Conor Sheehan: On Pride, Rising Hate and Urgent Reform
Conor Sheehan addresses the Dáil about his experience as a gay man and warns that homophobia and transphobia are resurging in Ireland. He calls for full commencement of the 2024 Act on surrogacy, better trans healthcare, and zero tolerance for hate.
Conor Sheehan reflects on being gay in a world that was not built for LGBT people, underlining a heightened empathy shaped by the history of criminalisation and global injustice. He describes both the privileges he has gained living in Ireland and the specific vulnerabilities LGBT people continue to face.
Sheehan warns that homophobia and transphobia are becoming more normalised, including language used in the Dáil. He cites research and personal experience of online abuse, noting that 87% of LGBT teenagers have experienced harassment and that some young people feel suicidal because of intolerance.
The speaker presses for the full commencement of the 2024 Act on surrogacy so that parental rights are secured, and urges progress on trans healthcare. He highlights the practical consequences for families where one parent remains legally excluded from their children’s lives.
Sheehan praises Minister Mary Butler for understanding these issues and urges public and political zero tolerance for homophobia, transphobia and biphobia. He frames the debate as both a matter of policy - surrogacy law and healthcare - and a moral imperative to protect young people and vulnerable communities.
Personal testimony
Conor Sheehan reflects on being gay in a world that was not built for LGBT people, underlining a heightened empathy shaped by the history of criminalisation and global injustice. He describes both the privileges he has gained living in Ireland and the specific vulnerabilities LGBT people continue to face.
Rising hostility and online harm
Sheehan warns that homophobia and transphobia are becoming more normalised, including language used in the Dáil. He cites research and personal experience of online abuse, noting that 87% of LGBT teenagers have experienced harassment and that some young people feel suicidal because of intolerance.
Policy priorities
The speaker presses for the full commencement of the 2024 Act on surrogacy so that parental rights are secured, and urges progress on trans healthcare. He highlights the practical consequences for families where one parent remains legally excluded from their children’s lives.
Leadership and accountability
Sheehan praises Minister Mary Butler for understanding these issues and urges public and political zero tolerance for homophobia, transphobia and biphobia. He frames the debate as both a matter of policy - surrogacy law and healthcare - and a moral imperative to protect young people and vulnerable communities.
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Transcript
Go raibh míle maith agat leas Ceann Comhairleach, and I welcome the visitors to the gallery here. I would say, first of all, it's a real privilege to be gay, to be a gay man, you know, because you're navigating a world that wasn't built for you. I think most LGBT people have a heightened sense of empathy because, you know, for example, that the human rights that many people, that many of us, including myself as somebody who's privileged enough to live in Ireland, take for granted, many people around the world do not have that. There are so many countries around the world where it is illegal to be gay. It was illegal to be gay here until 1993. There are so many men, and they are men, who are literally still living with convictions for same-sex activity. And I think you're also free from the traditions and expectations and the pressures that many of my straight friends have in relation to, you know, what I call the heterosexual normality of life. But at the same time, the world is getting more dangerous for LGBT people, including here in Ireland. Homophobia is on the rise again. Transphobia is unfortunately becoming more and more normalised. It's even come into this house, you know, it's crept in in ways people who I would think that would be otherwise totally reasonable on loads of issues have said things on the record in this house, you know, jilly-jollied up as concerns, which are in effect transphobic and dehumanising. And furthermore, when I look, for example, at Belong To and the work that they have done, and the 87% of teenagers who have received online harassment for being LGBT. Like, I even look at my own social media. Anytime I talk about any of these things, I just get a lacuna of stuff underneath it. And to be honest, it's horrible, but it doesn't particularly bother me, because I know, for example, that there is some young boy out there, or some young girl in this country at the moment, who actually probably thinks they're better off being dead than being LGBT. And the fact of the matter is, while we have come so far, we have so much further of a journey to travel. We need to see the full commencement of the 2024 Act in relation to the issues that are there in relation to surrogacy. I have friends of mine who, you know, one parent is effectively a stranger in the lives, legally, in the lives of their children. And we need to move on trans healthcare. And thankfully, you know, by having Minister Mary Butler in government, we actually have somebody who genuinely gets it, and I think somebody who wants to make a difference, and will make a difference. And we need to make sure that all forms of homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, we need to call them out and have zero tolerance. Thank you.