Six Irish and international activists and human rights campaigners will receive honorary degrees from Trinity on Friday, November 27th.
Drag queen and gay rights activist Rory O’Neill, perhaps best known as Panti Bliss, will receive a degree from the College. Panti is considered Ireland’s foremost drag queen and has become known globally since her comments on homophobia in a speech in the Abbey Theatre in February 2014. O’Neill also received an honorary degree from IADT on Wednesday, November 18th. O’Neill graduated from IADT in 1990.
University of Dublin Senator David Norris, who is also known for advocating for LGBT rights, having campaigned for the decriminalisation of homosexuality since 1977, will also be conferred a degree.
Tomas Reichental, one of only three Holocaust survivors left in Ireland, now dedicates his time speaking about his experiences with the aim of promoting tolerance and is associated with the Holocaust Education Trust Ireland. Reichental, who was in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, lost 35 members of his family during the Holocaust. In 2013, he was awarded with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from the German Ambassador, the highest distinction that Germany can offer an individual.
Fr Peter McVerry, founder of the Peter McVerry trust, a charity which aims to reduce homelessness and the harm created by social disadvantage, will also be conferred a degree. Over the last 40 years, McVerry was worked with vulnerable young people in Dublin city, helping over 4,400 youths in 2014 alone.
Also expected to receive an honorary degree is Hina Jilani, a renowned lawyer and human rights activist. Jilani helped found the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 1986 and became the first Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Human Rights in 2000. Graça Machel is one of the world’s leading advocates for the rights of women and children. A former Minister of Education in Mozambique, she is the founder of the Graça Machel Trust, an organisation which advocates women’s rights and empowerment.
