I welcome the visitors to the Gallery. First of all, it is a real privilege to be a gay man because you are navigating a world that was not built for you. I think most LGBT people have a heightened sense of empathy because you know, for example, that many people around the world do not have the human rights which many of us - including myself, as somebody who is privileged enough to live in Ireland - take for granted. 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 still living with convictions for same-sex activity. You are also free from the traditions, expectations and pressures that many of my straight friends have in relation to what I call the heterosexual normality of life. However, 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 has even come into this House. It has crept in, in ways. People whom I would consider totally reasonable on loads of issues have said things on the record in this House, jollied up as concerns, that are, in effect, transphobic and dehumanising.

Sentiment score: 0.05

Furthermore, I look, for example, at Belong To and the work it has done, and the 87% of teenagers who have received online harassment for being LGBT. I can even look at my own social media. Any time I talk about any of these things, I get a plethora of stuff underneath the posts and, to be honest, it is horrible but it does not particularly bother me because I know there is some young boy or young girl out there in this country at the moment who probably thinks they are better off being dead than being LGBT. The fact of the matter is that while we have come so far, we have a much further journey to travel. We need to see the full commencement of the 2024 Act in relation to the issues around surrogacy. I have one friend who is a parent and is, effectively, legally a stranger in the lives of their children. We need to move on trans healthcare. Thankfully, by having the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, in government, we actually have somebody who genuinely gets it and wants to make a difference and will make a difference. We need to make sure that all forms of homophobia, including transphobia and biphobia, are called out and that we have zero tolerance.

Sentiment score: 0.12