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IRISH SINGER RELEASES BEAUTIFUL BALLAD FOR YES CAMPAIGN

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IRISH SINGER-SONGWRITER, JACK O’ROURKE, HAS RELEASED ‘SILENCE’, A HAUNTING BALLAD ABOUT HIS OWN STRUGGLE FOR SELF ACCEPTANCE.

 
The poignant track tells the story of an adolescent having to hide his true self to avoid judgement, and beatings, from classmates.
“Silence is about my own struggle to reach self-acceptance,” says O’Rourke. “To the boy that I was, being free to live and love openly felt like an impossible dream.”
O’Rourke says that the song, proceeds of which will go towards Amnesty International’s Let’s Make History – YES Campaign, was originally slated to appear on his new EP The Other Side of Now. With the upcoming referendum on marriage equality, O’Rourke decided to release the single ahead of time.
“Ireland has a chance to take a huge step forward on the 22nd of May, to make it clear that we believe in equality – that we want to be a society where everyone is free to live and love in the open.
“I believe my song could resonate with so many people – gay, straight, whatever and particularly people on the fence about how to vote. I think people will understand that me getting married, or many like me, won’t cause the sky to fall in. The fact that my country men and women will hopefully decide that I should be free to marry the person that I love is a huge deal; it would have seemed impossible to the boy in the song. Underneath all those minor chords, the man can now dream.”.
Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International-Ireland, said, “I was blown away when I first heard Silence. It is such a beautiful, poignant and powerful track. It speaks to the experience of many of us, those who grew up in an Ireland which didn’t seem to really value us. That was tough, hiding the best of ourselves, our capacity to love, forced instead to live a pretence, for fear of judgement and rejection. But hopefully that’s an Ireland we can consign to history on the 22nd of May when we have a chance to make history, to assert a republic of equals, one where we have no more ‘silent songbirds’.”
On March 22 Amnesty International Ireland launched ‘Let’s Make History’ – its campaign for a Yes vote in the Marriage Equality Referendum – with a large public rally outside the GPO on O’Connell Street in Dublin. The event saw mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents all pledging to vote YES in the upcoming referendum.

 

Election ‘Fever’

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Susan Anne White Independent CandidateWhen we heard that Ms Susan-Anne White was standing as an independent candidate standing for MP in Northern Ireland and has apparently  said she would criminalise adultery and homosexuality, according to a leaflet posted online; we had to take a look at her campaign.
 
Her manifesto,
For NIGRA what is interesting is that May 2014 Ms White, a Trillick woman,  stood as a candidate for the Omagh area.  At this time we had tried to find out more about Ms White, and were able to come across the a document intorducting the Society and Family Enterprise Party (SAFE) which she stated she belonged to, we again reprint this for your education:
Introducing the
SOCIETY AND FAMILY ENTERPRISE PARTY (S-A-F-E)
Preliminary Policy proposals
Based upon a radical return to the Judeo-Christian heritage of Western civilization, the alarming moral, social and political crises of our times demand the vision and values of this new party.
Believing that the basic unit of society is the family, at the heart of the SAFEagenda is the reaffirmation of properly-defined marriage and family cohesion. Domestic disintegration is the main cause of our social and political decline. A return to well-established parenting is imperative. The recovery and rectification of fatherhood and motherhood roles is essential to disciplined, happy and well-adjusted child-rearing. The tax system should favour families.
THE TEN INTENTIONS
We need to be:
SAFE from growing homosexual militancy (Section 28 being restored).
SAFE from the Darwinian-driven ‘pc’ educational agenda (and inappropriate sex instruction).
SAFE from the neo-fascist and resource-draining EU (impacting our military and other capabilities).
SAFE from the islamification of our culture (with state-assisted emigration of Muslims).
SAFE from every category of criminality (political and corporate, major and petty).
SAFE from decadent priests in apostate churches (Roman Catholic, Anglican and others).
SAFE from over-sexualised and over-violent entertainment (with internet regulation).
SAFE from unethical economics (principled investment, with just pricing and honest labelling).
SAFE from corrupt career politicians (especially those pursuing a ‘gay’ agenda).
SAFE from anti-democratic ‘left’ and ‘right’ extremism (with liberty for peaceable minorities).
This SAFE proposal is floated for your interest.
Dr Alan C. Clifford (a Pastor of the Reformed Faith, with no personal political ambitions, simply a desire to motivate others who might have a patriotic conscience and a concern to do good in these evil days).
‘There shall be showers of blessing…They shall be SAFE in their land; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them’ (Ezekiel 34: 26-7).
‘Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the LORD. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is SAFE’(Philippians 3: 1).
Link: https://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/new-patriotic-politics-introducing-the-safe-party/
As we have said before, before you vote make certain you know what the candidate stands for, and vote carefully, we may have them in power for 5 years ruling our lives!

Even Kids Are Saying Yes To Gay Marriage in Ireland

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By The Gay UK, Apr 21 2015 06:54PM
The folks behind the “YES” Campaign in Ireland’s Referendum for Marriage Equality are doing such an amazing job.
Hot on the trail of the Video we shared with you the other day comes another wee heartwarming film about what children think of it all. If this doesn’t move those voters who are still sitting on the fence on the issue, then nothing will.

ELECTION Fever: LGBT issues: Northern Ireland party views

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Slugger O'Toole

Editorial :  Be careful who you vote for.  Educate yourself and your friends.

on 22 April 2015 , 8:23 pm
Research conducted by Ruth McCarthy highlights some stark differences between the parties contesting this years Westminster elections in Northern Ireland on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues.
LGBT Isues
A series of questions were asked:

1a Does your party visibly support LGBTQ equality issues in your party manifesto, on your website and in election campaigning materials?
If YES, please give examples. If NO, please state why.
1b Please give any other examples of how your party supports LGBTQ visibility.
2a What is your party policy on tackling homophobia and transphobia through education and training in schools?
2b What is your party’s record in actively tackling homophobia and transphobia through education and training in schools?
3a What is your party’s policy on addressing the serious health inequalities faced by LGBTQ people?
3b What is your party’s record in actively addressing the serious health inequalities faced by LGBTQ people?
4a Does your party support Equal Marriage for same-sex couples in Northern Ireland?
4b What is your party’s record in actively supporting Equal Marriage for same-sex couples?
5a Does your party support the Conscience Clause? 5b What is your party’s record in actively opposing the Conscience Clause?
6a Does your party support a total ban on gay men giving blood?
6b What’s your party’s track record in opposing the blood ban for gay men?
7 Does your party have any LGBTQ-identified candidates standing in the 2015 General Election?
8 Does your party have any mandatory training or education for staff around LGBTQ issues? If NO, do you plan to change this? Please outline when.
9 Trans communities in the UK And Ireland have united to produce a simple three point manifesto that they
are asking all 2015 Election candidates to support or decline. It takes less than a minute to read and you can find it at www.transmanifesto.org.uk
Does your party support or decline the three main principles?
A few samples on the question “Does your party support Equal Marriage for same-sex couples in Northern Ireland?”
SDLP: 

The SDLP supports the equal marriage campaign and we believe that civil marriage should be available to all regardless of sexual orientation.

Sinn Fein:

Yes. Sinn Féin actively campaign for marriage equality north and south. Sinn Féin have put for- ward motions for marriage equality before the As- sembly and local councils across Ireland. Represent- atives from the Marriage Equality Campaign gave a keynote address at Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2015 along- side elected representatives from Sinn Féin LGBT.

Green Party:

Yes. We support freedom of religion and freedom from religion. We believe that faith groups should be able to decide for themselves if they wish to solemnise same-sex weddings and this will work similarly to the recognition of divorce in the UK, whereby individual religious organisations can choose whether or not to recognise it or not, but it is state-recognised. We also support humanist groups being allowed to conduct same-sex marriages.

Alliance Party:

Yes/ Civil marriage should be available to same-sex couples on the same basis as different-sex couples. We do not believe that religious institutions should be required to conduct such marriages if they do not wish to do so.

DUP:

No. The DUP is opposed to marriage for same-sex couples and tabled a petition of concern ensuring the motion for Equality Marriage was blocked under the Northern Ireland Assembly’s cross- community voting rules. They blocked Marriage Equality motions a total of three times in 2013.

UUP:

No. Mike Nesbitt has stated that the party’s position on gay marriage was that it was a “matter of personal conscience”. Only one UUP MLA (Michael Copeland – Ed.) voted in favour of Equal Marriage. All others voted against or abstained.

TUV:

No. TUV supports “traditional family values” in its most recent manifesto and is outspokenly opposed to Equal Marriage. They also call for Civil Partnerships to be abolished.

Workers Party:

Yes. The Workers Party supports Marriage Equality.

UKIP:

No specific information. UKIP councillor David Silverster infamously claimed flooding in the UK in 2013 was God’s revenge for legalising gay marriage.

People Before Profit

Yes

Conservative Party of Northern Ireland:

No info available.

 
(N.B. ‘People Before Profit’ and the Ulster Unionist Party did not respond to the original survey questions. When we have them they will be uploaded and this post updated) 
(Disclaimer: this survey was NOT conducted by Slugger O’Toole – we encourage any parties featured or not featured to contact us) 
You can download the entire report here: LGBT NI Party Survey 2015 download

Election and Sex Education

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‘We need compulsory LGBT sex and relationships education to eradicate homophobic bullying’

  • Reprinted from: International Business Times
LGBT education
Age-appropriate sex and relationships education can address homophobic bulling in schools(Getty)
The issue of educating young people about lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual sex and relationships remains a contested one. Yet with more than half of LGBT school pupils experiencing homophobic, transphobic and biphobic bullying, and two in five attempting suicide or self-harming as a result, the National Union of Teachers recently called for the next government to make it mandatory to include LGBT sexuality and gender in the school curriculum..
With just weeks to go before the general election, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green party have all pledged their support for statutory sex and relationships education in their manifestos. The Conservatives have remained quiet on the issue, though, and Ukip has already outlined its opposition to inclusive, age-appropriate relationships education to primary school pupils – stating it would “encourage experimentation”.
Ahead of the election, IBTimes UK spoke to Sam Dick, director of campaigns at Stonewall, about the importance of compulsory LGBT sex and relationships education and the effect it has on health and bullying.
“We know that far too many LGBT people are leaving school not having received any information or advice on how to lead healthy or safe lives, which means they are perhaps engaging in risk-taking behaviour – such as unprotected sex,” Dick says.
“Stonewall believes schools have a responsibility to ensure young people are getting the information they need to lead healthy lives,” he says. “And having worked with a number of schools over the last eight to ten years, we know one of the best ways to do that is to make sure pupils have access to inclusive PHSE sex and relationships education.”
More than one in four LGBT pupils are never taught in school about the biological or physical aspects of same-sex relationships – which includes education about safe sex. “Not only are they not being taught this in school, but they are also not being told where to go outside of school should teachers not feel adept enough to discuss it,” Dick adds. “They just don’t have access to the information they need.”

safe sex education
LGBT people are leaving school without information or advice on healthy or safe sex(Getty)

Teaching young people about different relationships and acceptance is essential to a tolerant society. Yet currently, homophobic bullying in schools is widespread and the use of homophobic language is endemic. Almost all – 99% – of gay young people hear the phrase “that’s so gay” or “you’re so gay” in school, while 96% of gay pupils hear language such as “poof” or “lezza”.
Still, only half of gay pupils report that their schools say homophobic bullying is wrong. Even fewer pupils – around 37% – say the same from faith schools. And while the NUT’s calls for compulsory education on same-sex relationships is a positive step forward, there has been resistance among some faith groups. The Christian Institute has argued that a “positive climate” to discuss LGBT sex and relationships is an “act of intolerance towards mainstream Christians and their beliefs”.
The high rate of attempted suicide and self-harm is evidence of the adverse effect abuse has on the mental health of young people. School work and future educational plans and careers are at risk, as well as the pupils themselves. Children must be educated about the entire LGBT spectrum, Dick says, so they can accept themselves and others as L, G, B or T.
“It is about making sure young people who are questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity see in their schools that LGBT people exist and lead happy and health lives,” Dick explains. “We know schools have to discuss biological aspects of sex, but it is often irrelevant to LGBT people – there is no use, purpose or benefit for us to be told about sexual relationships they are not going to have.”
It is also essential that all sex and relationships education is age-appropriate. In a society where young people are introduced to sexual imagery and sexual experiences at a much younger age than a decade ago, education about sexuality and gender in a positive climate is fundamental. From teaching primary school children about different families, to teaching secondary school pupils about safe sex, teachers at all levels need thorough training to address homophobic bullying.
“Over half of LGBT pupils are still experiencing homophobic bullying in school and often that’s because teachers feel ill-equipped to address it, not because they don’t want to,” Dick says. “More needs to be done to ensure all teacher receive training on how to tackle homophobic bullying and language, and to make sure all teachers have access to age-appropriate training to tackle bullying.”

Study Finds UK Gays, Lesbians Still Face Job Discrimination

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Editorial:  Job discrimination has for many minority areas, been a major problem.  What is interesting from this study, is that parallels can now seem to be drawn with where discrimination use to happen between men and women when they were interviewed for jobs, and the man seemed to get the job even though the woman was equally if not better qualified.  And the same thing also happened during the racial discrimination (indeed there may be evidence that both are still occurring).

But those of us who live in Northern Ireland, discrimination could become even more of a problem if the ‘Conscience Law’ is allowed to passed in Stormont.  

We are now in election ‘fever’ time, and when the candidates come around your doorstep (if they even do) then make certain to ask them what their views on this law are, and how they will vote.  Also ask them about other area of LGBT law and support, like for instance support for LGBT people in care homes.

If you don’t have the full picture on the candidate you are voting for, how can you make an informed decision.

Republished from Psych CentralStudy Finds UK Gays, Lesbians Still Face Job Discrimination

By Rick Nauert PhD
Study Finds UK Gays, Lesbians Still Face Job DiscriminationA U.K. study finds that discrimination against gay and lesbian job seekers is commonplace within both private firms and the public sector.For the research, Dr. Nick Drydakis of Anglia Ruskin University studied 144 young people, all first-time job seekers, making 11,098 applications.

The study, published in the journal Human Relations, found that gay applicants of both sexes are five percent less likely to be offered a job interview than heterosexual applicants with comparable skills and experience.
The firms who offer interviews to gay male candidates pay an average salary of 2.0 percent less than those who invite heterosexuals for interview ($34,377 compared to $35,081). For lesbian women the average salary is 1.4 percent less ($33,628 compared to $34,131).
The discrimination was skewed by job sector. Gay men receive the fewest invitations for interviews in traditionally male-dominated occupations (accounting, banking, finance, and management jobs), whereas lesbians receive the fewest invitations for interviews in traditionally female-dominated occupations (social care, social services, and charity jobs).
In the accounting, banking, finance, and management sector, the study found 74 occasions when only the heterosexual candidate was offered an interview and not the gay male candidate with comparable skills and experience. There were no cases of only the gay male candidate being offered an interview.
Similarly, there were 63 examples when only heterosexual women were offered an interview in the social care, social services, and charity sector, but no examples of only the lesbian candidate being offered an interview.
The study was carried out with the help of 12 students’ unions at universities across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Of the 2,312 students who volunteered for the study, Drydakis was able to match 72 students whose CVs mentioned having a prominent role in their university’s LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) society with 72 students whose skills and experiences were identical, but whose CV didn’t indicate their sexuality.
The participants were all third-year undergraduates, 21 years old, British nationals and unmarried. They were all predicted to achieve an upper second class degree (2:1).
In pairs, the 144 students applied for 5,549 jobs (11,098 separate applications) that had been advertised on 15 of the U.K.’s leading recruitment websites over a two-month period.
Drydakis comments: “Because of the limited research carried out so far into the experiences of gays and lesbians in the labor market, the disadvantages and discrimination they experience has gone unnoticed and therefore unchallenged.
“Despite measures to encourage openness and discourage discrimination, including the introduction of the Equality Act of 2010, it is evident from my research that gays and lesbians are encountering serious misconceptions and barriers in the job market.
“It is also clear that people who face biased treatment in the hiring process must spend more time and resources finding jobs, and firms lose potential talent as a result of biased hiring.”