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Belfast Pride 2023

06/08/2023 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Belfast Pride 2023

Yesterday, the 29th of July 2023, I witnessed and was impressed by the size and infectiousness of Belfast Pride 2023, the theme of which was ‘Stand By Your Trnas’.  There are probably three parts to Pride:-

  • The first phase, ‘The Build Up’ – usually starts off with breakfast taken with your group of choice in different venues. The walk around the streets observing groups of people getting ready, or other groups like the Christians Against Homosexuality with its pontificating of doom and gloom and that we will all be head to hell, and then finally there are the support groups with their flags, infectious smiles, table s full of freebies covering all aspect of society.

These were located down by the ‘Big Fish’.  What is also useful, by visiting them it naturally leads you on to the floats etc being assembled for the ‘dander or parade or march (you choose how you want to describe it); these masses of people are accompanied by a cacophony of noise from single and multiple speakers, from drum groups and single drummers to HiNRG music.  All are accompanied by the security staff, police, ambulance staff and parade marshals.

Belfast Pride 2023, landmark

Big Fish, Belfast










 

  • The middle phase is the actual ‘dander’, march, parade of Belfast Pride 2023 – again your choice of descriptive for it [whatever rocks your boat] – Over the years as the parade has grown so has the audience. Today’s parade was no exception, but what was nice to see was the inclusivity that was generated.  All around me, I could see people and families of all generations, ethnicity, and sexual persuasion; sheltering from the rain around Castle Court, but not rushing to get home.  The anticipation of the march and its runners was more important. 







I was lucky enough to spend some time with a young family, including their two-month-old daughter.  They had come down to enjoy Pride and introduce their daughter to what they hope will be a yearly event for her as she grows up.  They were a lovely couple, the mother obviously involved with the daughter, as the father who took time out to speak with me—finding out why I was their (community journalist and photographer) and also as one of the original instigators of the first Pride in 1991.  It is lovely to see the LGBT+ community being accepted by younger parts of the community.

  • The last stage of the day was the party. For this I will have to beg your forgiveness, I was not able to join in as I had a visit planned to a nursing home to visit Sean McGouran [he of Gay Star, upstart and Update fame, also another member of the first Pride committee].

The first question to ask is, ‘Was this year’s Belfast Pride a success’, the answer is yes a resounding success, but then I also have felt the same for each Belfast Pride since 1991.

Pride is about being kind to yourself and others, about knowing that even with differences we are a family, and to have Pride in being you!

Our month/week/day of celebrating Belfast Pride is something that lasts longer than the time allotted and won’t end until we start next year.

 

Links:

  • Pride Economics – https://bit.ly/3QuJjOe
  • A Pride to be Remembered – 1991 – https://bit.ly/3Y4NRfX
  • Newsletter – The annual Pride parade has taken place in Belfast – https://bit.ly/3DN1nLG

 

Filed Under: Editor to ACOMSDave Tagged With: Belfast, Belfast Pride, Belfast Pride 2023, dander, march, walk

The Carpenter Club

25/07/2023 By ACOMSDave 2 Comments

In the beginning

 

The Carpenter Club, named after Edward Carpenter a hugely influential socialist, critic, writer, poet, thinker, vegetarian, and mystic, was born in premises located in Long Lane, Belfast; an area which has now disappeared after the redevelopment of Cathedral Quarter, which meant Long Lane disappeared under Writers Square.

On 10 April 1981 Jeff Dudgeon and Richard Hodgson purchased the vacant warehouse property at 8/10 Long Lane. At some stage in its past, it had been two separate premises which had then been converted into a single building and used as a plumber’s warehouse. The building had been vacant for some time and parts needed repair.  Once possession was obtained, Richard and Jeff set about converting and renovating the premises into a social and recreation centre. they engaged architects and contractors and had the benefit of much voluntary help from members of the gay community. The ground floor was converted to provide a coffee bar and lounge, large disco, toilets, and storage. Extensive fire prevention regulations were complied with. It had been their original intention to renovate the whole building, but due to higher costs than anticipated, work was restricted to the ground floor.

Carpenter-Club-Album-3-001

Carpenter-Club-Album-3-001
Image 1 of 15

The Club then opened for business on 3 July 1981, and ran until 31 January 1988. The initial proprietors being Richard Hodgson, Jeff Dudgeon, and NIGRA in a limited partnership.

However, that partnership was ended at a meeting held on 8th January 1984 when a member’s club was formed. The club members became the owners of club profits from that date and later owned the building itself and the replacement premises in Hill Street (more to follow on this site later in the year). NIGRA transferred its investment to the members club under the same terms as with the partnership. 

The first floor was developed and opened in 1984 with a second disco and coffee bar.

[Long Lane was an entry running from North Street to Church Street. When this photo was taken all the buildings had been demolished, for the construction of the new Tourist Board offices, and the lane existed in name only. 110 years earlier it contained “One House, remainder stores”. The Art College (before reconstruction) J3374 : The Art College, Belfast is at middle left while St Anne’s Cathedral J3374 : New spire, St Anne’s, Belfast had still to acquire its “knitting needle”.  –  https://www.geograph.ie/photo/1000880]

 

Writers square July, 2010 -

Writers square July, 2010

 

Arrow shows Long Lane 1887 highlighted in purple

Insurance Plan of Belfast approx 1887 showing Long Lane

Insurance Plan of Belfast approx 1887 showing Long Lane

 

Long Lane, Belfast

Long Lane highlighted from OS Map 1920

More About Who Was Involved

The Carpenter Club, whose proprietors where Richard Hodson, Jeff Dudgeon and NIGRA in a limited partnership, was an extensive, unlicensed disco and coffee bar on two floors operating from the early to mid-1980s.  Cara Friend had offices upstairs, and there was also a large meeting room which was used by various groups for their meetings, including NIGRA.  There was also a small room which had been turned into a library and repository of items of interest e.g. such as banners, placards, leaflets, badges etc.

The front of The Carpenter Club

The front of The Carpenter Club

 

Carpenter Club

view of the ground floor coffee bar looking towards the door leading to the entrance foyer.

But what was important for those frequenting the Carpenter Club, was that it was a safe area from police entrapment, or indeed sometimes homophobia. Thomas Ward, a researcher at Queens University in ‘queer history’, said

 

… “Prosecutions for cottaging, such as gross indecency and lewd behaviour, rose substantially following the 1967 Act. The police became better at entrapment, leading to the ‘pretty policeman’ phenomenon whereby the police would attempt to solicit men they believed to be cottaging or anyone who presented outside masculine norms, and arrest them for gross indecency. This itself led to a number of moral panics around gay sex in public toilets throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.” These anxieties led to the closing down of public toilets and other council spaces, often in the face of public expenditure cuts…

What people also have to remember is that during this time the Carpenter Club was located in the middle of Belfast during the ‘troubles’. 

Security Barriers - Donegall Place, Belfast. 1980s – Northern Ireland Historical Photographical Society

Security Barriers – Donegall Place, Belfast. 1980s – Northern Ireland Historical Photographical Society

 

This meant that you had to go through security checkpoints/gates to get to the club, and basically as little else was open in that area, all the security personnel knew where you were heading. Most of the squaddies (British Soldiers) just laughed and made jokes with us, but unfortunately some of the UDR and some of the police were not that kind.

Caroline-and-two-guys-names-not-known

Caroline-and-two-guys-names-not-known
Image 1 of 17

Extended History for the Area

 

The Albert Clock, Belfast, was not far from the Carpenter Club and North Street, and in its past was once infamous for being frequented by prostitutes plying their trade with visiting sailor[s]

The Albert Clock

The Albert Clock

However, the history of Long Lane began long before the Carpenter Club.  According to the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society it had two previous names Bigart’s Lane or Back Rampart’s Lane (from the nearby town ramparts) and running from North Street to Great Patrick Street with Long Lane being bisected when Donegall Street was laid out in the mid-18c.

During this time there was the wonderfully named bar ‘The Monkey Shaving the Goat’ doings its trade in Long Lane

The Monkey Shaving the Goat’ doings its trade in Long Lane

The Monkey Shaving the Goat’ doings its trade in Long Lane

 

In November 1981, the A Centre was established as an alternative cultural space in Belfast city centre.  It ran on Saturday afternoons and was organised by the Belfast Anarchist Collective.  It used the Carpenter premises [on loan] was soon became ‘a den of delight and subversion by the exhibition of numerous agitprop posters of the day; and was always under observation by the RUC [Special Branch] of the day.  Please see the video from Northern Visions on the A Centre

Punk scene Belfast – Photo taken at the A Centre (Carpenter Club), Long Lane, Lower North Street Belfast 1981

Punk scene Belfast – Photo taken at the A Centre, Long Lane, Lower North Street Belfast 1981

Part of the ongoing history of the Carpenter Club was the number of events that originated in the meeting room, e.g.

  • NI Aids Helpline was set up after a conference in the club
  • 3rd All Ireland Lesbian & Gay man’s Conference (Belfast)
  • Developed an outline module for LGBTQ+ Studies to Ulster University

Tom Hulme, Queen’s University Belfast,  wrote in his article ‘Out of the Shadows: 100 Years of LGBT Life in Northern Ireland’.

…’ Belfast has been home to a male cruising culture since at least the 1880s.  Busy streets, dark alleyways, public toilets, and sprawling parks; all provided opportunities for men seeking other men, from the dockworker to the diplomat (as Roger Casement’s diaries confirm)!..

 

Also, Tom wrote in his article, ‘Queer Belfast during the First World War; masculinity and same-sex desire in the Irish city’…

‘the extraordinary cases of two ordinary men. Edgar John Milligen, twenty-nine years old and from just outside Lisburn, County Antrim, was arrested in November 1916 for committing ‘acts of gross indecency with another male person’. The son of a wealthy Scottish-born Ulster industrialist, Milligen had allegedly been meeting adolescent newsboys on the streets of Belfast and paying them for sex in ice cream parlours, hotels and his country house in the village of Lambeg,  About a year later, Vincent Cassidy, a twenty-five-year-old from Armagh, was arrested for a similar crime. Not long back in Ulster after a two-year stay in the United States, he had been living in a hotel in the centre of Belfast and holding all-male parties in his rooms; soldiers and civilians alike danced, drank cocktails and shared the one bed.

… however, that homosexual interactions could take place against the backdrop of ostensibly ‘heterosexual space’. Sheehan described how he and Cassidy made frequent visits to music halls and supper saloons where they consumed meat, fish, oysters and wine…

They also made use of local hotels in York Street, Donegall Place as examples, something that was almost impossible in the 1970s and 1980s.

Carpenter Club, Long Lane, Belfast C1940.

Long Lane, Belfast C1940.

In Jan 2022 Mark Thompson on Twitter (@MarkThompStuff) wrote

…Long Lane, Belfast C1940.  There had been a “Burns Tavern” there, where a Burns Supper, attended by Robert Burns jnr, was held in August 1844, following a major Burns Festival that had been held in Ayr…  (pic from the FB Group “Images and Memories of old Northern Ireland)

 

History of Long Lane Census Figures – 1805 up to 1960 History of Long Lane Census Figures – 1805 up to 1960

Links:

 

  • Wikipedia – Gay Star and Upstart –  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Star_and_Upstart
  • Web Archive – upstart Publishing – https://web.archive.org/web/20140407081943/http://upstartpublishing.com/about
  • In The Archives: A Journey Through LGBTQ+ Records – https://collabarchive.org/projects/in-the-archives-a-journey-through-lgbtq-records
  • The A Centre or the Lost Tribe of Long Lane – https://vimeo.com/14859971
  • Mapping 100 Years Of Belfast Gay Life – http://www.thevacuum.org.uk/issues/issues0120/issue11/is11arthunyea.html
  • A timeline of LGBTQ communities in the UK – https://www.bl.uk/lgbtq-histories/lgbtq-timeline
  • List of venues that the LGBT community went to during the later 1970s and 1980s
  • A brief history of the public toilet as a political battleground – https://www.dazeddigital.com/politics/article/56499/1/uk-single-sex-public-toilets-compulsory-new-building-trans-rights
  • https://www.lennonwylie.co.uk/
  • Irish Historical Studies – Queer Belfast during the First World War: masculinity and same-sex desire in the Irish city – https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/irish-historical-studies/article/queer-belfast-during-the-first-world-war-masculinity-and-samesex-desire-in-the-irish-city/0E0073BA37296DD7B824ED16B7206685
  • Wikipedia – Edward Carpenter – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Carpenter
  • The Edward Carpenter Community –https://www.edwardcarpentercommunity.org.uk/about-us/edward-carpenter
  • Jeff Dudgeon, MBE –https://jeffdudgeon.com/
  • Tom Hulme –https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/tom-hulme
  • 1991 A Belfast Pride to be remembered! – https://bit.ly/3Y4NRfX

 

Filed Under: Community Journalist, Editor to ACOMSDave Tagged With: Belfast, Cara Friend, Carpenter Club, COSO, Jeff Dudgeon, LGBTQ+ Centre, Long Lane, MBE, NIGRA, Richard Hodgson

Launch of New ALL Island LGBTQIA+ Forum

25/07/2023 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

 

The Launch of New ALL Island LGBTQIA+ Forum;  like all our members of the LGBTQIA+ community I welcome the launch of the ‘New All Island’ initiative; but, in 1983 NIGRA along with other like-minded groups in Northern Ireland held a meeting to bring the third All Ireland Lesbian & Gay man’s Conference, which was to be held in the Crescent Arts Centre and the Gay centre (The Carpenter Club). The 1st Conference was in Cork in 1981, with the 2nd in Dublin in 1982. Time does move on, and the needs of the community also, but do not forget that the past may also have some answers.  The piece shown below is from our locally produced magazine, a copy of which is held in the Linen Hall Library Archive

 

 

 

New All-Island LGBTQIA+ Forum - Gay Conference Comes to Belfast

 

 

NIGRA

 

 

Email ACOMSDave

Contact ACOMSDave editor to let us have your stories for publishing

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Filed Under: Editor to ACOMSDave Tagged With: All Ireland, Belfast, Conference, forum, LGBTQIA+

Miss Saigon (School Edition)

16/05/2022 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Miss SaigonMiss Saigon (The School Edition) was produced last year in the Opera House, Belfast in July in the evening and  I was entertained by a superb cast of young people ranging, in age from Sam at 3 years of age, to others all the way up to 18 years of age.  The singing from all the principles was superb, with Nimh McAuley, Nathan Johnston, Louis Fitzpatrick and Conor O’Price providing outstanding performances that more than did justice to the story.

Miss Saigon is set during the time of the last days of America’s time in Vietnam, the relationship of GI’s with local girls, and the fallout when the USA’s government decide to leave Vietnam and in so doing leave so many local wives and children behind!  These children (commonly known as “children of the dust”) were not accepted within Vietnamese society, and for a long time, the USA didn’t want to know about them also!

Nathan Johnston’s performance as Chris and his relationship with Niamh McAuley as Kim is faultless, moving you along the central rollercoaster of their love, with the relationship brought to the abrupt end with America’s abrupt withdrawal from Vietnam.  Louis Fitzpatrick as John provides a lovely acting exercise from being the soldier who does to being the leader of the charity trying to provide support for the children left behind.

In this wonderful mix comes Conor O’Brien the Engineer.  He reminds me in some ways of George Cole as spiv “Flash Harry” in St Trinians.  The manipulator and entrepreneur who doesn’t quite have the class of girls to win out.

The supporting cast was equally wonderful, with all the set changes carried off flawlessly and as were their numbers.

In mentioning the set changes, I must also mention the sets, lighting and music which provided the perfect ensemble for the production.

I know the production is long finished, but I wish everyone all success in their futures, and if that is in the theatre or movies I look forward to seeing them in whatever role they have taken on.

 

Miss-Saigon-EHP_20190718_-8424-GF-Edit
Miss-Saigon-EHP_20190718_-8174-GF-Edit
Miss-Saigon-EHP_20190718_-8376-GF-Edit
Miss-Saigon-EHP_20190718_-8103-GF-Edit
Miss-Saigon-EHP_20190718_-8637-GF-Edit
Miss-Saigon-EHP_20190718_-8690-GF-Edit

Links:

 

  • The School Edition – Miss Saigon
  • Anne Hailes: Miss Saigon shows how theatre prepares youngsters for world stage
  • Children of the Vietnam War – Smithsonian Magazine
  • Tommy at Greenwich Theatre

 

 

Filed Under: Theatre Reviews Tagged With: Belfast, Louis Fitzpatrick, Miss Saigon, Nathan Johnston, Niamh McAuley, School Edition, Vietnam War

The Old Museum Building, Belfast

09/12/2021 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

The Old Museum Building, Belfast In Belfast in 1991, the first Pride Week took place.  It was a week of events which included our Pride Dander (march).  But what was of equal interest were the events held in so many venues one of which was the Old Museum Building.  I have to say that I did not know of this building until our Pride Committee met and were discussing what events we should try and organise, and then of course where should we try to put them on.

There were so many items put on, including this in the Old Museum Building:

  • Mixtures and Allsorts were in the Old Museum Arts Centre.  It was billed as a cabaret – we were required to bring our own refreshments – so we did! There was a vast range of performance styles

But why has this been brought to mind; in the Belfast Telegraph dated 20 November 2021 there was a lovely article by Louise Finn on how The Old Museum Building had weathered bombs and multiple changes of use, and now due to an exciting regeneration plan it will be returned to its former glory for the public to enjoy once more.

My remembrance of the inside of the building was of the high ceilings, slightly tatty decor, but then money was tight in those days, as it is indeed even today.  There is always (usually) the will to do these projects, but we need money and also careful management of the project to ensure that The Old Museum building returns to its former glory, but equally practically to be of use to our society.  We can ill afford to lose yet another cultural icon of our buildings from our city!

 

Links:

  • 1991 A Belfast Pride to be remembered!
  • Old Museum Building
  • Regeneration plan for the Old Museum Building will see it returned to former glory for public to enjoy 

Filed Under: Editor to ACOMSDave Tagged With: Belfast, Belfast Dander, Belfast Pride, Building, Museum, old, Old Museum Building, Pride March

Crescent Arts – Books Festival

13/06/2021 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

We are delighted that our annual Crescent Arts – Belfast Book Festival is making a welcome return for 2021 and is running from 10 – 13 June with an online programme of live events for book lovers.  

Covering everything from love and politics to Cinderella as a zombie, this year’s festival covers a wide variety of themes – including feminism, grief, family, disability, sexuality, body image, and the care system.
 

Click here to see the programme
Here is a taste of this year’s programme; 

  • BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac who will be in conversation with writer Wendy Erskine discussing her debut novel ‘Mother, Mother’ which is set in Belfast
  • Ian McElhinney will be joining literary biographer Roy Foster to explore the work of Seamus Heaney;
  • Glenn Patterson will be chatting with author Conor O’Callaghan;
  • Author of the novel Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín, will be joined by Paul McVeigh to read from and discuss the new anthology of Irish fiction, Queer Love
  • Multi-award winning author and Belfast Book Festival patron Lucy Caldwell joins us to talk about her new collection of short stories; 
  • Two of Northern Ireland’s most respected political journalists, Susan McKay and Amanda Ferguson, come together to discuss Susan’s new book, ‘Northern Protestants: On Shifting Ground’;
  • And there will be a specially recorded performance from the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, Lemn Sissay, who also joins us for a second event where he will chat with political commentator Alex Kane.

Tickets for all events are now on sale and are priced at either £3 or free! 

We hope to see you there!

           Crescent Arts - Book Festival
            
Crescent Arts - Books \festival

Links:

 

  • The Bookseller

Tagged With: Belfast, book festival, books, Crescent Arts, festival, poetry, queer

Gay Pride, Belfast 1991 – on to civil rights/equal citizenship

12/11/2020 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

In 1991 the first Gay Pride in Belfast took place.  It was an event thought to be a non-starter, however the turnout of well over one hundred people for the ‘pride dander’ was simply fantastic.  The support from the Belfast public was beyond belief, as was the support in terms of bodies from the QUB Students Union and the Socialist Workers Movement, as well as our guests from Dublin, ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) – and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the dander and the crack afterwards.

 

How upstart, our own gay publication, remembered our dander:

 

Gay Pride

 

But a new tradition was also set for that march (dander) – that of the Pride T-shirt.  P A Maglochlainn, who was President of NIGRA (Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association) for a substantial number of years, recognised the importance of this inauguration and managed to collect a number of these during his lifetime and even was able to arrange for them to be on show a number of years later in the Central Library.

Since PA’s death, Barry his partner has been working to have his life’s work archived properly, and part of this is to have the T-Shirts placed somewhere so that people can access them and see the wealth of talent that has spread out from the initial showing.

Barry has kindly given me the task of gathering an example of each T-Shirt (or at the very least, a photo) which means that we have a pictorial record of part of our history.

So far, I have managed to collect the following, as you can see there are come gaps, are you able to help with an example of the missing T-Shirts, or at the very least a photograph or jpeg image for the record?  If so then please contact me as follows:

 

Email:  dtw.mcfarlane@hotmail.co.uk

 

 

Year Picture/Slogan  
1991 Gay Pride
1992 Gay Pride
1993 Gay Pride
1994 Gay Pride
1995 Gay Pride
1996 Gay Pride
1997
1998 Gay Pride
1999 Gay Pride
2000
2001
2002
2003 Gay Pride
2004
2005
2006 Gay Pride
2007 Gay Pride
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020

I have two T-Shirts so far which I cannot tie to any year, would anyone have any idea:

  • Gay Pride
  • Gay Pride

Other articles on Pride:

  • Queeriosity – An Exhibition for Pride 2017
  • Visit ‘Pride’ in Spain – You Won’t Regret It!
  • Pride History
  • Baptist minister plans to “cure” homosexuality at Derry’s Pride parade
  • Belfast Pride 2015: sea of colour and party atmosphere as parade gets underway

Filed Under: Campaigns, Community Journalist, History, Projects Tagged With: Belfast, dander, gay, Pride, T-Shirts

Shaping Peace Together International Day of Peace

14/09/2020 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

 

International Day of Peace to celebrate and reflect on Shaping Peace Together – focusing on compassion, kindness and hope.

With inspirational and motivational poems, prayers and music, from the Northern Ireland Interfaith Forum and the 4 Corners Festival representing the diverse faiths and communities across Belfast.  The event will celebrate the progress we have made towards peace and reflect on how we can continue to build a peaceful society.

This International Day of Peace is dedicated to fostering dialogue and collecting ideas and you will have the opportunity to share thoughts on how we can continue to shape peace together.

 

Belfast City Council Event via Zoom

Tagged With: Belfast, City Council, Internation Day of Peace, music, Peace, Poems, prayers

Queeriosity – An Exhibition for Pride 2017

15/08/2017 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Queeriosity is one of those little gems that somehow scrape under the radar, which is a pity because it is definitely worth going to see.  The exhibition runs in the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, from Thursday 3rd August – 2 September 2017.
The exhibition is over three inter-connecting rooms, with the lead in corridor showing both the introduction poster and also one exhibit, which consists of excerpts from what appears to be children’s notebooks – some very poignant writings.
The gallery items range from paintings, through ceramics, installations, photographs and cover a range of topics including:

  • marriage
  •  how we are labelled within society
  • body shape

There is a notice on the door into the exhibit which says:

“Please be aware that this exhibition contains adult content”

however, I would argue that you would see more in the Victoria and Albert, the Tate or the National Portrait Gallery, and they don’t feel that it is necessary to give a warning. But then this is Northern Ireland, and we have to err on the side of caution.
Queeriosity has works from 21 different artists, which are well presented and lit, with a piece written about the artist and the work beside each work. Again I would say that whether this information works for you or not I feel depends on whether or not you are an artist, have a good knowledge of art and (or) possibly a degree in psychology.
Most of the art works are available for sale, ranging in price from £20 for the wire work figures, up to £2300 for Maria Strzelecka’s ‘Oil on Canvas’. However, my favourites pieces were:

  • Marie Smith’s ‘Jean Jacques’, a bronze figure priced at £1250 Queeriosity

 
 
 
 
 
 
and

  • Caolum McCabe’s ‘Gay 100% HUMAN LABELS ARE FOR CLOTHES’ which is not for sale

 
 
 
 
 
Shauna McCann and Linda Smyth as curators have put together a thoughtful and welcomed addition to Pride Festival in Belfast 2017.

Well done the Crescent Arts Centre


Links:

  • Crescent Arts Centre

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Belfast, Crescent Arts Theatre, gay art, installations, mixed media, paintings, Pride 2017, sculptor

Roger Casement: Butterflies and Bones review: blood and thunder

25/10/2016 By ACOMSDave 1 Comment

Secrets Of The Black Diaries...Picture Shows: Image order No HK6737 Irish Patriot and British Consular Official Sir Roger Casement (1864 - 1916) is escorted to the gallows of Pentonville Prison, London. TX: BBC FOUR Friday, March 15 2002 Getty Images/Hulton Archives Roger Casement, former British Consul to the Congo, was hanged for treason for his role in Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising. His conviction rested on a set of diaries that suggested he had pursued a highly promiscuous homosexual life. Under the social mores of the day, such a revelation deprived him of all hope of clemency. But were the diaries faked? BBC Four investigates the 85-year-old mystery. WARNING: This Getty Image copyright image may be used only to publicise 'Secrets Of The Black Diaries'. Any other use whatsoever without specific prior approval from 'Getty Images' may result in legal action.

Secrets Of The Black Diaries…Picture Shows: Image order No HK6737 Irish Patriot and British Consular Official Sir Roger Casement (1864 – 1916) is escorted to the gallows of Pentonville Prison, London.
TX: BBC FOUR Friday, March 15 2002
Getty Images/Hulton Archives
Roger Casement, former British Consul to the Congo, was hanged for treason for his role in Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising. His conviction rested on a set of diaries that suggested he had pursued a highly promiscuous homosexual life. Under the social mores of the day, such a revelation deprived him of all hope of clemency. But were the diaries faked? BBC Four investigates the 85-year-old mystery.
WARNING: This Getty Image copyright image may be used only to publicise ‘Secrets Of The Black Diaries’. Any other use whatsoever without specific prior approval from ‘Getty Images’ may result in legal action.


If you’ve never heard of Roger Casement, who was executed by the British for treason 100 years ago today, the reason is as simple as it is sad, he was homosexual. For that reason he was ignored when he was not being written out of our revolutionary history.

Jeffrey Dudgeon, MBE has written two wonderful insightful books into Casement,

  • Roger Casement: The Black Diaries – with a study of his background, sexuality, and Irish political life Paperback – 5 Jan 2016

and

  • Roger Casement’s German Diary, 1914-1916: Including ‘A Last Page’ and associated correspondence Paperback – 24 Jun 2016

Aidan Lonergan has written that there are ten things we don’t know about Casement:

  1. His Antrim father fought in Afghanistan
  2. His Anglican mother secretly baptised him as a Catholic
  3. He was looked after by the people of Antrim after his parents died
  4. He exposed one of the bloodiest colonial regimes ever
  5. What he saw changed him
  6. He sought German backing for an Irish rebellion during WWI
  7. Some see him as a gay icon
  8. Arthur Conan Doyle campaigned against his sentence
  9. He converted to Catholicism on the day of his execution
  10. A hundred years on from the Easter Rising, it’s important to remember Casement

However, as with all history, it is open to interpretation, and I know that different camps will have different feelings towards Casement, his impact on Irish history, and on Gay History.
The musical about him was one such attempt, and I hope that if it comes to a theatre near you, you will make an effort to see it and view it through the eyes of someone who is probably far older than he was, and also who has the benefit of a society that is beginning to be accepting of LGBT people.
 

Roger Casement is (again) centre stage, but this time it’s the dance world that’s exploring the many facets of his life

Source: Butterflies and Bones review: blood and thunder

Filed Under: History, Theatre Reviews Tagged With: Belfast, dublin, history, musical, roger casement, The MAC

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