LGBT groups to benefit from sale of new Pride stamps
An Post has issued two colourful new stamps featuring the rainbow Pride flag and the words ‘Pride’ and ‘Bród’ (as gaeilge) to celebrate Ireland’s Pride Movement.
An Post worked closely with representatives of the LGBT+ community in planning for the stamps which were designed by Dublin company, Unthink.
An Post CEO David McRedmond said: “We are delighted to join with our staff and customers in celebrating Bród and the Irish Pride Movement. An Post worked closely with LGBT+ representatives in planning these colourful and symbolic new stamps which mean so much to Irish people at home and across the world.
“Two hard-working national LGBT support groups, BeLonG To and LGBT Ireland, will benefit from the sale of the stamps, in line with An Post’s purpose to work for the common good and to improve the quality of live now and for the generations to come”, he added.
The new stamps are available from main post offices and online at anpost.com/brod in a special booklet format (€6.40), each containing a mix of four ‘N’ rate Pride and Bród stamps for posting across the island of Ireland and one ‘W’ rate stamp for posting letters worldwide.
An Post is expecting strong demand for the stamps in Ireland and globally as images of the Pride flag flying over the GPO has featured heavily on social media across the world. Pride lapel pins, t-shirts and framed stamps will also be available.
The Pride flag was originally designed by American artist and activist Gilbert Baker in 1978 to represent the diverse LGBT community.
Dating back to the Victorian era homosexuality was a criminal offence and while the 1969 Stonewall Riots did not create the Gay Rights movement, it did create solidarity within the community which in turn spurred on a new wave of political activism.
During the 1970s an annual picnic was held in Dublin to create awareness of the Stonewall Riots and in 1974 a small group of 10 people marched from St. Stephen’s Green to the British Embassy to protest the criminalisation of homosexuality.
The first Pride week in Ireland was organised by the National Gay Federation (NGF) in 1979 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and to highlight the community’s persecution in Ireland. The turning point came in1983 when five men were released after the murder of Declan Flynn in Fairview Park. That same year saw the first Gay Pride Parade when over 200 people marched from St Stephen’s Green to the GPO.
It took another 10 years for homosexuality to be decriminalised in Ireland (1993) and another five years for the Employment Equality Act (1998). The Civil Partnership Act was passed in Ireland in 2010 and in 2015 Ireland became the first country to legalise Same Sex Marriage by a majority of 62 per cent. The Pride festival has become one of Ireland’s biggest festivals with tens of thousands Irish people and visitors from all over the world taking part in Dublin’s 2019 Pride Parade.
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