Over the weekend, Allianz denied it is “the headline sponsor” for the World Meeting of Families (WMoF), which takes place in Dublin later this month.

In a statement last night, the company said Allianz in Ireland was the official general insurer to the WMoF and had made a donation to it but was not the headline sponsor of the event.

“Allianz is Ireland’s leading insurer and the only indigenous insurer capable of covering an event as big and as complex as the WMoF,” it said.

This heavy involvement from Allianz in the WMoF has raised the eyebrows of the LGBT+ community and their allies as the business has historically been a supporter of the LGBT+ community.

Happy #Pride to all our wonderful @Allianz_Care LGBTQ staff and everyone celebrating @DublinPride week #DublinPride #Pride2018 #WeAreFamily pic.twitter.com/N4Rbi1bm5S

— Allianz Care (@AllianzCare) June 27, 2018

Fianna Fáil Representative for Dublin Rathdown, Justin McAleese contacted Allianz to inquire as to their involvement in the WMoF. Speaking to GCN, he said he asked how it was compatible form them to be supportive of the LGBT+ community while also sponsoring an event that has ignored them.

“Since it was revealed by the Irish Independent in March that the Bank of Ireland has seconded a senior member of staff to be the Head of Financial Development at WMOF, I have asked how is it possible to sponsor the WMOF – which has consistently and systematically removed all references to LGBTI people from its literature and online videos – and at the same time light up its College Green branch in rainbow colours to celebrate Dublin Pride.

“I accept when they agreed to the secondment in July-17 that the indications from the Church were that it was going to be an inclusive and welcoming event for the first times since its inception because historically it has always been an event that is hostile to the LGBTI community.

“Comments in October from Bishop Brendan Leahy were very positive, he said unambiguously that LGBTI people were going to be made welcome. But actions speak louder than words – and the WMOF have through their actions made clear that LGBTI people and their families are not welcome.”

Reluctance To Align To WMOF

“This was why I was so surprised to hear Norah Casey say on the Marian Finucane programme that Allianz, a global insurance company who are long standing supporters of Pride events around the world, were the ‘headline sponsors for the event'”, McAleese continued.

“Indeed Ms. Casey went on to say that Allianz were the only sponsor happy to have their sponsorship publicly disclosed. Immediately following that programme I contacted Allianz and asked them to explain how they could be “headline sponsor” of WMOF given their track record of not welcoming the LGBTI community and at the same time sponsor pride events around the world.  They responded by confirming that they were ‘not the Headline Sponsor’.

“I think the reluctance of any firm to be publicly associated with the WMOF is a credit to our business community who value their LGBTI colleagues and their families and will not tolerate them being treated as second class citizens.”