News
Christmas Party
TENI invites all members, partners, family and supporters to its annual Christmas party on Wednesday 16 December, 19:30–22:00 at Outhouse, 105 Capel Street, Dublin 1. We have much to celebrate this year, particularly the acquisition of substantial funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies to implement the Building Sustainable LGBT Communities Programme. The TENI Board is delighted to announce that the first of three staff members to be hired under this programme is now in place. Cat McIlroy has accepted the post of TENI co-ordinator and has hit the ground running, giving interviews about the proposed Gender Recognition legislation to the Irish Examiner and Q102 radio on her very first workday. Join us on 16 December to celebrate a successful year and look ahead to 2010. These are exciting times for the Irish transgender community and we are better equipped than ever to make ourselves heard.
Discussion about the proposed Gender Recognition legislation
Human Rights in Ireland blog, item linked to a video interview with Lydia Foy and Michael Farrell of FLAC
Human Rights in Ireland blog, post by our Board member Tanya Ní Mhuirthile
As Minister Hanafin has indicated that work to develop gender recognition legislation will get underway in the immediate future, we would like to ask all interested people, whether members and supporters of TENI or not, to give their input regarding what they would like to see in the proposed legislation so we are ready to engage when the time comes. All thoughts are welcome: they can be 2 sentences, 2 paragraphs or 2 pages. The Board has established a sub-committee to draw up a briefing document that will be used to inform politicians and civil servants in various government departments over the coming months.
Grundtvig Learning Partnership project “...and Others!”
“Dear Ladies, Gentlemen... and Others!” This greeting launched the 2nd European Transgender Council 2008, underlining the need to focus explicitly on the inclusion of all gender variant people. The Grundtvig Learning Partnership project “...and Others! - Argumentation Training for Transgender Inclusion in Europe" picks on the major aspect of visibility in the work of transgender activism towards full inclusion. In this project, TENI co-operates with four other European transgender equality organisations to strengthen their capacities in arguing for inclusion and increase the visibility of transgender people.
The “…and Others!” partners take turns in hosting working meetings at which transgender activists of the participating organisations come together to exchange good practices and train their argumentation skills on transgender inclusion. Additionally, the project uses a photo/audio exhibition to allow activists to improve their advocacy skills by meeting with visitors of the exhibition and discussing trans equality and inclusion. A concrete outcome of the project will be a best-practice tool-box for trans activists. This toolbox, “How to argue for transgender inclusion,” will be developed and tested in different European cultural settings. It will give national transgender advocates all over Europe a powerful instrument in their struggle to get the so-called “others” included in national and European policy making.
For more information about the project, see the Transgender Europe website; for the Grundtvig Learning Partnership, see the website of Léargas.
Transgender and Gender Dysphoria Information Leaflets
On 12 November TENI completed a project to produce Transgender and Gender Dysphoria Information leaflets, which will be distributed among guidance counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists throughout Ireland in the next few months. The project was generously supported by the Equality Authority and the European Commission Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (PROGRESS) as part of the “Burning Issues” campaign to ensure a legacy for the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. The leaflets are intended to raise awareness about transgender people, help mental health professionals understand and address trans issues, and assist in providing effective treatment and care of transgender individuals. Electronic versions are available under Publications.
Building Sustainable LGBT Communities
A Joint Working Group of Irish LGBT organisations, including TENI, has acquired three-year seed funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies to implement the Building Sustainable LGBT Communities Programme. The programme seeks to deliver an ambitious and exciting set of outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and communities in Ireland. It aims to promote self esteem, confidence, visibility, health and safety through the development of strong LGBT communities locally, regionally and nationally. More information about the programme’s transgender strand, implemented by TENI, will follow soon.
Transgender Day of Remembrance
On 20 November the Dublin trans community marked the International Transgender Day of Remembrance with a meeting in the Unitarian Church, St. Stephen’s Green. The TGDOR, instituted in 1999 and this year held in more than 120 cities worldwide, commemorates trans people who have been victims of homicide. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against trans people, provides a space for publicly mourning and honours the lives of those trans people who might otherwise be forgotten. Sadly, as data collected through internet research by Transgender Europe’s Trans Murder Monitoring Project reveal, this year there are more than 160 trans persons to be added to the list, including 16 in Europe; as it is impossible to estimate the numbers of unreported cases, even these high numbers are only a fraction of the real figures. For more information on the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, see the Transgender Europe website.
Burning Issues
On 12 November the National Lesbian and Gay Federation (NLGF) issued its report Burning Issues: Listening to the Voices of the LGBT Community, which seeks to establish the issues and priorities of key concern to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Ireland. Although research was done in the past on specific issues such as mental and sexual health, no major national survey has ever before been conducted amongst LGBT people to identify their key concerns and priorities as a community. The report makes an important contribution to the current public debate about a number of issues, perhaps first and foremost same-sex partnership and civil marriage rights. Burning issues for the transgender respondents are summarised on page 18 as follows: (1) equal rights at work; (2) health services; (3) bullying/violence; (4) support for younger trans people; (5) support for trans people in coming out. The entire report can be downloaded from the NLGF website.
TENI Board
Transgender Equality Network Ireland are delighted to announce that, following an Extraordinary General Meeting of members on 10th October 2009 the Board detailed below were elected to oversee the implementation of a work plan funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies. This process will be undertaken with a full time co-ordinator, part-time administrator and part-time development worker.
TENI Board Members: Fiona Armstrong (secretary), Martine Cuypers (chair), Tanya Ní Mhuirthile, Carol-Anne O’Brien, Patricia Prendiville (treasurer), Philippa Ryder, Leslie Sherlock. The Board can be contacted through info@teni.ie.
TENI press release on Revised Programme for Government
See Press.
Transforming Attitudes Conference
Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and BeLonG To Youth Service (a national LGBT youth group) hosted a Transgender Human Rights Conference and Educational Seminar entitled ‘Transforming Attitudes’, held at the Law Society of Ireland in Dublin on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th April 2009. More information can be found here.
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