Mother Club donating 50% of Saturday's profits to Trans Equality Together

Culture
14 Jul 22

Trans Pride Dublin 2019, pictured by Damien Egers (INM).

During an era when Trans rights are especially under attack globally, Trans & Intersex Pride returns to Dublin this Saturday.

To mark Trans & Intersex Pride this year, Mother Dublin are donating half of Saturday night's club profits to Trans Equality Together.

The march will take place this Saturday, July 16th at 2pm, starting at the Garden of Remembrance and concluding at Merrion Square.

Trans & Intersex Pride first began back in 2019, but the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to last year's outing.

Trans Equality Together is a new organisation composed of representatives from BeLonG To Youth Services, the Transgender Equality Network of Ireland and LGBT Ireland.

The group's aim to create an Ireland where Trans and non-binary people are equal, safe and valued. Trans people in Ireland are a tiny minority of the population yet they have been marginalised, denied access to healthcare, and their voices are rarely heard in national discourse.

Conceived in June 2010, Mother is an old-school club night for disco-loving LGBTQ+ family and friends. Mother is also a key player for creating some of Ireland's biggest festivals, including their own Pride Block Party and Love Sensation music festival.

This Saturday we'll be marching and supporting our trans siblings @DubTrans

This Saturday night at the club, 50% of profits will go to support ‘Trans Equality Together’.

Come march & dance in solidarity with our trans fam!

Big Love, The Mother Team. pic.twitter.com/P9wXzT2SPf

— Mother Club (@MotherDublin) July 13, 2022

The event is open to all Trans, non-binary, intersex and cis people in Ireland.

A post from the Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin organisers on Facebook highlights the goal of the protest, writing that “the last two years have seen an unprecedented number of attacks levelled against Trans people and the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole.

"Across the world, we have witnessed a dangerous new reactionary and right-wing movement seeking to roll back the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community which have been won through decades of organised, grassroots mass struggle.”

“Such homophobic and transphobic articles and attacks have no place in our society and cannot be tolerated. Despite how much the media and right-wing reactionaries wish they could legislate or scare us out of existence, the simple reality is that neither sex or gender exist as a binary. Both exist on a spectrum and those of us who don’t fit in the binary aren’t going anywhere.”

Elements of the organisers' 2019 theme, 'Break the Binary', will be incorporated into the 2022 protest. Oppression perpetrated by the gender binary is one of the core issues targeted by Trans Pride.

Their statement continues by stating that “the gender and sex binary are a product of western colonialism which harms all of us. Even cisgender people are imprisoned by the societal (and often sexist) expectations placed upon them.”

The stark lack of Trans healthcare in Ireland and the stigmatisation of intersex identities was also referenced in the statement written by Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin. The total unavailability of gender-affirming care has led to Trans people travelling to Poland and UK to receive surgery.

“There’s the ever-growing crisis of the Trans healthcare system in Ireland. Trans youth have no access to gender-affirming care as the Gender Identity adolescent clinic in Crumlin Hospital is no longer running as of January 2021. The waiting list for Loughlinstown is ranging from 6-10 years long.”

“In Ireland and globally, intersex babies are given medically unnecessary and nonconsensual operations in order to conform their bodies to the gender/sex binary. These surgeries have high complication rates and lifelong consequences such as infertility, reduced sexual function, and other physical and mental health issues.”

The return of Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin is more crucial than ever, following on from the recent growth in homophobic violence across the country. The relaunch of their protest has come just two days after news of a transphobic attack taking place in Dublin broke.

The group has remained vigilant over the past two years, responding to these incidences of violence and hosting an annual vigil to honour Trans Day of Remembrance. These continued acts of brutality against the queer community makes the protection of Trans, Intersex and non-binary folks increasingly crucial for members of the LGBTQ+ community and our allies.

The statement finished with a powerful message, encouraging attendees to bring with them friends, family, co-workers and fellow students in an act of solidarity, coming together to “build a movement to actively fight for bodily autonomy for Trans and intersex people as well as an end to the transphobic and homophobic attacks we have witnessed.”

“We’re bringing Pride back to its radical roots of protest. Those who profit from our suffering, deny us our rights or benefit from our exploitation in any way are not welcome.”

The separation of Church and State; the banning of Intersex Genital Mutilation; free GP-led Trans healthcare based on informed consent; an end to the culture homophobia and transphobia - plus compulsory LGBTQA+ secular relationships and sex education (RSE) in schools are top of the list for Trans & Intersex Pride Dublin 2022.