Fianna Fail Councillor Hopes To Inspire Others In LGBT Community
Written 1 month ago by Angel Croitor
A Fianna Fail councillor posted to his facebook the pressure he felt to admit his sexual orientation and that “he never really cared whether people think I’m straight, gay, or bisexual” but felt that certain rumours had to be put to bed.
John Keogh, the South Roscommon councillor, felt that the statement had to be made because of rumours circulating that there was some sort of “relation” between himself and some close heterosexual friends.
“Totally and wholly unacceptable – these are people that are involved in relationships with women and have children – that was one of the main reasons why I said enough is enough.”
He decided to make a decision to post it publicly in order to put a stop to it at large. John states that he hopes it encourages other men and women to be true to themselves if they see someone in the public eye staying true to themselves – in particular he mentions “there’s a lot of advancement has been made in the law in this country over the last number of years with marriage equality but we’re a long way away from stamping out prejudice”.
John believes that children are born without an inherent knowledge of discrimination towards sexual orientation, skin colour, gender, etc. and that prejudice is taught. He states that if prejudice can be taught – love, respect, and dignity for the people around you can be taught as well.
“We are moving in the right direction but we would be naive to believe we’ve moved far enough.”
In John’s opinion there’s still a stigma attached to sexual orientation and it’s apparent amongst certain LGBTQ youth that turn to self harm because of the prejudicial environment they find themselves in or because of the opinions of those who take part in their daily lives.
Regarding the post John states that the post was prepared quite quickly and was ready to send but he looked to his friends for support and feedback. One friend in particular believed that he shouldn’t even need to post it but John was adamant that it wasn’t just for himself that he was posting but to the victims of the rumours that had peace of mind and their families at stake.
John states in the post that it’s been an uplifting experience and he has received outstanding support from the public through positive feedback, comments on the post, phone calls, messages and even cards. His full Facebook post can be seen below:
