Rainbow Cities honour for Cork

CORK City was presented with a certificate of membership of the Rainbow Cities Network on Wednesday, as Cork City Council and Cork LGBTI+ Inter-Agency hosted the Global Rainbow Cities Network Policy Conference in City Hall.

Cork City Council has been a member of the Rainbow Cities Network since 2020 and is one of 20 European cities engaged in an EU-funded policy initiative EU For Citizens.

A series of meetings over the past two years, including in Berlin, Germany, and Aarhus, Denmark, have drawn together delegates from 20 European Rainbow Cities to frame good practise guidelines in LGBTI+ policy.

Cork City Council and Cork LGBTI+ Inter-Agency hosted the Global Rainbow Cities Network Policy Conference from January 17 to 19, in City Hall.

Lord Mayor Deirdre Forde formally opened the conference on Wednesday, which focused on combating hate crime towards LGBTI+ communities.

Ms Forde said the conference would “meaningfully address policies to tackle discrimination, hate, and inequality consistently faced by the LGBTI+ community”.

The keynote address was delivered by Luna Lara Liboni, policy officer (equality and hate crime) with the Irish Council of Civil Liberties and chair of the Coalition Against Hate Crime, Ireland.

A special video message was sent by Children’s and Equality Minister Roderic O’Gorman.

Cork City Council sent its thoughts and solidarity to sister city San Francisco, as city representatives could not attend the Cork conference due to a series of dangerous weather events .

Cork City Council said that “in the midst of the rain came the rainbow”, with the news that San Francisco has become the first US City to join the Rainbow Cities Network. San Francisco mayor London Breed also sent Cork City and the Rainbow Cities Network greetings via a video message.