REELING IN THE QUEERS: Tales of Ireland's LGBTQ Past

This talk will be recorded and made available online at a later date. ISL interpretation will be provided.

The series forms an action of the Dublin City Strategic Heritage Plan 2023 - 2028, and has received grant support from the Heritage Council.

About this talk:

Within the grand and emerging narrative of LGBTQ Ireland are woven the intricate threads of ordinary people's extraordinary stories. This lecture aims to tell the lesser-told takes of Ireland's LGBTQ community: stories of those who believed in change and stories of those who simply wanted to have fun. The year 2024 marks half a century since the founding of the Irish Rights Movement, along with Ireland's first Gay Pride event, all the way back in 1974. This serves as the perfect juncture to look back at the impact of Ireland's LGBTQ community on politics, society and culture. This lecture will reflect on LGBTQ individuals, events and figures and the stories that have left an indelible mark not just on the queer community, but also on modern-day Ireland; stories that bear witness to the resilience of queer culture, a testament to how it emerged and thrived against all odds and the people who made it happen.

DR PÁRAIC KERRIGAN

Páraic Kerrigan is an author, researcher and Assistant Professor in the School of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin. He has published widely as an academic and critic. His first book LGBTQ Visibility, Media and Sexuality in Ireland was published by Routledge in 2021. His most recent book, Reeling in the Queers, will be released for Pride 2024.

Reeling in The Queers: Tales of Ireland’s LGBTQ Past (New Island Books)

Get a copy of Reeling in the Queers here:

https://www.newisland.ie/nonfiction/reeling-in-the-queers-tales-of-irelands-lgbtq-past

Photo credits:

All photos reproduced here are from the Christopher Robson Photographic Collection. Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.

‘Let Gays In’ protest, 28 September 1981. Tonie Walsh picketing the
US embassy in Dublin as part of a global protest against anti-gay
immigration legislation. (Thomas A. O’Shea, Irish Queer Archive.
Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland)

Alternative Miss Ireland I, April Fool’s Day 1987. Mr Pussy and Linda
Martin announce the results of Alternative Miss Ireland I held at Sides
dance club, Dublin. Seated (L–R): unnamed, 3rd prize; Miss Isle (Joe
Campbell), winner; Miss Demeanour Rathmines (Tonie Walsh), 2nd
prize. (Seán Gilmartin, Irish Queer Archive. Courtesy of the National
Library of Ireland.)