Dil Wickremasinghe

{{Short description|Broadcaster and journalist living in Ireland}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Dil Wickremasinghe

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| birth_date = 1973

| birth_place = Rome, Italy

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| occupation = Broadcaster

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| domestic_partner = Anne Marie Toole

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| URL = http://www.dilw.ie/

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Dil Wickremasinghe is a broadcaster and journalist living in Ireland. She was a radio presenter with Newstalk and is a panellist on TV3's Midday programme. She has also done stand-up comedy.{{cite news|first=D.|last=McManus|url=http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/dils-playful-personality-makes-hardline-topics-easy-listening-29488132.html|title=Dil's playful personality makes hardline topics easy listening|newspaper=Sunday Independent|date=11 August 2013}}

Biography

Born in Rome to Sri Lankan parents, who rejected her at the age of 17 after she told them she was gay and she became homeless as a result.{{cite news|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/older-gay-people-coming-out-pat-carey-1943152-Feb2015/|title=An octogenarian gentleman taught me that it's never too late to come out|publisher=TheJournal.ie|date=17 February 2015}} Her mother, a Jehovah's Witness, attempted to "cure" her of her lesbianism after she fell in love with a girl. She is also a survivor of sexual abuse. While in Sri Lanka, she had a job on the radio but was dismissed in a dispute over her sexual orientation. As well as Italy and Sri Lanka, she lived for a time in Bahrain where she dated an Irish woman. She moved to Ireland in 2000; within 24 hours she was dancing down O'Connell Street, singing along to "It's Raining Men" at the Dublin Pride festival, an event which she regarded as crucial to her decision to settle in Ireland.

She later experienced depression and received counselling from One in Four (the charity founded by Colm O'Gorman). She first met her partner, the psychotherapist Anne Marie Toole, when they were forced to share a room at a weekend mental health conference in Wicklow on 30 April 2010, the day of Gerry Ryan's death. They started dating one month later.

In 2014, she announced she was pregnant. In doing so, she became the first lesbian in Irish public life to start a family with her partner.{{cite news|first=Jason|last=Kennedy|url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/im-walking-on-air-gay-newstalk-presenter-on-her-pregnancy-30782510.html|title='I'm walking on air': Gay Newstalk presenter on her pregnancy|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=28 November 2014}} Despite past difficulties with her parents, she reported they were delighted at the idea of becoming grandparents for the first time. During her pregnancy she became a target of David Quinn and his Catholic Iona Institute, as well as numerous other anonymous individuals who questioned her fitness for motherhood.{{cite news|first=Andrea|last=Smith|url=http://www.independent.ie/life/family/family-features/newstalk-presenter-dil-wickremasinghe-and-her-partner-anne-marie-toole-on-the-joy-of-their-first-baby-31064518.html|title=Newstalk presenter Dil Wickremasinghe and her partner Anne Marie Toole on the joy of their first baby|newspaper=Sunday Independent|date=16 March 2015}}{{cite news|url=http://theoutmost.com/opinion/iona-institutes-david-quinn-crossed-line-decency/|title=The Iona Institute's David Quinn has crossed the line of decency|date=3 March 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516031609/http://theoutmost.com/opinion/iona-institutes-david-quinn-crossed-line-decency/|archivedate=16 May 2015}}

On 4 February 2014, she received the Lord Mayor of Dublin's Frederick Douglass Award.{{cite news|url=http://www.communicorp.ie/newstalks-dil-wickremasinghe-receives-fredrick-douglas-award/|title=Newstalk's Dil Wickremasinghe receives Frederick Douglass Award|date=5 February 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516031418/http://www.communicorp.ie/newstalks-dil-wickremasinghe-receives-fredrick-douglas-award/|archivedate=16 May 2015}}

References

External links

[http://www.dilw.ie/ Official website]
[http://www.newstalk.com/globalvillage Dil Wickremasinghe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117150936/http://www.newstalk.com/globalvillage |date=17 November 2017 }} at Newstalk
[http://www.tv3.ie/ireland_am_video.php?locID=1.65.74&video=87696 2014 Interview] on Ireland AM

Category:1970s births

Category:Living people

Category:Irish LGBTQ broadcasters

Category:Irish LGBTQ comedians

Category:Irish LGBTQ journalists

Category:Irish lesbian entertainers

Category:Irish lesbian writers

Category:Italian LGBTQ broadcasters

Category:Italian LGBTQ comedians

Category:Italian LGBTQ journalists

Category:Italian lesbian entertainers

Category:Italian lesbian writers