Katherine Zappone

Katherine Zappone (born 25 November 1953) is an American-Irish independent politician who served as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs from May 2016 to June 2020.

Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1953, Zappone was educated at Boston College (PhD), The Catholic University of America (MA) and University College Dublin (MBA).

She became an Irish citizen in 1995.

She and her wife, Ann Louise Gilligan, founded An Cosán which supports individuals and communities to actively engage in the process of social change through transformative education.

In November 2004, Zappone and Gilligan were granted leave by the High Court, to pursue a claim to have their September 2003 Vancouver marriage recognised for the filing of joint tax returns in Ireland.

In Zappone and Gilligan v. Revenue Commissioners (2006), they unsuccessfully sought recognition in the High Court, for their Canadian marriage in Ireland.

Zappone was a member of the Irish Human Rights Commission, chief executive of the National Women's Council of Ireland, and a lecturer in the fields of ethics, theology, and education at Trinity College Dublin.

Though they were already married in Canada, Zappone proposed to Ann Louise Gilligan on air as the positive result in the same-sex marriage referendum became known.

The case was heard in October 2006.

The judgment was delivered in December 2006.

and found that common law and the Irish constitution had envisaged marriage to be between a man and a woman.

The case was appealed to the Supreme Court in February 2007.

Speaking at an event for International Women's Day in 2010, then Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin, paid tribute to the work done by the women in An Cosán.

"They are involved in education courses and communication and childcare and bettering themselves and their children, and they are making a big contribution".

Speaking about founding An Cosán, Zappone said "Imagine creating something like An Cosan together with the community. You really feel like you're bringing about some change for the good. Why wouldn't you want to do it?"

An Cosán also runs Fledglings, which operates eight preschools around the country – mostly in disadvantaged areas – which provide education and care to more than 250 children.

Senator Lynn Ruane, President of Trinity College Students' Union, is a graduate.

who at age 16, was a participant on the first Young Women's Programme; Ruane has said that: "An Cosán had its finger on the pulse and responded to a surge of teenage pregnancy in the west Tallaght area, taking into account of what was needed to support young mothers and their participation. Key in that was Rainbow House where my daughter, Jordanne, started out the early years in her life and I began to heal, learn and believe again. An Cosán was the beginning and remains the foundation of my journey so far. Somebody created an opportunity for me, met my needs, and empowered me to progress."

She previously served as a Senator from 2011 to 2016, after being nominated by the Taoiseach.

She was nominated by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to the 24th Seanad in 2011, having been recommended by Eamon Gilmore, the then leader of Fine Gael's coalition partners, the Labour Party.

With her Seanad nomination, she became the first openly lesbian member of the Oireachtas and the first member in a recognised same-sex relationship.

Nominated by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, to the 24th Seanad in 2011, Zappone was a member of the Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality.

According to The Irish Times, An Cosán "was established by Ann Louise Gilligan and Katherine Zappone with the intention of bringing valuable community-based education to the Dublin suburb. In 2012, An Cosán attempted to track the progress of 1,500 past students and found 1,200 were employed."

It came before the Supreme Court in 2012, although returned to the High Court to challenge different elements of law, specifically the Civil Registration Act 2004 and Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010.

In December 2014, she voted against the Water Services Bill, and spoke about the "people's right to water in a fair, affordable, efficient and effective manner".

She also took part in a protest in Tallaght opposing the government's handling of water charges, at which she "noted that some were not opposed to water charge but had serious concerns about the way in which they were being implemented and the speed at which they were being rolled out", and said "there was public anger about the mistakes made relating to Irish Water".

Zappone also spoke about the housing problem in South Dublin, highlighting that "there were 173 people homeless in the South Dublin County Council area. She said "either the Government analyses of these problems are wrong or incomplete or the political ideologies that direct its solutions are insipid, vacuous of original vision, or simply outdated"."

Zappone began working on amendments to the Gender Recognition Bill.

After Zappone sought to amend the Gender Recognition Legislation, Minister of State Kevin Humphreys, accepted the principle of a Seanad amendment to have the legislation recognising the identity of transgender people reviewed.

During Seanad debate, Zappone highlighted that it was regrettable it had taken successive Irish governments more than 20 years to legislate for gender recognition.

Zappone stated that "the Tallaght Garda District must receive its fair share of new recruits and vehicles being made available to the force in the coming weeks".

The following month she confirmed that she had received confirmation that the local Garda district was to receive 13 new cars after communication with the Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan.

In April 2015, Zappone raised the One-Parent Family Payment changes in the Seanad, highlighting that "single parents want their parental responsibility recognised, while some want access to full-time education with proper State support for their children".

She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-West constituency from 2016 to 2020.

She was elected to the Dáil for the Dublin South-West constituency at the 2016 general election, becoming the first openly lesbian TD and, by her own reckoning, the world's 32nd lesbian to be elected to a national parliament.

In May 2016, after a delay in government formation, due to prolonged talks, Zappone became Ireland's first openly lesbian government Minister and the first Minister to have been openly gay at the time of appointment to cabinet, when Taoiseach Enda Kenny appointed her as the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

Gilligan died in June 2017.

An Cosán is an organisation in Jobstown, Tallaght, which offers adult education and other services to women from disadvantaged areas, and is Ireland's largest community education organisation.

It currently supports over 1,000 families annually.

She lost her seat at the general election of February 2020 and continued to serve as a minister until June 2020 on the election of a new government.