National LGBT Federation (NXF)

#Advocacy #Equality #GeneralElection #GE24 #GE2024 #Politics #MoreToDo #ForwardsNotBackwards #VoteWithPride

It was very affirming to join friends and colleagues from 18 LGBT+ organisations at IHREC Comms HQ to launch our ‘Vote with Pride’ 🏳️🌈 Manifesto for the upcoming 🇮🇪General Election, outlining our key LGBT+ policy priorities for the next term of government. I joined the panel to speak about the need to ensure the recently passed Hate Crime Bill is effective and properly resourced, including a public awareness campaign and comprehensive training for those tasked with implementing its provisions. Our Manifesto also addresses the pressing need to revisit and enact updated hate speech legislation, putting the safety & wellbeing of targeted communities above ‘culture wars’ and ‘populist’ politics. Other priority issues highlighted by fellow panellists included fully LGBT+ inclusive education curriculum and a legislative ban on so-called ‘Conversion Practices’. Equality & human rights are core tenets of the liberal democratic order but cannot be taken for granted as was made so depressingly clear in the United States last night. Thanks also to the wonderful Síona Cahill MPRII for chairing. #VoteWithPride on polling day! 🏳️🌈 #LGBT #Advocacy #Manifesto #Policy #NGO #Equality #HumanRights #Election #GE24 #Politics #MoreToDo #ForwardsNotBackwards

The President signed the Hate Crime Bill into law yesterday. 👏👏 Now, for the first time, crimes motivated by a hatred of a person’s protected characteristic will be recognised in 🇮🇪 and treated as an aggravated factor. This has been a long campaign of which I and the National LGBT Federation (NXF) have been proud to be part of. #HateCrime #HateCrimeBill #President #Law #Legislation #Politics #Advocacy #NXF #LGBT #CivilSociety #PassedTheBill #MoreToDo 🏳️🌈

The Hate Crime Bill passed all stages of the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) yesterday and now goes to the President to be signed into law. The enactment of this vital legislation has long been a key policy priority for the National LGBT Federation (NXF) and we are delighted to have played our part in this civil society effort. We especially welcome its inclusive definitions and the retention of the ‘demonstration test’, which should ensure that the law is workable and effective in bringing hate criminals to justice and vindicating the rights of victims. At a time when the real world consequences of inciting hatred & violence have never been more apparent, we and our colleagues remain firmly committed to seeing the hate speech provisions revisited and enacted as a matter of priority. #HateCrimeBill #HateCrime #StopHate #Advocacy #policy #politics #lgbt #NGO #civilsociety #Government #PassTheBill #PassedTheBill 🏳️🌈

The era of self-regulation has been a manifest failure. This, therefore, is very welcome news and will ensure platforms have a legal duty to remove harmful content, including incitement to hatred & violence. LGBT+ and other impacted communities know only too well the real world consequences of hate & extremism being allowed to proliferate online. #OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyCode #Regulation #HateSpeech #StopHate #DigitalServicesAct #CivilSociety #Advocacy

The Hate Crime Bill has been passed by the Seanad (Irish Senate) and will soon be on the statute books. It’s been very empowering to work with civil society colleagues and political allies to get this much needed - and long overdue - legislation enacted. The next task: Update our incitement to hatred & violence (extreme hate speech) laws to ensure they are fit-for-purpose and in line with our 🇪🇺 obligations. #Advocacy #CivilSociety #NGO #HateCrime #StopHate #LGBT #Politics #Equality #PassTheBill #PassedTheBill

On #NationalComingOutDay we celebrate the right of LGBT+ people to live our lives openly & authentically and free from any kind of discrimination. Visibility matters 🏳️🌈 #Visibility #Equality #Advocacy #Pride #AuthenticLives #FreeAndEqual #MoreToDo

What a momentous week for our rainbow community in Ireland! 🌈 On Saturday the National LGBT Federation (NXF) and GCN (Gay Community News) #GALAS2024 LGBTQ+ Awards took place at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre with over 500 guests and hosted by the fabulous Paul Ryder and Cassie Stokes. I've been involved with the awards since the inaugural event in 2009 and it's an absolute joy to see over 160 award recipients be recognised, since then, for the difference they make for LGBTQ+ people across the island of Ireland and around the world. I was delighted to have my colleagues from Broadlake join me at the event and sponsor the LGBTQ+ Ally Award for the second year. Congratulations to all the award recipients. Today is #NationalComingOutDay which is a day of empowerment, visibility, and celebration of belonging for and with LGBTQ+ individuals. I had the honour to share my #comingout story this week at an Aer Lingus #ProudFlies event, alongside other champions and allies of our community Moninne Griffith, Janis Molloy, Brian Mulligan and Orla Stanley One of the things we all agreed was that coming out for LGBTQ+ people is a daily occurrence and despite all the progress many countries and communities have made the research still shows that individuals still experience fear and many hurdles in their #comingout journey. Yet the love, support and encouragement by friends, family, colleagues, workplaces and communities was, and is, such a critical factor in ensuring LGBTQ+ people can flourish. It was an inspiring and motivating conversation 🌈 There are also, still, 64 countries around the world were homosexuality is criminalised and 47 countries who do not recognises Trans people, with 13 countries actively criminalising them. We still have so much to do but events that celebrate, recognise and raise awareness are so crucial in this endeavour, as are affirming and inclusive workplaces. I'm grateful to mine, Broadlake and Aer Lingus, for all you do for our LGBTQ+ community. It really makes an impact. I need a rest 😉

After the whirlwind of the GALAS, the NXF is delighted to announce and welcome two new board members – Ailsa Spindler (she/her and they/them), and Ky Walker (they/he). Ailsa will be joining us as our new treasurer, with Ky bringing a wealth of communications skills to the board! Ailsa has spent most of her working life managing not-for-profit organisations in several European countries. Much of her activism has centred on gender identity and sexual orientation issues, but she has also worked on health, conservation, human rights and sports CV management. Ailsa was the first Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, and Director of Terrence Higgins Trust (Scotland) before moving to Cork in 2020 to run Gay Project. Retiring from that role in February 2024, we are delighted to have her offer her experience to the Board of NXF. Ky Walker (they/he) is a trasmasculine non-binary communications strategist, designer, and community advocate. For nearly a decade, Ky has been working with civil society organisations from grassroots to global to advance justice and equity, particularly in health and human rights. They are the Associate Director of Systems & Design at Comotion, a social change agency, and a committee member for Trans Healthcare Action. All of us on the board are excited to welcome Ailsa and Ky and can't wait to see what they will bring to the NXF. #Board #Advocacy #NGO #LGBT #CivilSociety #Equality #MoreToDo 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️