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Impact of Book Bans on the LGBTQI+ Community in the UK

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Impact of Book Bans on the LGBTQI+ Community in the UK

Banned BooksOverview

In the UK, the issue of censorship and banned books targeting LGBTQI+ content is increasingly making headlines. While outright bans are less widespread than in some countries, recent developments highlight a concerning trend that affects young people, educators, and the broader community. These restrictions threaten access to vital stories and resources that support LGBTQI+ identities and well-being[1][2][3].

Key Effects

1. Mental Health and Wellbeing

– Increased Isolation: When LGBTQI+ books are removed from school libraries and classrooms, it sends a damaging message to young people that their identities are unwelcome or invalid. This can lead to feelings of loneliness and invisibility[1][2][3].

– Fear and Self-Censorship: Librarians and teachers often report feeling pressured or intimidated into removing LGBTQI+ literature, which results in self-censorship and limits access for students seeking representation[1][2].

– Loss of Support: Many young people rely on inclusive literature to see themselves reflected and to find reassurance. Banning these resources can harm their mental health, self-esteem, and sense of belonging[1][3].

2. Erasure of Identity and Representation

– Reduced Visibility: Censorship efforts diminish the presence of LGBTQI+ stories, history, and voices within educational environments, making it harder for young people to explore and understand their identities[1][2][3].

– Barriers to Understanding: Without access to diverse narratives, both LGBTQI+ youth and their peers miss opportunities to learn about different experiences, fostering ignorance and prejudice[1][2].

3. Societal and Educational Consequences

– Cultivating Intolerance: Targeted bans reinforce harmful stereotypes and can foster a climate of hostility, bullying, and intolerance within schools and local communities[1][2][3].

– Risks for Librarians and Educators: Those who resist censorship often face professional repercussions, including threats, job loss, or disciplinary action, discouraging the inclusion of LGBTQI+ materials[1][2].

– Chilling Effect: The absence of clear national guidance creates a climate of uncertainty, leading many librarians to avoid purchasing or displaying LGBTQI+ books altogether to prevent controversy[1][2][3].

Data and Trends

| Statistic/Trend | Source |
|———————————————————————————|————-|
| Over half (around 53%) of UK school librarians surveyed report being asked to remove books or being given a list of banned books, with many titles related to LGBTQI+ themes. | [1][2][3] |
| Requests for removal are primarily initiated by individual parents or community members, rather than official government directives, but they have a significant impact. | [1][2][3] |
| Commonly targeted titles include *This Book Is Gay* by Juno Dawson, *Julián is a Mermaid* by Jessica Love, and *ABC Pride* by Louie Stowell et al. | [2][3][4] |
| Many librarians have been instructed to remove all LGBTQI+ books after a single complaint; some have faced job insecurity for refusing. | [1][2][3] |
| There is no comprehensive UK database tracking the full scope of bans, but anecdotal evidence suggests the trend is growing. | [1][2][5] |

Voices from the Community

– Stonewall, the UK’s leading LGBTQI+ rights organisation, has called the increasing censorship “deeply troubling,” emphasising that access to inclusive resources is essential for young people’s well-being and self-acceptance[3].

– Many librarians and teachers express feeling unsupported and vulnerable. Some have resorted to discreet or off-the-record loans to ensure students can access banned books, despite risks[1][2][3].

Conclusion

The rising tide of book bans targeting LGBTQI+ content in the UK is having serious repercussions for young people and the wider community. These measures foster exclusion, erasure, and fear, undermining the vital educational and emotional support that diverse literature provides. Without clear guidance and backing from national authorities, many educators feel compelled to self-censor, further limiting access to inclusive stories. Advocacy organisations like Stonewall and professional bodies must continue to push for policies that safeguard the right to inclusive education and ensure every young person can see themselves reflected positively in the books they read[1][2][3].

—

References:
1. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/lgbt-books-removed-uk-libraries-b2732791.html
2. https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2024/08/banned-school-librarians-shushed-over-lgbt-books/
3. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/lgbt-books-ban-uk-schools-library-b2596374.html
4. https://www.thebookseller.com/news/school-libraries-censored-as-survey-reveals-28-librarians-asked-to-remove-books-from-shelves
5. https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/school-blog/censorship-more-than-half-of-school-librarians-asked-to-remove-books-from-their-shelves-6430

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Queer spaces are something which our community in Northern Ireland is loosing memory about.  When I first came out on the scene, there were at least 42 different event nights encompassing at least 20 different venues.  Today, there are many fewer, and with that comes less choice.  So far, I have written one in-depth article about ‘The Carpenter Club“, I am now about to start one on Delaney’s, so if you have any thoughts, news, titbits, pics that would be of use, please let me have them.

Gayfest 82

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GAYFEST 82

Three NIGRA (from Sean McGouran’s recollection [Sean, Ho Mun Chien and Mark McKeronon]) persons went to the Gay Fest for a jaunt. 

 

Gayfest

PeaceGdnsSheffd

‘’’Our first impression of the People’s Republic of South Yorkshire was good – incredibly low bus fares.  The second was dire, Sheffield (appears) to have the dourest population imaginable.  The Gayfest was held in the Polytechnic, a teacher training college with delusions of grandeur, its architecture based on the labyrinth principle.  We had to walk to the opposite end of the campus to get to our billet, a very comfortable two-bedroom.  This is more than can be said for some of the other beds/rooms we slept in that weekend.

Apart from continually walking into closed meetings of CHE (the Campaign for Homosexual Equality) and into a wrangle between the SWPGG (Socialist Workers Party Gay Group) and a nice young man from the Spartacus League*.  (The SL and SWP are among the 57 varieties of Trot groupeens), the young ‘Spart’ compared their ‘line’ on Ireland with that of Iran.  The SWP gave undifferentiated support to the anti-Shah opposition, and look at what the Iranians got!  In Ireland, Master Spartacus said they supported anti-Gay and anti-women forces.  This led to the epochal event of a member of the SWP admitting that his Party was small and not about to seize power just yet.

The next meeting I attended was a duo between the Liberal Gay Action Group (LibGAG) and the Gay Social Democrats (GSD).  The Libs were very lordly and made rather injudiciously nostalgic remarks about the Lib-Lab pact pipe dream of the early ’70s (i. e. a governing alliance of Labour and the Liberals).  The GSD took it in good part and asked sharp questions, like will the Liberals’ portmanteau Bill of Rights be feasible?

Others attended the Gay Youth Movement (GYM)’s AGM, where a snide article about them in the Gay Gazette (the Festival’s journal) was attacked and the author ‘Pandora’ asked to apologise and also admit his / her name.  [It was Eric Presland / Peter Scott Presland – currently still playwriting and producing a history of CHE].  The youth groups GYM and the Joint Council for Gay Teenagers (JCGT) threaten to boycott next year’s Gay Fest. 

Three of us attended the SHRG (Scottish Homosexual Rights Group)’s seminar on S / M (sado-masochism).  It had a very good attendance neck and neck with the Labour Campaign for Gay Rights’ meeting which had the ‘bisexual’ MP for Bootle, Allan Roberts as guest speaker.  [One of us ought to have gone – but ‘sex’ proved more of an attraction  – upstart 2013]

The rest of Saturday was spent boozing and inflicting Gay Star on unsuspecting Brits.  Thus we missed the Workshop on Sexism and an explanation of what was the Gay Community Organisation [GCO – CHE split itself into a ‘political / campaigning side – CHE, and a ‘social’ side the GCO.  It was disastrous, GCO barely lasted out the year, and CHE was seriously weakened – upstart 2013].  We did get an ear-bashing about how wonderful Friday’s disco had been.  It sounded great until we were told the Gay’s are only allowed in once a month! 

We did see Eric Presland’s Teatrolley, or a Midsummer Night’s Scream, done by Consenting Adults in Public, in the open air.  Drink, damp grass, and an aversion to cod-Shakespeare, somewhat cloud one’s judgement, but generally the parade of Gay ‘types’ was interesting: the two Liberationists offering tea and ideological purity – the clones, the leathermen (played by an actor of great beauty and courage…  Anyone who would expose his bum to the inclemencies of an English Autumn, and an audience made up entirely of Gay women and men would have to be).  There was also a policeman who turns almost human.

The evening ended on a deliberately sour note when Consenting Adults… handed out leaflets recounting the horrors while befell the Kasir family and their small business.

On Sunday morning after carefully avoiding the Act of Worship, and not being lucky enough to avoid the truly dreadful breakfast, we nipped into the Gay Rights at Work meeting, where we learned that Judith Williams is getting fed up with a dreary round of meeting – and general unpleasantness.

We then went off to the worst-attended, but in many ways the most interesting meeting of the weekend.  The Revolutionary Gay Men’s Caucus organised Political Activity and Social Life, which was a pretty punchy attack on the Gay Liberation Movement.  According to their outlook the radicals, the lobbyists / civil-righters and the Gay proprietors were as one in seeing the oppression of Gays as a ‘technical matter of the distribution of resources’.  Meanwhile, whole categories of people are excluded from the Gay ‘scene’ – women, the disabled, the elderly, Black Gays, and to an extent, the unemployed.  The Gay Liberation Front had married revolutionary rhetoric to feeble reformist demands.  Thus they had to defend sexual pluralism under any guise, e. g., pornography, S / M – one of the RGMC defended pædophilia, presumably on the grounds that it wasn’t exploitative.

The arguments of the Caucus were rather like traversing a superbly engineered bridge, which one suddenly realises does not quite reach to opposite shore.  They offered no programme – ‘shopping lists of demands were useless without money or power’.  And some of the building materials of the bridge were questionable.  The ‘working class’ was referred to as if it were a solid entity.  Questioning brought the admission that it was difficult to define the working class, and that it is wracked with deep contradictions anyway; racism, sexism and so forth. 

Their attitude to ‘Ireland’ was, roughly: the Brits are in Ireland for imperialist reasons, therefore it was a brill idea to chuck ’em out.  The people who said this did admit that they were not entirely happy about the results for Gay people. 

An overall impression of the Festival: the price of set meals did tend to put a damper on socialising over meals, the restaurants and cafés on Eccleshall Road did a roaring trade.  The youth groups and ILIS (International Lesbian Information Service) met in separate venues from the (‘adult’) male, or anyway, male-oriented groups.  We only saw them striding purposely about from place to place.

The main corridor, from the bar to the gym-cum-disco area, was crowded with stalls hired by all sorts of Gay groups; revolutionaries, Tories (but no fascists – yet), humanists, Christians (but no Muslims or Hindus), weekend walkers, real ale freaks, pure-as-the-driven-snow bookshops, and bookshops selling porn.  There were bisexuals and leather people, but no (overt) pædophiles, young people, and a considerable number of decidedly elderly people.  People selling good papers, people selling bad papers, and people selling… um… Gay Star.

A Workshop deriving from Saturday’s seminar on S / M was very interesting and would have been more interesting if it had not been decided to split us into two groups.  In a small room, this caused both sessions to be incomprehensible.  People admitted to being nervous about some of the accoutrements of S / M sex and admitted that their fascination with the outer manifestations of dominance was distressing to them. Admittedly, some others did not find such things in the least distressing. 

Early in the session, someone launched a shrill and rather over-heated attack on S / M, suggesting that people into S / M are also into ‘terminal sex’.  The argument is self-evidently foolish.  Not everybody is a Mistress / Master, and anyway the economics of sex intervenes.  If you constantly bump people off, apart from the fact that it becomes rather noticeable even in the most closeted of scenes, you will find that people will no longer accept your invitations to light torture sessions.  Possibly this person was trying to say, in the manner of Freudian psychoanalysis, that S / M is something else.  Leather-sex people are ‘really’ repressed corpse-fuckers.

So far as we were concerned, the Festival ended roughly here.  We went off to the Stars disco later in the evening.  The organisers’ “five minute’s walk” proved to be wildly over-optimistic; it was more like half an hour.  The disco (run by Mecca, inventors of ‘Miss World’) was pretty drab.  It had a curious, limp, pre-liberation feel – there were lots of black’n’white pics of 1940s Hollywood ‘stars’.  There were lots of Muir caps with Anglo-Saxon potato faces under them.  The huge bar sold flat beer at inflated prices, and the dance floor was small. 

The only Gay elements were the Muir caps and the poppers.  The Gays are allowed into Stars once a fortnight.

Editorial report

 

* This was probably called the Spartacist League – a ‘Spartacus League’ was, or had been, the youth wing of the SWP (in its early IS / International Socialist guise).  This may not be entirely accurate – but the niceties of British Trotskyist history are very complex.  [upstart 2013].

This was the last Gay Fest – they had been run by CHE – presumably, there was some debate about whether or not it was a ‘political’ or a ‘social’ event.

Fortunately, CHE decided some years ago that the political and the social are no longer incompatible…

Gayfest

Unidentified young man at the CHE Conference 1975 (LSE HCA Archive)

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Magnus Hirschfeld – saint or sinner

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Magnus HirschfeldLike all people, Magnus Hirschfeld is a man who adjusted to his situation.  He was a researcher, a scientist, and a supporter of sexual minorities.  He founded the Scientific-Minorities Committed and World League of Sexual Reform.  He purchased and then set up the Institute of Sexual Research on 6th July 1919, in the liberal atmosphere of the newly founded Weimar Republic.  The institute came to house his immense archives and library on sexuality and provided educational services and medical consultations; it also housed the Museum of Sex.  This all ended in 1932 when Chancellor Franz von Papen carried out a coup that exposed the Braun government in Prussia.  Papen was a conservative Catholic with a long vocal history of criticism of homosexuality.  He ordered the Prussian police to start enforcing Paragraph 175 (Does anyone see similarities with Section 28 in the UK much later in history from Margaret Thatcher?).  In January 1933, Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as chancellor of Germany, and less than four months later after the Nazis took power, and the Hirschfield’s Institute was sacked, this was followed by another ‘attack’ on May 6th, and the institute was finally forced to close.Magnus Hirschfeld

Magnus Hirschfeld, had by this stage left Germany, but throughout his travels, he hoped for a a return to Germany and to the liberal country that he had known. (Switzerland, France).  But his impact was felt worldwide, e.g. Henry Gerber formed the Society for Human Rights following World War 1, and Harry Hay in 1950 formed the Mattachine Society because one of the members of the Society for Human Rights had communicated the existence to Harry Hay.  In Ireland, the National LGBT Federation established the Hirschfield Centre in 1979.

 But as I put in my title, was Magnus Hirschfeld a saint or a sinner?   Fred Sargeant has written a large, extremely well-researched article ‘The dark legacy of Magnus Hirschfeld’ published 1st October 2023 in Spiked.  The article concludes:

…Magnus Hirschfeld’s attempts to decriminalise homosexuality are to be admired. But his belief in eugenics, his flirtation with racial theory and his contribution to gender ideology are all deeply troubling. The legacy he has left is far more ambiguous than his contemporary champions would have us to believe…

I am going to leave you to make your own mind up, and I will leave you with links to various articles/websites for you to read and then come back and let us have your thoughts.

 

Links:

Magnus Hirschfeld

‘Casement’s War’ and ‘Casement Wars’

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‘Casement’s War’ and ‘Casement Wars’ – responses to Angus Mitchell on the 1st World War and the Black Diaries

Casement's War' and 'Casement Wars

Jeff {Dudgeon MBE] has written a response to Angus Mitchell which is comprehensive and extremely articulate…

 

This edition of the Field Day Review (published by the University of Notre Dame, Indiana) is beautifully presented and exceptionally well produced. On the cover and flyleaf are evocative photographs of Banna Strand where Casement landed in April 1916 and Murlough Bay in the 1890s and 1953 during Eamon
de Valera‘s visit. Murlough Bay was to be Casement‘s final resting place, a mile from his adopted home near Ballycastle but, short of partition ending, cannot be. Despite his efforts, the division of Ireland is nearly a century old, Northern Ireland‘s frontier being one of the longest standing in Europe. The memorial cross to Casement (and others) at Murlough‘s ―green hill was torn down in 1957 during the IRA border campaign which was quite eventful in the area. Little of it remains. The four items under review are two transcriptions from Casement‘s German diaries, introduced and annotated by Angus Mitchell, and two substantive articles by him on the German episode and the diary authenticity debate and its history. Together they run to 125 pages…
 
I have provided the link to the uploaded copy of the response in full at academia.edu/
 
 Casement's War' and 'Casement Wars
 

‘Casement’s War’ and ‘Casement Wars’ – responses to Angus Mitchell on the 1st World War and the Black Diaries

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Judgement at Nuremberg Trials

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Judgement at Nuremberg TrialsYesterday I watched the Judgement of the Nuremberg Trials again.  I was set on this because I have just started the book ‘East West Street‘ by Philippe Sands. Judgement at Nuremberg TrialsIn this book, Phillipe begins a journey on the trail of his family’s secret history, which through many convoluted routes leads him to the origins of international law at the Nuremberg trial.

I am lucky, I live in a country which allows me the freedom to watch and read, in general, anything; this means I have ‘freedom’, but to so many of those who ended up on trial and then camps, or just placed in camps, they were not so lucky.  

…Beginning on May 10, 1933, Nazi-dominated student groups carried out public burnings of books they claimed were “un-German.” The book burnings took place in 34 university towns and cities. Works of prominent Jewish, liberal, and leftist writers ended up in the bonfires. The book burnings stood as a powerful symbol of Nazi intolerance and censorship…

USA…‘We’re seeing a relaunch of an old story’: Exploring the movement to ban books with LGBTQ characters in the USA…

The book banning boom continues.

Already, the number of attempts this year to censor books in K-12 schools, universities and public libraries is on track to eclipse 2021’s record count, the American Library Association said on Friday. The ALA cataloged 681 attempts between January 1 and August 31; the 2021 tally was 729…

…Hungary restricts sales of LGBT-themed children’s books…

 

So many parts of the world seek to restrict intellectual freedom and access to information.  There are attempts to put restrictions on the internet, for message services to not use end-to-end encryption ‘to protect the people, society and the country.

The American Library Association states:-

 

…Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored…

So this brings me back to the Nuremberg Trials, I am attaching a link  to the transcript of the Judgement Nuremberg Trials, and also a link to an excerpt of the movie with Spencer Tracy playing Chief Judge Dan Haywood.

judgement at Nuremberg Trial

Whilst the whole statement should be read to truly understand the trial, the first section entitled ‘The Seizure of Power and Subjugation of Germany to a Police State.’ brings me to look at the world in so many places, including the UK.  Which states currently seem to be applying what is outlined?  

Please think carefully before you sign up for things calling for your support, understand the whole picture, not just that outlined to you in the Call to Action.

 

 

 

 

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A CENTURY AND MORE OF BELFAST GAY LIFE

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A CENTURY AND MORE OF BELFAST GAY LIFE – Northern Ireland’s gay geography, history and people: 1903-2021

According to Roger Casement’s diaries, of 1903 and 1910-11, the gay cruising areas in Belfast were at the Albert Clock probably around the Customs House toilet, Botanic Gardens, Ormeau Park, and the Giants Ring. Cottaging went on in Victoria Square in an elegant wrought iron edifice (which was still operating in the 1960s and is now in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum) and at the Gasworks. Only the Giants Ring remains popular, although policed.

From then until after the 2nd World War, the GNR station in Great Victoria Street and Dubarry’s bar at the docks were recognised haunts, the latter, as in other cities, being shared with prostitutes. According to one old-timer, a teenager in 1941, the cottages were particularly busy the morning after the big German air raid in Belfast city centre, only yards from the smouldering rubble of High Street and Bridge Street.

He also recalled, after the raids, special difficulty in the fields in East Belfast, where he used to go regularly with a soldier friend. They were filled instead with people who were sleeping out of doors to avoid the bombing. The blackout from 1939, and the arrival from 1943-4 of 100,000 American troops in Northern Ireland had a huge impact and a special place in gay memories.

The Royal Avenue (RA) Bar in Rosemary Street (the hotel’s public bar, opposite the Red Barn pub) as portrayed in Maurice Leitch’s fine 1965 novel The Liberty Lad, probably the earliest description of a gay bar in Irish literature, was the first in the city. It operated from some time in the 1950s being shared at times with deaf and dumb customers who often occupied the front of the bar.

The two (straight) staff in the RA ran a tight but tolerant ship. Two lesbians, Greta and Anne, were the only females in the 1960s who were regular customers. At that time and until the end of the 1970s, pubs closed sharply at 10 p.m. The café burger café in High Street then served as an after hours venue and later a café in Victoria Square run by the distinguished Indian hotelier and mogul, now Lord Rana of Malone.

 When the Royal Avenue Hotel was on its last legs due to the troubles, Ernie Thompson and Jim Kempson (both now deceased), from 1974, ran, in its elegant ballroom, Belfast’s first ever and highly memorable discos, also the first in Ireland.

 After the Royal Avenue closed, the Casanova Club (prop. Louis Wise) in Upper Arthur Street (presently part of the British Home Stores site) flowered briefly until bombed by the IRA in c. 1976 for reputedly serving police officers!

Meanwhile the Gay Liberation Society (GLS) was meeting at Queen’s University Students Union from 1972 with significant town as well as gown membership. Initiated by Andy Hinds and Martin McQuigg it was taken forward by Dick Sinclair, Maeve Malley, Joseph Leckey and Brian Gilmore.

Later from about 1975 until the early 1980s it ran highly successful Saturday night discos in the McMordie Hall, attended by up to 300 gays (and indeed many apparent straights). This was a time when there was no other night life in the city. Key helpers included Kevin Merrett, Billy Forsythe, John McConkey, and Michael McAlinden. The early and mid-70s were the most brutal years of the troubles, when there was next to no night life in the city and only gays ventured out for fear of murder.

Cara-Friend started its befriending and information operation as a letter service in 1974. After a brief telephone service at the QUB Students Union which ended in the switchboard collapsing, it moved on to a permanent telephone service in about 1976, operating first from Doug Sobey’s flat in Ulsterville Avenue (Doug from Prince Edward Island in Canada is still a Cara-Friend officer after 30 years). Lesbian Line and Foyle Friend developed later. Cara-Friend was grant aided by the Department of Health and Social Services, at Stormont, from as early as 1975 with £700 p.a.

NIGRA (a groups’ group originally) started in the summer of 1975 when USFI became corrupted. Early NIGRA Presidents have included Dr Graham Carter (who sadly died young), former life-President Richard Kennedy, and Tim Clarke, ably supported by Sappho sisters Geraldine Sergeant and Maureen Miskimmin.

A significant number of NIGRA officers married and had children which was baffling for some. The Strasbourg case taken by Jeff Dudgeon to the European Court of Human Rights, which in 1982 ultimately resulted in the ending of life imprisonment for gay men and was the first European recognition of gay rights, was started by NIGRA in 1975. P.A. MagLochlainn, NIGRA President, filled the post longer than any of his predecessors.

From about 1975 until the early 1980s, Gay Lib or the QUB Gay Liberation Society (GLS) met in No. 4 University Street, a large 3-storey Georgian terrace house loaned by the university, where Cara-Friend had a room with a telephone cubicle. It was in constant use for regular Thursday meetings and parties. From there was organised the successful case at Strasbourg against the British Government funded by the Queen’s discos and the later-married pop singer Tom Robinson (Glad to be Gay and Motorway).

1976 was also the year of the totally unexpected gay raids when all the NIGRA and Cara-Friend committee were arrested and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided to charge Jeff Dudgeon and Doug Sobey, and Richard Kennedy and another (for sex acts inter se). All of us were over 21 and thus could not be charged in England. Only a political intervention from London forced the DPP to drop the cases in 1977, just as the instruction to police to charge us was issued and literally retrieved from the post room at the last minute.

The Strasbourg case took seven years to go through the court and was won in 1981 when the UK was found guilty of a human rights violation of the European Convention. This was because it criminalised all gay male sexual activity with a possible sentence of life imprisonment for buggery, and two years jail for any other sexual act (“gross indecency”) thereby interfering with the right to a private life. A year later a reluctant British government pushed an Order in Council through Westminster legalising certain gay sexual activity with an age of consent of 21.

The Chariot Rooms in Lower North Street was the first gay-run bar in Belfast. It and its own disco were operated successfully, and with flair, by Ernie and Jim in the darkest years of the troubles. It was in the central gated area where no other night life existed for several years. We had to be processed by the civilian searchers to enter the central area leading to many camp and ribald remarks. The reasons for the Chariot Rooms closing are obscure although it was well frequented and much loved even by soldiers who duck patrolled through the dance floor, lingering in the warmth and safety. (Ernie and Jim were both processed through the courts in October 1967 and jailed or committed to a mental hospital along with a dozen others in the last big round-up of gays in Bangor.)

Off and on in the 1970s and 80s, the Europa’s Whip and Saddle bar in Great Victoria Street was the city’s only gay venue. Despite, at times being the only customers in such a bombed hotel, we were never entirely welcome and were ultimately driven out. At one point in the 1970s NIGRA mounted a picket because of a member being barred for a serious indiscretion – a kiss.

Due to the efforts of the late Kieran Hayes (d. 2011), a gay staffer’s, the Crow’s Nest in Skipper Street became a gay bar with a small disco from c. 1986. After several makeovers, it changed its name to the Customs House in 2002 and was re-invigorated as a gay bar hosting Men of the North events on alternate Fridays. It returned to the Crow’s Nest (or Raven’s Rectum) title later, after another makeover. (The Nest was demolished in 2008.)

The Carpenter Club in Long Lane (proprietors Richard Hodgson, Jeff Dudgeon, and NIGRA in a limited partnership) was an extensive, unlicensed disco and coffee bar on two floors operating from the early to the mid 1980s. Cara-Friend had offices upstairs. It was ultimately compulsorily purchased by the DOE to make way for the currently renamed Writers’ (formerly Skinhead) Square.

The Carpenter Club though gradually successful was vulnerable to any premises like a hotel on the skids (like the Midland Hotel) which had a drinks licence. Such licences were prohibitively expensive. Cara-Friend moved to new premises at Cathedral Buildings in Lower Donegall Street where Lesbian Line also had rooms and GLYNI and NIGRA met. Both C-F and Queer Space have run busy Saturday drop-ins at Cathedral Buildings, the latter having had previous rooms in Botanic Avenue and Eglantine Avenue.

After buying out his partners, Richard Hodgson, an accountant turned builder, was dubiously jailed for fraud after receiving compensation on the building’s compulsory purchase by the Department of the Environment. He developed other premises in Hill Street which never opened.

The Orpheus Bar/Disco in York Street had a successful three-year existence under the proprietorship of Ian Rosbotham in the mid-1980s, despite the rampant damp. It had a short afterlife once renovated.

The Dunbar Arms in Dunbar Link was firebombed by the INLA, with drag queen Aunty Mae (West aka Harry) the last out of the building being nearly singed to death, possibly due to a protection refusal. After rebuilding, it became the Parliament Bar, run by two straight guys, Martin Ramsay and Brendan, continuing as a gay venue with an upstairs disco from the 1990s until 2003 when it abandoned the gay market. It later returned to its roots as Mynt. Darren Bradshaw an off-duty gay policeman was murdered there by the INLA in 1997, having been picked out and shot down in front of dozens of customers.

Cruising areas too have been marred by murder – Anthony McCleave in Oxford Street, Belfast in the 1970s and Ian Flanagan in Barnett’s Park in 2002. There have been others.

One nighters have been operated since the mid-1980s in the Midland Hotel (Saturdays), Delaney’s, the Limelight (very successfully on Mondays for several years run by Patrick James), the Venue, White’s Tavern and Milk.

The Kremlin, an extensive, gay-owned bar and disco(s) in Upper Donegall Street, after opening in March 1999, became the dominant gay venue in the city, regularly enhancing its facilities. The owners were a New Zealander André Graham and Seamus Sweeney. A later development in the creation of a gay village in Belfast was the opening of their up-market Union Street pub with its many bars and dance rooms. The property they bought in nearby Union Street housed the Men’s Health Rainbow Project (formerly in Church Lane) and Belfast’s first ever gay sauna, the Garage. Another sauna opened across the street in time.

Sex in saunas, that is sex with more than two males present, was legalised in 2003 thanks to NIGRA’s successful campaign to have Northern Ireland included in the Sexual Offences Bill with its total abolition of the crimes of gross indecency and buggery and the equalising of penalties between gay and straight for sexual crimes.

Later rival venues were another Dubarry’s bar and disco which opened in Gresham Street and attracted the older clientele, being a bit less noisy (and having fewer straights). Despite success, it eventually reverted to a straight clientele. The advent of Maverick also in Union Street in the former McIlhattons Bar enabled both sides of the street to become LGBT dominated and in time pedestrian only.

The gay organisations – Rainbow, Cara-Friend and Here NI migrated for a decade to the former War Memorial Building in Waring Street taking over several floors. It was eventually sold for the purposes of a gay hotel venture which has yet to materialise, and new group premises were taken further down the street.

The only cloud on the commercial scene’s horizon has been cyber-sex through the likes of Grindr which have become ever more popular, night and day. Cruising and outdoor sex seem largely to be a thing of the past.

At the same time there has been an explosion in the growth of gay history studies at Queen’s University and through Gay History Month. PRONI and the Linen Hall Library now have considerable LGBT documentary collections. Cultural events, many organised by Outburst, have featured strongly in the new millennium as of course have the increasingly popular Belfast Pride parades which started in 1991, being first organised by Sean McGouran and P.A. MagLochlainn. They have now spread to other cities and localities.

 

 

Jeff Dudgeon

(Author of ‘Roger Casement: The Black Diaries – With a Study of his Background, Sexuality, and Irish Political Life’ (3rd edition 2019); and ‘H. Montgomery Hyde: Ulster Unionist MP, Gay Law Reform Campaigner and Prodigious Author’ (Belfast Press, 2018) – website https://jeffdudgeon.com/ )

 

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Porn Laws by Tim Clarke

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Porn LawsIn the Court proceedings against Lady Chatterley’s Lover in 1960, the jury was invited by the prosecution to consider whether “It is a book that you wish your wife or servants to read?”

Unfortunately, there are many people in this ostensibly more enlightened age who would share these sentiments, the  Hungarian Parliament and Russian Parliament for example, and they are not all Christian fundamentalists.  Indeed, some would claim to be progressive and liberal, Belfast Men Against Pornography is a group of “right-on” or “politic-all-correct” individuals who say they are ‘opposed to’ pornography because it is a key element in the oppression of women and it works on men by manipulating our sexuality.

The notion that porn exists because people (women and men) derive a great deal of pleasure from it is of no consequence to this group.  they have made their minds up that they, self-appointed ‘representatives of the social good, what material is or is not fit to be seen by all of us.

Their policy aims are to “increase awareness of the harmful effects” of porn on men and to “campaign to end the production, distribution and sale of pornography here (*remember this was pre the internet explosion).

With friends like that, you may well ask, who needs H.M. Customs and Mary  Whitehouse!

The two men from the group who attended the NIGRA meeting attempted to draw a distinction between (harmful) pornography and ‘erotica’.  the latter was defined as “sexually explicit material premised on equality”.

Their argument was not particularly convincing – one said that porn “degraded women” by portraying them as “objects to be dominated”, but was unable to substantiate this claim.  He became defensive when challenged on this point, and said something about “some feminists” he knew who found porn “offensive”.  It soon became evident that BMAP’s definition of pornography was fairly wide-ranging and would include most, if not all SM material.

It has always been my contention that the only legitimate purpose for which state power can be exercised over an individual against her or his will is to prevent harm to others.

BMAP maintain that porn has “harmful effects” on men as it (non-Gay porn) tells us that women” want to be dominated”.  Whilst some such material undoubtedly exists, it is simply not possible to legislate against heterosexism by attemp6ting to impose a ban on people’s fantasies.

I am not suggesting that women and young men should not be legally protected against exploitation.  People who work in the ‘sex-industry’ should demand fair pay and decent conditions for their work.  Women who want something more raunchy than Playgirl (*what is the equivalent today I wonder) should make their voices heard, only then will “sexually explicit material premised on equality” become more widely available.

There are enough right-wing groups and clerics campaigning to “end the production, distribution and sale of pornography” without people who claim to be politically progressive demanding censorship, whatever their reasons.

If people demand repressive legislation, of which there is enough on the statute book already, they will almost certainly get it (*again, remember, this was written pre the internet explosion of pornography sites, and every time that government attempts to look at this problem it runs away).  Quite how this will promote sexual equality is beyond my understanding.  Laws banning pornography will drive it underground (*the dark web) and suppress a great deal of open, rational discussion about sex and sexual inequalities.

BMAP did not have much to say about lesbian or gay male porn, although they were inclined to the view that most of it is probably OK as it is not premised on”inequality”.

Porn LawsIt is all very well for them to think along these lines, but the fact remains that the advocacy of repressive measures aimed at depriving people of the right to the reading of material of their choice could all too easily result in the targeting of the ‘gay’ community as purveyors of “material likely to deprave and corrupt”.  It is not long since HM Customs used their draconian powers to seize material from gay book shops (In 1984, Customs and Excise, assuming Gays’s The Word, London to be a porn store rather than a serious bookstore and ordered the destruction of imported books without reference to the Obscene Publications Act.)

Sexual equality and ‘Gay’ liberation can only come about as a consequence of the removal of oppressive laws which purport to regulate people’s sexual behaviour, women’s fertility – in short – Gay Liberation means nothing if not the removal of all constraints on consensual sexual activities and the lifting of restrictions on the rights of individuals to look at sexually explicit material, regardless of the opinions of others.

…first published in Upstart (Reasons to be cheerful ) – a paper copy of this magazine is held in the Linenhall Library, Belfast…

 

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Identity (a gay journal) – reviewed by Graham Walker

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Identity

NOT THE MAGAZINE COVER FOR IDENTITY

Identity is a new Gay Journal published by the National Gay Switchboard in Dublin.  At the time of writing Gay Star No. 10) three issues had appeared, the latter two of which are discussed here.

Let it be said straight away that ‘Identity’ is very welcome.  It is modeled though not too obviously on journals such as Body Politic and Christopher Street in that it seeks to combine substantial literary content (short stories, poems, reviews of books and films) with political polemics and special items of news and current day affairs.

A good balance has been struck and the serious is necessarily tempered by the humourous.  The writing is in general of a high standard, and it is never less than interesting.  ‘Identity’ wisely eschews long, rambling, and invariably tedious ‘consciousness-raising’ in favour of shorter, more trenchant pieces, which in most cases make a strong impact.  The diversity of the journal is its greatest strength.

Several items deserve mention – T C Breen’s admirably researched articles on the Dublin Scandals of 1884 (no. 21), and the ‘Strange Case3 of Bishop Atherton’ (No. 3), lend an instructive historical dimension to the paper; David Norris’s article on the Christian Churches (No. 2), is lucidly erudite if a little blib; Damian Stewart’s ‘Last Dance’ (No. 3), an engaging story which captures the ‘treadmill’ nature of the gay scene and the desperate anxieties of its patrons; and David O’Connor’s ‘Crumbs’, while frequently losing its way in the author’s frenetic attempts to intellectualize his characters, still manages to be a refreshingly unconventional piece of writing.

It is still possible to quibble.  While some pieces in ‘Identity’, most notably those of Father Joe O’Leary and Conor Davidson, raise important controversial topics, there is nowhere to be found a serioussELF iDENTITY discussion of them.  the journal exudes a ‘Glad to be Gay’ tone which is to be applauded; equally necessary is a facility for self-criticism and a questioning approach to many aspects of current gay lifestyles.  

It is to be hoped that in future issues, ‘Identity’ will open up debate on such topics as the positive and negative aspects of gay ghettoes, and the opinions before the Gay movement in its attempt to pursue political change.

 

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The National Gay Federation is now known as National LGBT Federation (NXF)  – Identity

Identity

 

 

 

 

 

Review of ‘Identity’ first published in Gay Star No 10 (held int he Linenhall Library Archives)

Belfast Pride and Economics

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Belfast Pride and Economics!  Originally, we had Pride Day with a march to show people that we are part of their community and that we had a right to exist.  At this point we were fighting for our lives;  abuse, both physical and mental, was normal, and murder occurred and was usually brushed under the legal table as justified due to overtures or something similar. (Portsmouth Defence)

And again, marches started in large cities like New York and London, and like a spider’s web slowly the marches spread into other cities and links were formed.

In the background to these marches were the fights in court to get us legal recognition and protection (e.g., Jeffrey Dudgeon, MBE).

 

…’Try to will yourself into – or out of – loving someone,  try to will someone into loving you, and you collide with the fundamental fact that we do not choose whom we love.’  …James Baldwin on Love, the illusion of Choice and the Paradox of Freedom

 

Time has passed and so the Pride March has become Pride Month, with a lot of regions or cities now holding the Pride Parade which is almost like a Lord Mayor’s Float Parade!

With a parade comes flamboyance, but why?  To quote i-d-vice.com  in their article the significance of men’s fashion at pride’: 

 

…Queer men have always worn outlandish clothing within the safety of their own spaces but Pride is different; it’s an occasion which allows you to dress however you want, in broad daylight, in the centre of the city. Fashion at Pride is a way of being defiantly visible, satirising the straight world, and experimenting with gender….

 

However, this last year during the covid lockdown we have all seen how shallow the acceptance has been, with an increase in LGBTQ+ attacks, with the homeless of LGBTQ+ increasing and with some countries even reversing (or seeking to reverse) the laws which were fought for to give the LGBTQ+ community acceptance and protection.

I love Belfast Pride, having been one of those few souls who marched on the very first one in 1991 (all 200 of us), and walked past the various vociferous groups protesting us being there and alive.

That first Pride in Belfast was a small affair, but so significant as it allowed the Belfast population going about their normal daily tasks, to see that we were just like them from one end of the spectrum to another, with very flamboyant characters to extremely conservative ones – and that just as other groups have marched for centuries in the belief of their right to exist, so were we.

Today, as I have mentioned above, the Pride Day Parade is a large affair in Belfast, with conservative numbers for those taking part being (55000) and with watchers at least double that.   We have support groups from Trade Unions, the PSNI, local councils, student groups to name but a few.  The detractors have gone down in number, and indeed the local papers generally write in a positive way about the parade.

I welcome this change, but again I caution everyone to remember our roots, there are still those who would seek to have us put back in the closet.

The one thing that is not often mentioned about Gay Pride Parades is the economic benefit that regions, towns, or cities get from them.  I come from a background of finance, and I am also a local community journalist for our community, so I was extremely interested to see if anyone knew what economic benefits were brought into Belfast specifically and for Northern Ireland in general.

There is little available documentation regarding this area, but one that I have read with interest is the Greater London Authority Mayoral Decision for funding for Pride in London for the period 2018-2022.  I would like to share an extract from it: –

…During the past five years, Pride in London has continued to see growth and improved community engagement.  It is the UK’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) event and parade that typically attracts an annual attendance of up to a million people into central London.  Independent audience survey research in 2016 (the most recent data set) showed that additional spend in the local economy from people attending Pride was approximately £26.3m…

Now obviously Belfast figures as I have stated above are nowhere near 1 million (55000 approx.), however, if you conservatively look at the projected spend figures then I would suggest that Belfast economically benefits to the tune of

 

  Attendance Figures Additional Spend Spend per Head Estimated Policing Cost Estimated Cleaning Up Costs Estimated Net Benefit
             
London 1000000 £26.3m £26.30 £1m £1m £24.3m
             
 Brighton 400000 £20.5m  £51.25 £420k* £200k* £19.8
             
             
Belfast 55000 £.825m £15.00 £55k £45k £725k
  55000 £.550m £10.00 £55k £45k £450K
Northern Ireland            
             

 

Now the statistics for Northern Ireland are a lot more obscure as the Northern Ireland Tourist Board does not seem to track increased  figures for the period of Pride Month, and in particular Belfast Pride (FOI Request reply to 3 questions on Belfast Pride and in general N Ireland Pride Festivals dated 25 Jun 2018), but I believe that economically, the events help attract tourist income, stimulate employment, encourage spending, and contribute to public infrastructure development; and in so doing events prove the opportunity to revitalise communities and foster economic development. 

Also, the rural pride events can help members of the LGBTQ+ community to feel supported and accepted by creating visibility about different sexual orientations.

In the last week, we have seen reference to 1991 A Belfast Pride to be remembered!  It is important to realise that Belfast Pride is both a celebration of life and who we are, but also a political statement to show we are here, that we will not be going back and that we will continue to fight for our rights in society.

 

Belfast Pride and Economics

 

 

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Virtual Belfast Reception

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Virtual Belfast ReceptionOn July 1st, 2021 the PinkNews, in partnership with Citi and the Rainbow Project, under the title “Virtual Belfast Reception” organised a panel discussion on LGBT+ equality in Northern Ireland.  The Virtual Belfast Reception online meeting involved Doug Beattie, UUP leader, Mary Lou McDonald, president of Sinn Fein, Colm Eastwood, SDLP leader, Naomi Long, Alliance leader and justice minister, and Mal O’Hara, a Green Party councillor in Belfast and the event was moderated by John O’Doherty, director of the Rainbow Project.
 
 
The virtual meeting was conducted through Zoom, with the audience being able to view but not comment except through the messenger facility of the program.  Areas under discussion were:
 
                • Transgender
                • Self ID Laws
                • LGBTQ+ and Education
                • Conversion Therapy

 

Obviously, during 1hr 30min+ discussion, there were sidetracks; the main one being over political parties and LGBTQ+ rights to which Paul Bradley, deputy leader of the DUP, said that in response to a question from Mr O’Doherty about the DUP and its history of negativity on LGBTQ+ issues, 

“I’m not going to defend some of the things that have been said over the years, because they have been absolutely atrocious. They’ve been shocking, so they have.
“I certainly couldn’t stand by many of those comments – in fact, all of those comments.
“Because I know that the hurt they have caused people and I know that fed into the hatred some people have had to endure in their life, and I think that’s absolutely wrong.
“I think the vast majority of those people that made those comments are no longer there, and the ones that are there have said that they have learned their lessons, that their language at times has not been right.
“It’s something I’ve brought up on numerous occasions with my own party because I think not sometimes, all the time, our language very much that we use as elected representatives has an impact in wider society.
“I can certainly say I apologise for what others have said and done in the past because I do think that there has been some very hurtful comments and some language that really should not have been used.”

(A full transcript can be found in the Newsletter link which is at the end of this article)

 

Now, this was a welcome response, however, it was then followed by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson speaking on Sunday, July 5th 2021|:

Mr Donaldson acknowledged past comments by members of the party had been “hurtful” to LGBT people here, before adding it was “not just in the case of the DUP”.

While the DUP leader said it is right “that we say sorry and acknowledge hurt”, Mr Donaldson went on to add: “Equally in time, I hope others will be able to acknowledge that they have caused hurt, for example to people from a strongly held faith perspective.”

This is the politician two shoe shuffle, give on one hand and then take away by blaming it all on someone else.

 

Much as Paul Bradly may wish, and indeed believes, that the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) is making strives to reform, it would seem that its current leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, has more in keeping with the leader he replaced Edwin Poots, or if you go back further Mrs Iris Robinson, a previous MLA and wife of the then First Minister ‘Peter Robinson’,  and ‘her’ psychologist who claimed that he could cure gays (gay conversion therapy).

 

Virtual Belfast Reception

 

 

Whilst I have concnetrated on the DUP during this virtual meeting, the other participants were very clear in the answers and supportive.  Some of the phrases which I have written down are:

  • Even though things have changed, there is ‘always a need to remain alert’.
  • If you ‘Stop pushing forward, then we will move back’
  • Even though we have had ‘Immense change, the lesson is we have to keep gong’
  • ‘Always think about those young people in turmoil’
  • ‘A Safe Place For All Of Our People’

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