KAL Fundrasier – Saturday, 21st October: Film première in The George
October 20, 2006
Roll up, roll up! To a very special event: A film premiere and party to help raise funds for the KAL Case.
Saturday, 21st October
THE GEORGE PRESENTS
the official premiere of
FILTHY GORGEOUS: THE TRANNYSHACK STORY
with special guest
San Fran Super Tranny, Heklina
featuring LADYFACE
Doors 8pm;
Screening at 10pm
All proceeds to KAL Case, fighting for equal rights for same sex partners
If it’s outrageous, offensive, grand, and glamorous, it must be another Tuesday night at Trannyshack. Since 1996, this infamous San Francisco nightclub institution has celebrated bad taste with some of the most mind-blowing drag performances on earth.
Conceived by drag superstar Heklina as a way to honor friends lost to AIDS, Trannyshack has become a fertile testing ground of creativity where nothing is sacred in the name of living, breathing, and occasionally blood-soaked art.
Director Sean Mullens’ unflinching documentary recounts the colorful and hilarious history of Trannyshack, including eye-popping performances from fabled theme nights such as “Cracked Out Divas” and “Weapons of Ass Destruction.” With appearances from Trannyshackers past and present including Justin Bond from Kiki and Herb and Ana Matronic from the Scissor Sisters, FILTHY GORGEOUS: THE TRANNYSHACK STORY can’t be missed.
Recognising Diversity: Celebrating Marriage for All
LANDMARK CASE FOR SAME SEX MARRIAGE OPENS TODAY
3rd October, 2006
High Court has an opportunity to be ambitious and to make the Irish Constitution relevant and responsive to the real and lived marriages of same-sex couples – Ailbhe Smyth
The High Court will hear arguments today in the case being taken by Drs Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan (KAL Case) against the Revenue Commissioners and the State for recognition of their legal Canadian marriage in Ireland.
Senior Counsel for the plaintiffs, Michael Collins, will present the opening address before Judge Elizabeth Dunne. He will set out that the couple are asking for equality and fairness and to be treated the same as other married couples in Ireland.
Drs Zappone and Gilligan will seek various remedies before the High Court. In particular, they will seek a declaration that in failing to recognise their Canadian marriage, and in failing to apply the tax law provisions relating to married couples to them as a married couple, the State and the Revenue Commissioners have acted unlawfully, in breach of their constitutional rights to equality, to marriage, to property rights and family rights and in breach of their rights to privacy, marriage and non-discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights.
“This case is fundamentally about rights and equality,” said Ailbhe Smyth, Chair of the National Lesbian and Gay Federation and KAL Advocacy Initiative supporter. “When our laws deny the equal rights of all individuals to make life-long commitments of intimacy and dependency that are actually recognised and supported by law, they discriminate and exclude.”
“We are hoping that The High Court takes the opportunity to be ambitious and to make the Irish Constitution relevant and responsive to the real and lived marriages of same-sex couples,” she said.
She also called upon members of Dáil Eireann to introduce legislation which will allow all citizens of Ireland to enter into a civil marriage if they choose to, stressing that legislators have the power to short-cut the judicial process.
“As representatives of all citizens of Ireland you have an opportunity to introduce legislation which fully commits Ireland to equality for all. Critically, we are asking you to act now – not in the next Dáil term, not after the votes for the next election are safe, not after the judiciary has considered the matter,” she said.
The KAL Case arose after Dr Zappone, a public policy research consultant, and Dr Gilligan, an academic, married in Vancouver on September 13th, 2003.
On July 1st, 2004, the Revenue refused the couple’s claim for the same allowances as a married couple under the Taxes Consolidation Acts. The Revenue argued that married couples related only to “a husband” and “a wife”, and that the Oxford English dictionary defined these as a married man and a married woman.
In the 1937 Constitution, the heterosexual marital family is the only officially recognised family structure under Irish law. In recent years, however, there has been enormous change in family structures in Ireland. In particular, the numbers of those co-habiting have doubled, from 4% of all family units in 1996 (31,300) to 8% in 2002(77,600). While still small in relative terms, the number of same sex cohabiting couples has also increased considerably from 150 in 1996 to 1,300 in 2002.
The number of children living with co-habiting parents rather than married parents has increased significantly from 23,000 children in 1996 to 51,700 children in 2002. The percentage of births outside marriage now stands at just over 31%, that is, almost one-third of births, compared with just over one-quarter (25.3%) in 1996.
The case is expected to run for three weeks.
KAL Initiative
c/o Tower 1, Fumbally Court, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8
kalcoord@gmail.ie www.kalcase.org
3rd October: Gathering of Support – for recognition for all
September 26, 2006
Tuesday, 3rd October
outside Dáil Éireann
at 1.45pm
_________
If you’ve been living under a rock.. Well, you may still know that the Zappone & Gilligan case is due to go ahead next week!
To coincide with the first day of the case hearing in the High Court, a gathering of support will take place on Tuesday, 3rd October outside Dáil Éireann at 1.45pm.
The gathering is being held to show support for the recognition of diversity in relationships and families in Ireland. Katherine and Ann Louise are taking their case against the Revenue Commissioners and Ireland to the courts; this gathering is intended to show the political leaders in the Irish houses of parliament the public’s support for legislative change to recognise all relationships and family forms which exist in Ireland today.
Participants are invited to bring along a flower of their choice, to symbolise hope, love and diversity. It is intended, then, that these flowers be gathered to form a bouquet to be presented to party leaders in Dáil Éireann.
Above all else – All are welcome to attend this gathering!
:: Check www.kalcase.org for any further info,
or contact kalcoord [at] gmail [dot] com ::
KAL Advocacy Platform meeting – Wednesday, 27th September at 6:30pm
September 25, 2006
Below are details of next week’s KAL Advocacy Platform meeting and background information. Feel free to circulate these!
KAL Advocacy Platform
Wednesday, 27 September 2006
6:30pm
At the offices of GLEN (Gay and Lesbian Equality Network),
Tower 1, Fumbally Court, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8.
The KAL Advocacy Platform will be holding another of its meetings on the evening of 27 September.
This meeting will follow-up on some of the issues of the previous meetings which took place in August, and will focus on the lead-up to the case, which is due to commence next Tuesday, 3rd October 2006.
All are welcome!
Contact kalcoord [at] gmail [dot] com with any queries.
KAL Advocacy Platform meeting – Tuesday, 22nd August at 6:30pm
August 17, 2006
Below are details of next week’s KAL Advocacy Platform meeting and background information. Feel free to circulate these!
KAL Advocacy Platform
Tuesday, 22 August 2006
6:30pm
At the offices of GLEN (Gay and Lesbian Equality Network),
Tower 1, Fumbally Court, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8.
The KAL Advocacy Platform will be holding another of its meetings on the evening of 22 August.
This meeting will cover the issues raised at the meeting that took place on the morning of 10 August for those who were unable to attend, and will also follow-up on proceedings of that meeting for those who were present.
All are welcome.
Interested parties should contact kal [at] glen [dot] ie (9am-1pm Mon-Fri) or kalcoord [at] gmail [dot] com (all other times).
KAL Advocacy Platform meeting – Outline agenda
August 9, 2006
KAL Advocacy Initiative
“Working Together over the Coming Weeks”
Outline Programme
August 10, 2006
11:00 a.m. Introduction
- The reason for the KAL Advocacy Group
- The importance of keeping in touch
11:15 Where Things Are At
11:30 Key KAL Messages
11:45 Relating KAL to your organisation
- Audiences
- Communications tools and ideas
- What you can do
- Group discussion and brainstorming
12:30 The Media as a Key Audience
- What the media wants … briefly
- Writing a press release
1:00 Conclusion
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Meeting details here.
KAL Advocacy Platform meeting – Thursday, 10th August at 11am-1pm
The KAL Advocacy Platform will be holding a meeting this week, to introduce supporters of the KAL Case to the case background, key messages and possible tools for advocacy.
Individuals and organisations who support this case are welcome to attend the meeting. Interested parties should contact kal [at] glen [dot] ie (9am-1pm Mon-Fri) or kalcoord [at] gmail [dot] com (all other times).
Information about the Advocacy Platform can be found at our “About” page, here.
Add this GIF banner to your blog, website, bebo, MySpace – wherever! – and link it to the KAL Case:
[With thanks to Shelly at angryPotato.net]
Simply copy this code and paste it to where you want it:
<a href="http://www.kalcase.org/donation.htm"><img src="http://kalcase.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/zappone-gilligan-banner-angrypotato.gif" alt="Support Katherine and Ann Louise"/></a>
et voilà!
KAL Case: Funds Needed!
July 31, 2006
KAL Initiative Funds Needed!
Fundraising events and donations are crucial to the KAL Case: Expert witness costs and administrative outlays are being paid by the proceeds of fundraisers and by the generous donations of supporters. Without this support, the KAL Case would be badly undermined.
To that end, fundraising events are very important to us. In addition, particularly for those who may not be in a postition to attend fundraisers, donations may be made to the KAL PayPal account or directly to the KAL fundraising bank account.
For more information on the what our costs entail and how you can donate, please click here.
KAL Case: What’s what, where and how..?!
July 31, 2006
KAL Case in the virtual world:
Email:
kal [at] glen [dot] ie [9am-1pm, Mon-Fri]
kalcoord [at] gmail [dot] com [All other times]
Website: kalcase.org
Blog: kalcase.wordpress.com
Bebo: KALcase.bebo.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/kalcase
By more traditional means:
Snail mail:
c/o Tower 1, Fumbally Court, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8
By telephony: +353-(0)1 – 4732605
By facsimile: +353-(0)1 – 4546663
For details about the case, support, and what you can do please view
our About page.
