Gaydar

Contents:

• EXPLORG THE DOUBLE LIFE A PUBLIC PARK HAD FOR GAY PEOPLE IRELAND DURG DARKER TIM
• GAY PICK-UP HOTSPOT - GIANT'S RG
• GAY LIFE BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND
• IS THERE ANY GAY NIGHTLIFE GALWAY? - GALWAY FOM
• THE BT OF GAY DUBL
• WEBSE LISTS 76 GAY CISG LOTNS NORTHERN IRELAND
• WEBSE LISTS 76 GAY CISG LOTNS NORTHERN IRELAND

EXPLORG THE DOUBLE LIFE A PUBLIC PARK HAD FOR GAY PEOPLE IRELAND DURG DARKER TIM

When a piece of queer art ed a childhood memory to e floodg back, Han Tiernan reflected on the send liv public spac had for gay people. One day when we were playg the park, one of the olr kids told that we better not enter at night bee there were “rent boys” and “gay men”.

By the time I was The Gee watchg the film, I was a long-standg, fully-fledged lbian unr no illns about cisg culture and “rent boys” or even “gay men”. I assumed, although we never discsed , that many of my gay iends had cised. The sndal was a plex and long-nng se which began after William O’Brien, the Natnalist MP and edor of Uned Ireland newspaper published several articl accg Cornwall and Jam Ellis French, Director of the Detective Department of the Royal Irish Constabulary, of beg homosexual.

GAY PICK-UP HOTSPOT - GIANT'S RG

The ensug trials acced Cornwall, French and Kirwan of solicatn and buggery as well as three gay brothel owners of buggery and “keepg disorrly rooms”. The sndal had untold repercsns for the gay muny Dubl and throughout Ireland and the UK, the most signifint of which was the passg of the 1885 Gross Incency Act.

The act ma easier to arrt homosexuals, often wh ltle more evince than mere allegatns. It was the law unr which Osr Wil was tried and the law which remaed place Ireland until the crimalisatn of homosexualy 1993. It has often been a necsy servg an array of sir such as gay men unhappy marriag or bisexual men or those who simply fetishise sex wh strangers.

GAY LIFE BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND

But as well as satisfyg sir served as a social outlet for men who didn’t want to or were unable to engage wh the gay ‘scene’ and had nowhere else to go. I heard a story about how Micheál MacLiammóir, -founr of Dubl’s Gate Theatre, ed to ‘slip for a quick one’ as part of his morng walk to work: a time-honoured tradn om one of our venerable, stately homos.

© 2021 GCN (Gay Communy News).

Gaydar works great on mobile, tablet and sktop, so you n e on the go or at home. Amidst the d of voic, Stephen ma some salient pots about today’s Belfast gay scene: (1) he reaffirmed that the ‘notor’ Sn Fe polil arm of the IRA has the most progrsive polici toward LGBT; they’re socialist md and strong on human right-equaly for everyone—Catholics and Prottants, men and women, gay and straight.

IS THERE ANY GAY NIGHTLIFE GALWAY? - GALWAY FOM

(3) Belfast as a gay muny of strength, visibily, polil fluence is “10 years behd Dubl, 20 years behd London and light years om Wt Hollywood.

” The generally nservative straight culture is quietly tolerant of gays but lacks unrstandg of homosexualy as a viable and natural way of life. It is more lawful and gays are ls aaid to start showg up public. Surprisgly, Belfast has had 11 annual gay pri march although has mimal social or polil effect here; the ftival is very lolized and don’t mand nearly the fluence do London.

(5) Some rare vlence happens agast gays; Augt 2002 a gay man was killed a dark cisg area on the outskirts of town by three guys, one of whom was only 14. Belfast Gay Plac. At the time of my vis there were only three for four gay bars, diss, and clubs: Kreml, Parliament, Ctom Hoe and gay iendly Whe’s Tavern.

THE BT OF GAY DUBL

Here is home to a phone help le, a gay rights advocy group, and an LGBT support group lled Queerspace. Later I stopped by the Kreml bar/dis the premier gay venue Belfast (ed, all of Ireland, I thk) two blocks away om the magnificent St.

Kreml staff check ID’s for over 18 and re is taken to keep the crowds at least 50% gay sce the place is now popular also wh straight kids who don’t re about sexual persuasns. (How do you tell the difference between gay and straight youth?

The place exus lively and morn energy—a posive place for young gays to e out and feel they don’t have to hi a dark or secretive place. This not to suggt that gay men are ee of such abe, but is generally acknowledged that lbians are more vulnerable for several reasons cludg physil strength, weaker enomic power, the prence of an often hostile male spoe, havg children as well as beg victims to a diffe social ndng that mands women be submissive and tolerant of hardship. Based on more than 200 live terviews wh women, anizatns and some gay men, the LASI report lays bare the unsettlg realy that, spe legal chang sce 1993 regardg homosexualy, “the experience of work, leisure, fay and tn for many lbians is a story of vilifitn, isolatn, ostracism and abe.

WEBSE LISTS 76 GAY CISG LOTNS NORTHERN IRELAND

” Homophobia, short, is alive and well Northern Ireland (the report do not ver Ireland south.

WEBSE LISTS 76 GAY CISG LOTNS NORTHERN IRELAND

Such groups serve to meet such personal needs as tsted sharg, nfince buildg, support g out as well as a need to feel protected by lol thori agast all forms of homophobia. The clu fear of vlence, homophobic discrimatn, low self-nfince, anguish g out, fear of ostracism at work, job loss and, very importantly, a strong dread of beg separated om their children. Walkg the streets of this rough and picturque cy, seeg the dockyards where the Tanic was built, passg eely through the once-closed steel gat between Prottant and Catholic neighborhoods, admirg the enormo and magnificent neo-classil cy hall, walkg around the mp of Victoria Universy, attendg the opera hoe, talkg wh gay and lbian Northerners enjoyg the current enomic prospery and peace—all the te-life sights and sounds are the real Belfast.