From The Youth Editor

Every year GCN publishes an issue which is completely dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth and every year it is an important contribution to the community. This year is no dif erent. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to be a part of this issue as I believe that it is more important now than ever to highlight the need for solidarity amongst queer youth.

We are living in a world where for the first time ever many young LGBTQ+ people can truly express themselves and fully explore their identities. This is a wonderful thing that deserves to be celebrated, however we are still trying to figure out what this new reality means for our community.

Recently we have become split, dissolving into endless arguments over what warrants giving oneself a certain identity, who can claim a space in the community and what part our history plays in our current situation. These are undoubtedly conversations that need to be had so that we can progress and adapt to this new environment but, from what I’ve seen, many of these discussions are not being conducted in a constructive manner.

The community is breaking down in a way that has not happened before. This can be seen in the appalling behaviour which occurred this year at London Pride, when a group of self proclaimed Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFS) hijacked the front of the parade in order to promote their antitrans agenda. It can also be seen very prominently in online spaces such as Twitter where it has become too easy to fall into discussions that are not helpful and have no real end point. This is damaging not only for the people engaging in such conversations, but for any young LGBTQ+ people who have gone online to find a community or a support system but who have been met instead with extreme negativity.

The global social climate is becoming more and more unstable, so it seems only natural that as we descend into social anarchy, our need for a concrete identity or a concrete anything would become stronger. It is so important for young LGBTQ+ people to invest time into researching the meaning and the history behind their identities but it is also important to remain open to critical discussion and to not let a defensiveness of your identity get the better of you.

What want this issue of GCN to do is remind people that while each letter of the acronym comes with its own specific history, culture and experiences, we are still one community. This issue features young people from all across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, they have shared with us their activism, their thoughts, their experiences and, most importantly, their love. The future of the community is ours to shape, so hope that this issue serves to reflect the supportive and understanding attitude that we need to bring with us into the next generation of LGBTQ+ life.

It’s the Youth Issue & the 15th birthday of BeLonG To, so this month we asked some of our INCREDIBLE CONTRIBUTORS Where would you like to see the community in the next 15 years?

CHRIS O’DONNELL

Contributor Chris is interested mostly in writing, procrastinating, and pretending to be Rory Gallagher. Their hope for the future is “a community with a bigger cohort of intersex people of all ages, from all backgrounds, more visible, loud, and proud, than ever before. On top of that, hope to see more crosscultural exchange with our migrant LGBTI+ communities. hope we recognise our privilege in setting benchmarks in 2015/2017, and we look outward to assist our LGBTI+ allies abroad.”

NIAMH SCULLY

Niamh is 18 years-old. Over the last two years she has been involved with the youth advisory panel for the National LGBTI+ Youth Strategy and has had rst hand experience with the young people of our community. As Niamh says “the youth are our future and hope that over the next 15 years will get to see them thrive as confident, happy people, working to create a more equal society.”

JAYSON POPE

Jayson is 19 and studies social policy and sociology in UCD. A member of BeLonG To, he’s been involved in various projects, such as the National LGBTI+ Youth Strategy. In 15 years he’d like to see “the community better integrated in society, where stuff like sex-ed is inclusive of LGBTQ+ people and doesn’t assume everyone is cis and straight. I’d love to see better community services, especially in healthcare, so that we can all thrive and live fulfilling lives.”

LEANDRO HERNANDEZ JIMINEZ

Leo is originally from Germany but has found a new home in Ireland over the last five years. He says, “what we need for the coming years, is a society that is led by kindness and inclusion and which looks beyond our diff erences. It’s very important that our youth can grow up without fearing to be themselves or that the people behind the words that make up LGBT+ won’t be treated any diff erently from those considered ‘straight’.”