Monday night.
Dustin Lance Black at UCD on the May marriage equality referendum.
A memorable speech.
But don’t take our word for it.
Ian Fahy, auditor of the UCD Laaw Society, writes:
I would like to draw your attention to a speech delivered by Oscar-winning screenwriter of Milk (2008), Dustin Lance Black at an event to confer him with Honorary Life membership of the UCD Law Society.. Black’s boyfriend, British Diving Champion, Tom Daley also attended the award event.
He delivered an impassioned speech about the strength of storytelling and the effect it can have on winning the upcoming Marriage Equality referendum in Ireland.
It was truly one of the most incredible speeches delivered to the UCD Law Society and has been recognised as such by long standing University officials.
Black is an internationally recognised advocate for Gay rights across the world and took time to specifically come to Ireland to deliver this speech in the hope of having some impact on the upcoming referendum.
He reminisced about his youth and the struggle he faced with coming to terms with his own sexuality – something that was extremely difficult and dangerous coming from a Mormon-Texan-military family. He called for the youth of Ireland to tell their own stories, something that he claims is the most powerful form of achieving positive change.
My term as Auditor is coming to end, and over my last three years in UCD I have never felt so strongly that an address to our society needed to be published in the national media. I genuinely believe this video if shared can have a real and positive impact upon the Marriage Equality referendum. All I ask is for you to please watch this 18 minute clip (above), and see for yourself.
Had to do a double take on that first pic. The way the shadow lies looks like he’s not wearing any pants.
You wish
Could very well have been the case…. you know what the homos are like…
Thought the same too.
i thought it was Kevin Bacon sporting a fringe.
Should be compulsory viewing for every bigot.
Dustin Lance Black with no pants?
Works for me.
Your bigots aren’t the problem fool. You can’t change them anyway. Its the middle ground that you are ignoring you should be targeting.
As you yourself recently remarked, ‘If we wash our hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, we side with the powerful – we don’t remain neutral’. The middle ground are bigots, too – just don’t want to seem to be so. The “I’ve no problem with it personally but I just don’t think Ireland is ready” is a cowardly position – and a latently bigoted one. It’s not such a complicated proposition, no need for fence-sitting.
And, eh, “fool”? Are you as charming in all debates?
As you yourself recently remarked, ‘If we wash our hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, we side with the powerful – we don’t remain neutral’. The middle ground are bigots, too – just don’t want to seem to be so. The “I’ve no problem with it personally but I just don’t think Ireland is ready” is a cowardly position – and a latently bigoted one. It’s not such a complicated proposition, no need for fence-sitting.
And, eh, “fool”? Are you as charming in all debates?
I wrote that? Well, now. news to me. Anyway, it seems to me that you and so many on here are here to fight bigots and out homophobes. Good luck with that and have fun. Others actually want to win a referendum. Speaking to some people at GLEN the other day, they reckoned that if it was held now the no side would win. Thats because people like you are spending your energy in the wrong way and harming your own side. Thats why you are a fool.
I’m not expending energy on anything and I don’t have a “side”. It’s just that I’m neither ambivalent nor a coward.
I think apathy more than anything else is going to be the problem. There are people who are highly motivated to vote for it but unless they can convince all of their extended families, neighbors, friends and workmates, I think the conservative population will hold sway.
This debate does need to be about the personal stories – not the abstract debate on historical meaning of marriage but of Mick & Sean down the road.
I’m generally not a fan of Bluebeard’s musings but he is right here in relation to the middle-ground. They are generally the rural or semi-rural GAA loving folk with a strong cultural if not religious attachment to the Roman Church. They don’t bear any ill-will toward gay people but neither are they totally understanding nor do they have any real contact with a gay person or couple obviating what they see in the media. They always vote and generally vote centre-right. Like it or lump it, they form a large part of the Irish electorate.
No matter how you might (however correctly) assert that latent bigotry might exist among these folks, calling Maureen, Doris and Pádraig homophobes is not going to work out well for the marriage referendum. Irish people in referenda, particularly the agrarian voters, do not like to feel corralled into voting one way. They may not ever be fully convinced by mariage equality given their cultural hard-wiring but I’ve no doubt that a non-negligible number are open-minded, hoping to be convinced by reasoned debate dispelling the apocalyptic soothsaying and would like to hear of more actual real gay couples (and their children) and what the referendum means for them.
I’d imagine the Yes side is keeping the personal, emotive stories to closer to referendum day.
Wonderful orator.
He looks like he is made out of plastic.
Handsome plastic. Yes.
Very pretty int’he
I’d say himself and Tom Daly’d have lovely babies