Opn: Recent arrts of gay men Dubl public toilets echo the dark ag • GCN

Contents:

• EXPLORG THE DOUBLE LIFE A PUBLIC PARK HAD FOR GAY PEOPLE IRELAND DURG DARKER TIM
• THE BT OF GAY DUBL
• DUBL GAY BARS GUI - BT GAY HANGOUTS DUBL, IRELAND
• OPN: RECENT ARRTS OF GAY MEN DUBL PUBLIC TOILETS ECHO THE DARK AG
• GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS DUBL
• DUBL: GAY AND LBIAN DUBL

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”.

THE BT OF GAY DUBL

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. 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”.

DUBL GAY BARS GUI - BT GAY HANGOUTS DUBL, IRELAND

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.

OPN: RECENT ARRTS OF GAY MEN DUBL PUBLIC TOILETS ECHO THE DARK AG

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).

The cy’s pact size means ’s easy to bop om place to place and LGBT travellers shouldn’t feel they’re limed to ‘official’ gay-iendly venu; would be difficult to fd a venue Dubl cy centre you won’t be wele .

GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS DUBL

If you want to dive head-first to the gay scene though, the are the plac to start. As many Wtern ci, gay bars are more likely to be closg down than openg up Dubl, as homosexualy be more accepted across all venu. North of the Liffey, Pantibar ntu to draw crowds, thanks part to beg owned by the unofficial queen of Ireland, Panti Bliss, bonafi drag royalty and one of the untry’s leadg gay rights activists.

DUBL: GAY AND LBIAN DUBL

Wh lourful flowers and plenty of cycle lan, mak for a nice sojourn and has a wir signifince: the tragic murr of a lol gay man lled Declan Flynn the park 1982 is wily nsired the talyst for the Irish gay rights movement. LGBT-iendly venu existed long before homosexualy was legalised 1993. Break for the Borr stands place of Bartley Dunne’s, probably the untry’s first gay-iendly venue, which prid self on allowg punks and ‘alternative’ people , while the Vikg holds the tle of beg Ireland’s first exclively gay bar – ’s now unr new management and has been renamed Brogan’s.

The GAZE Film Ftival July has been celebratg LGBT storytellg for 25 years, while the Dubl Gay Theatre Ftival tak place smaller venu across the cy May. Like all ci, homophobic cints are not unheard of but are few and far between, and public displays of affectns between same-sex upl are que monplace.

It wasn’t always that way, but there has been a massive shift general attus sce the crimalisatn of homosexualy 1993. BarsDubl’s olst and biggt gay bar is The Gee, which has been servg the cy’s LGBTQ+ muny for over thirty years.