Outside of Trinity, the Network works with a range of partners to ensure Trinity is actively supportive at a Dublin and national level; this includes affiliation and events with LGBT+ staff networks at other HEIs in Ireland as well as LGBT+ organisations working on issues of interest to our members. Our supporters and members have helped us define important areas for growth in 2023/24. This includes: Formally recognising the LGBT+ milestones as part of Trinity’s legacy, and reflecting this in historical information and landmarks on campus. Creating opportunities to share Trinity’s LGBTQ+ history in tours, and events and continue this in the present through research and advocacy. Working with LGBTQ+ staff, students, and allies to cohesively develop practices that recognise our diverse experiences across the university. That intersectional approach is essential to the future of efforts in the LGBTQ+ community, as we feel it is imperative that we strongly and clearly support those who have not yet benefitted in the same way from progress. In particular, the Network is committed to meaningfully advocating for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people whose present-day challenges in society parallel those of gay and lesbian people in decades past. Considering this anniversary, Freddie Fallon, the current undergraduate Auditor (Chair) of Q Soc shared: ‘QSoc, and our predecessor, the SLM, have a rich history as agents of change both within the college community and nationally. In the coming year, we intend to honour this history by undertaking an archival project to commemorate our past, as well as pursuing a campaign to increase access to safe gender-affirming care alongside the Student Union. It is our highest priority to build community among the queer students in Trinity and to use this community as a force for change.’ The Network is committed to manifesting the values of inclusion, advocacy, and equity which are core to both the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement in Ireland and in Trinity’s own mission. This has not by any means always been a simple or unreservedly positive experience. As with all progressive projects it has encountered setbacks, stonewalling, and detractors across the years. The Network works to embrace the ambiguity, overlapping and sometimes contradictory nature of our relationship with our colleagues and the university so we can drive forward a version of Trinity that we can all be proud to be part of. To this end, one of the Network’s goals for the coming year is to begin a permanent archive of Trinity’s LGBTQ+ history which will reflect the diverse experiences of LGBTQ+ people at the university. We are inviting anyone who has personal materials that could add to this collection (e.g. newspapers, letters, videos, posters, photos, personal mementoes), or who would be interested in sharing their own story as an LGBTQ+ person at Trinity, to contact us at LGBTStaff@tcd.ie. Even items which may not appear important may be of interest, so please do get in touch. Reflecting on the 50th anniversary of SLM at 2023 Pride, Joel McKeever (Network Co-Chair) said: ‘We talk occasionally about “queer time” – how time can speed up and slow down when you’re in the community, as our personal experiences can differ from the mainstream, and society lags or jumps forward in fits and spurts. A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting.’ Today we have a community that includes people who have seen an incredible arc of progress in their lifetime, alongside young people who were born into a world where they were never deemed illegal. Difficulties and challenges persist, but in recognising the human experiences at the heart of our history, we continue to thrive.
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