Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

Galway Community Pride week is upon us; it’s time again to celebrate the local LGBT+ tribe.

For 35 years, the parade has been the highlight of Bród na Gaillimhe, and this Saturday rainbow flags will bring a blast of colour to the city’s streets.

Pride is a protest about acceptance, equality and raising awareness of issues affecting LGBT+ people.

The T in that acronym – transgender – is a vulnerable group under sustained attack on social media recently.

Last Monday, Pride Committee organised Trans Night Out, a closed event. Trans people, who wanted to go, had to email or direct message on social media, to learn where it was on.

Galway has a reputation for being open and welcoming, and Pride celebrates being out, proud and visible – but not this event.

Galway Pride ignored repeated requests for comment, so we must speculate why the secrecy was necessary.

It could be to do with privacy. But it’s also plausible that it is a safety precaution – Pride did not want to advertise the trans event venue for fear it attracted headers, intent on disrupting and protesting.

That would be a sad reflection of society. And yet, after far-right activists targeted librarians over LGBT+ content in children’s books, it’s understandable why it was kept under wraps.

It’s not known for sure how many transgender people live in Galway; probably a couple of hundred.

There are no official figures in Ireland, but international statistics suggest trans people make up less than 1% of the population.

In England and Wales, in a 2021 Census, some 0.5% said their gender identity differed from their sex registered at birth. Just 0.1% identified as a ‘Trans man’, and 0.1% identified as a ‘Trans woman’.

That equates to around 400 trans people in Galway City. Although, presumably, just like trans people in rural UK migrate to London, where they are freer to live a life that’s true to themselves, many of Galway’s native trans people live in Dublin or emigrate. Similarly, there are immigrant trans people in Galway, who, for example, fled African countries, hostile to their gender expression.

And there would be more of them, but sadly, the trans community is at high risk of suicide.

HSE studies in 2013 and 2015, found four out of 10 trans people in Ireland had attempted suicide. This doubled to 80% of the trans community who ‘considered suicide’.

Trans people represent a tiny minority. And yet the volume of ‘debate’ about them online and in media, is disproportionate.

They are often misunderstood by society and face more prejudice, discrimination and isolation than the broader gay community.

There are complex issues surrounding transitioning, particularly for children – elements of the Cass Report into the children’s gender identity clinic, Tavistock, in England, underlined that.

The media are obsessed with the hard cases, too. What prisons should trans people be sent to; what sports should they play?

Interesting though those discussions are, they cause damage and real hurt to real people, who just want to live their ordinary lives, like the rest of us, without constantly feeling threatened and under attack, and without having their very existence questioned.

Pictured: Participants in the 2023 Pride Festival parade.  PHOTO: JOE O’SHAUGHNESSY.