Gay Men's Health Service

Contents:

• GAY PHONE NUMBERS
• GAY IRELAND
• GAY DATG – FD YOUR IAL IRISH PARTNER
• GAY MEN'S HEALTH SERVICE INFORMATN
• GAY NUMBER PHONE - GAY PHONE NUMBERS
• GAY DICTNARY IRISH

GAY PHONE NUMBERS

‘Do you thk might help you to meet up wh gay people? ’ Tel-A-Friend: the Republic of Ireland’s first telephone beiendg service for homosexual men and women.

The nversatn revealed, perhaps to the disappotment of the unrver reporter, the extent to which Tel-A-Friend was a profsnal beiendg and unsellg service, not a service out to rec or nvert llers to homosexualy. The Tel-A-Friend volunteer, who Pl spoke to, simply sought to offer support and reassurance, sistg that ‘nobody choos to be gay, for a start […] We’re not here tryg to enurage people to be gay or otherwise’. Tel-A-Friend was tablished 1974 as the first nfintial rmatn and unsellg service for homosexual men and women the Republic of Ireland.

From 1974 to 1978 was hoed at 48 Parnell Square, the premis of the Irish Gay Rights Movement (IGRM). In 1979, at the vatn of the Natnal Gay Feratn, followg the IGRM’s loss of s Parnell Square venue, Tel-A-Friend moved to the Hirschfeld Centre, Temple Bar, where remaed for the next ten years, beg one of the most important iativ of the gay rights movement Ireland.

GAY IRELAND

A dited telephone beiendg service for homosexuals was ccial at a time when the Samarans reported that of the 180 lls received om homosexuals 1978, 20% were suicidal. In orr to mata the service, Tel-A-Friend had to fundraise or rely on funds provid by the Natnal Gay Feratn.

In orr to volunteer, one had to be homosexual but ccially had to be ‘totally at ease wh their own gayns’. Once a ll was received they had to adhere to the followg guil: ‘Fd out quickly where the person is phong om; if they are rgg om a ll-box ask if they have enough money for a long chat, and if warranted get their number and rg them back – but watch the time; ask fairly soon are you homosexual and mentn that you are also; if the ller is not of your own sex, ask would you prefer to speak to a man (or a woman)?

GAY DATG – FD YOUR IAL IRISH PARTNER

Some simply ntacted the service to fd out where to meet other LGBT+ dividuals or where the neart gay pub was. Don Donnelly, who volunteered wh Tel-A-Friend the 1980s, remembers that the most popular qutn asked by llers was ‘How would I know if I’m gay?

GAY MEN'S HEALTH SERVICE INFORMATN

To some gay activists, this might not have e as too much of a surprise. In Febary 1981, for example, Bernard Keogh had wrten to the Mister for Health, Dr Michael Woods, rmg him that the Natnal Gay Feratn had been ‘ma aware that numbers of homosexual men are admted as patients to mental health stutns for “treatment” of their homosexual orientatn’. There is much rearch to be rried out to the typ of “treatments” some homosexuals were subjected to the Republic of Ireland throughout the twentieth century.

Only recently was revealed that gay men were given electric shocks to “cure” homosexualy at Queens Universy Belfast the 1960s. For many dividuals who ntacted Tel-A-Friend, was the first means by which they learned about homosexualy, about where to meet other gay and lbians dividuals, and learned how to e to terms wh their sexual orientatn.

For many others, was the means to bee more actively volved the gay rights movement Ireland. It was through Tel-A-Friend, for example, that Kieran Rose first learned where to meet other homosexuals Ireland. “I remember arrivg up to Dubl, gettg my beds out Rathgar, and got on to the Honda 50, went to a telephone box, which we had those days and phoned gay swchboard (Tel-A-Friend), and then they told me about the IGRM Parnell Square and that they had a chee and we [receptn] on a Sunday, and that’s where I went and met gay people for the first time.

GAY NUMBER PHONE - GAY PHONE NUMBERS

Rose went on to bee a leadg figure the gay rights movement Ireland, helpg to found the Cork Gay Collective 1981 and later lobbyg the Irish Congrs of Tra Unns to support crimalisatn of sexual activy between mal and rights for gay and lbian workers. Rose was also stmental the tablishment of the Gay and Lbian Equaly Network 1988, which succsfully lobbied for the crimalisatn of sexual activy between mal 1993. Rose is jt one of many thoands who me to the gay rights movement through Tel-A-Friend.

GAY DICTNARY IRISH

Tel-A-Friend, however, had ensured that volunteers were prepared for such an crease by vg Dr Derek Freedman, one of Ireland’s leadg specialists sexual health, and Gay Health Actn to talk to Tel-A-Friend volunteers about AIDS. Instead, expand some of s activi an attempt to promote further gay rights and support servic for the LGBT+ muny Ireland.

Tel-A-Friend also sought to reach out to the non-gay muny to te them on gay rights. It would not be until 1989 that Tel-A-Friend, which by then had rebrand self as Gay Swchboard Dubl, found new premis at 13 Christchurch Place, thanks to Dubl Corporatn’s Communy Servic Project.

Intertgly, figur for 1989 showed a dramatic crease lls om gay tourists om New Zealand, Atralia, South Ai, USA, Canada, France, Wt Germany, Swzerland, Belgium, Turkey, Italy, Spa, Wal, Stland, England and Holland. Gay Swchboard Dubl timated a 200% rise gay tourists that year; a clear sign of the emergg pk enomy Ireland durg this .