Welcome to the Gay Traveller and Roma resource and information site. This site was voluntarily constructed and maintained by and for members of the Travelling and Roma community, for it's Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Questioning members. If you are struggling to come to terms with your sexuality, are looking for information on the location of support groups, or just general help and advice on sexual health, or how to deal and report homophobic bullying or behaviour, then you may have to look no further. While awaiting an updated census, there are around 32,000 Travellers in Ireland alone and if contemporary statistics are to be believed then there are over 3,200 LGBT members within the Irish Travelling and Roma community. This does of course exclude the many other thousands of Travellers and Roma living outside of Ireland. As nomads who are exposed to a high emphasis on ‘traditional’ gender roles, and the ‘nuclear family,’ procreation and conservative religious values, many gay and lesbian Travellers/Roma feel a sense of alienation from the community and develop an ambivalent or conflicted relationship about their own Traveller/Roma identity. In addition to the difficulty of homophobia in the Travelling community, Gay and Lesbian Travellers/Romani cannot always presume full acceptance from the broader queer community. Although much like the Travelling/Romani communities relation with the larger community itself, Taboo and Prejudices is thankfully waning, but by and large, most LGBT movements focus on sustaining a collective identity that often, if not always, overlooks the concerns of sub-groups such as Traveller/Romanis. As a result, gay Travellers/Romas often struggle to find ways to successfully negotiate their ethnic and sexual identities. We at the G.T. strive to:
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