Statement In Response To Exclusion Of LGBTI+ Groups From The World Meeting Of Families
For Immediate Release:
14/08/2018
Moninne Griffith, Executive Director of BeLonG To Youth Services, the national organisation for LGBTI+ young people, commented on the news that LGBTI+ groups have been denied permission to join World Meeting of Families exhibition hall:
“We are disappointed and saddened at the decision to exclude LGBTI+ groups from the upcoming World Meeting of Families in Dublin. This deliberate decision to exclude ‘The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics’ and ‘We Are Church Ireland’ is hurtful for LGBTI+ people who are Roman Catholic, those whose families are Roman Catholic, and those who attend Roman Catholic schools.
Exclusion and lack of acceptance can have a devastating impact on the lives of LGBTI+ young people resulting in increased levels of self-harm and suicide, as highlighted by recent Irish research1. As a country, Ireland voted for inclusion, acceptance and equality for same-sex couples in 2015. We call on the World Meeting of Families to model the same inclusion, and welcome the LGBTI+ community and families in a real and meaningful way.”
For more information, please contact contact Sinead Keane, BeLonG To Youth Services: 087 768 0389 or sinead@belongto.org
NOTE TO EDITORS
- BeLonG To Youth Services is the national organisation supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI+) young people in Ireland.
1 The LGBTIreland Report, published in 2016 found that:
- 56% of LGBTI who were aged 14 to 18 years had self-harmed, 70% had suicidal thoughts and one in three had attempted suicide.
In summary, compared to the wider population of young people in Ireland, LGBTI young people had:
- Two times the level of self-harm.
- Three times the level of attempted suicide.
- Four times the level of severe or extremely severe stress, anxiety and depression.
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