To mark this year’s International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the power of queer women activists in Ireland. Aifric Ní Chríodáin meets ve women on the frontlines.

Photos by Hazel Coonagh.

Una Mullally

AWARD WINNING IRISH TIMES JOURNALIST AND WRITER UNA MULLALLY WAS ONE OF THE MOST PUBLIC ACTIVISTS ADVOCATING EQUAL MARRIAGE IN 2015. THIS YEAR, IN THE LEAD UP TO THE REFERENDUM ON THE 8TH AMMENDMENT, SHE’S ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL ONCE MORE.

“The Repeal the 8th Anthology is a book of art and literature that is inspired by the pro-choice movement. I was keen to do something a little bit more abstract than a history book or a campaigning book. The idea that we don’t have abortion as healthcare here influences our psyche and our experiences and I think writers are taking what that landscape means and making stories out of it. I want to show people outside of Ireland the type of art that is emerging from this movement.

Repealing the 8th Amendment is a queer issue for so many reasons. It’s about autonomy, something that queer people have struggled for, and continue to struggle for, across the world – to be in control of ourselves, in control of our own decisions about our bodies. This is not a matter for public consumption or for the constitution in the same way that the lives of queer people are not for public debate. It is a matter for trans men in particular, for lesbian and bisexual women, non-binary and genderqueer people.

I think when people say that it’s not a queer issue, those people need to examine what they consider the queer community to be, and that perspective needs to broaden to include the whole community.

What we learned from the marriage equality referendum is the value of conversations, of people speaking openly and honestly about their experiences. In the same way that straight people stood with queer people, we have to stand up for women in Ireland right now.”

The Repeal the 8th Anthology is published on April 5

“Repealing the 8th Amendment is about autonomy, something that queer people have struggled for, and continue to struggle for, across the world.

Dil Wickremasinghe

“Our freedom of the press ranking by Journalists Without Borders has slipped from the top ten to number 14 in one year alone.

IN SEPTEMBER LAST YEAR, DIL WICKREMASINGHE ANNOUNCED THAT SHE WOULD NOT PRESENT AN EPISODE OF HER LONG RUNNING NEWSTALK RADIO SHOW, GLOBAL VILLAGE FOLLOWING THE COMMENTS MADE BY HER COLLEAGUE, GEORGE HOOK ABOUT RAPE. ONE MONTH LATER, HER SHOW WAS CANCELLED. NOW DIL HAS HER OWN PODCAST, WHICH CONTINUES HER WORK AS AN ADVOCATE AND ACTIVIST FOR THE MARGINALISED IN IRELAND.

“Since I came to Ireland I have been working as an activist on LGBT rights, migrant rights and women’s rights. The first thing I did was to set up a group to highlight the inequality in immigration law for same-sex couples made up of an Irish person and a non-EU citizen. I wrote an article about it for GCN! I presented on the issue to the Oireachtas, having only lived here for three years. In Ireland things aren’t perfect, but there is an openness to hear people who have a different opinion to yours.

One of the reasons I got into media was because I was fed up with people talking about migrant and LGBT issues, when there was no diversity. For years, I was the only person of colour in the media here. When I left Newstalk it was abrupt, though I knew the comments I made could end my career there. Within a week I was setting up a podcast with Headstuff, Sparking Change. We try to choose topics that no one is talking about, guests who maybe haven’t done media before. If you get diverse voices, you’ll get diverse viewpoints and experiences that I don’t think are there in Irish media.

There is a cosiness in Ireland between journalists and politicians, and our freedom of the press ranking by Journalists Without Borders has slipped from the top 10 to number 14 in one year alone. As consumers, we should go where we think reporting is done in an ethical manner. That’s the kind of journalism I’m interested in.”

Listen to ‘Sparking Change’ atwww.headstuff.org

Yemi Azamosa

ONE OF THE PERFORMERS IN ‘THE MOUTH OF THE SHARK’, A FORTHCOMING SHOW ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF QUEER MIGRANTS, YEMI AZAMOSA IS THE FOUNDER OF FRIED PLANTAINS, A SPOKEN WORD COLLECTIVE PROMOTING THE VISIBILITY OF LGBT+ PEOPLE OF COLOUR IN IRLEAND.

“The Mouth of a Shark is a performance about the similarities between irish people who left the country because they didn’t feel safe being gay, and people who came from their countries to ireland because they didn’t feel safe being gay. It’s an interesting way of showing that one person’s home can be another person’s torture. The show is a collaboration between thisispOpbabY and change of address, a collective formed to organise activities with asylum seekers and refugees to make them feel part of the community. A somali-british poet called warsan shire wrote a poem called Home, which says that people only leave their home if that home is the mouth of a shark. The poem is about the refugee crisis and asylum seekers who are threatened in their home countries, and that’s where the title of the show comes from.

I was an asylum seeker for a brief period when i was 12, but luckily we got residency, which meant i could get a job, enroll in higher level education, and access the dole. In my own country, nigeria, you can get 14 years in jail for being gay, so i really appreciate ireland as a safe place to be gay - at least compared to home.

I do spoken word events with my collective, fried plantains, which are about showing that black and african people are active in dublin. For me, community comes irst, before any politics. I think that people have to speak their truth, whatever that is.”

‘The Mouth of the Shark’ is part of Where We Live, part of the Dublin St Patrick’s Festival presented by THISISPOPBABY from March 6-18, thisispopbaby.com

Toryn Glavin

IN 2013, WHILE STUDYING IN UNIVERSITY, TORYN GLAVIN WAS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE IRISH TRANS STUDENT ALLIANCE. SHE CURRENTLY WORKS AS AN ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER AT TRANGENDER EQUALITY NETWORK IRELAND (TENI) AND IS A STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR TRANSGENDER EUROPE. SHE ALSO WRITES REGULAR OPINION FOR GCN.

“I think the concept of trans-exclusionary radical feminists – terfs – is quite extraordinary. This idea that trans women are beneitting from being in women’s spaces – i think we all would admit as women that being a woman is hard, and being a trans woman is harder again in a lot of ways.

They’re attacking the most marginalised within an already marginalised community.

I’m not going to say there are no terfs in ireland. I know there are some within the feminist movement, but on the ground there are young, dedicated feminists trying to be a lot better toward trans women. The idea of terfs coming here from the uk is terrifying. I think it’s fantastic that irish feminists in such great numbers, and with such great passion, stood up and said, “no, we’re not having this” – though a little more inclusion of trans women themselves would have been great.

In a post-repeal world, feminist organisations will hopefully have more capacity to work on trans women’s issues. We see a lot of loneliness and unemployment within trans women communities. I would love to see them work on making their own organisations and spaces inclusive, that they would have trans staf members and board members.

Looking at their policies, their language, how they approach things, will be really important in engaging with trans communities, so that we will stop being a trans movement and a women’s movement and just have one women’s movement that is inclusive of trans people.”

Jacinta Fay

A MEMBER OF THE GALWAY FEMINIST COLLECTIVE AND THE WORKERS CO OP, UNDERCURRENT, ENVIORNMENTAL ACTIVIST JACINTA FAY HAS SPENT TIME WORKING WITH FRIENDS OF THE EARTH LIBERIA, SUPPORTING COMMUNITIES WHO WERE RESISTING PALM OIL PLANTATION ON THEIR LAND.

“The Irish government is still focusing on developing the oil and gas industries when we need to stop all exploration and focus on clean energy.

“We are facing a global climate crisis. The Irish government is still focusing on developing the oil and gas industries when we need to stop all exploration and focus on clean energy. Some of the people who will be most impacted by environmental injustices are the least involved in decision making. Looking globally, some of our industries are expanding and targeting the global south – the dairy industry, for example, is focusing on markets in Asia and Africa, preventing the development of more sustainable local food production.

There needs to be grassroots action to spark political support for these issues. Where there has been change it has been by community-driven campaigns – an antifracking bill was introduced, and that was because of a really strong community campaign.

The Galway Feminist Collective is an intersectional feminist group, making spaces for voices which can often be marginalised by the mainstream feminist discussions – women of colour, traveller women, the queer community, women with disabilities, women experiencing poverty, sex workers. Every year in July we hold a feminist festival called the F Word. Part of the work of the group is trying to challenge systems of domination and oppression like patriarchy, capitalism and white supremacy.”