Review of the Defending Freedoms, Advancing Human Rights: Equal Marriage Referendum 10+ Conference Report
Many of us have wondered why the Irish Government embraces gender ideology and the entire progressive human rights doctrine so enthusiastically? The answer may be found in the Defending Freedoms, Advancing Human Rights: Equal Marriage Referendum 10+ Conference Report, authored by Catherine Zappone, former Minister for Children, and Tim Hanley, Director of LGBT Ireland.
This conference took place in Dublin on 13 May 2025 with the stated aim of honouring the historic result of the 2015 same-sex marriage referendum and to take stock of the advances in human rights issues that have been achieved since then. The main focus was on the rights and inclusion of LGBTQI+ people and on their continuing challenges around the world. According to the report, more than three hundred people attended the conference, including members of Government, senior civil servants, grassroots and international leaders, activists and changemakers, philanthropists, civil society leaders, and UN Special Rapporteurs.
Discussions were held and speeches were delivered. The speeches of the two attending Ministers, Norma Foley, Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, and Simon Harris, Tánaiste, as well as that of Kevin McCarthy, Secretary General of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, are published in full in the report.
It should be noted that this review cannot adequately convey the level of self-congratulatory language and “newspeak” terminology used in the report, nor describe in depth the lens through which the attending human rights advocates view the world. This article provides merely a glimpse into their worldview.
Two of the three stated goals of the conference can be summarised as working towards further improving the progress made for LGBTQI+ people in Ireland and internationally. The third goal is:
“To influence the agenda of Ireland’s upcoming EU Presidency in 2026, ensuring a strong European commitment to LGBTQI+ rights.”
The report goes on to state:
“These aims were framed in response to an increasingly volatile global landscape. Across Europe and internationally, disinformation and culture-war narratives continue to distort public discourse and undermine inclusive policymaking.”
Furthermore, it was noted that:
“The struggle for LGBTQI+ rights is bound up with broader fights against racism, ableism, sexism, and xenophobia”
and that:
“Trans and non-binary people, LGBTQI+ parents, migrants, people of colour, and others continue to face exclusion and marginalisation.”
It was also stated that:
“2025 is very different to that of 2015, and we are witnessing the rise of anti-democratic forces, growing disinformation, and increasing hostility towards LGBTQI+ people, particularly trans and non-binary people.”
One of the conference’s recommendations for the Irish Government is:
“Agree that Equality becomes a theme for the Irish EU Presidency, with LGBTQI+ rights central to the way forward.”
Notably, the 2026 conference of ILGA-Europe (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association Europe), a leading LGBTQI+ organisation, which will take place in Dublin in October during the Irish EU Presidency, is likely to constitute the implementation of that recommendation. ILGA-Europe Director of Communications, Irish journalist and author Brian Finnegan, attended the Marriage Equality Referendum 10+ conference.
One theme running through the conference was that the Irish people did not simply vote for equal marriage rights for same-sex attracted people in 2015, but that the overwhelming “Yes” vote demonstrated an understanding that human rights are universal and that voters had effectively supported the realisation of all human rights. Another dominant theme was that the lack of progress in the acceptance of trans and non-binary identities, as well as the marginalisation of migrants, was understood by conference participants to be the result of undemocratic and authoritarian misinformation.
It was stressed that pursuing further progress in LGBTQI+ equality would strengthen Ireland’s international status as a diplomatic leader in the field of human rights, as Simon Harris highlighted in his speech.
Of note is the fact that the conference’s long list of recommendations contains only one referring to a specific action regarding a particular letter in the LGBTQI+ acronym:
“The Irish Government [should] deliver on crucial trans healthcare reforms to ensure a publicly funded, rights-based model of gender-affirming care; services in primary and community care settings, based on an informed-consent approach and international evidence (WHO and WPATH), and developed under principles of patient involvement, community co-production, transparency and accountability.”
For all the enthusiastic discussion of the referendum as a significant achievement for LGBTQI+ rights, Simon Harris openly confirmed in his speech:
“In developing the recent iterations of the Equality Strategies, we have endeavoured to ensure that this intersectional approach is at their heart, recognising the diversity of a person’s identity and how that impacts their experience of Irish life. In acknowledging complexity, we can deliver meaningful change. The conversations today remind us that the passage of the Marriage Equality Referendum was not an endpoint but an important step on our journey towards LGBTQI+ equality.”
In reality, the focus of LGBTQI+ inclusion quickly shifted from support for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual rights to support for the “T” and the insistence that gender identity is a fact. The State adopted the unreasonable demand of trans activists that gender-identity belief must be accepted by everyone when it introduced the Gender Recognition Act, and it endorsed the affirmative approach to children who are questioning their gender.
These Government policies create legitimate safety concerns for women and children. This is the real reason for opposition to current transgender policies and the Gender Recognition Act, and the real reason for reduced acceptance of trans and non-binary identities in Ireland.
Participants at the conference interpreted the Irish people’s overwhelming vote for marriage equality as a mandate not only to introduce intersectionality but also to embed gender-identity belief through the Gender Recognition Act. Simon Harris stated at the conference:
“I would like to consider how marriage equality unlocked new possibilities in our diplomacy. The referendum reinforced Ireland’s commitment to human rights, a central pillar of our foreign policy. Human rights are universal. The strength of the ‘Yes’ vote indicated that the Irish people understand this and therefore wanted the universal nature of human rights to be more fully realised. This gave the entire Government a mandate to stand up proudly for universal human rights across international fora.”
It may be true that Irish voters wished to see the universal nature of human rights more fully realised. However, what they may have had in mind was certainly not that the Government would compel citizens to adopt gender-identity belief, nor that Irish people would be divided into a privileged majority and marginalised, protected minorities, nor that increased immigration would be justified on those grounds.
The Government appears to view the 2015 referendum result as enhancing its reputation and status in international diplomatic circles, a reputation that must not be undermined by citizens’ opposition to its intersectional human-rights framework.
Those within the human-rights advocacy bubble are so convinced that their theoretical framework of social justice is correct that they fail to recognise that they themselves are dividing society into dominant oppressor classes and marginalised oppressed groups, rather than continuing the struggle of past generations of human rights advocates for equal treatment of all people.
The narrative that authoritarian and anti-democratic demagogues are turning Irish people against trans people is a myth that many LGBTQI+ advocates and campaigners cling to because they refuse to acknowledge that many people understand that:
- Sex is binary, real, immutable, and important.
- The category of women will be erased if anyone can identify as one, with serious consequences for women’s rights and safety.
- It is not beneficial for children to be told they may have been born in the wrong body.
- Affirmative care for gender-questioning children leads to harmful medical and surgical interventions.
- Children need to be able to recognise biological sex in order to understand boundaries and fundamental facts of life.
- Migration is both beneficial and necessary; however, uncontrolled migration affects access to housing, public services, education, public safety, and law and order, particularly for economically disadvantaged citizens.
People who oppose Government policy on transgender rights and uncontrolled immigration are neither authoritarian nor anti-democratic.
They seek frank, respectful, and open discussion about gender ideology, immigration policy, and intersectionality. Above all, they want the Irish people to have a say on whether they agree with gender ideology and with the Government’s immigration policies.
A Government that brands every citizen who disagrees with its policies as undemocratic or authoritarian shows contempt for the people whose mandate it is meant to fulfil. Such a Government could itself be described as undemocratic and authoritarian.
It is incumbent upon the Irish Government to demonstrate its democratic credentials by listening to citizens’ lived experiences and real-life accounts of how Government policies have affected their lives, by respecting people’s views and wishes, and by adjusting policies and legislation in accordance with the will of the people, to whom the Government is accountable.
The conference’s call for “an elimination of the anti-trans and intersex sentiment present in Ireland (and the wider world) today” and recommendations such as “the global backlash against LGBTQI+ rights is part of a broader attack on democracy. Ireland must lead with purpose, especially as authoritarian movements gain strength across Europe and beyond” are unlikely to promote rational and reasonable debate on these issues, as they vilify people who hold genuine concerns and differing views.
The assertion that the Government has a mandate from the Irish people to introduce policies and laws compelling everyone to affirm the preferred gender of people who identify as trans or non-binary, and that all immigration is beneficial, is not based on reality. The Irish electorate had little or no awareness of transgender issues and gender-identity concepts at the time of the referendum, nor had it yet experienced the consequences of irregular mass immigration.
The Irish Government should engage with representatives and organisations that advocate for women, children, and LGB people who are critical of current LGBTQI+ policies, and it should take their concerns into account in the interests of balance, fairness, equality, and inclusion.