Message from Party Leader - Edition 6 2025 - The Labour Party

For us in Labour, Pride is always a highlight of the political year — a powerful celebration of inclusivity and diversity, and a reminder of the long struggle for LGBTQ+ rights in Ireland and around the world. Most importantly, Pride is about activism. We must always remember that Pride is a protest, and that there is still more to do to advance LGBTQ+ rights at home and internationally.

We cannot take the progress achieved for granted. Across the globe, the rights of marginalised communities are being eroded. I want to wish my best to Karl Hayden and Eddie McGuinness, who are travelling to Hungary this weekend to attend Budapest Pride — banned by Orbán’s authoritarian, far-right regime. We in Labour stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in Hungary and with all those facing persecution based on their sexual or gender identity.

This year, however, we mark a particularly special Pride. Ten years ago, the people of Ireland used their vote to make marriage equality a reality — we made grá the law. In a watershed moment for Irish social progress, the right to same-sex marriage was approved by a significant majority, making us the first country in the world to achieve it by popular vote.

All of us in Labour remember that campaign fondly — a mass mobilisation of people in pursuit of equality. The energy was palpable as we knocked doors across the country (and even rang our grannies!). The images of thousands of Irish emigrants returning #HomeToVote were a particularly heartwarming moment of the referendum.

Marriage Equality is, undoubtedly, one of the greatest achievements of the Labour Party. Labour has been at the heart of Ireland’s campaigns for social progress, and I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that the 2015 referendum likely would not have happened without Labour in Government. I am proud to lead a party that places the values of fairness and equality — the very values we saw in action in May 2015 — at the core of its mission.

Last month, we celebrated a decade of Marriage Equality at a fantastic Labour event, chaired by Labour LGBTQ+ Chair James Kearney. It was a wonderful evening, and I was delighted to speak alongside former Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Senator Laura Harmon. However, in shocking circumstances, the venue had to be moved at short notice to Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre due to credible threats of protest at the original venue from far right actors. But they could not stop us from coming together, sharing memories, and discussing the path ahead to true equality.

It is clear the equality agenda remains unfinished. The lessons of inclusion, tolerance, and love that we learned during the 2015 campaign must inform how we face today’s challenges. Harmful rhetoric around gender identity and the so-called ‘trans debate’ has led to regressive rollbacks in the UK, the US, and elsewhere. Human rights must never be “up for debate.” We have even heard similar dog-whistling expressed by some representatives in our own Dáil.

This year, another progressive piece of legislation — the Gender Recognition Act — also turns ten. While we should be proud of it, the reality for trans people in Ireland is that there are still serious shortcomings in healthcare provision: for example, wait times for the State’s only dedicated gender clinic range from 3 to 10 years. This Government could and should be doing far more to protect those who are vulnerable. Its craven decision — supported by Sinn Féin — to drop vital hate speech legislation is deeply disappointing. Similarly, the Government’s decision to place a nine-month stay on my own Bill to grant children of LGBT parents the same legal protections as those born to heterosexual couples is yet another case of kicking the can down the road — leaving families, parents, and children in limbo.

Another Labour Bill, from Deputy Ged Nash, seeks to expunge the criminal records of men convicted of consensual same-sex activity before homosexuality was decriminalised. Yet the Government still refuses to act to bring this into force, allowing these unjust convictions to stain the records of far too many people.

We must remain unwavering in our support for LGBTQ+ rights, especially as intolerant forces and far right agitators seek to unravel the progress that we have worked so hard to achieve. I look forward to standing with you all on the streets of Dublin this Saturday — united in solidarity, rejecting division, and recommitting to the ongoing fight for true equality.

Pride is a protest.

In solidarity,