Burning Issues 2: What’s next for LGBT Ireland? was published by the NXF as a follow-on from the 2009 Burning Issues research report. Burning Issues 2 was the largest national consultation ever conducted of the LGBT community in Ireland at the time.

In 2015, after years of dedicated activism, historic legislative gains on marriage equality, gender recognition for adults and protections of LGBT staff in religious-run institutions were realised. Following this extraordinary period in LGBT history in Ireland, the National LGBT Federation believed it was timely for LGBT people to reflect again on their central priorities as a community. With the support of the Community Foundation for Ireland, the National LGBT Federation initiated the follow up ‘Burning Issues 2’, a national LGBT community consultation asking ‘what is next for LGBT Ireland?’ The consultation was conducted in spring 2016 with the launch of the research findings in June 2016.

A total of 2612 people completed the questionnaire, making it the survey with the largest number of responses ever undertaken of the Irish LGBT community.

– Report Author

Key findings requiring legislative, policy and public service reform included: 

Equality, such as amending the Gender Recognition Act and to campaign for marriage equality to be extended into Northern Ireland.

Criminal justice, namely hate crime legislation.

Rural policy to support rural LGBT communities.

Education, to eliminate homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools and ensure schools are fully LGBT inclusive.

Parenting, to mainstream LGBT inclusion within all maternity, fertility and parental support services; and to legislate for surrogacy.

Health, to the the blood donation ban on men who have sex with men and to mainstream LGBT equality in all public service provision in mental health, sexual health, transgender health, and so on.

Public sector training for all public service providers. 

Key findings requiring LGBT community action included: 

Community development, regional support and alliances, to build community networks throughout Ireland to join forces to lobby the State on LGBT issues.  

Celebrate gender and sexuality diversity, with a focus on tackling bisexual erasure.

Recognising gender and sexuality diversity underpins the focus on acceptance and recognition. Support for transgender equality was raised by more respondents than any other issue, within this category and is combined with a groundswell of LGBT support for bisexual visibility and eliminating bisexual erasure. The main mechanism for achieving this is through sustained community action. There is an onus on LGBT organisations to redouble their efforts to strengthen community supports, especially in rural areas, in order to target those most in need such as transgender people, LGBT older people and LGBT younger people.

– Report Author