South Dublin City Council has passed a motion proposed by Councillor Francis Timmons which will see the trans flag flown for International Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31 every year and for 6 days after.

The motion was proposed at the end of last month and also committed to supporting the campaign to introduce hate crime legislation as a matter of urgency by writing to the Minister for Justice.

The motion stated:

“That this Council amends the Flag Policy/Protocol and include the Transgender Flag and ensure that it is flown for International Transgender Day of Visibility on 31st March every year and for 6 days after.

“We commit to writing to the Transgendered Equality Network Ireland (TENI) to show our support for the ‘Call It Out campaign‘ which is a new civil society campaign to highlight and address the harm caused by homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in Ireland.

“We also commit to writing to the Minister for Justice to enact Hate Legislation as a matter of extreme urgency.”

Following the passing of the motion, Councillor Timmons said: “I had the motion passed by South Dublin County Council elected members to amend SDCC Flag Protocol to include the trans flag to be flown every year for seven days from 31st March.

“The motion included support for the Call It Out campaign and also asked the minister to enact Hate Legislation. I am calling on all interested citizens to put in a submission to the Hate Speech Public consultation before December 13.

“It is very worrying that 77% of LGBTQ young people recently surveyed said they felt bullied in school. This is not acceptable in 2019. I also support the ‘ENOUGH’ campaign, which is an opportunity for LGBTQ communities and our allies to come together and demand an inclusive and equal society that celebrates all LGBTQ identities.

“I believe that all LGBTQ people should be free to express their gender identity and sexuality; however, they choose, without fear of discrimination or hate. We have come a long way post the decimalisation with Marriage Equality, Gender Recognition, the Child and Family relationship bill but we have a lot of work to do to ensure that no one feels hated or bullied in our new inclusive modern Republic”.