Paul Dowling believes in the power of story-telling and how it can create change and connection. He shows this belief in his story/policy initiative about LGBT Irish emigrants, At Home Abroad.
Dowling hails from Ireland and now lives in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood with his husband. He works as a social worker with Chicago Irish Immigrant Support, a not-for-profit immigration and social services provider, serving the Irish community of Chicago. There he focuses on the Irish diaspora in Chicago and mostly works with seniors. Dowling said he likes social justice and protecting the vulnerable. Along with his job, he has been volunteering at Center on Halsted with their senior program for about four years.
"Every generation kind of builds on the struggles of the previous one, but they are just the first generation of out LGBT people," said Dowling about the senior community. "So, I think it's important to get to know them and get to give back to them."
Dowling began building his newest project, At Home Abroad, in Summer 2016.
"I really believe in stories as a way that we can connect and understand one another better," said Dowling. "I think it can also be a great agent for change through that kind of connection and understanding that they create."
Many components contributed to Dowling moving forward with this initiative, including marriage equality passing in Ireland last year and the marriage referendum. Dowling explained that he read an article in an Irish newspaper about a young lesbian woman in London who spoke about how London offers a safe haven for those do not feel like they can be themselves in Ireland, which he found interesting.
Dowling thought about Ireland's politics and the huge LGBT victory, but said there is still an element of the LGBT community that does not feel comfortable in Ireland. That, he said, got him thinking about his own experience and made him want to know about how other people feel now.
"I wanted to collect these stories, to find out more, better understand the experience of LGBT people leaving Ireland, why they were leaving, where they were going, their feelings about Ireland now and their continued connection to it," said Dowling.
At Home Abroad looks at the intersection between sexual identity and emigration from Ireland. While studying the intersection, the project calls for help in creating change by asking the Irish Government to recognize and include the LGBT Irish people overseas in its official diaspora policy.
Ireland's government published Global Irish: Ireland's Diaspora Policy in March 2015. This policy contributed to Dowling creating this project.
"It occurred to me all of a sudden one day that there was nothing in this [government] document, this official policy, that talked about the LGBT diaspora or the LGBT that left, some of the unique experiences that they had that would've probably informed their decision to leave, where they went to, and then their experience as emigrants in whatever country they ended up in, which seemed crazy to me," Dowling said, adding It seemed doubly crazy thinking that this policy document was published close to the marriage equality referendum. "So, all people could talk about was LGBT people and what they should do and what rights they should have and shouldn't have in one element of policy and at the same time, be completely excluded from another element of policy. It just seemed like a really stark contrast to me."
Dowling then had the idea that maybe he could marry the two things together; having a story project and roll it into policy initiatives. At Home Abroad also contains a section where people can sign the petition to send a message to the government of Ireland that the LGBT members of the Irish diaspora should officially be recognized.
Ultimately, Dowling said he wants the stories to be useful to people and also for the stories to influence some kind of language put into the revised diaspora policy of the government of Ireland.
"I would love them to put in something and it doesn't have to be a big apology, but just some kind of verbiage that shows that they recognize this happened, people left for this reason and that they acknowledge that. It would be incredible."
Dowling posted his own story on the website and continues outreach among to find more contributors who can share and help with understanding of the experience of the LGBT Irish diaspora. People can even share their stories anonymously if they feel more comfortable. All submission guidelines are featured on the At Home Abroad site.
"I think first and foremost it's a story project that I'm hoping to turn into a policy initiative," said Dowling. "As a story project, I hope it does what I think stories are capable of doing and that's create understanding and connection. I hope it can bring people closer, maybe to understand a little bit better, the types of struggles LGBT people have. I think it's an important element of our history that needs to be documented that we have left places and why we've left places. I think it's important when we think of emigrants, I don't know necessarily that we think of LGBT emigrants, and how that can be two fold of struggle there; being an emigrant and being LGBT."
To learn more, visit AtHomeAbroad.ie.
