Sara Phillips is the chair of the Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), she has been a trans rights activist for the past 26 years and played an instrumental role in developing Ireland’s progressive GRA legislation in 2015, and the review of the act in 2018.

In this episode of the GenderGP podcast, Sara joins Dr Helen and Marianne to discuss the ways in which Ireland has forged its own very progressive path for trans rights and what other countries can learn from the steps they have already taken.

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Links:

Twitter: @sararphillips

Website: https://www.teni.ie/

www.belongto.org - Response to the Gender Recognition Act

 

The GenderGP Podcast

TENI's Sara Phillips talks trans rights in Ireland - The GenderGP Podcast S5 E2

 

Hello, this is Dr Helen Webberley. Welcome to our GenderGP Podcast, where we will be discussing some of the issues affecting the trans and non-binary community in the world today, together with my co-host Marianne Oakes, a trans woman herself, and our head of therapy.

 

Dr. Helen Webberley:

So, hi everybody. I am very happy to be here with Marianne on our today’s edition of our podcast with Sara Phillips. And as usual, I’m going to pass over to Sara to let her introduce herself and tell us all about the work that she does and her ambitions for today, tomorrow, and for the future. So, Sara, welcome to our podcast.

Sara Phillips:

Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be with you this morning. As you said, I am Sara Phillips. I am the chair of Trans Equality Network Ireland. I’ve been in that position now for the past seven years. I have been out as an activist in trans rights for the past twenty-six years here in Ireland. I suppose most recently, I've been working quite a lot on gender recognition. I was one of the lead negotiators for our very progressive gender recognition legislation in 2015. And more recently I was on the government review group of that act in 2018, which provided some very progressive recommendations which have yet to be legislated for. I suppose as chair of our national organisation, I work across all areas of trans life, whether it's healthcare, whether it’s gender recognition, whether it's support. And there is still a huge amount of work to be done over here in Ireland. Currently, I am also a member of the steering committee of the International Trans Fund, which is an organisation providing funding to small trans organisations specifically in the global south but also in Asia, who work to try and support trans communities in different ways.

Dr. Helen Webberley:

Oh, wow. That is one introduction. I’m so excited to quiz you on some of this. So, just going back to the beginning, you say that you have been an activist for twenty-six years. How have things progressed, changed, developed, reverted in that twenty-six years?

Sara Phillips:

Well, it’s changed quite a lot. I think when I came out first was 1992. And I suppose trans people in Ireland were few. In fact, for most of us who were around at that point,