Cllr John Maher, deputising for the Lord Mayor, welcomed The Cork LGBTI+ InterAgency Group to City Hall last week. The group assembled in the bright sunshine at the Rainbow Balustrade, outside City Hall, and went in to formally meet with Cllr Maher.
This meeting was in advance of the upcoming LGBTI+ Awareness Week. Cork marks May 17th, the International Day Against Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT) annually by organising an LGBTI+ Awareness Week.
‘A SAFE CITY FOR ALL’
In a world grown increasingly intolerant and threatening, the importance of marking IDAHOBIT is essential. The Cork LGBTI+ Awareness Week 2024 theme is ‘A Safe City For All’ which will be explored at various events throughout the week. This theme is a call for unity: only through solidarity for each other will we create a world without injustice, where no one is left behind.
The theme was chosen in the shadow of the attacks that have been made on people and organisations in the last year. Libraries, migrant accommodation and other public buildings have been subjected to pickets, protests, damage to publicly owned books and materials, and personalised attacks on staff in their places of work.
Cllr Maher especially thanked the InterAgency Group for their work in creating a more inclusive city.
“You have made it alright for people to acknowledge who they are in public. In an earlier time, we would have hidden that aspect of ourselves”.
EVENTS ALL WEEK
Lord Mayor, Cllr Kieran McCarthy officially launched the week on Monday (13th) in City Hall, acknowledging the work done by the LGBTI+ InterAgency Group as essential to building a safe city for all.
Reflecting on the City’s motto Statio Bene Fide Carinis he said: “Cork aspires to be A Safe Harbour for all. Everyone should be safe to live fully as themselves, no matter who we are, where we come from, who we love or how we look.”
Keynote speaker at the launch was Roderic O’Gorman TD, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. A range of free events run throughout the week, including a Rainbow Picnic on Sunday afternoon in Fitzgerald Park.
Full details of all events are available at www.corkcity.ie/lgbti and on socials @CorkLGBTWeek
