The president of Ireland is supposed to be a unifying figure, one representing (in as much as it’s possible) all of the people of Ireland. Which makes President Connolly’s decision to become patron of an organisation like Belong To all the more puzzling, given the controversial nature of the group and its activities.
Belong To, in case readers need a reminder, is a heavily State-funded NGO, that as Gript reported previously encouraged teachers to lie to the parents of students about their children and disclosures they may have made regarding their sexuality.
It’s also, among its many other activities, the driving force behind the heavy-handed ‘Stand Up Awareness Week’ which sees thousands of schoolchildren across the country exhorted to solidarity and activism on behalf of the LGBTQ+ movement every year.
In short, it’s not a universally beloved organisation or ‘service provider’. Quite the opposite. Regardless, earlier this month Belong To released a statement describing its delight at President Connolly’s acceptance of Belong To’s invitation to become a patron.
“The appointment marks a significant milestone in the history of the national LGBTQ+ youth organisation, which has been supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer young people across Ireland since 2003. President Connolly’s patronage provides a powerful endorsement of the rights, dignity, and value of LGBTQ+ youth during a period of increasing challenges for the community,” Belong To’s statement read.
As readers of Gript will be well aware, Belong To’s idea of supporting and valuing “LGBTQ+ youth” goes far beyond even what most supporters of, say, same-sex marriage would be comfortable with. For example, Belong To’s latest “news” post comes in collaboration with Gay Community News and is titled New Voices: Words of Affirmation. It’s an article by a young, self-described “trans woman” (a young man) who calls himself Ciara Kelly, and outlines his struggles with gender dysphoria and how it manifests in his life.
It makes for a sad read, replete with coping mechanisms like writing down “gender affirmations” like “my dysphoria does not define me” and “I am woman enough”, but it’s touted by Belong To as inspirational and challenging “rigid narratives”.
Belong To is not the only controversial organisation President Connolly has taken up patronage of, either. Following in the footsteps of her predecessor Michael D. Higgins, she also accepted the Irish Penal Reform Trust’s invitation to become their patron, much to their delight.
“We thank the President for her empathy, compassion and understanding of many of the complex issues facing people in the justice system and her focus on treating everyone fairly and with dignity. Together we look forward to realising our vision of a just humane Ireland where prison is truly a last resort,” the IPRT said in a statement on social media following the president’s acceptance.
Like most people in Ireland, I’m all for a justice system that works to reintroduce people to a flourishing, full and gainful life in society, but sometimes, prison is a necessary step in that process. The IPRT’s commitment to something of a prison-less society is extreme, and it’s hard to imagine that it’s in keeping with the public’s opinion on these things.
Nevertheless, the IPRT receives an enormous amount of funding from the State to advance that vision. It engages extensively with the Department of Justice on criminal policy, and has just received another institutional endorsement from President Connolly.
All of which raises so many questions. Should the President by offering patronage to organisations like Belong To and the IPRT, which are not only extremely controversial but also actively involved in trying to push Government policy in directions they view to be more in-line with their own priorities?
Should the presidency not be limited to patronage of relatively neutral civic institutions, like the Gaisce Award and the Irish Red Cross, to name but two? The President remains patron of those, but recent occupants of the office have gone some way towards lumping social justice, ‘equality’-oriented organisations into the mix as though they were the same thing.
They are not. While few enough eyebrows will be raised at other organisations President Connolly has accepted patronage of (autism charity AsIAm, disability advocates Inclusion Ireland, charity support organisation Carmichael), the inclusion of even two contentious organisations like Belong To and IPRT should not pass by without debate.