Travellers and gay people have mon e agast racism and homophobia – The Irish Tim

Contents:

• TRAVELLER BRAVELY OPENS UP ON STGGL OF BEG GAY AND FEELG SUICIDAL AS HE HID HIS SEXUALYEXCLUSIVE: DILLON COLLS – WHOSE OWN STGGL WH HIS SEXUALY LEFT HIM SUICIDAL AT THE AGE OF 17 – IS BRAVELY SHARG HIS STORY TO MARK PRI MONTH AND OFFER HOPE TO OTHERSIRISHMIRRORBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYSYLVIA POWNALLEDOR, IRISH SUNDAY MIRROR18:28, 28 JUN 2020BOOKMARKVIO LOADGVIO UNAVAILABLECLICK TO PLAYTAP TO PLAYTHE VIO WILL TO-PLAY SOON8CANCELPLAY NOWGET DAILY HEADL AND BREAKG NEWS ALERTS FOR FREE BY SIGNG UP TO OUR NEWSLETTERMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 GET DAILY HEADL AND BREAKG NEWS ALERTS FOR FREE BY SIGNG UP TO OUR NEWSLETTERINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!
• WHAT’S LIKE TO E OUT AS GAY THE TRAVELLER MUNY?
• TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS IRELAND
• GAY MUNICH · CY GUI
• GAY TRAVELLERS ENTERG ARRANGED MARRIAG ‘TO AVOID SHAME’
• GAY MUNICH
• GAY MUNICH · MID-RANGE + BUDGET HOTELS
• GAY MUNICH TRAVEL GUI – GERMANY
• TRAVELLER WAS BRAND ‘DISGRACE TO MUNY’ AFTER G OUT AS GAY
• TRAVELLERS AND GAY PEOPLE HAVE MON E AGAST RACISM AND HOMOPHOBIA

TRAVELLER BRAVELY OPENS UP ON STGGL OF BEG GAY AND FEELG SUICIDAL AS HE HID HIS SEXUALYEXCLUSIVE: DILLON COLLS – WHOSE OWN STGGL WH HIS SEXUALY LEFT HIM SUICIDAL AT THE AGE OF 17 – IS BRAVELY SHARG HIS STORY TO MARK PRI MONTH AND OFFER HOPE TO OTHERSIRISHMIRRORBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYSYLVIA POWNALLEDOR, IRISH SUNDAY MIRROR18:28, 28 JUN 2020BOOKMARKVIO LOADGVIO UNAVAILABLECLICK TO PLAYTAP TO PLAYTHE VIO WILL TO-PLAY SOON8CANCELPLAY NOWGET DAILY HEADL AND BREAKG NEWS ALERTS FOR FREE BY SIGNG UP TO OUR NEWSLETTERMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 GET DAILY HEADL AND BREAKG NEWS ALERTS FOR FREE BY SIGNG UP TO OUR NEWSLETTERINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

Mart: 'My mother asked who else our town was gay' I myself was my 30s when I publicly me out for the first time, and I chose to do at an LGBT pri edy event where I was performg. I was joed onstage by a iend and fellow performer, Kathere Lynch, who cintally was also the same person to brg me to an LGBT venue Dubl for the first time, back days of my story reachg the lol newspapers I was undated wh msag om the Traveller muny, some nasty and homophobic, but the majory msag of support and hope. One mother wrote to me to tell me that her dghter was gay, and that if more Travellers me out, would do a lot stemmg suici amongst LGBT Travellers.

We didn’t talk about my sexualy, not bee he was homophobic, but bee speakg about would mean he would have to wrap his head around the physily of me beg gay, and that was far too an awkward nversatn for both of the week that the article about my g-out was released, I lled my mother for a chat, and the background I uld hear my father shoutg: “Is that Rory. ” My father, a big fan of the TV s Mrs Brown’s Boys, felt that llg me Rory (an openly gay character the show) was enough for me to unrstand that he knew I was gay.

Photograph: RTÉ Hughie: 'You fear your parents will never unrstand' Hughie Mghan (26), who has appeared on Big Brother, Eatg wh the Enemy on Virg Media and First Dat Ireland on RTÉ, speaks of the homophobia he has experienced. While he adms that homophobia Ireland is not as bad as was, the past he faced heavy abe om wh the Traveller muny. 'The homophobia I faced the muny ma me feel at that pot that I would have rather been ad.

WHAT’S LIKE TO E OUT AS GAY THE TRAVELLER MUNY?

That's how bad was'“I faced homophobia om settled and Traveller muni, but if I am beg hont, I fely faced more om other Travellers. When you are listeng to your father speakg wh his iends, for example, and how they might have banter between them, and how if someone ed a homophobic word agast someone, mak you thk that you n’t speak to them about beg gay.

“The homophobia I faced the muny ma me feel at that pot that I would have rather been ad. ”Ruby O’Brien Ruby: 'It took me years to see that I wasn't gay, I was trans' Ruby O'Brien (21), a trans Traveller om Co Kerry speaks about beg physilly asslted by a group of Traveller men London, simply bee she was trans and a Traveller.

She me out first as a gay man, simply bee she felt was an easier procs to engage her parents and fay wh.

TIPS FOR GAY AND LBIAN TRAVELERS IRELAND

When I me out my hometown, a lot of people accepted me as beg gay, but when I me out as trans, a lot of people stopped talkg to me. I didn’t grow up seeg trans people, and took me years to see that I wasn’t gay, I was trans. “I feel that people need to expla to young people what transgenr means, bee I have iends that I believe are trans, but they feel that ’s jt worse to e out as trans, so they live their liv as gay men, bee there is no one explag the difference to young Travellers.

”Jam Lawrence Jam: 'I was more feme than other Traveller men' Jam Lawrence (23), a Traveller om Bristol England, scrib g out as a gay man.

GAY MUNICH · CY GUI

“I had a lot more experienc of homophobia before I me out as gay, I suppose bee I was more feme than other Traveller men.

”Traveller anisatns: 'The culture is one of masculy ' When Ireland was gog through the legal procs of changg homosexualy om beg a crime the mid 1990s, Irish Travellers were only jt begng to emerge wh anisatns aimed at highlightg human rights issu faced by the Traveller is a sense om the LGBT+ Travellers that they nnot tst Traveller anisatns to act on their behalf bee the Traveller muny would not then support themThere was an evable prrisatn of what rights were fought for, and like every suatn throughout history, LGBT+ people were the last to be thought of. It is ludicro that nsens and stagnatn is favoured over the preventn of homophobic and transphobic abe of our most margalised is not progrsn, is the protectn of that which we seek to remove, discrimatn.

GAY TRAVELLERS ENTERG ARRANGED MARRIAG ‘TO AVOID SHAME’

”While I have no doubt that Pavee Pot, and ed all Traveller anisatns, do their bt to help LGBT+ Travellers as the need aris or as the LGBT+ Travellers prent themselv, do not go far enough challengg homophobia and transphobia wh the muny, somethg that uld be done through hard-htg social media mpaigns highlightg the issu. Homophobia/transphobia is a mentaly based on eher ignorance or misrmed hate, which n be changed only through engagement and through proactive approach via dialogue and policy chang.

GAY MUNICH

Gay Travellers are beg prsured to marriage wh some takg their own liv, acrdg to one man who spent years hidg his sexualy.

Dillon Colls says he knows of gay Travellers who have entered arranged marriag and had kids jt to keep up a pretence for their parents’ sake. “Some parents would rather see their children a hospal bed beg fed through a tube than to have them tell them they are gay.

“I knew one man who tried to take his own life and was hospal for two weeks on a life support mache… all bee he was gay and uldn’t tell his fay. ” Realy star Hughie Mghan famoly revealed he was gay ont of lns of viewers on Big Brother – promptg a backlash om his dad. “Contemplatg takg my own life before I’d tell my fay I was gay as I didn’t want them to feel ashamed of me or that they done wrong their role of parentg.

GAY MUNICH · MID-RANGE + BUDGET HOTELS

If you’re walkg down the road you uld be lled f****t or queer… told gays should be hung. The iative is the first of s kd the UK and aims to challenge homophobic attus towards Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people, as well as providg valuable rourc and support for LGBT Gypsi and Travellers who often feel they have “nowhere to turn”.

We need to stop this taboo of ‘we n’t talk about relatnships, we n’t talk about beg gay, we n’t talk about problems we are havg’. Over and over my head I did not want to be this way but realy beg gay is ok and no matter what you’re not the only one that is gay.... I’ve known I was gay sce I was six years old, but growg up the Irish Traveller muny ma very difficult for me to e out.

Homophobia is rooted wh the culture of Irish Travellers; ’s a dark and secret world, and when people step out of le, they tend to get beaten up.

GAY MUNICH TRAVEL GUI – GERMANY

I grew up knowg that beg gay was not somethg that most travellers would tolerate and that tellg anyone about would put me at risk.

One night, I’d worked up the urage to slip away om the group and head to the cy’s gay district. If you’re known to be gay, other men avoid you — they won’t s wh you a rtrant, they wouldn’t get a r wh you. While San Francis might reasonably be nsired the gay pal of the world, Ireland’s foremost cy remas one of the bt and iendlit ci for LGBTQ travelers to vis.

TRAVELLER WAS BRAND ‘DISGRACE TO MUNY’ AFTER G OUT AS GAY

Most people who are gay Dubl will head over to the famo Temple Bar district, known for s excellent nightlife terg to all kds of people. Unlike many other European pals, Dubl don’t have an easily intifiable gay neighborhood.

The Temple Bar area is where much of Dubl’s nightlife is ncentrated, cludg the cy’s most popular gay bars. Dubl is one of Ireland’s bt ci for nightlife and has plenty of excellent gay bars and clive tablishments.

While other clubs have gay-themed nights or parti, The Gee is the only fully LGBTQ nightclub Dubl, and is one of the most vised gay venu the cy. Street 66 is a wonrful gay bar on Parliament Street wh a lively terr and bold r. Mother is one of the bt gay clubs Dubl, wh club nights held every Saturday om 11:00 pm to 3:00 am.

TRAVELLERS AND GAY PEOPLE HAVE MON E AGAST RACISM AND HOMOPHOBIA

Jack Nealon’s is somewhat an unofficial gay bar, loted on Capel Street the North Cy district.

It don’t bill self as a gay bar, but is fely very popular wh Dubl’s gay muny, particularly men. Osr’s Cafe is a wonrful gay-iendly fe the Smhfield neighborhood, close to the Temple Bar district.

The first monstratn for gay rights Dubl happened 1974, the first Gay Pri Week was held 1979, and the first Pri March was held March 1980. The Internatnal Dubl Gay Theatre Ftival is held durg the first two weeks of May each year.