1916 Rising oration by Republican Socialist LGBT rights activist.

1916 Rising oration by Republican Socialist LGBT rights activist.

At the IRSPs Dublin 1916 Rising commemoration LGBT rights activist Simon McElroy delivered a speech stating “100 years on from the Easter Rising and that famous proclamation which promised equality for all the people of Ireland, we are still not fully equal”.

 
Mr McElroy continued “Growing up LGBT in Ireland was never easy, we were suppressed citizens, the oppressed of the oppressed, treated as outcasts, misunderstood, and singled out for discrimination by the Church and the State. To face each day knowing it was more mental torture and inequality has caused the loss of life in so many young people who were struggling to come to terms with their own sexuality in a hostile environment.

 
Mr McElroy said “Only the working class can change that and we in the IRSP will play our part. The IRSP has always been a party of equals, from the 1970s when supporting the first prides, through to the present day still supporting prides the length and breadth of our 32 county Ireland. Fighting for equality and socialism daily, for all! The 32 counties of Ireland are not equal. Until Ireland is fully equal it continues to lose young vulnerable lives. Valuable precious lives of sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, grandparents and best friends all because they are suffering social and sexual oppression”.

 
Mr McElroy finishes “100 years ago Pearse read the proclamation and I quote ” The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities of all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally”. The struggle in Ireland for national liberation and socialism for LGBT rights for workers’ rights against discrimination in all its forms is one in the same struggle, the class struggle.