News & Media

Call for Writing

Volume II: Memoirs of Youth
We are looking for pieces of writing (5,000 words limit) from LGBTQ writers that reflect creatively on one's relationship with the person/people that influenced their childhood development. This could include writings about parents, grandparents, siblings, relatives, teachers, friends, etc. The piece could take the form of prose/poetry/lyrics/memoir/analysis and should be about any aspect of your interpersonal experiences that seems most interesting or relevant to you.

We're looking for real, honest, confessional narratives that are well written, moving and interesting. We're compiling a collection of these essays for the second volume of 'Never Never and Elsewhere'.

The deadline for submissions is 30th June, 2010

Get in touch at NeverNeverandElsewhere@gmail.com if you want to discuss what you're writing or the content/length of your piece or if you need more time.

Family appeal for missing boy
Read the article here:http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/11/20/family-appeals-to-gay-community-to-find-missing-son/#

Fear Still Felt by Gay People is to Our Shame
Fintan O Toole from the Irish Times on Tuesday Oct 20th http://www.irishtimes.com/
IN THESE grim times, it is worth noting that the last 10 days has been a very good time for a large minority of Irish people. For anyone who is gay, lesbian or bisexual, three apparently unrelated events have coincided to create a memorable moment. For anyone who is not gay, lesbian or bisexual, but who believes in common citizenship and common decency, the moment is equally precious, writes FINTAN O'TOOLE

The first event happened on the same day as the Green Party conference and the Ireland-Italy soccer match and is probably of more lasting significance. The first open conference of gay, lesbian and bisexual primary school teachers took place in Dublin under the auspices of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO).

The pretence that homosexual teachers did not exist (or worse, of ignorant and bigoted belief that they constituted a danger to children) was shattered as respected members of society decided that they could no longer live with a respect that included a denial of who they were.

As Cathal Ó Riada, who has been teaching in the village school of Cuil Aodha in west Cork for 25 years, told Rosita Boland in Saturday’s Irish Times, “I’ve been comfortable with my sexual orientation for years, but I can’t go on for the rest of my life pretending at work to be something I’m not.”

The novelist Colm Tóibín said in his opening speech at the conference that “Any historian writing about the slow and often gnarled progress of liberty in Ireland will see today as a central moment in the assertion of personal freedom in our country.”

That freedom is simply the freedom not to have to lie about who you are.

It was desperately sad that this moment of liberation should have happened on the same weekend that Stephen Gately, who made a similar breakthrough for gay men in the pop industry, died. Tragic as his death was, it led to the second breakthrough.

For the first time in Ireland, there was a widespread and comfortable use of “husband” to describe the bereaved partner of a gay man. Technically (and shamefully) the term is not strictly accurate – Stephen and Andy Cowles were never given the choice to marry and were civil partners. But everybody knew “husband” was the right word. The relationship was equal in love and affection, in commitment and in consequent devastation, to that within a marriage. It was unequal only in the eyes of a law that still presumes to make discriminatory judgments. The people of Gately’s home place accepted that. So, in essence, did the Catholic parish that conducted his funeral.

Even the Irish Mail on Sunday, whose parent paper in the UK had published Jan Moir’s creepy piece about how Gately had died of being gay, thought it right to call Cowles his “husband”.

The day after that funeral came the third emblematic moment. Donal Óg Cusack, the Cork county hurler, became the first elite sportsman in Ireland to come out as a gay man. In an extract from his autobiography, he declares: “I get more out of men. Always have. I know I am different but just in this way. Whatever you may feel about me or who I am, I’ve always been at peace with it.” In the macho world of sport, where there are, for example, no openly gay professional soccer players, and where homophobic taunts are the first option for abuse, Cusack’s honesty is as resonant as it is brave.

The significance of these three events is not that they mark the end of discrimination and prejudice. On the contrary, each of them emerges from a deep background of fear. Teachers, doctors, nurses and anyone else working for a religious-owned school or hospital can still be lawfully discriminated against if their sexual orientation is deemed to create a risk of “undermining the religious ethos of the institution”.

And it is not just the law or the church that gay people have to fear. The courts and the Equality Tribunal have recently been dealing with the case of a teacher in Drogheda who claims he was harassed and discriminated against for 10 years – by his own colleagues. He has described incidents of bullying ranging from the placement of a banana in a condom in his mail box to direct threats of physical assault. It is striking that the INTO conference of gay teachers was primarily concerned not with the attitudes of employers or communities but with those in the staffroom.

Gately’s coming-out wasn’t some kind of sudden epiphany. He had been haunted by the fear of being outed and came out when he thought a “twisted” tabloid expose was on the way.

Cusack had to fly home from South Africa in 2006 to tell his family he was gay because he feared that “internet gossips or barflies” would tell them first. There are still tens of thousands of gay men and lesbians who are in hiding from violence, contempt and ignorance. That is not their shame – it is ours.

Marriage Equality Workshop
We are looking for adult children (18yrs+) with LGBT parents to take part in a workshop in late October called "Voices of Children".

Presently there are no concrete statistics in relation to, or research on, the experiences of children with LGBT parents in Ireland. This means that both parents and children are largely ignored by both policy makers and wider society.

MarriagEquality wants to engage with policy makers and the wider public in relation to their perception of LGBT parents and their children.

Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out that children should be free to have opinions in all matter affecting them, and that those opinions should be given due weight. This means that children have the right to be heard and to have their views taken seriously.

To honour the spirit of this Convention, we are inviting children (18 years+) with LGBT parents to participate in a focus group workshop, the results of which we hope to share with policy makers so they act on behalf of our children.

The workshops will provide a safe space for children of LGBT families to share their experiences and opinions on growing up with LGBT parents.

The workshops will take place in late October (date to be confirmed) and anyone interested in participating or getting more information should contact Moninne on (01) 6599 459 or email moninne@marriagequality.ie.

For more information on marriage equality and children with LGBT parents, click on this link.

BBC are commissioning new Lesbian Drama!
From the Guardian.co.uk
"BBC3 is to broadcast a new six-part drama series about the sex lives of twentysomething lesbians in Glasgow, called Lip Service.

Writer Harriet Braun describes the series, partly based on her own experiences, as aiming to be a "sexy, funny and irreverent drama that reflects what it is to be a young gay woman living in Britain today".

"I loved The L Word but it's high time we saw some contemporary British lesbians, with all the bad weather, trips to the pub and repressed emotions that go with that," she said. "It will be as funny as it is pathos-filled, because in my experience that's how life is."

Danny Cohen, the BBC3 controller, added: "Harriet Braun's Lip Service offers a fresh new twist on relationships."

Made by Spooks producer Kudos Film and Television for BBC Scotland, Lip Service is executive produced by Derek Wax and Matthew Read.

HOW CAN I MEET WOMEN OFF THE SCENE?
I have received several emails from women wondering where they can go and what's out there for gay/bi women who are fed up just meeting women on the scene and want to do something a little different.
Here are some suggestions...

CLASSES
There are salsa classes...
http://www.theladylist.ie/ladylist/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=4457&year=2009&month=06

GROUPS
If you're over 35, there are two groups that have started up...
Women's Monthly Dinner Night: http://www.theladylist.ie/ladylist/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=4454&year=2009&month=06


SPORTS:
If you're into sports, even for fun, then groups like the 'Phoenix Tigers' train every Wednesday. It's more for socialising than anything
else and they are a good group of people.
http://www.theladylist.ie/ladylist/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=3734&year=2008&month=09

Dublin Front Runners, who are looking to get more women involved...
http://www.theladylist.ie/ladylist/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=4419&year=2009&month=6

There's Out4Tennis which runs women's tournaments...
http://www.outinireland.net/event.aspx?eventid=8&sportid=1

I hope one of these groups will prove successful for any of you out there looking for something a little different.

All the best,
Lady Laura

Amazon's Gay Glitch!
An embarrassing cataloging error has been blamed for making thousands of mostly gay and lesbian books impossible to find on the Amazon website. The retailer says the 'glitch' was also responsible for removing 57,310 titles from its sales chart and promised it would be sorted out as soon as possible. The apology came amid allegations of censorship as many of the affected titles involved gay and lesbian material.

-This story has been sourced from the April 15th 09 Metro Free Newspaper.

SIGN THE PETITION
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/gay-ireland
Legalise Gay Marriage In Ireland
Target: Minister of Justice, Equality & Law Reform, Ireland.
The Right Campaign - http://www.therightcampaign.blogspot.com
The Irish Government promised us that 2009 would see the introduction of 'Civil Unions' for same-sex couples. Yet, 2009 is well underway and still no action has been taken by our govenment.

This petition aims to not only push the government into action, but also to say that these vague 'unions' aren't good enough.
We demand equal rights to civil marriage as any heterosexual couple. Denying us this, denies us our right to equality.


First Openly Gay Female Prime Minister!
Iceland has announced a new government that will be headed by the modern world's first openly gay leader.Johanna Sigurdardottir was named new prime minister by the country's coalition political parties. Iceland's previous coalition cabinet of PM Geir Haarde collapsed last month under the strain of an escalating economic crisis. Ms Sigurdardottir's government said on Sunday it would immediately start to tackle Iceland's crisis. Ms Sigurdardottir, a former social affairs minister, is the member of the Social Democratic Alliance. The 66-year-old's appointment as interim leader - until elections in May - is seen by many as a milestone for the gay and lesbian movement, correspondents say.
"I don't think her sexual orientation matters. Our voters are pretty liberal, they don't care about any of that," Skuli Helgeson, Social Democratic Alliance's general secretary, told the BBC. Ms Sigurdardottir - who has never hidden her sexuality - is, nevertheless, very private about her personal life, never discussing it in public. She married her companion, Jonina Ledsdottir, in 2002. Ms Sigurdardottir is one of Iceland's most popular politicians…
This was taken in part from the BBC. For more visit...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7863923.stm


"The Gay and Lesbian Awards (GALAS) have been set up by the National Lesbian and Gay Federation to honour lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people and organisations for their contributions to Irish society, both north and south of the border. "
Find out more at http://www.galas.ie/ and vote for who you think deserves a GALA award this year.

LINC-Lesbians in Cork Musical! Get involved!
Mná Mná… doo doooo do do do…
Wanna help write a lesbian musical? Wanna perform in it? Or help out backstage? Mná Mná (Cork’s lesbian choir) has commissioned a composer to co-write a musical premiering on Sat 3rd May 2009 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Cork Women’s Fun Weekend 2009. This is an annual international celebration of lesbian arts, culture and sports and is one of the largest and longest running lesbian events in the world.
Mná Mná has a core group of singers who turn up every week so they will play the main roles and those who drop-in less frequently can be members of the chorus. In January and February 2009 we will write the musical and we will be rehearsing during March and April. Please note that the writing process, rehearsals and performance will be filmed as part of an ongoing documentary project.
All are welcome. If you would like to get involved, come along between 7.30pm -9.00pm on Thursdays to LinC, 11a White Street, Cork.
Hope you can join us!
Email evquin@hotmail.com for more info.
So if you know of anyone who may be interested in getting involved in this lesbian musical by helping out backstage/building sets/making costumes/doing make-up/designing sets/producing/choreographing/making posters/helping to fundraise/playing any instruments (especially a really good piano accompanist) or even performing with us on stage singing, acting, dancing etc please let them know about us.
http://www.linc.ie/


Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Awards The Lady List!

The Lady List has been awarded the Social Entrepreneurs Level 1 Award! SEI is one of the few awards in Ireland that recognises the work of individuals & it has been such a huge support to The Lady List.
http://www.socialentrepreneurs.ie/

RTE's Questions & Answers

Q&A Nov.10th asked the question "Is Cardinal Brady right about civil partnerships?"
Watch the ciip of this debate online at http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1110/qanda.html

From the Marriage Equality Newsletter:
''Last week Cardinal Sean Brady called on the public to challenge civil partnership when it is made law. Brady's exact words were as follows:

"If this is the case (the introduction of civil partnership which he believes is 'de facto marriage'), those who are committed to the probity of the Constitution, to the moral integrity of the Word of God, and, to the precious human value of marriage between a man and a woman as the foundation of society, may have to pursue all legal and democratic challenges to the published legislation."

David Quinn, Director of the Iona Institute and columnist for the Irish Independent, a supporter of the Cardinal, appeared on Questions and Answers last night with no LGB representative invited on the panel. Thankfully, Mark McCarron and Paul Kenny (LGBT Noise) were in the audience to challenge Quinn's views. However, what followed was an outright attack on lesbian and gay relationships, and our ability to raise children as caring, loving parents.

While both Mark and Paul did an amazing job, participating from the audience is difficult. Obviously being on the panel is ideal.

The link to the piece follows, http://www.rte.ie/news/qanda/. If you watch the piece and feel that something needs to be done about this attack on lesbians and gay men, contact MarriagEquality on 01 6599 459 and be part of a movement towards equal rights for lesbians and gay men. For those of you already signed up to our TD campaign, please write, e-mail, telephone or visit your TDs to tell them that lesbians and gay men deserve equality.''
http://www.marriagequality.ie/

New York Public Radio: Radio Diaries

Listen to an interesting podcast about Amanda, a young bi-sexual woman growing up in Queens New York. She talks about her experience with her friends & family as she struggles to come to terms with her sexuality. A very raw and truthful audio diary that many gay and bi-sexual women may relate to on some level.
Click here: http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/510288/94166935/npr_94166935.mp3


Call for Writing - Me, My Body, Myself : Queer Women on the Experience of Embodiment
Deadline Extended: January 2009
A writing call to gather a collection of writings by queer/lesbian women on the theme of Me, My Body, Myself.
Luna (organiser):
"I am looking for pieces of writing that are from 500-5000 words and that reflect creatively on one's embodied experience as a queer woman. The piece does not need to be explicitly about sexuality or queer identity, but rather about any aspect of your embodied experience that seems most interesting or relevant to you.

Some possible themes (but certainly there are many more!) could be: love, performance, illness, pain, family, pregnancy, dancing, body practices, sport, aging, body modification, gender, sexuality, childhood, beauty, music, shame, art and so on.

I'm looking for real, honest confessional narratives that are well written, moving and interesting. I'm compiling a collection of these essays for a zine and publication project. All part of my ongoing research into the body and relating to the body…"

Look forward to receiving your piece, get in touch at luna.dolezal@ucd.ie or luna.dolezal@gmail.com if you want to discuss what you're writing or the content/length of your piece or if you need more time!

Civil Partnership

Ah sure isn’t it practically marriage? What are those gays harping up about? Aren’t they getting what they want? Em, no.
The Heads of Bill on Civil Partnership is with Cabinet for approval this week. The Bill is still hugely discriminating against gay people and the likes of MarriagEquality, LGBT Noise, Senator David Norris, GLEN among many others are speaking out against it. Civil Partnership is not recognised in the constitution, it does not give parental protection and falls short of many basic rights that are granted to married people. Gay rights campaigner Senator David Norris has been voicing many people’s opinion within the gay community when he says, “It seems to me to be a mean-minded, begrudging, minimal proposal. I certainly won’t be accepting it”. The clear message is that no less than full civil marriage rights should be granted and that we must keep fighting.
For more on this issue, visit: http://www.marriagequality.ie/
http://www.glen.ie/

The following is a letter written into the Irish Times by Michell O Driscoll on the 3rd of July in defense of Senator Jim Walsh and against civil partnership. WARNING, frightening but important to read.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2008/0703/1214949346296.html



Scientific study on gay women's brain pattern

A recent study published by scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden shows that there are striking similarities within brain pattern between gay women and straight men and between gay men and straight women.
Gay men and heterosexual women had halves of a similar size, while the right side was bigger in lesbian women and heterosexual men.
The study was conducted to add further proof to the fact that your sexual orientation is biological and can "not be altered by learning or cognitive processes" (News Scientist) Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Mrs. Robinson!

For an overview of the study, visit BBC Health
For greater detail, visit: News Scientist


Straight Out!

DUP leader Iris Robinson, who is also chair of the Stormont Health Committee expressed the opinion recently that gay people should seek counselling. Mrs Robinson made her comments on BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show on Friday the 6th of June.
Audio clip: BBC Radio Ulster- Iris Robinson
From a woman who has condemned homophobic attacks in the past, this is a massive contradiction. Her suggestion that gay people should seek counselling has sparked outrage amoung the gay community along with leading political figures.



Becoming Drusilla

'Becoming Drusilla: One Life, Two Friends, Three Genders' by Richard Beard is the true account of the time his best friend Drew revealed to him that he wanted to become a woman.

"The first time I saw Dru in pearl earrings, I coughed and pretended nothing had changed. Then I made a big effort not to say what I was thinking - you are a 43-year-old man whose wife has just left you for another bloke, taking your daughter with her. You drink lunchtime pints of Smile's Old Tosser and you work in the engine room of a 7,000-tonne passenger ship. You are not a woman."

For an extended extract from the book, visit The Guardian website



Radio Interview

The first radio interview for The Lady List on KCLR: Kilkenny Carlow Local Radio.
download kclrinterview.mp3

Visit their site at http://www.kclr96fm.com/








Out to your TD!

MarriagEquality is "a new initiative working for civil marriage for gay and lesbian people." They have set up a campaign encouraging gay and lesbian people to go directly to their local TDs and "tell them that our rights are being infringed by being denied access to civil marriage."
For more, visit:http://www.marriagequality.ie/

Attached below is a press release from MarriagEqaulity in relation to a recent poll carried out by Lansdowne regarding attitudes towards same sex civil marriage. download lansdowne_poll_release.doc




If These Walls Could Talk 1972

This short film is about four lesbian friends in the revolution, hippie era. The film illustrates the problems and conflicts they face within the community, and between each other. Starring Chloë Sevigny and Michelle Williams, this film is worth a look. Watch the entire episode on Youtube....
Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4





The Vagina Monologues

The Vagina Monologues is a true account of interviews with women from all different backgrounds, ages, sexualities and nationalities talking about their vagina. In 1996, Eve Ensler combined the material from her interviews into a powerful monologue. The Vagina Monologues is a truly heart rendering but enlightening performance by Eve Ensler who is also responsible for The Good Body and V-Day.

“The Vagina Monologues has been translated into 45 different languages and performed in over 119 countries” according to Wikipedia.
See an extract from The Vagina Monologues which she performed at TED TALKS in 2004. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/64
Warning: CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT AND SOME MAY FIND THE STORIES DISTURBING.




The Last Word

Shock horror! The L Word is in it’s sixth and final season. At least you can be comforted by the fact that there will be re-runs and DVD box sets available for those of you suffering from L Word withdrawal symptoms.

The L Word 2004-2009.




The Lady List Social Networking Sites

A big thank to everyone who got in contact and supported The Lady List on the Myspace and Bebo pages. Your support has been brilliant and now you can enjoy the real thing!

Myspace: www.myspace.com/theladylist
Bebo: www.bebo.com/The-Lady-List
www.bebo.com/theladylist






Are you a Lois Lane Lesbian?


If you hear of anything in the media that you think would be of interest to lesbian, bi and transgender women, please let us know. From podcasts, to articles, television programmes, to interesting quirky stories, The Lady List will spread the word and put it up on News.

Contact:news@theladylist.ie

Image source: Lois & Clark Archive







LGBT Noise



LGBT Noise is an independent campaign group created to fight for gay civil marriage in Ireland. Show your support. Visit their website
http://www.lgbtnoise.ie/index_sub.html