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Irish Post
27-05-2025
- General
- Irish Post
Stained glass window unveiled in Belfast celebrates LGBTQ+ community
A NEW stained glass window has been unveiled in Belfast to celebrate the contribution of the LGBTQ+ community to the city. Located at City Hall, the window shows 'pivotal moments in the community's development and was designed in partnership with representatives from the sector' a spokesperson for Belfast City Council confirmed. The new stained glass window in Belfast's City Hall 'There was cross-party support for the commission of the new window which is on the ground floor of City Hall,' they explained. 'It is the latest window to be transformed as part of ongoing work over the last 15 years to develop the building as a shared space for everyone.' The design includes quotes from contemporary community figures and depicts key milestones in LGBTQ+ led campaigns. Bright colours represent the Pride flag and the window is framed with green carnations, which are a flower associated with the Irish literary icon Oscar Wilde. Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Micky Murray officially unveiled the new artwork this week, alongside Cara McCann, Director of HERe NI. 'The unveiling of this window in Belfast's most iconic building is a significant moment for our LGBTQ+ community,' Councillor Murray said. 'It is a statement that our city is welcoming and inclusive, and both recognises, and celebrates, the contribution and importance of our LGBTQ+ citizens,' he added. 'This artwork is also the latest step in ensuring City Hall is a shared space for everyone and it will be seen by hundreds of tourists and visitors who visit the building every week. 'The window itself is stunning - a fantastic addition to the space and a worthy response to all the ideas and suggestions put forward by the community," he added. "I also hope it will be an inspiration for everyone continuing to fight inequality.' Ms McCann said such recognition was 'vital' for the LGBTQ+ community. 'Community and visibility matter,' she explained. 'When people see themselves reflected in public spaces – in windows, books, classrooms and councils – they feel valued, they feel seen,' she added. 'The window reflects our community strength – how we come together, in our streets and our shared spaces, to lift one another up, to speak out against injustice and to create visibility, where once there was silence. 'For LGBTQIA+ people, that recognition is not just nice to have – it is life-affirming. 'For young LGBTQIA+ people walking through the City Hall's grounds, wondering if they belong – this window says: you do.'
BBC News
05-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
NI Politics: Stormont paying 'lip service' on women's issues, says policy group
"I think we've seen lots of photo ops but not very much delivery, a lot of it is lip service."Take women from different backgrounds and groups, put them in a room and ask the question: Is the assembly delivering for you?Nine times out of 10 the answer will be the same - been more than a year since power-sharing returned and days since the executive published its programme for government, with promises on ending violence against women and girls and improving access to childcare. But while policy and campaign groups have welcomed those commitments, they have said it doesn't go anywhere near far the Shankill Shared Women's Centre in west Belfast on Wednesday, the Women's Policy Group for NI brought about 40 women together to rank the assembly's achievements - or lack of - in the past 12 executive has published a strategy on ending violence against women and girls and implemented a subsidy scheme for childcare and have said they would do more if they had greater financial Sophie Nelson from HERe NI, which represents LGBTQIA+ women, criticised what she called "lip service" being paid by politicians on women's issues. "I appreciate it's difficult and I have sympathy with them in terms of trying to get laws progressed in the executive, but we need to see real action in the next two years," she told BBC News NI."I know from the LGBTQIA+ women I work with, their needs are not being delivered on and there is no mention of this in the programme for government, which we're really saddened to see."Katy Allen from Act Now NI said she would only score the executive "four out of 10" for its performance in the past year."There are such important things facing women in Northern Ireland, not just violence against women and girls or the lack of childcare, but general societal attitudes," she added. 'No meaningful change' "There's been no real effort to make meaningful change or to hold people to account."Siobhan Harding works for the Women's Support Network and spoke of many women feeling like they had been "forgotten by Stormont", particularly those from less well off said while Stormont had made some progress around welfare mitigations, other areas remain a weak point."There are still significant gaps, we wanted to see more of a priority being put on addressing poverty - women are the shock absorbers of poverty in the home," she added."That's very much what we're hearing in our research with local women, we're disappointed that's not stronger in the programme for government." Catriona Goldhammer, who attended Wednesday's event, said she felt having more women in politics was important for getting women's issues onto the political agenda."You can see they are going in the right direction and beginning to put women's issues at the front but we have steps to go," she ahead of international women's day this weekend, she said activism is the key to persuading politicians to do more."This is exactly what this sort of thing is - the more women we get together in spaces like this, the more power we have and the more our voices are hopefully heard."
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Northern Irish LGBTQ+ organisations to celebrate milestone anniversaries at special event
Three Northern Irish organisations are teaming up to celebrate a collective 100 years of supporting LGBTQ+ people in the North. The Rainbow Project, HERe NI, and Cara-Friend will host a grand gala dinner at the iconic Titanic Building in Belfast on March 8, 2025. The event will kick off with a champagne reception and a four-course meal, followed by interactive entertainment featuring cabaret performances, live game shows and bingo. Adding to the significance of this occasion, it will also host the prestigious Tolerantia Awards, presented by the European Alliance Against Homophobia. Ver esta publicación en Instagram Una publicación compartida de HereNI (@hereni_) The veteran charity will be Cara-Friend. This LGBTQ+ organisation has spent 50 years supporting the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of the LGBTQ+ community in Northern Ireland. Alongside this event, Cara-Friend is also hosting an exhibition throughout February in The Linen Hall called Founding Cara-Friend, which tells the story of the establishment of the charity and features a series of moving portraits of founding volunteers of the organisation. Steve Williamson, Director of Cara-Friend, said, 'Having reached our 50th year of support for LGBTQ+ people in Northern Ireland, we're so proud of the work we've done and continue to do in support of our communities. We hope that our service users, past and present, who have grown up through Cara-Friend's youth service and other services across the sector feel the same pride in being part of our collective story'. Second in line is The Rainbow Project, celebrating its 30th anniversary. Its dedicated staff, seasonal workers and volunteers located all across their offices in Belfast work devotedly for the cause. They offer services which mitigate the impacts of discrimination, and they also provide training, campaigning and policy work. Scott Cuthbertson, CEO of the Rainbow Project, stated, 'We've come a long way since Rainbow was founded as a health and wellbeing organisation for gay and bisexual men: we have grown and shifted into a service provider and campaigning organisation for all LGBTQ+ communities, and we look forward to progressing LGBTQ+ equality for the next 30 years.' Last but not least, HERe NI will complete the total sum of 100 years as it marks 20 years of advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community, especially with lesbians and bisexual women. Cara McCann, Director of HEReNI, said, '20 years ago, Northern Ireland's first organisation for lesbian and bisexual women was founded in response to a lack of support and space for those women to connect and build community'. Currently, a remarkable aspect of their work is engaging with LGBTQ+ women on the issues that matter to them, and then raising these issues at government level. If you are interested in attending the event to celebrate these magnificent collective 100 years of achievements, dedication and advocacy for the Northern Irish LGBTQ+ community, tickets are available at The Rainbow's Project website. The post Northern Irish LGBTQ+ organisations to celebrate milestone anniversaries at special event appeared first on GCN.
