NOISE NEWS - MARCH 2008
On Valentine's Day 2008 the Noisers — flanked by two brave and beautiful human boquets — presented a spectacularly gorgeous [we think so anyway! :-)] six-foot-tall Valentine's Day Card to our beloved but much-maligned Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.
Click this picture to see more photos from the event
Inside the card were over a thousand Valentine's Day messages of support for gay civil marriage, urging Bertie and his government to do the right thing and allow Ireland's gay couples to have their relationships recognised equally before the law.
Noise were joined by members of BeLonG To, the NGLF, a few old romantics(!) and plenty of noisy supporters in creating a fine racket outside Leinster House (good work with that megaphone, Eddie: – What do we want? – GAY MARRIAGE! – When do we want it? – NOW!) and we hope our message was heard loud and clear by our elected representatives.
The same fine racket, the colour and, most importantly, the message of equality were carried beyond the confines of Kildare Street via television, radio, internet and newspaper reports. The protest also finally cracked the Independent, featuring in a report with photograph on the following day.
Noisers Paul and Mark, along with Linda and Ferga of MarriagEquality, took part in a live studio interview on RTÉ's “Today With Pat Kenny” that morning, and the undoubted media highlight of the day was Noise's national TV debut - Noise and all their friends at the Dáil appeared on TV3 News' afternoon and evening bulletins, and further interviews with Paul and Mark were featured both in the news bulletins and on TV3's flagship current affairs programme “Nightly News With Vincent Browne”.
The theme of the day was, of course, “Show Bertie Some Love” — and once Assisstant Private Secretary To The Taoiseach carried the card, with its messages of love and support, right through the front doors of Leinster House, we were sure Bertie's Valentine's Day was made that little bit more special.
All in all, Noise couldn't be happier with the day — from the wonderful (and slightly saucy) messages contributed by the gay community right through to the people who came along on the day to shout themselves hoarse for gay civil marriage — thanks to Dermod (http://www.bonhom.ie) for his skill with a camera, and a great big THANK YOU to all who gave their support and helped make it a great day!
NOISE NEWS - JANUARY 2008
Noise held its first public demonstration in support of gay civil marriage on December 15 2007. The “Sing for Civil Marriage” protest consisted of masterful carol-singing by members of the award-winning gay choir, Gloria, while the crowds of Christmas shoppers were bombarded with 3000 leaflets explaining both the hardships faced by gay couples and the reasons why only civil marriage can achieve full equality for gay couples.
A large crowd attended the protest, ringed by bright pink posters proclaiming slogans such as “Do you have a problem with gay marriage? Don’t marry a gay! Problem solved”. The festive spirit was continued by equipping the crowd with 70 large pink hearts carrying phrases and slogans such as “Grá”, “Love has no gender” and “Equality”. For a full range of pictures generously provided online by Hot Press columnist Bootboy see: http://bonhom.ie/2007/12/lgbt-noise.html
In addition, a great many signatures were collected by our volunteers for the gay civil marriage petition being compiled by LGBT Noise. Bodies were thawed out afterwards by generous helpings of home-made mulled wine and hot mince pies in OutHouse at the LGBT Noise launch party.
On the two weekends prior to the event, over 2000 Pink Heart leaflets and 30 Pink Heart posters were distributed in the bars and clubs of Dublin's gay scene to advertise the protest. In the future, Noise hopes to mobilise even more people from the gay community to come