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ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO live their lives openly and confidently is the theme of today’s national Coming Out Day.
A number of events are taking place across the country to mark the occasion with an aim to help gay men and women reach their full potential without fear.
Chair of the National Lesbian and Gay Federations, Olivia McEvoy, hopes to inspire “the necessary courage in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people to ‘come out’ to themselves, their families, friends and work colleagues”.
“We look forward to welcoming them to our vibrant community,” she added.
The organisers behind the LGBT Helpline have recognised that it can be a difficult time, however. It has decided to stay open for 24 hours (from midnight yesterday) to let people know there are supports available to them.
“This day really highlights to LGBT people that they’re not alone in feeling challenged by the process of ‘coming out’,” said coordinator Paula Fagan.
She also stressed that it is not exclusively a young person’s issue.
People of all ages come out in many different ways…A lot of the people that call our helpline are in their forties, fifties, sixties and older.
“People in older age-groups grew up at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in Ireland, so they may have felt compelled to hide their sexuality. For others, they may have only recently started to identify as LGBT; their sexual orientation may have changed over the years; or they may have felt unable to tell people they were LGBT when they were younger.”
She also noted that the ‘coming out’ period can impact families and friends, causing stress and anxiety.
A study, due to be published next month, shows that there is a high level of mental health issues among LGBT people. Almost 80 per cent of transgender people surveyed indicate they have considered suicide, while Headstrong has found recently that 19 per cent of gay or lesbian young people and 24 per cent of bisexual young people had attempted suicide, compared to six per cent of young heterosexual respondents.
Vanessa Lacey, who has a transgender history herself, says, “Mental health issues amongst transgender people are a stark reality, underlining the need for support for transgender people of all ages.
“Awareness-raising of transgender identities and experiences is paramount to fostering acceptance and reducing stigma. That’s why initiatives like ‘National Coming Out Day’ are so important.”
“It is crucially important that LGBT people can be ourselves and live our lives openly and confidently,” added Sean Denyer of NLGF and Acting Out.
“Yet even today, here in Ireland, far too many feel the need to hide their sexual orientation or gender identity due to ongoing prejudice.
“This provides a real challenge not just to those of us in the LGBT community, but also key stake holders in broader Irish society to create a social and legal climate in which homophobia is simply not tolerated or afforded any kind of legitimacy.”
Piotr Gawlik, who is orginally from Poland and a member of the NLGF board, believes today’s events are also about “standing in solidarity” with those in other parts of the world who are subjected to state-sanctioned persecution because of their LGBT status.
The LGBT Helpline can be reached at 1890 929 539.
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If the Palestinians want solutions to their problems they need to start at home. They have no leadership worth discussing. No point in having an independant state if you cant run it. While Israel is a large part of their problems they themselves inspire little confidence in peaceful co existance.
Meanwhile life goes on as normal
“In June, the Islamic Jihad held the “Generation of Faith” summer camp in Rafah for boys aged 6-16. The camp activities included various military exercises, such as “kidnapping soldiers,” firing guns using live ammunition, and crossing obstacle courses. The campers also heard lectures on religion, and were trained in various other fields, such as first aid, scouting, civil defense, martial arts, and behavior during emergencies”
Lovely. Mort’s post speaks volumes about the “downtrodden” Palestinians.
Much like the Israeli practice of military service then ?
If you were under military occasion for forty six years , military training might seem like a good idea too ?
6 year old boys being trained to kill, so sad.
The IDF have no problem shooting six year olds, even sadder.
What are you talking about Gavan? The IDF do not target children. Hamas on the other hand like to push their own children directly into harms way. Hamas also like to use imagery taken in other conflicts and claim it as something happening in either Gaza or in the West Bank. You’ve probably never been to either Palestine or Israel and just like spouting nonsense on a topic that you are completely clueless about.
Cowards hiding behind women and children. No backbone.
Yeah the Palestinians played up on that Muhammad al-Durrah “shooting” for years but the French Supreme court and a new review of France 2′s unedited footage have killed that lie. If, and it’s a very big if, he was shot the shots came from Palestinians. Then there are the numerous cases of them using pictures of dead and injured children from Syria and claiming them as Palestinians. Or the propaganda from Egyptian PM Kandil with the body of four year old Mahmoud Sadallah who they claimed was killed by the IAF, but the UN report found was hit by a Hamas rocket.
It’s you who seems to be both clueless and brainless Brian. The IDF have been murdering children for years , hundreds of them in both Palestine and surrounding countries, read the UN and other reports of the assault on Gaza if its not too much for you
And when Hamas fire rockets indiscriminately into Israel, what do you call that?
It is murder, the same as sending an F 16 or apache helicopter to bomb a civilian area
And when the rockets are fired from civilian areas, where should the response be directed?
That’s the standard excuse the IDF use,unfortunately it does not hold up, like when they attacked the UN base in Lebanon killing hundreds of people and the video evidence proved there had been no rocket fire from the base.
The UN and HRW are both on record accusing Hamas of firing indiscriminately into civilian areas, from civilian areas in the west bank, including a UN funded school. Using civilians as both targets and human shields are both considered war crimes.
The IDF use civilians as human shields, it is called the neighbour policy, and have committed more than their share of war crimes , including using white phosphorus depleted uranium munitions and the whole collective punishment of the Palestinian people, all considered war crimes under the Geneva convention.
have your say