'Love makes a family'

Celebrating diversity and highlighting the struggles LGBT+ families in Ireland still face is the purpose of the Sarah-Jane Travers' exhibit in Virginia Library this evening.

The night will feature the launch of the book 'Family Law' which was written by Sarah-Jane with photographs by her brother-in-law Ciarán Dunbar.

Those planning to attend can expect "no big long speeches" but an insight into the homes and lives of LGBT+ families and the barriers they face, some of whom cannot get equal legal parentage of their children for various reasons.

The woman behind the project made history in her home of county Louth when she and her wife Eileen became the first same-sex couple to get legal parentage of their son Oscar.

"Love makes a family," Sarah-Jane says while speaking to the Celt nine years on from that watershed moment.

Within the book, which she describes as a "piece of history", half of the children have an equal legal parental relationship with both of their parents, while the other half does not. It's not defined who is who, and each photograph is taken in a similar way; within the home environment, relaxed on the sofa, toys on the floor, snacks in hand or pets in the background; a snapshot of family life or as Sarah-Jane puts it: "normal family mayhem."

Capturing families in rural areas and then bringing the exhibition to these places, is one of the aims of the project.

"Places where a lot of families, who previously would have stayed in Dublin or London, are actually moving home to because they want their children to have the same upbringing they had. That is a big change."

"You can be in Virginia, you can be in Navan, these families are there. They're living in the community already, their children are going to school with your kids," she describes, adding: "these people are just like everyone else; they want to get their kids to school, they want to get their dinner made."

Each person is equal in Sarah-Jane's project, however some of these families are not seen this way in the eyes of the law; she says some are in "legal limbo" when it comes to The Children and Family Relationships Act 2015.

"They're stuck in legal limbo and that's because they don't meet certain criteria," she explains.

"That's the point of the book; you have all these families who on the face of it look the same but they all have very different experiences and different realities."

The exhibition will take place in Virginia Library this evening from 7-8pm, where copies of the book will be available.