From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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Minister O'Gorman marked National Coming Out Day, Sunday, 11 October, at Foróige Blanchardstown Youth Service with the announcement of Live Out Loud: Celebrating LGBTI+ Youth - a national online campaign that celebrates LGBTI+ youth and aims to show how they are visible, valued and included.
Announcing the call for submissions, the Minister emphasised that this campaign is a youth-led celebration of LGBTI+ youth. The campaign calls for stories that honour and celebrate the young people, adults, and groups who champion, support, and positively contribute to the everyday lives and experiences of young people in the LGBTI+ youth community.
Live Out Loud wants LGBTI+ young people, their allies, and those working with them, to submit stories online to amplify and celebrate the positive, creative and innovative ways those young people are being valued, made visible and meaningfully included in their communities. The stories can be submitted as written word, snaps and pics, or even video - so get creative!
The campaign is inviting schools, colleges, sports clubs, arts and culture organisations, and youth groups to get involved and celebrate LGBTI+ young people and champions. The aim is to feature all sectors of society who are living and fulfilling the core objectives of the LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy in order to create a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for LGBTI+ young people in Ireland today and in to the future.
Live Out Loud will collect and showcase positive stories that celebrate LGBTI+ young people and the campaign really wants to hear:
Speaking about the campaign, Minister O'Gorman commented:
"I’m delighted to be announcing such a positive campaign - visibility is so important to making sure that LGBTI+ young people feel valued in Ireland. I look forward to hearing and sharing the stories of those wonderful people and places that are influencing, educating, and inspiring every sector of society for our LGBTI+ youth across the country. I cannot wait to see the submissions start coming in."
At Foróige Blanchardstown Youth Service, young people had this to say:
"As a queer Polish person who's lived in Ireland for a while now, there are so many places in Ireland and aspects of this country that make me feel valued and accepted. Seeing, for example, Fermoy in Cork suspend 'twinning ties' with Nowa Deba in Poland after they declared themselves an 'LGBT free zone' stuck with me for a while. Having openly gay TDs and public figures makes such a difference for people who aren't used to being accepted and seen. Seeing the difference between the treatment of LGBTI+ people here in Ireland, in schools, in the media, in Government, and how they are treated in my home country has a big impact on me. I personally think the Live Out Loud campaign will definitely promote change and the acceptance of LGBT+ people and bring us closer to feeling safe and included as LGBTI+ young people."
Marty Pawlak, 17 yrs.
"Homophobia makes it difficult to accept and be proud of who I am. In Foróige, I feel so seen and accepted by everyone and I can joke and laugh, and complain about the homophobia I experience, with members of Foróige who are just like me."
Rhian Boyle, 15 yrs.
The Live Out Loud campaign will culminate in an event in January 2021 which will celebrate the submissions, contributions and positive stories celebrating LGBTI+ young people being visible, valued and included from across diverse communities, organisations, and all sectors of society around the country.
To learn more about how to get involved (and to get some inspiration for some possible submission ideas!) click here.
ENDS
How to participate:
Submit your videos, images or text at the campaign webpage to show how your schools, colleges, sports clubs, arts or youth groups make LGBTI+ people feel safe, supported and included. You can submit different kinds of media: video, image and text.
Education - Creating a more supportive and inclusive environment for LGBTI+ young people in formal education settings
Youth Services - Making all youth services more inclusive of LGBTI+ young people and providing accessible LGBTI+ youth services nationally
Employment - Ensure equal employment opportunities and an inclusive work environment for LGBTI+ young people
Culture and Sport - Provide a more supportive and inclusive environment that encourages positive LGBTI+ representation and participation in culture, society and sport, and reduces LGBTI+ stigma
Parent and Family Support - Expand and develop supports to parents and families of LGBTI+ young people
Best Practice and Training Initiatives - Measures among service providers to improve their understanding of, and ability to engage with, LGBTI+ young people
Transgender Young People - Provide an inclusive physical environment for transgender and intersex young people
Minority Group LGBTI+ Young People - Provide an inclusive environment for LGBTI+ minority ethnicity young people and intersectionally affected young people
The LBGTI+ National Youth Strategy:
Goal 1 of the LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy is to Create a Safe, Supportive and Inclusive Environment for LGBTI+ Young People. Objective 5 under this Goal seeks to 'provide a more supportive and inclusive environment that encourages positive LGBTI+ representation and participation in culture, society and sport, and reduces LGBTI+ stigma'. The related action (5(e)) is to develop a biennial national event to publicly celebrate LGBTI+ young people and young leaders. The showcase of positive examples of how LGBTI+ young people are visible, valued and included in their schools, colleges, youth groups, sports clubs and arts or cultural bodies will show how it is possible to take simple actions to include our LGBTI+ young people. These examples will make visible the valuable contribution that LGBTI+ youth make across our society. This campaign will also show solidarity with international LGBTI+ youth groups and welcomes submissions from Irish involvement with international and European LGBTI+ NGOs and organisations.
This campaign is youth-led, having been planned by the LGBTI+ Youth Forum, a group of LGBTI+ young people tasked with supporting the implementation of the LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy, and further developed to take account of young people living alongside Covid. The LGBTI+ Youth Forum have their own Instagram account, through which they share their work on implementing the LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy.
National Coming Out Day: October 11, an annual LGBT awareness day, originally launched in the United States in 1988, promotes a safe world for LGBT individuals to live truthfully and openly. The aim is to support LGBTI+ individuals and communities by celebrating those who publicly identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. National Coming Out Day is celebrated by a number of countries world-wide to recognise the importance of coming out as a means of combating homophobia and to celebrate the coming out journey as an important rite of passage for LGBTI+ people.
Foróige Blanchardstown Youth Service was first established in 1982. Today it works with nearly 1,000 young people aged 10-24 in many youth work programmes throughout Dublin 15. These include; summer programmes, volunteer led Foróige clubs, the Clubhouse technology programme, Garda Youth Diversion Projects, Drugs Prevention and Education Programme, Youth Cafes, Community Youth Projects, Big Brother Big Sister programme, Early School Leavers programme. We work specifically with targeted young people including; LGBTI+, Travellers, NEETs, young mothers and young people and families in need of extra support. Foróige offers young people opportunities to engage in programmes such as entrepreneurship, health and wellbeing, citizenship, STEAM, drug education and youth participation.
Foróige is proud to be part of The Live Out Loud campaign that celebrates LGBTI+ youth and aims to show how they are visible, valued, and included. The young people involved in the campaign are engaged in a number of Foróige programmes throughout Dublin 15.