A new report has highlighted that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people living in Mayo and throughout the west of Ireland are being discriminated against.
The report, which was commissioned by the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN ) in association with Gay HIV Strategies West and LGBT West, outlined that 69 per cent of respondents had experienced some form of discrimination because of their sexual orientation and that 90 per cent of the online survey respondents sometimes feel lonely or isolated because of their sexual orientation.
The report was launched by Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív this week and was compIled using questionnaires and focus groups. It is a needs analysis of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population in the Mayo, Galway and Roscommon region.
John Murphy from Outwest, one of the groups that came under the umbrella of LGBT West for this survey, said he was not surprised by the findings when he spoke to the Mayo Advertiser earlier this week. “In relation to the discrimination, we have come a long way in this country, but there is still a large amount of people in the LGBT population who suffer discrimination. It may only be what some people see as minor, such as name calling, but it goes right up to people feeling they are discriminated against in going for a job interview because they are gay.”
Minister Ó Cuív, when launching the report, outlined that the Government would do all they could to stamp out discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation, stating: “The principle of fair treatment is at the core of a healthy and functioning republic. While we cannot always legislate against ignorance, stupidity and bad manners, we can create the social environment where it becomes clear that the Government does not accept or condone bad behaviour.”
Isolation a serious issue
The startling figure that almost 90 per cent of survey respondents always or sometimes felt isolated because of their sexual orientation is one thing that Outwest has been trying to address for the past decade and they will continue to do so, according to Mr Murphy. “Isolation and loneliness is a very serious issue in the community, we try at each of our meetings and events to inform our members of the services and support groups that are out there for them. We get a lot of our information about groups and gay-friendly doctors, physiologists and the likes from our own members and we pass it on. But still for some people our meetings are the only time they get to meet up with other members of the gay and lesbian community, which is something that we’d like to change. Over the years we have seen the age profile of some of the new members coming to the meetings get older. We can be the only outlet for social interaction for some of these older members and in the past they never really had any outlet like it.”
Outwest, who recently celebrated their tenth anniversary with a gala event, is a province-wide organisation but that isn’t ideal as not everyone can come to every meeting, as John explained. “We have 12 meetings a year and four events. But we try to have our events and meetings in different areas all over Connacht and Donegal and the distances can sometimes make it impossible for some people to attend. So we’re constantly trying to get people involved in different groups so they can easily have social interaction with other members of the community.”
Minster Ó Cuív has highlighted the issue of isolation and how it can prevent people from progressing their education. “Similarly, feeling isolated or marginalised has a very real negative influence on educational attainment. Many participants suffered negative experiences in post-primary education directly related to their sexual orientation, which would naturally have had an influence on electing to continue with further study. Adolescence and young adulthood is challenging enough without the additional strain of worrying whether you will be mistreated because of an intrinsic part of your nature and identity.”
Power of democracy
The survey also stated that fewer LGBT people consider themselves to have good mental health in comparison to the general population. The Minister has now called on members of the LGBT community to get involved in politics at all levels. “I firmly believe in the power of democracy to make progress and effect change. Two weeks ago, the world’s eyes were on America as its people elected their first president from an African American background. It is my hope that Ireland will see more involvement in politics and more public representatives from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.”
