TENI are proud to have signed the following open letter along with our colleagues from other LGBTQIA+ organisations in Ireland.

We, the undersigned Irish LGBTQI+ organisations, join the global call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. A ceasefire is urgently needed to save lives, to halt the destruction of Gaza and the murder of its civilians, and to secure peaceful, equitable futures for all.

LGBTQI+ people across the world have watched the violence of the past four months in horror. We denounce the taking of innocent Israeli lives by Hamas on October 7th, and call for the release of all hostages. We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the indiscriminate and brutal assault on Gazan civilians since that day. Almost 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October, including over 11,500 children. Those who survive are starving, without access to water, and facing the mortal threats of disease, displacement, and malnutrition, cumulatively representing a risk of genocide of the people of Gaza. 

LGBTQI+ communities have felt the pain of state violence and oppression. We know the value of international solidarity in addressing injustice against vulnerable communities. In Ireland, we have been supported in our battles for equality by our global LGBTQI+ family and allies. The scale of the violence perpetrated upon Gaza and its children is beyond our community’s comprehension, outside anything we have witnessed in our own painful histories; we can only call to anyone who will hear us for the killing to stop.

Many of our organisations work to promote to support the futures of LGBTQI+ young people, to secure equality for LGBTQI+ communities and families, and to ensure safety for LGBTQI+ individuals in their public and private lives. This mission feels hopeless in Gaza, where children are buried or orphaned, families decimated, and safety beyond reach. Our LGBTQI+ Palestinian siblings have asked us, before all else, to help them survive and achieve self-determination, so that they may one day mobilise and work towards the progress we have fought for in Ireland. 

For LGBTQI+ organisations, this task includes dismantling the global pinkwashing of Israeli violence and military occupation by challenging the perception of Israel as a leader in LGBTQI+ equality, and using our power to call on governments, businesses, and international bodies to recognise and oppose oppression, brutality, and inequality in Palestine. 

Ireland’s voice must continue to cry out against the bloodshed. Communities in every town and city across this island have marched in their thousands to beg for an end to the killing. We call on our political leaders to continue advocating for a permanent ceasefire, to continue sending humanitarian aid, and to use all diplomatic and political means available to end Israel’s breaches of international law in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. 

We call on LGBTQI+ communities and organisations to continue raising our collective voice in solidarity with Palestine and to work together towards a future free from oppression, in recognition of the fact that there is no queer liberation without Palestinian liberation; and that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Signatories:

Amach! LGBT

Black Queer Book Club

Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride

Gay Health Network

Gay Project

GCN

Glória LGBT+ Choir

GOSHH

Intersex Ireland

LGBT Ireland

LINC

National LGBT Federation

Neuro Pride Ireland (Allied organisation)

Outhouse LGBTQ+ Centre

Queer Asian Pride Ireland

Queers for Palestine 

ShoutOut

Small Trans Library

Sporting Pride

The Switchboard

TENI

Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin

Trans Healthcare Action