From a speech by Harvey Milk:
The world has changed since he made that speech but it seems not by a huge amount. There are still kids in this country that try and do kill themselves all for something that should be unimportant to the individual and the culture they live in. Invisible people have invisible rights was a tagline on my blog when I started and it’s been the tagline now for years and years. Milk’s speech doesn’t just cover gay people, it applies to the fantastic diversity we have in the world and in this country yet Dermot Ahern and his goons would rather some groups who point out inequalities would rather disappear. Niall Crowley was shafted, many of the organisations fighting (and it is a fight) for equality were ripped to shreds by Ahern and Fianna Fáil, while the Green Party stood silent. The piecemeal offering of Civil Registration with “I can’t believe it’s Equality” rights while so many other rights are taken away is either sinister or delusional.
As peoples’ anger with a tougher life in 2009 gets channeled into racist and homophobic attacks and just general violence for looking at someone “the wrong way”, there needs to be more representation, not less, not none. Still, in a way it is a lesson for many of these organisations that they cannot depend on a Government to help fund their work or those wanting representation to depend on groups bankrolled by Chuck Feeney to represent the needs of a community by hosting award ceremonies.
Dustin Lance Black’s Oscar speech is brilliant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mv35SN3ctU
Damien the poem below sprung to mind. (Got the detail from Wikipedia)
Contrast Niall Crowley with our banking and political leaders. It all our responsibility now
“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”
Great post.
And interesting poem Dermot. Fair play.
well said Damian, Often wondered what invisible people have invisible rights meant. It takes on a new perspective people for me now. Maybe it should be inaudible people? Connected/prominent people have a voice. If you don’t have a voice technology can wire you, can connect you, can make you speak louder. People need to be heard to be understood and to be understood to be accepted to be accapted to live.