Rights/Equality

Homosexuality was formally decriminalised in Ireland in 1993. This was the result of a campaign by Senator David Norris and the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform which led to a ruling in 1988 that Irish laws prohibiting homosexual activities were in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, Ireland is one of few countries in the EU that refuses to legally recognise gender change. On 19 October, 2007 Dr Lydia Foy won her case in the High Court to get a birth certificate in her female gender, but all agree that there is a lot of progress to be made in getting equal rights for transgendered people.

Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is outlawed by the Employment Equality Act, 1998 and the Equal Status Act, 2000. These laws forbid discrimination in any of the following areas: employment, vocational training, advertising, collective agreements, the provision of goods and services, and other publicly available opportunities.

Marriage in Ireland is currently regulated by the Civil Registration Act 2004`, which states that a marriage would be invalid if both parties to a marriage are of the same sex. Therefore Ireland does not currently allow same-sex marriage. There is a huge amount of work being done to change this, however, by groups such as LGBT Noise and Marriage Equality.