD. The struggle, led by poor queer youth, to maintain public access to and use of the piers in the West Village, perfectly illustrates what happens when a previously public park with long LGBTGNC history is privatized. We commend the efforts of FIERCE! for fighting to maintain public access to public land and support the efforts of Harlem Tenants Council, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities & Movimiento en el Barrio in resisting gentrification in communities of color.

We applaud the Gender Identity Project, Sylvia Riviera Law Project, and other organizations that worked along side Queers for Economic Justice in successfully lobbying the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) to recognize gender self-determination in the New York City shelter system. We eagerly anticipate the full implementation of trans-sensitive policies, which would hopefully include comprehensive sensitivity trainings for staff at intake/assessment shelters.

We demand that:

NYC develops truly affordable housing and, in particular, develops housing for people living with AIDS and other special needs.

DHS acknowledge the violence LGBTGNC shelter residents face and make tangible steps to ending it/control of housing policy is returned to NYC through the repeal of the Urstadt Law, which took away home rule and brought rent-regulated housing under the control of an unaccountable state legislature.

the city enforces its own maintenance codes which protect the well-being of tenants, instead of targeting the most vulnerable New Yorkers by enforcing classist “quality of life” initiatives.

Immigrant Justice

As Immigrants we are forced to leave our homes because of U.S. imperialist policies that strip us of our rights, ravage our land, pollute our air and waters, and corrupt our governments. Undocumented residents of the U.S. must survive the violence of poverty without access to welfare, or obtain jobs that pay below minimum wage and work under deplorable conditions. And even though all immigrants pay taxes either through paid work, sales tax, and other taxes, we are categorically denied access to many tax funded services. We condemn the racist and xenophobic “immigration debates” currently occurring in congress, and oppose indefinite and mandatory detention of non-citizens, as well as the mass incarceration of people of color and low-income communities in the U.S. more broadly.

As documented or undocumented residents in the US we:

demand full access to ALL public benefits, genuine legalization and opportunities to adjust status for all undocumented immigrants, and the repeal of the HIV ban.

oppose heightened policing and criminalization of immigrant communities, including the increased militarization of the border and the use of city and state agencies to enforce federal immigration law.

Police and State Violence

Poor and working class LGBTGNC people are constantly targeted by the NYPD and other law enforcement officials. We demand an end to the classist, racist, transphobic, and homophobic attacks by the NYPD and oppose any attacks that further funnel our community into the Prison Industrial Complex, which does not provide real safety for our communities. We applaud the Safe Outside the System Collective & Critical Resistance for the work they do to provide real accountability that does not rely on prisons, police or jails.

We call on all poor and working class people, as well as anti-poverty allies in NYC to endorse this call to action, build contingents to march together in solidarity on April 17th, 2008 & demand economic justice for our communities!

What??!!

2008-03-26T12:31:00.002-04:00

It's funny to hear O'Dowd compare Rev. Wright to David Duke when he went on WNYC earlier this year to talk about "abolishing St. Patrick's Day as we know it" and wanting to invite renowned racist and homphobe Ian Paisley to march in the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade.

It appears that O'Dowd is the one that uses race issues when it suits him, whether it's to forgive Paisley, appease big business to "invest" in Northern Ireland, make sacrifices upon the altar of the Clinton dynasty, or use white privilege and entitlement as the cornerstone for the framing of ILIR's "Legalize the Irish" campaign.

As Irish Americans doing anti-racist work, IQ is interested in debate around these issues. What do you think of O'Dowd's comments? Leave a comment, start a debate.

Council of Europe calls on Ireland to legalize abortion

2008-03-24T10:32:00.004-04:00

The report recommends that all 47 countries, which make up the Council of Europe, should guarantee women the right to have an abortion and promote cheaper contraception, along with improved sex education, to try to reduce the number of women who seek abortions.

To read full article from RTÉ, click here.

One-Third Of Irish Gay Couples Are Living in the US

2008-03-23T20:37:00.004-04:00

AN estimated 1,200 Irish-born men and women – roughly one-third of Ireland’s gay couples — are living with a same-sex partner in the U.S., according to a new research paper from the Williams Institute, a public policy think tank at the University of California Los Angeles Law School.

To read more, click here for Cahir O’Doherty's article in the Irish Voice.

AOH to Irish Queers: "You can march in body bags."

2008-03-23T20:10:00.008-04:00

(photo by Maggie M. Koopmans)

The protest site was marked by tension between demonstrators, who at times chanted, "Racist, sexist, anti-gay, NYPD go away," and uniformed police and firemen marching, who by and large conveyed either condescension or outright hostility.

One fireman from New Jersey shouted "fag" at the protesters, then scurried into the middle of his contingent when pursued by this reporter for his name.

A member of the AOH contingent in the parade was more frank in his hostility."You can march," he said, "in body bags."

This snippet comes from Bigotry on Parade, Again by Andy Humm in Gay City News.

More pics from St. Patrick's Day Protest

2008-03-19T20:33:00.020-04:00

Article on Immigration & St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-19T12:11:00.002-04:00

Check out this article by Shaun Harkin on Counterpunch.

Video: Protesting NYPD/FDNY on anti-gay march

2008-03-18T10:37:00.003-04:00

St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-17T21:53:00.002-04:00

More commentary and pictures to follow...

AT ST. PAT’S PARADE, IRISH QUEERS CHALLENGE NYPD, FDNY’S RIGHT TO MARCH

2008-03-17T08:58:00.002-04:00

Protesters call for ouster of thousands of uniformed public servants from anti-gay parade.

NYC – Irish Queers have assembled a picket line this morning at the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade, protesting the homophobia of the parade – and the uniformed public servants who march in it. Chanting “Irish queers into the Irish parade!” and “If gays can’t march, cops can’t either!” the protesters continue a 17-year challenge to the parade’s discrimination.

Since 1991, the parade has been imbued with an explicitly anti-gay message by organizers – which makes the City-sponsored participation of thousands of uniformed New York City police, firefighters and EMTs discriminatory and improper. Irish Queers has called on the Police and Fire Commissioners to prevent contingents of uniformed officers from marching in the parade.

“We’re sick of hearing city officials say they can’t intercede in the homophobia because it’s a religious march. If it’s a religious anti-gay parade, and uniformed cops and firefighters have to be pulled out,” said Tierney Gleason of Irish Queers. “It can’t be both privately religious and publicly Irish. It’s time for the city to pull the plug on this bait-and-switch game.”

“New Yorkers are reminded daily that police officers carry deep biases against the people they’re bound to serve – against people of color, against immigrants, people with AIDS, LGBT people. But public servants do not have the right to express those biases in their official capacity; to create an environment of fear and bias that denies us access to municipal services, especially emergency services,” said J.F. Mulligan, who organizes with Irish Queers. “Police participation totally violates the separation of church and state. Uniformed police have no right to march in this parade.”

The St. Patrick’s Day parade was legally redefined by the NYC Parade Committee as a private, religious procession in order to to justify keeping LGBT groups out. In the early 1990s, the Parade Committee used this defense to defeat a discrimination claim brought by the NYC Human Rights Commission. But the Archdiocese of New York, in an unrelated statement pertaining to Holy Week, recently issued a statement that it views the NYC St. Patrick’s parade as a purely civic event.

“The homophobia and vitriol of this parade – which we see every year as we picket – can no longer be hidden behind religion. The parade organizers are plain old bigots, abusing the platform of this important Irish American cultural event to express their hatred of LGBT people,” said Gleason. “The city must stop allowing the parade organizers this loophole to legalize discrimination.”

Irish Queers, which evolved out of the Irish Lesbian & Gay Organization in New York City, is active on immigrant justice, Northern Ireland self-determination, anti-racism, reproductive justice and other social justice issues.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day....

2008-03-16T13:07:00.005-04:00

....and we hope to see you on Fifth Ave @ 57th on the west side of the avenue. We'll assemble at 11am. We have plenty of signs.....just bring your fierce queer style & righteous rage!

Listen to Irish Queers on Out FM

2008-03-15T13:38:00.008-04:00

Click here to listen to Irish Queers on Out FM's March 10th show on WBAI with John Riley.

PROTEST AT ANTI-GAY ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE TARGETS NYPD & FDNY

2008-03-15T13:19:00.004-04:00

Marching in uniform violates City's anti-discrimination rules, say
Irish LGBT organizers.

What:

Protest against the anti-gay NYC St. Patrick's Day parade and the illegal participation of uniformed NYPD & FDNY contingents

Who:

Irish Queers, Irish & LGBT civil rights groups

When:

Monday, March 17 at 11am

Where:

Fifth Ave. at 57th St. (West side of the avenue)

More info:

The organizers of the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade, seeking to
legalize their discrimination against Irish lesbian, gay, bisexual &
transgender marchers, have redefined the parade as a private,
religious procession. No longer an Irish celebration or even a public
event, the Fifth Avenue parade is now legally categorized as a
religious march bearing an explicitly anti-gay message. Organizers
have proudly called the march "a triumph of Catholic values over
homosexuality."

In spite of this clearly discriminatory message, New York City public
servants – including police, firefighters and emergency service
workers – regularly join in the anti-gay spectacle by the thousands.
Their ongoing participation in the anti-gay parade confirms the fears
of many within the LGBT community that we cannot rely on the city's
emergency service workers to respect our rights as New Yorkers, nor
can we call on them for our safety.

Irish Queers – along with other New York LGBT groups, and Irish
community members who oppose discrimination – will protest this
violation of the human and civil rights of LGBT people.

Irish Queers calls on Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Kelly and
Fire Commissioner Scoppetta to disallow uniformed officers from
marching in the St. Patrick's Day parade.

This is what Irish American bigotry looks like

2008-03-15T12:59:00.006-04:00

This is what Irish American anti-gay bigotry looks like. This is the warm welcome GLIB received in Boston in 1992 when they marched in the Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade. This photo taken by Marilyn Humphries comes from Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders website where they are profiling memorable cases from their 30 year history. For further information, check out the resources listed.

From the Archives: Bronx Irish reject crusty old homophobia

2008-03-08T09:01:00.004-05:00

New York Times, January 17, 1993

The Talk of the North Bronx; Irish Voice Wide Passions Over the St. Patrick's Day Parade

By DEBORAH SONTAG
As a soft snow fell over the North Bronx, Patrick McKnight lamented the Irish community's preoccupation with a celebration turning sour with controversy.

"Shouldn't we be more concerned about getting the English out of Ireland than getting the homosexuals out of the St. Patrick's Day parade?" Mr. McKnight asked as he sipped coffee at the Cafe An Beal Bocht in Riverdale.

Nonetheless, Mr. McKnight, a 26-year-old emigrant from Dublin, did not hesitate to hurl himself into the parade debate. And neither did anyone else approached on Thursday on the wintry streets and in the overheated churches and cafes of Norwood and Riverdale.

For however piddling the controversy seemed to some, it touched on larger issues for many -- in particular, the fading authority of the Catholic Church over young people and the waning power of the Irish in New York City politics.

"People say it's not our town anymore, and believe me, this is another nail in the coffin," said William O'Meara, 50, owner of the Greentree Restaurant on Bainbridge Avenue in Norwood.

Mr. O'Meara belongs to the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which has run the parade for 151 years and steadfastly refuses to allow the Irish Gay and Lesbian Organization to march.

Earlier this month, the city intervened, granting a parade permit to a new, conciliatory committee that aims to include both the gay group and the Hibernians.

But while some Irish-Americans were thrilled to see power wrested from the Hibernians, many others plan to boycott the March 17 parade if the Hibernians do not win a court battle to regain control.

For now, many in the city's Irish community are not pleased; not with the fighting among themselves, and not with what some see as the city's intrusiveness. In interviews, many talked as if the parade were a referendum on changing times, as if its fate were somehow linked to their future as a community. Shaking Up the Status Quo

Rushing in from the morning chill, Marie Noonan warmed herself over tea and a raisin scone at the Traditional Irish Bakery in Norwood.

"I would be in favor of the gay people," said Ms. Noonan, a 26-year-old who immigrated four years ago. She noted that a gay group marched without incident in last year's St. Patrick's Day Parade in County Cork.

"It's about time the Ancient Order was shook up," she said, smiling. "They've had too much of a stranglehold on everything in the Irish community."

The parade debate reveals a fissure between generations, Ms. Noonan said. And at another table, Eileen Siegelman, a vivacious 74-year-old native of Galway, seemed to prove her point.

"If the homosexuals want to have their private affairs, go ahead," she said. "Don't make a splash of it. They're spoiling a whole parade, and a whole day."

Tucking a tuft of white hair into her beret, Ms. Siegelman continued. "Why do people want to come in and mess up an institution?" she asked. Her voice trailed off. "Everything in life has been messed up. Sad, isn't it?" 'Down the Tubes'

Several blocks away, in front of the Copley Apartments, Donald E. Powell and his neighbor, Thomas McInerney, were enjoying the blustery weather and bemoaning the disintegration of society. "I think the parade is going the same way New York City is going," said Mr. Powell, a retired mail carrier. "Straight down the tubes. Don't you think, Tom?"

Mr. McInerney said: "I shouldn't comment. My wife says I talk too much." Mr. Powell elaborated on his thesis. "The parade is just like society," he said. "They're giving too many rights to too many people. What's all this jumping out of the closet and making demands? It weakens the structures.

"Since World War II, down, down, down. Everything is going down." A Quick Prayer

John Hourican, a 23-year-old security guard and nutrition student, dashed into St. Brendan's Catholic Church for a quick prayer.

He paused in the vestibule as the pews were filling up with retirees for the noon Mass.

"A lot of older people want to stick with tradition, which kind of means hiding from the things that are really going on these days," Mr. Hourican said. "But discrimination isn't very Christian. What's the big deal if gay people march in a parade?"

Marie McGreevy, a retiree, thinks it is a very big deal, indeed. Everyone should march behind the banner of their Irish county, and not the banner of their sexuality, she said.

"My father, who came from the other side, must be turning over in his grave," Mrs. McGreevy said. "Tell you the truth, the Irish never thought they had, you know, any gay."

Mrs. McGreevy was joined by Elizabeth Pryor and Frances Miller.

"God help them," Mrs. Pryor said, referring to gay people in general.

"The Church condemns their life style, so they can't march in a Catholic celebration," Mrs. Miller said. "It's that simple." 'Honor St. Patrick'

At the Village Pub on Bainbridge Avenue, the owner, John Flynn, said that his customers, "a regular bunch of guys and girls," were planning to boycott the parade.

"We just think homosexuals don't have any place," he said. "The whole point is to honor St. Patrick."

Down the street, as lunchtime was ending at the Greentree Restaurant, Mr. O'Meara, the owner, took a seat and apologized for his demeanor.

"Usually I'm very vocal, but I'm so down about this whole thing," said Mr. O'Meara, a member of Hibernian Division Nine. "It just seems like the beginning of the end for the Irish in this city. I feel bad."

Mr. O'Meara blamed Mayor David N. Dinkins for "stepping on our parade."

"He's made a political decision in favor of his gay constituency, and it's nothing short of Catholic bashing," Mr. O'Meara said. "First the Rainbow curriculum, now this."

Mr. O'Meara pointed out that he did not consider himself a gay basher, and that he has even had gay employees at the restaurant -- "although maybe you shouldn't mention that."

He said he had suggested that the members of the Irish Gay and Lesbian Organization march with lavender armbands or sashes. But that idea was rejected, because "this is war," he said.

Everyone he knows will boycott "Mr. Dinkins's parade," Mr. O'Meara said. "So what he's going to have is a parade of misfits." Where to Draw the Line?

In the late afternoon at the Cafe An Beal Bocht in Riverdale, Rosann MacDonnell, a 29-year-old immigrant, prepared a cappuccino and discussed her disdain for the whole controversy.

"They're making more a mountain out of a molehill," she said. "What the Ancient Order needs is a couple of members under the age of 65."

In the back of the cafe, Mary Brosnan, who works as a home help aide, was far less jocular. "I feel like crying now myself," she said. "It was always such a beautiful tradition and this is kind of spoiling it."

But back up front, Ms. MacDonnell continued. "If they want to march, let 'em march," she said.

Her fellow employee, Siobhan McCormack, 22, was stunned. "You think anybody should have the right?" she said. "What if people wanted to walk naked?"

"Let them, let them," Ms. MacDonnell said.

"I don't know," Ms. McCormack said. "Where do you draw the line?"

Ms. MacDonnell answered: "At the end of Fifth Avenue."

An inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade looks like this...

2008-03-02T21:42:00.032-05:00

Just a few pictures from yesterday...

Pete Hamill and Malachy McCourt having a chat & watching the Keltic Dreamers dance troupe...

The Keltic Dreamers dance troupe...

Parading along Skillman Ave...this is so much more festive than Manhattan, isn't it?

Wow, a banner about immigrant & workers rights...you won't see that in Manhattan.

Banners with Mother Jones and the Berrigan brothers...

Hombres Latinos de Ambiente from the Bronx...

HASA for All!

Free Mumia!

Veterans for Peace

RHA

And of course, a *tiny* number of misguided nutcases with bad grammar that don't understand that lesbians and homosexuals are the same f&%king thing. Whatever.

Speaking of homophobes, two of us Irish Queers had a funny experience while flyering folks along the parade route to come to our protest. Two women (which we assumed were sisters since the looked a lot alike) thought we were handing out anti-gay literature so they yelled "HATERS!" at us. I then explained that we were queer and they apologized. As strange as the situation was, I have to admit that I love the idea of parade-watching Irish Americans yelling at homophobes. If there are any other Irish Americans out there that have the guts to brazenly challenge bigots, you should come to our protest on March 17th. We'd love to have you join us!

More queer commentary on the parade can be found on Blabbeando.

A lovely night at the Irish Arts Center

2008-03-01T20:21:00.009-05:00

Irish Queers were in attendance at the St. Pat's for All fundraiser at the Irish Arts Center last night.

Archived Meeting Announcements

2008-02-29T17:24:00.005-05:00

We've switched to this blog for posting meeting announcements...
To see the old page, go here:
irishqueers.org/meetings.html

Archived Event Listings

2008-02-29T17:13:00.002-05:00

Irish Queers has switched to this blog for posting our events, but you can still see old event listings by clicking here.

...And a few that aren't on that archive page are below.

July 2007

Fri. July 6
The Shondes @ Luna Lounge in Bklyn
Check back or call for details!

June 2007

Dyke March
Sat. June 23
5pm, Bryant Park
IQ dykes join the NYC Dyke March! call (212) 289-1101 in advance to meet up.

Dyke March for Boys
Sat., June 23
5:30, 21st St. at Fifth Ave. (sidelines of the Dyke March)
IQ boys will be cheering for the Dyke March & throwing lollies.

BRONX PRIDE Festival!
Sat. June 16
12-8pm, Baretto Point Park
Call JF at (212) 289-1101 or cell (914) 489-9204 to meet up for transportation (probably around 3pm.)

From Gay City News...

2008-02-29T09:50:00.004-05:00

St. Pat's Politics in Queens, Manhattan

By: ANDY HUMM, 2/28/2008

The Irish parade season kicks off this Sunday, March 2, with the inclusive Queens St. Patrick's Day Parade led by grand marshals Christine Quinn, the out lesbian speaker of the City Council, and writer Pete Hamill. It starts at 2 p.m. at 43rd Street and Skillman Avenue (#7 train to 40th St./Lowery) and winds up at 61st Street and Woodside. For more information, go to www.stpatsforall.com.

The Manhattan St. Patrick's Day Parade on Fifth Avenue on March 17 will be protested once again by Irish Queers with an action along the route at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, starting at 11 a.m. The parade, controlled by the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), has refused Irish LGBT groups the chance to participate with their banners since the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, now defunct, applied in 1991. Then-Mayor David Dinkins let ILGO march with him that year. The gay marchers and the mayor were pelted with bottles and other abuse and ILGO and other openly LGBT groups have since been totally excluded.

Most major Democratic politicians, except for New York's two US senators, have honored a boycott of the Fifth Avenue parade. Quinn, who was arrested several times in protests against the exclusion but - like almost all elected officials - has not joined the picket in recent years, tried to broker a way for Irish LGBT folk to march when she first became speaker, but was decisively rebuffed. Her effort involved allowing marchers to participate with identifying gay sashes and buttons, a compromise approach Emmaia Gelman of Irish Queers rejects, saying anything less than being allowed to march behind a banner would not do. "We're not going to be downgraded," Gelman said.

On the "Gay USA" TV show I co-host with Ann Northrop, Quinn, several weeks ago, said, "I'm going to keep fighting and keep boycotting until we can get past this." While she conceded she was not optimistic about a change under the current AOH leadership, she said, "When you talk to the leadership of these organizations one step below - the next round of folks who are going to take over - when they're in charge we'll get beyond this."

Gelman said, "We can't have a committee decide who is Irish."

In a release, Irish Queers called on Quinn to "stop giving cover to politicians who ignore the boycott - Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and Michael Bloomberg among them - by standing with them everywhere but on Fifth Avenue and glossing over their decision to support religious-right homophobes."

Irish Queers wrote Quinn about their concerns and said that in her emailed response she reiterated her commitment not to march, but did not respond to the issues they raised.

Save these dates......

2008-02-28T16:54:00.018-05:00

Well, first there's our protest on March 17th.
St. Pat's for All is this Sunday. Assembly will begin at 1pm and step off is at 2pm at 43 Street & Skillman Ave. in Sunnyside, Queens. Directions: Take the 7 to 40th Street Station. Walk west to 43rd Street and then turn north to Skillman Avenue.
Next Tuesday night (3/3) Irish Queers will be holding a planning meeting at The Center at 8pm.
Eileen Myles will be reading at the Telephone Bar and Grill on Thursday March 6th at 8pm.

Irish lesbian singer Shaz Oye will be playing at An Beal Bocht Cafe in the Bronx on Sunday March 16th.

On March 22nd Je ws for Racial and Economic Justice will be hosting a Purim Spectacular Party. A group is working together to create a Purim play on Housing, Gentrification and Homelessness...it's gonna be great! For more information or to RSVP, click here.

The fate of Pier 40 will be decided on March 27th. Support FIERCE, and stay tuned for details.

Irish Voice: "Irish Queers press Quinn on march"

2008-02-27T11:45:00.004-05:00

Feb. 27, 2008click to enlarge

Irish community: no bigots need apply.

2008-02-27T00:31:00.009-05:00

Here's the flyer that went out to people attending the big pre-parade event last weekend.

What is with the NYC Irish community, which is chock full of progressives, sitting back and letting the conservative loonies run the show?

I never realized how far to the right of other Irish American communities New York is until I spent some time in Boston... not that the Boston Irish community puts out such a progressive vibe either. But Irish immigrants there, particularly immigration activists, seemed pretty stunned by the racism, religious conservatism and general backwardness they saw coming out of NYC. And they seemed to feel just as steamrolled by it as Irish progressives in New York. Kind of an eye-opener about what a choke-hold the religious right has on Irish NYC -- I'd really started to believe the @#$%^ they were putting out about Irish identity.

Supporting St. Pat's for All

2008-02-26T18:26:00.011-05:00

This Friday, St. Pat's for All will be hosting a fundraiser at the Irish Arts Center. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased here. As the only inclusive St. Patrick's Day in New York City, it is very important for Irish LGBT and progressive folks to support this event.

I attended my first St. Pats for All in 2004 when I moved to New York, and I have to say that it was the first St. Patrick's Day Parade that I have ever attended where I felt at home. The parade is made up of a diverse set of community groups, unlike the Manhattan parade which consists of endless contingents of politicians, police officers, firefighters, and military personnel. There are no tanks or guns on display in Queens, just Irish American culture, in all of its diversity. The event also has an explicitly anti-racist message which is sadly another element that you would never see as an integral part of most St. Patrick's Day parades.

St. Pat's for All is an Irish parade that we can all feel good about, so come join us this Sunday in Queens. Our group is not marching, but we will be mingling on the sidelines and enjoying all the festivities. For more information, click here. Also, check out this recent article on the parade.

'Tis the St. Patrick's Day season.......

2008-02-26T17:45:00.008-05:00

.....and Irish Queers are shaking things up for the 17th year in a row. Here is our latest Press Advisory:

As Council Speaker Quinn fades out of challenge to NYC St. Patrick’s parade, Irish Queers press her for commitments

Irish Queers submitted a request for clarification to NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn last week (excerpts below) charging the Speaker with wooing both sides of the St. Patrick’s Day parade issue – both Irish and other gay activists, and conservative and church-linked Irish American power brokers. The letter requested that Speaker Quinn make clear her position on the parade, its organizers, and her willingness to provide meaningful support to progressive sectors of the NYC Irish community who oppose the religious right, and homophobia.

Speaker Quinn has not replied to Irish Queers with any commitments of support, nor any answers to questions about her activities in the Irish American community – although on Gay USA, a national cable television program, she claimed last week that she didn’t know she was joining NYC Parade Committee chair John Dunleavy for a posed photograph at a United Irish County Associations dinner.

Irish Queers plans to protest the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade, which explicitly excludes Irish LGBT people unless they remain closeted. In the last decade, the Parade Committee has transformed the march into a 'religious procession' and has re-branded itself to include an anti-gay message. The protest will take place at 57th Street and 5th Avenue, beginning at 11am on March 17th.

[Our letter to Christine Quinn from February 19, 2008]

…You’ve stood with us in the past, but in the last few years we’ve seen you wooing both conservative Irish American figures and the LGBT community, showing each a different face. In 2006, we saw you attempting to strike a deal with parade organizers without talking to groups organizing against the parade’s homophobia. In 2007, we saw you marching in Dublin and talking about queer rights, yet we don’t see you at home talking about queer rights in front of the Irish American community… we’ve seen you support the NYPD without making any challenge to violent, politicized policing of queers and others. We heard you entertain the idea of inviting Ian Paisley, renowned racist and homophobe, to lead the NYC parade. So far in 2008, we’ve seen you mingling with anti-gay parade organizer John Dunleavy, and retreating from progressives in the LGBT community. We know you’re planning to join in the inclusive Queens parade, but we also know you’re aware that the eyes of the world – and the Irish community – are on Fifth Avenue.
…

Redelineate the boycott on the NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade. Stop giving cover to politicians who ignore the boycott – Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Michael Bloomberg among them – by standing with them everywhere but on Fifth Avenue and glossing over their decision to support religious-right homophobes. Don’t photo-op with the NYC St. Patrick’s Parade Committee and other supporters of the parade as if they’re lovely people who just happen to run an annual anti-gay public spectacle. Say out loud that those who march in the parade are joining in an event whose message is explicitly anti-gay, and hold them to account for their actions.

Demand that the city stop participating in the parade. Tell other city officials that they must not march – and if they do, impose political consequences on them. If cops and firefighters want to march, tell them they shouldn’t be representing the city in uniform.

Support the Irish queers and progressives who are doing this work. Stop being somewhere else on the day of the parade – turn up on the picket line. Don’t stand in for Irish queers in discourse about the parade with politicians, media, business groups and others. Instead, support grassroots voices to be heard by encouraging people to talk to Irish queers and progressives themselves.

Show that Irish queers are an integral part of the New York Irish community. Actively include secular Irish queers in official City Council celebrations of Irish community. Create opportunities for Irish New York to support and celebrate the accomplishments of Irish queers; don’t tack us on as an afterthought.

Don’t undermine queers and progressives in Ireland. Don’t stand with unrepentant bigots like Ian Paisley and propose that their targets – whether queers, Catholics or Irish republicans – should embrace those who attack us.

They call him "Wacko" for a reason........

2008-02-21T20:34:00.008-05:00

"We aren't scared to do things that aren't fitting to, say, 'peace on earth' and all that," said John "Wacko" Hurley, who organizes the parade for the Allied War Veterans of South Boston. "We all want peace, but our obligation is supporting the armed forces. So, nope, we don't have any problems with that."

(From this Boston Globe article titled, Calendar Collision for Irish Catholics: St. Pat's Day vs. Holy Week.)

That is the wisdom of Wacko, the Hurley of Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston homophobic fame. This is also the same dude that denied the Boston Veterans for Peace from marching in the Southie parade last year. So apparently in Boston, the St. Pat's Parade is at its core a military parade, not a Catholic or Irish parade. So listen up, Irish folks.....from Hurley's mouth, to the Boston Globe, to the rest of the world: the U.S. military is far greater than God & the Holy Catholic Church.

I'm sure Wacko could care less about getting justice for Ciara Durkin and her family.

Protest @ the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade

2008-02-21T13:36:00.007-05:00

Bigotry isn't Irish -- resistance is!

Fight the Religious Right!

March 17, 2008

11am

57th St. & Fifth Ave.

Join Irish Queers in protesting against NYC's St. Patrick's Day display of homophobia, hate, militarism and the takeover of Irish identity by right-wing nuts.

For info: 917-517-3627 or 914-489-9204

download & print the flyer

News from all over the Irish Diaspora....

2008-02-18T16:16:00.008-05:00

"It would be better if condoms were sold VAT free. They are not luxury items, they are essential in reducing rates of sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies." This quote comes from Audrey Simpson of the Irish Family Planning Association. I'd also like to add that CONDOMS SAVE LIVES in addition to reducing rates of STIs and unwanted pregnancies. After pressure from activists, the Irish Republic reduced the VAT (value added tax) on condoms from 21% to 13.5%. The cost of condoms in Ireland is one of the highest in the EU. For more information, click here.

Good news for trans folks in the Republic of Ireland.....The High Court in Dublin declared that Irish birth registration laws are in conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights. This decision stems from the case of Dr. Lydia Foy, a dentist that was denied a birth certificate that described her as female. For the full article, click here. We will keep an eye on this case.

It's funny how the AOH in America says Irish gay people don't exist, cuz LGBT folks in Ireland were picketing the Parliament on Valentine's Day. (Note: Members of Irish Queers are more likely to be signers of this petition than picketing here in NYC for gay marriage.)

Speaking of this American notion that Irish LGBT people don't exist, check out QueerSpace Belfast and GLYNI (Gay and Lesbian Youth Northern Ireland) on YouTube.

If you are in the Los Angeles area, check out Stay Forever: The Life and Music of Dusty Springfield at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Renberg Theatre. Yes straight people, she was one of us.

Renowned bigot Ian Paisley Jr. has resigned from the Northern Ireland Executive. Not only was he a homphobe, but he was crooked too!

This story isn't of queer interest specifically, but it's nice to see an article where an Irish American is interrogating America's racist, anti-immigrant history....especially in these times. Check out this article on 19th century anti-Chinese racism in Oregon.

And finally, there is some sad news to report. A 15 year old, Lawrence King, was shot twice in the head by one of his classmates after being taunted for being gay and wearing make-up, feminine jewelry, and high-heeled boots to school in Oxnard, CA. The shooter, Brandon McInerney, has an Irish last name. He has been charged with premeditated murder and will be tried as an adult. We will be following this case.

News Items.....

2008-02-11T15:56:00.001-05:00

"The most vehement discrimination that most young gay people will ever encounter will be within their own families." Yeah, we know....we have stood out in the cold on Fifth Avenue for 16 years having people that look just like our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc. hurl homophobic insults at us. This quote comes from an Irish Independent article called "Homosexuality is a family matter." To read the full article, click here.

“You can change your mind and your heart, you can progress. If you’re from an immigrant background you can see that discrimination needs to be stopped in its tracks wherever it’s found.” This quote comes from Stephen Dunne, the Irish immigrant from Massachusetts that sued the Massachusetts State Bar Association last June for $9.75 million for including a gay marriage question on the exam. (He failed the exam by one question.) The Irish Voice recently spoke with Mr. Dunne on his transition from calling same-sex marriage “morally repugnant and patently offensive” last year to now where he "started seeing the parallels with regard to the discrimination that Irish people experienced when they first came to America and the discrimination that gay people face now." To read the full article, click here.

Irish Queers Folks......An Raibh tú ag an gCarraig?

2008-02-11T15:06:00.000-05:00

Calling all Queers of Irish descent in the NYC area......come to the rock! An Raibh tú ag an gCarraig is Irish for "Were you at the rock?" and it dates back to the Penal Laws devised by British colonizers that made going to mass illegal (amongst other things). Going to "the rock" was an act of resistance, and it is time for us to celebrate the Irish history we know that fights oppression and champions resistance against all odds. We can't let the Hibernian's assimiliationist, repressive, patriarchal, reactionary, (the list could go on and on) twisted version of Irishness and Irish history go unchallenged.

IQ will be meeting weekly until St. Patrick's Day. Our next meeting is tomorrow night.....e-mail us for the location.

Our Next Meeting

2008-02-03T14:49:00.002-05:00

Come to our next meeting on our new day & time! Join us this Tuesday @ 8pm @ the Center (click here for directions) to plan this year's parade protest and talk about other issues of Irish & Queer interest. See you there!

Updates, News, Announcements

2008-02-03T12:04:00.002-05:00

Last Friday was the Saint/Goddess Brigid's Feast Day. Brigid was my kind of girl.....she ran off on her dad when he tried to make her get married, she liked to travel, and she liked art and books and stuff. But most importantly, she was a feminist and she fought against injustice. I read this essay once that implied that maybe she was a big lez....it made me smile.

The fate of Pier 40 will be decided in March. Stay tuned.

Check out this story Gays and grays -- so happy together about the Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco's Castro.

Ógra Shinn Féin wants to lobby and campaign for free condoms and comprehensive sex education. Rock on!

This week is Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) in New York City beginning Feb. 4th through the 10th. It's a weeklong series of events held concurrently in many cities around the world to raise awareness of Israel Apartheid and gather support for the international boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign called for by more than 170 Palestinian civil society organizations in July 2005. For a listing of events, click here.

Support FIERCE! Save Pier 40!

2008-01-27T16:01:00.001-05:00

Sign this online petition ASAP to support FIERCE and save Pier 40 from private development.

How ILGO & ACT UP went to Belfast

2008-01-26T08:29:00.000-05:00

Belfast's queer community center, Queer Space turned 10 this year! So we were thinking back about its history... which starts in New York, in the tense, grubby meetings of ILGO and ACT UP. They asked for a birthday letter (although it was started as a collective, I was technically the mommy. Ten points for Irish Queers!) so here are snippets from it. You can read the rest on mishmoshkeleh.

Queer Space is ... a direct offshoot of the truly revolutionary direct action organizing of [ILGO and] ACT UP – the movement built on the lesson of AIDS ... that we had to stand up and demand some space in the world, and stop worrying about being polite and safe, or we would die. ... Queer Space has transformed Belfast just by existing. It’s just a crazy example of how taking the risk of breaking silence, saying things out loud that are maybe considered irrelevant or obnoxious (like “Hey, I’m queer!”), can change everything.

-snip-
[In 1995] I went along to an ILGO meeting and told them about the plan to make a new queer space in Belfast, and asked if they’d help fund it. I thought I was very bold going there, and I also remember that the meeting was intimidating as hell. It was nothing like Belfast... These were Irish immigrants who were talking about challenging the Cardinal’s homophobia, which seemed unbelievably brazen. Their analysis ... was based on big ideas about democracy, anti-imperialism that included Irish republicanism, and breaking old chains like the one that says people should behave like good little boys and girls even as they’re marginalized... When I asked about money for a queer library in Belfast, they looked a bit blank, said they had no funding themselves – and got right back to the subject of how to change New York.

I stayed anyway. I never asked about money again...[but by] the time I ... was ready to go back [to Belfast], ILGO and ACT UP had completely changed my sense of what was possible.

-snip-
The plan was ...to run an organization without bosses... to politicize queer identity, to explicitly refuse to hide the existence and nature of this queer place. And to sit down with each other to make deliberate decisions about what a Belfast queer community should look like aside from a pub crew or a population targeted for health outreach.

-snip-
[1997] We took Belfast by storm, hanging flyers for events and sometimes just flyers about the fact that queers existed; we posted the word “queer” all over the city. We got lots of media attention, sent out press releases, maintained e-mail lists, made connections with queer groups in other places. We formed a little direct action cell called Queer Action Belfast which had a particularly great logo, and made t-shirts, and protested Newt Gingrich and posted signs asking “Do you love the lesbians in your life?” To me, it was like the sun coming up.

(More: "Queer Space, you old dog!" on mishmoshkeleh.com)

What ever happened to the Irish American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston?

2008-01-21T10:43:00.002-05:00

I was reading this article in Bay Windows about the GLAD's (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) 30th anniversary and it made me wonder.....what ever happened to GLIB aka the Irish American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston? If you go to almost any online search engine and try to find information on Irish/Irish American LGBT issues, information about Supreme Court case Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Group of Boston will be in your top results.

Here in NYC, it has been 17 years now that queers have been fighting to be recognized as members of the Irish/Irish American community. Though the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization (ILGO) is now defunct, the parade issue is still very much alive. Brendan Fay (a former ILGO member) and the Lavender and Green Alliance created an inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade in Queens in 2000 to celebrate "the diversity of the Irish and Irish American communities." Irish Queers, an organization that grew out of ILGO beginning in 1996, continues to organize the annual parade protest in addition to being active on other social justice issues.

As an ex-pat of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the last I remember, queers could march in the Cambridge St. Patrick's Day Parade.....but what about protesting about the Southie parade? If you have any information about what happened to GLIB or any other information about Irish LGBT issues in Boston (or any other US city), give us a shout. We'd love to hear from you :-)

(Picture was found here)

2008 Grand Marshal

2008-01-16T17:43:00.001-05:00

The Irish Echo ran this article about the 2008 Grand Marshal, Tommy Smyth. I love this quote from Irish Consul General Niall Burgess:

"The parade is the greatest public expression of the kind of people we are, open, fun-loving, generous. Tommy Smyth is open, fun-loving and generous and he is our representative this year," Burgess said.

Um, what f&%king planet is he from? Has he not heard about the bigoted reputation of this parade and its organizers for the past 17 years?

In my experience, if you ask people about Irish people, especially queers and people of color, you will hear that many think of Irish Americans as racist, homophobic, conservative-right-wing-bigots.....not as kind, open, fun-loving, and generous. (ILIR's framing of immigration isn't helping in this area either, but I won't go into that now.)

Last year, Michael Patrick MacDonald wrote this piece about how some of us are actually annoyed and ashamed about the stereotype of the Irish bigot. While I agreed with this article, the only thing I think was missing from it was a CALL TO ACTION! Who better to stand up and challenge Irish American bigotry than other Irish Americans? We can't just sit around and hope and wait for bigots to become un-bigoted. If you're interested in being more than an arm-chair liberal, come join us on Fifth Avenue this March 17th. Or better yet, come to a meeting and help us plan this year's demo ;-)

But wait.......I almost forgot my other favorite quote from the Irish Echo article. John Dunleavy, who forever keeps preaching about the parade's importance in terms of protecting and preserving faith, values and culture (ick), also stated that the parade contributed between $125 and $150 MILLION DOLLARS to the city's economy in additional sales tax. With numbers like that, it doesn't take a genius to see that the city is making a nice profit off queer exclusion & homophobia.

(photo by Andy Humm)

News of Irish & Queer Interest...

2008-01-14T18:04:00.002-05:00

Check out this story of transphobia, Catholic-style. I love it how Bill Donohue frames everything like he (& other Catholics) are the victims. As if!

The Irish American community in NY doesn't want to admit that Irish LGBT people exist, but over in Ireland, a new survey reports that 3 out of 4 Irish people believe the morning-after pill should be available from a pharmacist without a prescription. In December, the Irish Times quoted a poll stating that "79 per cent of Irish Catholic adults oppose church teaching prohibiting the use of condoms for any reason, including the prevention of HIV and AIDS." Just more proof that the Catholic vision of Ireland that the AOH wants to preserve simply does not exist any more.

An Irish homophobe in Boston *actually* makes an apology for being an "instrument of bigotry and prejudice." How often does that ever happen?

A teenager was recently in a Dublin court to answer for charges that he attacked a straight couple last year because he thought she was "a gay man because of her hairstyle." (Yes, this is a true story.)

AOH: Keep Your Bigotry Out of My Uterus & Off Fifth Ave

2008-01-11T03:37:00.001-05:00

I am writing in response to the January 3rd article by April Drew detailing the "new agenda" for the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

I am disgusted by the paternalistic language used by Jack Meehan to describe "those women" and their "problem pregnancies" and/or "difficult choices." It almost seems like he's judging women, as if women get pregnant all by themselves. As an Irish American woman that grew up in a Catholic family, I am fully capable of making my own
decisions, and do not need an all-men's fraternal organization telling me what to do with my life or my body.

I'd also like to point out that in September 2007, the Irish Times published an article stating that 54% of women in Ireland are in favor of legalizing abortion. In America, why does the AOH keep trying to preserve a vision of a holy Catholic Ireland that doesn't exist any more?

I also wanted to speak to the not-so-discreet reference to the AOH's standoff with the Irish Queers (presently) and the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization (in the '90s) over marching in the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade ("those who would rob St. Patrick's Day of its true meaning"). I find it insulting that Meehan and John Dunleavy, who in the past compared Irish LGBT people to Nazis and the KKK, try to paint Irish LGBT people as anti-Irish like the Know-Nothings etc. WE ARE IRISH! Just because we refuse to live our lives in the closet does not make us un-Irish. Irishness should not hinge upon being a picture perfect, holier-than-thou Catholic.

The AOH is an organization that cloaks its bigotry in religion, and this renewed focus on abortion demonstrates that once again.

Tierney Gleason
Co-Organizer, Irish Queers
Brooklyn, NY

Here's the article:

AOH to Focus on Abortion
January 3, 2008

By April Drew

ANCIENT Order of Hibernian (AOH) President Jack Meehan has set in motion a new agenda for the Irish American Catholic organization to promote and defend the life of the unborn child.

In a letter written to over 300 divisions of the AOH and its members on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs or December 28, Meehan reminded members of the crux of the AOH’s duties.

“The core missions of the Hibernians remain — a free and united Ireland and support for the teachings of the Catholic Church,” he said.

Now that Northern Ireland will be celebrating 10 years of peace, Meehan said the AOH’s focus would change onto an area of greater needs — to protect the life of the unborn child.

Michael Cummings, archivist of the AOH, told the Irish Voice on Wednesday that the new efforts to protect the life of the unborn would be primarily focused on education.

“What we want to do is to demonstrate that we can provide support and resources for those women who are faced with problem pregnancies or with difficult choices, and hopefully defend the right of the unborn by giving the practical assistance that those women need,” he elaborated.

Speaking about taking a step back from Northern Ireland issues, Cummings said, “We have a lot of confidence in the leadership in Ireland, that they are on the right path. We are examining each of the areas we have been involved in to date and see where we might redirect some energies, efforts and resources.”

Meehan’s letter had the same sentiment. “ We must re-energize ourselves to fight the scourge of abortion in the same steadfast manner that we have used to fight the many injustices wreaked upon Catholic/Nationalists in the North of Ireland,” he wrote.

According to Meehan, a native of Brighton, Massachusetts, the AOH, which is in its 173rd year, has tolerated and suffered through years of oppression and hardship.

“In the past we endured the tyranny of robber barons in the coalfields of Pennsylvania, stood fast against the bigotry and violence of the Know-Nothing’s in New York City, Charlestown and Philadelphia, challenged those who would rob St. Patrick’s Day of its true meaning, and defied all those who called us terrorists for advocating equality and justice for Catholics in the North of Ireland,” he wrote.

To this end, Meehan writes that it’s time to stand up again, but this time focus on the “sacredness of all creation.” This, he suggests to AOH members should “guide our direction in the future.”

Meehan explains in depth areas he would like his members to consider expanding in order to be pro active in pursuing their new agenda. He urges the support, both practical and material, to expectant mothers in pregnancy crisis centers, and he suggests assisting efforts of religious leaders and organizations to “inform and activate their flock.”

He also wants to purchase educational material about the subject for schools. Meehan hopes to add to the AOH’s existing Hibernian Charity program donations to the Sisters of Life, a religious order founded by our Brother Hibernian and JFK Memorial Medal recipient, the late John Cardinal O’Connor.

Concluding his letter quoting Pope John Paul II Meehan wrote, “Abortion, as Vatican II affirmed, is one of the abominable crimes. To attack unborn life is to attack the whole moral order.

“The defense of unborn life is part of the defense of human rights and human dignity. Please consider these words of the Pope in your response to the program initiatives I have suggested.”

Looking for law students!

2008-01-11T02:41:00.000-05:00

IQ needs some legal research help... call if you're interested! 917-517-3627.

New meeting day for IQ

2008-01-11T01:45:00.000-05:00

We're now meeting on the first Tuesday of each month.
8pm @ LGBT Center
208 West 13th St. between 7th & 8th Aves.