the treatment of lg bt people has pope francis said.utcasts in society and with pure disdain is utterly repugnant to a progressively liberal country like ireland. the tide has already turned in this regard and the church is so far removed. pope francis has the past made about lgbt people saying they are people of god, children of god, but never made any orders to include lg bt but never made any orders to include lgbt people but never made any orders to include lg bt people in but never made any orders to include lgbt people in mass are sacrament, and i'm not even saying same—sex marriage because nobody is saying they should have that pair say, but welcoming lgbt they should have that pair say, but welcoming lg bt people they should have that pair say, but welcoming lgbt people who feel catholic, it is something thatjesus of nazareth would probably have done. and just reflecting on this festival of families, we are reminded that families come in many different shapes and forms, and what we heard from pope francis today has been largely

abuse and lgbt issues how the church ‘s handling abuse and lg bt issues and how the church ‘s handlingo forth? not really, it is just more words emphasising his commitment to do something about whole point is to do something, we're all want action now because the problem has been going on for many years. the pope has been there for five years so i had an expectation, called naive or whatever, because i have been talking to people at dublin castle and they said you do not expect him to say anything on a papal visit, but i do because i believe this is a critical moment for the church to reach out to the irish people, a country that has been scourged by clerical sex abuse and do something different and speak directly to the people about this. michael, is that afair people about this. michael, is that a fair assessment of what the pope had to say? this was a civic reception and the pope was never going to outline a plan of reform at a civic reception. he is due to give six speeches in total, he will give another at the cathedral shortly and another at the cathedral shortly and another toni

so there are examples, and lg bt church.eople i know are members of the church. now, the catholic church teaches that marriage and the union ofa man teaches that marriage and the union of a man and woman is for procreation, and they teach that sexual activity should only occur within marriage. so it doesn't matter if you are single, gay, whatever you are. the church would teach that outside marriage, there should not be sexual activity, and i can see that that is the point i think you are making, so it is not just the lgbt community, it is anybody else. but the point you made earlier was that if the church is a relationship with jesus, earlier was that if the church is a relationship withjesus, the church is not giving them access tojesus, regardless of the church‘s teaching about celibacy are only having sexual relations during marriage. if people don‘t have that, they still wa nt people don‘t have that, they still want a relationship with jesus, people don‘t have that, they still want a relationship withjesus, but they are

the catholic church uses to describe lgbt people, the catholic church uses to describe lg bt peopleibe lgbt people, for example. that will bea lgbt people, for example. that will be a fascinating meeting. lgbt people, for example. that will be a fascinating meetinglj lgbt people, for example. that will be a fascinating meeting. i think thatis be a fascinating meeting. i think that is going to be private, but our taoiseach, leo, has said he will raise as many of the issues that are pertinent to the irish population as he can. i noticed when the pope was arriving at aras an uachtarain, he is also meeting the gay minister for children. so he is meeting a very different ireland. in my own group, we have a petition saying to the pope, for heaven ‘s sake, you must remove this language about being irredeemably distorted or evil from anything that is said about lgbt people. it is extraordinary. with a pen, that could be worked out tomorrow. that would be one of the smaller things he could do. one of the easier things he could do. smaller things he could do. one of the easier things he could

however, what concerned me is what i have been noticing, is that the way that the lg bt noticing, isat the lg bt issue has noticing, is that the way that the lgbt issue has been put aside by people of the opposition itself. most of the time, issues of lgbt has been raised i the opposition, questioning whether the current government does support the lgbt community. let's turn to pakistan. imran khan generated controversy on the campaign trail for his comments about feminism. it's expected he will be sworn in next week as prime minister of pakistan. so what do women want for their new leader? maybe those comments were taken out of context, maybe he didn't mean that to say those. i will presume that to say those. i will presume that he will try to play to the right, which is what a lot of politicians in pakistan have to be. i think his views could have been better well rounded and better articulated. he needs to look more into women in parliament and address the subject. i really would love to see 50% women representation in the cabinet. work on electoral reforms. he should be focusing

to the way the church talks about lgbt people to the way the church talks about lg bt people during during this visit, one ofa number of lgbt people during this visit, one of a number of protests that will be taking place, or rather, perhaps i should take demonstrations rather than protests, including from survivors of child sex abuse. there will also be acts of remembrance for the children who died and were buried in unmarked graves at mother and baby homes that were set up and run for unmarried mothers because they were considered somehow shameful, something to be hidden away from society. as we look on here at dublin castle, we are waiting for the first public address from pope francis. senator george mitchell there, instrumental in the peace process in northern ireland, one of the invited guests. still with me here at dublin castle, catriona crowe, the historian. catriona, this is a moment potentially of great opportunity for pope francis as he tries to address the many issues that irish catholics wa nt to the many issues that irish catholics want to see dealt with by the church

how confident are you that we will see a changing view in kenya about lg bt rights? in court that is challenging the penal code against homosexuality, so we are seeing changes and we know that we have, regardless of whether or not we want to acknowledge it, there are members of the lgbt immunity who live to acknowledge it, there are members of the lgbt community who live within the continent, who live in kenya, who live in uganda, who live in tanzania. you cannot — laws will not change the nature of a person. so, do you think kenya could deliver an upset and become the second country after south africa on the continent to legalise gay rights? i think that the fight currently is, yes, is to say that people should not be discriminated because of their sexual orientation and the right to privacy is theirs and theirs alone, and the government has no space trying to enforce the law against carnal knowledge against the order of nature, because in order to prove it, you would have to disrespect their right to privacy. you say this taps into a wider debate about freedom of s

prime minister, who is openly gay and has had some things to say about the church's wording on the lg btut the church's wording on the lgbt communities. he disagreed on many of those issues. he highlighted some of those issues in his speech, which he gave just before the pope spoke. leo varadkar also spoke at dublin castle and referred to what he called the dark aspects of the catholic church's history. at times in the past, we have failed and there are dark aspects of the catholic church's history. as one of your bishops recently said. we think of the words of the psalm which tell us of the words of the psalm which tell us that children are a heritage from the lord. we remember the failures of church and state and wider society and how they created the bitter and broken heritage for so many people, leaving a legacy of pain and suffering. this is a shared history of sorrow and shame. in place of christian charity, forgiveness and compassion, far too often, there was judgment, forgiveness and compassion, far too often, there wasjudgment, severity and cruelty. in particular towards women a

political editor for tv three arrested hannigan, former political editorfor tv three in ireland and lg btor tv three in ireland and lgbt container and the ambassador to the holy see of the vatican. thank you forjoining us today. we heard those two speeches from the irish prime minister leo varadkar and from pope francis. leo varadkar said above all this and to the victims, we must now ensure that from words come actions and that was a very clear demand, delivered calmly but nonetheless a demand. it was a stunning speech and i was so impressed because it was cleverly crafted, his tone was respectful and he was diplomatic and yet did not pull any punches but delivered them almost in a velvet glove. going back to the pope you just mentioned, he hit all those controversial issues and he was looking for action now. so he really got away with it, he put it up to the pope but in a very nice way. and leo varadkar speaking, to what people in ireland want?” thought it was interesting because he did not divorce church and state or church and society but presented it as or church and society but pres

used to do, playing in these big american churches that would preach against same—sex marriage and lg btple. and the correlation just felt so tight and strong that i actually really lost the desire for that creative outlet. because faith and your christianity — your religion is going to be so much a part of this conversation. if you can tell me, where did you acquire your faith from? was it simply that your parents were very observant, and that you inherited faith from them? faith has always been very real to me. i think when people talk about faith or religion, people might assume that it is more of a kind of a sterile belief system, some distant deity and a set of rules. but for me, it really grew from a childhood curiosity of wondering where the world came from. as a very small child i would stare up the night sky, look at the stars and think, "how on earth did this all get here?" and i began to talk to god, and believed that, you know, he/she was up there. and my parents are very passionate christians, so i was taken to church, and so i very much took on board the christian faith, an

vicky beeching, a popular christian singer—songwriter turned public advocate for lg bt riots, whose remarkablen her described as one of the most influential christians of her generation. has she found peace after yea rs of generation. has she found peace after years of turmoil? vicky beeching, welcome. just a decade ago, singing and songwriting were the pillars of your life. you build life around that singing career. do you still seen today? i do not. it is very interesting as i am sure we will get on to win our conversation when i took the big step to come out as gay, many things changed. i lost many things and my music career was one of them. and that was a choice? you chose to consciously not seeing any more? it is interesting because i chose to come out and therefore lost my music career in the church but then i had imagined i would continue to sing for my own personal... as an outlet. but everytime i picked up my guitar and played it gave me so many flashbacks to the work that i used to do, playing in these big american churches that preach against same—sex marriage and lgbt people. it fe

so we're going to begin with paula and she's going to talk about policies impacting lg bt q and access to healthcare. rebecca is going to talk about issues affecting communities of disabilities. >> activism, academy, academia and activism advocacy in academia. professor davis is going to talk about policies impacting or setting the direction of the trajectory for criminal justice issues and scott gerber is going to basically defend the agenda or he's going to offer a rebuttal, a different perspective. our goal is to have a robust balanced discussion about these issues and so with that, some of our speakers are going to speak from a seated position, some are going tostand but i'm going to be finding them . so i will not be playing games or reading emails, i'm going to be looking at the clock of my timer on this device so i start with paula. >> thank you judge donald and thank you for giving me a chance to be here and it's a privilege to be here on this panel . in talking about how the actions of the administration are impacting the lgbt q plus immunity, we could be here all day talking

two in five trans—young people have attempted suicide and one in five lg bt young people attempted suicideow that they are gay?” think it's very unusual, actually. there are children we have had to start to question their sexuality, i think, and in the way they behave towards other children but we have never had a chart openly come out and say they think they are gay. what policies do you have in place to protect young children who might be questioning or, you know, as leia rochelle pierce told us, saying as jameldid, rochelle pierce told us, saying as jamel did, they are proud of who they are? i think it is a school culture, notjust they are? i think it is a school culture, not just about they are? i think it is a school culture, notjust about policy, you can have all the policies in the world and the equality act is there to support all of children in school but it is about creating a culture in school where it is ok for every child to be different, whether it is sexuality, race, it doesn't matter, it is about being proud of who you are. ithink it is about being proud of who you are. i t

i did a project with the lg bt alcohol.tudy implies it does, and we have to think about the short—term and long—term effects, but we are thinking about a growing child, and if lung function is going to be damaged, if they might have asthma and other issues, this is all about allowing people for their bodies to heal and recover quickly. it is important to have the recovery if you stop. i would be keen for people not to start because nicotine is the warning. if we look at... i work in schools. kids are curious about these things. some of the things they are curious about is the debris in the street, the cigarette butts, 40% to 50% in the streets are cigarettes, they can damage the environment, if it gets into the waterways it can kill fish, it you know, these things are very harmful. they are curious about it. this information gives us more ammunition, more facts to share with young people, in order to influence themselves and their peers. com pletely themselves and their peers. completely off message, but when did we stop gr