LGBTQ+ History Archives

Between sickness and sin

24/10/2025 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Review of ‘Between sickness and sin: models of male homosexuality in Northern Ireland c. 1960-1990’

Author: Charlie Lynch

Publication: Irish Historical Studies (2025)

Summary and Central Argument

Charlie Lynch’s article (Between sickness and sin: models of male homosexuality in Northern Ireland c. 1960-1990) provides an essential analysis of how male homosexuality was understood and managed in Northern Ireland between the early 1960s and the end of the 1980s. The central thesis posits that understandings of same-sex desire were primarily channelled through two powerful, negative institutional frameworks: the theological model of ‘sinfulness’ and the medical model of ‘sickness’ (or pathology).

The article charts the evolution and interaction of these two models, arguing that they formed the dominant discourse against which gay men had to navigate their lives and against which nascent reform movements had to fight.

Methodology and Evidence

A major strength of this article is its use of a rich and varied evidence base. Lynch moves beyond typical institutional histories by synthesising three key source types:

Contemporary Comment and Institutional Writings: Analysis of theological texts, medical journals, and public commentary that articulated the official positions of churches and health professionals.
Law Reform Documentation: Examination of how the campaign for legal reform in the 1970s forced major Protestant churches to issue formal, often complex, responses to the “problem” of homosexuality.
Oral History Testimonies: Crucially, the work incorporates the lived experiences and memories of gay men from the period. This inclusion ensures the analysis is grounded in the reality of those affected by the ‘sickness’ and ‘sinfulness’ models, providing necessary nuance and depth.

Key Contributions

The article offers several valuable contributions to the historiography of sexuality:

Nuance in Religious Response

Lynch successfully complicates the often-simplistic narrative of monolithic religious opposition. While the notoriety of fundamentalist campaigns (like the one led by Ian Paisley against the decriminalisation of homosexuality) is acknowledged, the article demonstrates the complexity of responses within two major Protestant denominations. It shows that institutional reactions were not uniform and that there was a tentative emergence of a challenge from radical Christian voices, which provides a more sophisticated picture of the religious landscape than typically presented.

The Rise of Medical Pathology

The article highlights that, similar to trends in England, the notion of homosexuality as a pathology or sickness gained significant traction in the 1950s and 1960s. This medicalisation led to harmful conversion practices, such as aversion therapy, which were performed in an attempt to “cure” men of same-sex desire. By focusing on both the theological and medical realms, the article paints a complete picture of the institutional hostility faced by gay men.

Conclusion

Lynch’s article is a robust and important piece of scholarship. It illuminates a critical period in Northern Ireland’s social history, detailing the oppressive frameworks used to control and define male sexuality. Combining institutional records with oral history creates a nuanced narrative that is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of sexuality, civil rights, and modern Ireland.

#BetweenSicknessAndSin #CharlieLynch #LGBTQHistory #NorthernIreland #IrishStudies #QueerHistory #SocialHistory #OralHistory #LawReform #AcademicReview

Links:

Jean Genet – Un Chant d’Amour – Movie Review

14/10/2025 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Un Chant d’Amour – Jean Genet’s Silent Cry of Desire

Jean Genet’s Un Chant d’Amour (1950) remains one of the most haunting and poetic portrayals of forbidden desire ever committed to film. This 26-minute black-and-white short — the only film Genet ever directed — is both stark and lyrical, a work born out of confinement, yearning, and resistance.

For years, the film was banned for what was seen as “explicit homosexual content.” Today, those same images — bodies reaching across prison bars, smoke shared between lips, a flower trembling in the air — read not as scandalous, but as profoundly human. Genet gives us love stripped bare, fragile and defiant, a song whispered through the cracks of a cell wall.

Inside the Prison Walls

The story unfolds in a French prison where two men — one older, the other young and tattooed — are separated by thick stone and iron. Their only intimacy is through gesture and imagination: a tendril of smoke, a caress of the wall, a bouquet of wildflowers passed between bars but never received.

Hovering over them is a prison guard, a figure of authority, voyeurism, and jealousy. He spies on the prisoners’ private acts of longing, unable to understand them yet drawn inescapably toward them. When his envy turns violent, beating the older prisoner, the scene dissolves into fantasy — a pastoral escape where the two men can finally exist together, free from chains and shame.

The guard’s intrusion, particularly the disturbing moment when he forces the prisoner to simulate oral sex with his gun, serves as Genet’s commentary on power, repression, and the perverse relationship between control and desire. The final image — a hand grasping the long-offered flowers — completes the film’s circle of longing: love reaching out through impossibility.

A Silent Language of the Body

Genet forgoes dialogue entirely. Instead, the film speaks in close-ups — of torsos, faces, armpits, penises — each frame both sensual and symbolic. It’s cinema as pure visual poetry. The camera lingers not to titillate, but to witness. Every movement, every breath, becomes an act of resistance against invisibility.

At a time when queer love was criminalised and pathologised, Un Chant d’Amour dared to look directly, unapologetically, at the erotic. It’s not pornography, as its censors claimed, but a meditation on longing and the human need for connection — made even more profound by its silence.

Censorship and Legacy

When the film finally surfaced in the U.S. in the 1960s, it ignited fierce legal battles. Judges labelled it “cheap pornography calculated to promote homosexuality,” banning it outright. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld the ban without explanation — a quiet erasure of one of queer cinema’s first authentic expressions of desire.

And yet, like all true art, Un Chant d’Amour endured. It circulated underground, influencing generations of filmmakers, writers, and queer artists who recognised in its imagery both a mirror and a manifesto.

Critical Reflections

Today, critics recognise the film as a landmark. The Queer Encyclopedia of Film & Television calls it “one of the earliest and most remarkable attempts to portray homosexual passion on-screen.” For some, it remains “pretentious” or “curio value” — but that misses the point. Genet wasn’t making entertainment; he was crafting an act of defiance.

In Un Chant d’Amour, love becomes a subversive force — one that outlasts authority, confinement, and shame. It’s not just a film about desire; it’s a

love letter to the silenced.

Reflection

Watching it now, Un Chant d’Amour still feels radical — not because of its nudity or its notoriety, but because of its tenderness. In its silence, Genet gives us a universal truth: that love, however repressed, finds a way to reach across the bars.

Director – Jean Genet
Writer – Jean Genet
Stars – Bravo, Jean Genet, Java

Links:

#JeanGenet #UnChantDAmour #QueerCinema #LGBTQHistory #BannedFilms #FrenchCinema #AvantGarde #GayArt #FilmCensorship #QueerDesire #Cinephile #ClassicFilm #AcomsDave

The Wolfenden Report: A Turning Point for Gay Rights

05/10/2025 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Wolfenden Report

When the Wolfenden Report was published on 4 September 1957, its dry, academic 155 pages sparked an unexpected firestorm. The first print run of 5,000 copies sold out within hours, and Sir John Wolfenden found himself cursed by religious groups and confronting graffiti outside his home.

A Response to Government Discomfort

Home Secretary Sir David Maxwell Fyfe had commissioned the committee to address two issues troubling the government: the visibility of sex workers on London’s streets and the rising arrests of gay men. Ironically, this increase stemmed from Maxwell Fyfe’s own policy of deliberate police entrapment of homosexual men.

The crackdown had ensnared high-profile figures including codebreaker Alan Turing, actor Sir John Gielgud, and Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. These prosecutions embarrassed the establishment and generated extensive press coverage—exactly what the government hoped to avoid.

“You knew what could happen,” recalled Rex Batten, a gay man living in London at the time. “You knew the cases that had come up, the people who were in jail for a year, two years, three years.”

Groundbreaking Yet Flawed Recommendations

After three years of testimony from police, psychiatrists, religious leaders, and some affected gay men, the committee recommended that consensual homosexual acts between men over 21 in private should no longer be criminal. The report’s philosophy was clear: “We’re concerned primarily with public order and not with private morality,” Sir John told the BBC.

However, the recommendations weren’t pioneering—many European countries, including France, Italy, and the Netherlands, had already decriminalized homosexuality. The report also contradicted itself by condemning homosexuality as “immoral” and “psychologically destructive” while rejecting the idea that it was a mental illness.

Harsh Treatment of Sex Workers

The report’s stance on prostitution was far more punitive. Rather than decriminalisation, it recommended harsher penalties, including three months’ imprisonment for third offences. Sir John justified this by wanting to avoid making detours when walking with his teenage daughter through certain London streets. Notably, the committee never consulted any sex workers.

Public Backlash and Eventual Success

The report faced fierce opposition. The Daily Mail warned that “great nations have fallen and empires decayed because corruption became socially acceptable.” Even Maxwell Fyfe rejected the homosexuality recommendations, though the government quickly adopted the prostitution measures in the 1959 Street Offences Act.

Despite resistance, the report sparked a crucial public debate. The Homosexual Law Reform Society was formed in 1958 to campaign for change. A decade later, the 1967 Sexual Offences Act finally decriminalised consensual homosexual acts in England and Wales, though it took until 1980 for Scotland and 1982 for Northern Ireland to follow.

Legacy

While deeply flawed, the Wolfenden Report opened a conversation about equal rights and the state’s role in private behaviour. As Rex Batten reflected: “We just wanted to be left alone to live our lives.” That simple wish, eventually granted, remains the report’s most important legacy.

Links:

Cara Friend – 50 years young

25/06/2025 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

50 years young, Cara Friend is celebrating its half century in style. The bastion of hope and support for so many, during the time of repression, persecution and at times physical attacks for the LGBTQI+ community, Cara Friend is remembering its beginnings and looking forward to its future.

Northern Ireland, in many ways, has always been reluctant to move forward with change. In 1967, the Sexual Offences Act decriminalised sexual activity between men over 21 in private in England and Wales; it did not apply to the Armed Forces, Merchant Navy or Scotland (later decriminalised on February 1st 1981), the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man.

But, Northern Ireland didn’t see change until 1982 with the Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order, which legalised homosexual acts between consenting adults. This change was brought about through the result of the Dudgeon v United Kingdom government case, which was the first successful case brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the criminalisation of male homosexuality.

This trial was supported by NIGRA (Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association), the 1974 Committee, and Cara Friend, along with many other organisations andprivate individuals.

During April 2025, there have been several events celebrating Cara Friends’ half century of excellence:

A photographic exhibition of volunteers was launched and then put on display in the Linen Hall Library (which is very supportive of our community). This was brought about through funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund NI (and again, others, too many to list here – see back of the wonderful booklet “Dear Friend, The History of Cara-Friend 1974-2000”). The launch took place at a private showing for Cara Friend’s befrienders and selected guests on the evening of February 3, 2025, with the general public able to access it from February 4 to February 28, 2025. This exhibition of 21 exquisite portraits explores the experiences of Cara-Friend volunteers, including those who founded the charity and guided it through the 1970s and 1980s.
On the 12th February, a panel of four befriender originators of Cara Friend was held in the Linen Hall Library from 1=2pm. It was very well attended (and honest, no one fell asleep).

A wonderful booklet, as mentioned above, “Dear Friend, The History of Cara-Friend 1974-2000”, researched and produced by Michael Lawrence as part of a six-month internship with CF from Queen’s University.

Terry-McFarlane-PXL_20250225_100612346

Image 1 of 20

It is anticipated that the exhibition will travel to various Northern Ireland and UK venues, and will also be on show at Kent State University, USA.

The thanks of everyone involved in the project (befrienders, volunteers) are also given to photographer Timothy O’Connell and oral historian Dr. Molly Merryman. Many thanks also to the team at the Queer NI – Sexuality Before Liberation Project (funded by the AHRC, AH/V008404/1), including Dr. Charlie Lynch, for their support throughout the project.

Brad Davis

29/05/2025 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Brad Davis: The Untold Story of Love, Courage, and Hidden Battles

Brad Davis’s life was a tapestry woven with talent, resilience, and secrets he carried silently. Born Robert Creel Davis on November 6, 1949, in Tallahassee, Florida, he grew up amid the gentle hum of a middle-class Southern family. His father, Eugene Davis, was a dentist and navy officer, while his mother, Anne Creel Davis, was a homemaker with a passion for theater administration. From childhood, Davis exhibited a natural flair for storytelling and performance—an early sign of the star he would become. But beneath the surface, his world was tinged with emotional turbulence, questions of identity, and a restless search for belonging.

His teenage years saw him dabbling in music and singing before he realized his true calling lay on stage. Enrolling at Florida State University briefly, he soon shifted gears, seeking out Miami Dade Community College and eventually NYC’s prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts. There, he refined his raw talent, shaping the emotionally intense actor that audiences would come to admire.

In the early 1970s, Davis’s career began with theater, where his authentic, naturalistic style caught attention. He moved swiftly into television, guest-starring on shows like *Policewoman* and *Starsky & Hutch*. His early roles often portrayed troubled, passionate characters—misunderstood souls just waiting for their moment in the spotlight.

That moment arrived in 1978 with *Midnight Express*. As Billy Hayes, a young American imprisoned in Turkey for drug smuggling, Davis delivered a performance so visceral it shook viewers to their core. His portrayal was raw, physically demanding, emotionally piercing. It earned him the Golden Globe for Best Actor, catapulting him into Hollywood’s spotlight. Suddenly, he was seen as one of the most promising talents of his generation.

Following that breakthrough, Davis continued to impress. Films like *A Small Circle of Friends* (1980), set against the backdrop of the turbulent ’60s, and *Chariots of Fire* (1981), where he played Jackson Schultz, cemented his reputation. His participation in Larry Kramer’s *The Normal Heart* off-Broadway in 1982 was equally significant—his portrayal of Ned Weekes during the early AIDS crisis was both courageous and compassionate, reflecting his deep commitment to social justice.

Yet, behind the curtain, Davis faced personal demons. Substance abuse and health struggles cast shadows over his career. Despite this, he delivered memorable performances in projects like *A Rumor of War* and *Corell*, showcasing a resilience that belied his inner turmoil.

His personal life was equally complex. In 1976, he married Susan Bluestein, a talented casting director. Their union was more than romantic; it was a partnership rooted in mutual support and shared resilience. Susan was his anchor, supporting him through Hollywood’s fickle landscape and later, the devastating challenges of his health. When Davis was diagnosed HIV positive in 1985—during a time when fear and misinformation about the disease ran rampant—Susan stood unwaveringly by his side. They chose to keep his diagnosis private, fearing the devastating stigma and the impact on his career.

The secret weighed heavily. Despite his struggles, Davis continued working, hiding his illness from the public eye. The physical toll grew, and in 1991, at just 41, he made the heartbreaking decision to end his life through assisted suicide, with Susan at his side. Her devotion didn’t waver; she supported his choice, honoring his dignity and the love they shared.

In the years that followed, Susan became a fierce advocate for AIDS awareness and compassionate end-of-life choices. Her memoir, *After Midnight*, shed light on their private battles—his bisexuality, his pain, and the courage it took to face his mortality.

Davis and Susan had one child—Alex Blue Davis—who inherited his parents’ artistic spirit and resilience. Growing up amid whispers of his father’s struggles, Alex carved his own path into entertainment, becoming a well-respected actor and activist. His role as Dr. Casey Parker on *Gray’s Anatomy* was groundbreaking, as he portrayed a transgender man, contributing to vital representation in mainstream media. Alex openly discusses his journey, honoring his father’s legacy while forging his own identity rooted in authenticity and courage.

—

**A Hidden Love and the Shadows of Hollywood**

In a revelation that rocked Hollywood’s secret corridors, Davis later disclosed intimate details of his romantic entanglements with closeted stars of the golden era. His letters and journals, published posthumously, describe a world where love was cloaked in shadows—where the fear of losing everything kept many from living authentically.

He spoke of a mysterious, marble-jawed leading man from the 1950s, a figure whose silent tenderness left an indelible mark. But he named Anthony Perkins—star of *Psycho*—as someone he shared a passionate, if clandestine, affair with in the late ’70s. Perkins, haunted by his own struggles with identity, understood the weight of hiding. Davis also hinted at a playful, charged relationship with Rock Hudson, the legendary star who would tragically die of AIDS in 1985. Though he stopped short of claiming a full affair, Davis’s words reveal a mutual understanding—a silent acknowledgment of love in a world that demanded silence.

Their stories underscore a painful truth: Hollywood’s golden glow often cast long, dark shadows over its stars’ private lives. The emergence of AIDS shattered many illusions, with Hudson’s death marking a turning point in public awareness. That same year, Davis was diagnosed with HIV—a silent, deadly companion he kept hidden for years.

His decision to stay silent was driven by fear—fear of stigma, career ruin, and social rejection. Yet, in 1991, he chose to reveal his status publicly, a move that took immense courage. Susan’s memoir later detailed how Davis likely contracted HIV through past substance abuse—an echo of the turbulent life he led—and how he faced his final days with quiet dignity.

He wrote a haunting, unpublished manuscript about the pressures to hide his truth, revealing a man fighting not just illness, but the systemic silence that surrounded it. His death, and the secrets he kept, serve as stark reminders of a time when love, illness, and identity were buried behind layers of fear.

—

**Legacy of Courage and Compassion**

Brad Davis’s story is more than Hollywood trivia; it’s a testament to human resilience. His life, filled with triumphs and hidden battles, reflects the cost of authenticity in an era of repression and misinformation. His grave at Forest Lawn stands as a quiet monument to a man who gave everything on screen and endured so much behind the scenes.

Today, his journey reminds us of the importance of compassion, honesty, and the ongoing fight against stigma. Through the advocacy of his wife Susan and the work of his son Alex, Davis’s legacy endures—not just as a talented actor, but as a symbol of unyielding courage in the face of unimaginable adversity.

Link:

LGBTQIA+ Heritage Symposium 2024

12/10/2024 By ACOMSDave

AGENDA

Date: Saturday 12th October 2024
Venue: Canada Room, 1st Floor, Lanyon Building, Queen’s University Belfast
Time: 10am – 1pm

Opening Remarks

Adam Murray – Lead Organiser
Dr. Matt Leebody – Chair of Cara-Friend
Dr. Tom Hulme – Reader, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy & Politics at Queen’s University
Panel 1 – Where Is Our LGBTQIA+ Heritage? 10.10am
Panellist 1 – Dr. Karen Logan (Ulster Museum)
Panellist 2 – Lorraine Bourke (Public Records Office NI)
Panellist 3 – Samantha McCombe (Linenhall Library)
Panellist 4 – Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell (NI Screen’s Digital Film Archive)

Comfort Break

Panel 2 – The Value of LGBTQIA+ Heritage 11.00am
Panellist 1 – Dominic Montague (Kabosh Theatre Company)
Panellist 2 – Dr. Richard O’Leary (Performance Storyteller)
Panellist 3 – JT Politzer (Graduate Student, Kent State Uni.)
Panellist 4 – Cathal McGuigan (LGBTQIA+ Heritage Project Volunteer)

Feature – UTV Archive clips

Panel 3 – Looking To The Future 11.55am
Panellist 1 – Adam Murray (Cara-Friend)
Panellist 2 – Mary Ellen Campbell (LGBTQIA+ Heritage Project)
Panellist 3 – Dr. Tom Hulme (Queer NI Project)
Panellist 4 – Dr. Molly Merryman (Kent State University)

Closing Remarks

This symposium is the opening event of the Founding Cara-Friend: Preserving At Risk LGBTQIA+
Heritage Project made possible thanks to generous funding by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Cara-Friend wishes to thank the NLHF and the lottery players who make this possible.

1983 – Gay Conference Comes To Belfast

12/10/2024 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

1983 – Gay Conference Comes To Belfast, what a headline. When you consider that the Good Friday Agreement was 5 years away. The ‘troubles’ were still happening all around us, and we were also 8 years away from our first Pride March in Belfast, the fact that a gay conference was held is nothing short of remarkable. This is the small article that was published in Northern Ireland’s only gay publication, which can be found in the Linen Hall Libary Political Collection on the fourth floor.

…This is a short report on the All Ireland Lesbian and Gay Men’s Conference which was held in 1983 in Belfast, at the Crescent Arts Centre and the Gay Centre. As many as 200 lesbians and gay men were expected at this 3rd annual conference.

The first conference was in Cork in 1981, and in 1982 was in Dublin. The two of them were organised by ‘independent’ lesbians and gay men and supported by national organisations that provided facilities. It was significant that only a handful of delegates from Northern Ireland were present at both conferences.

In January 1983 a planning meeting was in Belfast for the 1983 conference which was attended by many of the former committee members from 1981 and 1982. Belfast representation was limited to half a dozen men – all members of NIGRa (Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association).

The Dublin Conference had been uniquely successful in having equal numbers of women and men attending. The absence of women from this planning conference augured poorly for the future of a Belfast conference.

The afternoon session was better attended by Belfast/Derry people and a meeting was planned for a fortnight later to bring together ‘non-organisation’ lesbians and gay men in the region. Six women and six men attended, including Charles Kerrigan of the Dublin Gay Collective.

It was decided in principle, that those non-organisational people would determine the nature and organisation of the conference.

NIGRA’s role was to provide facilities, admin and any other help…

We talk about our history, but we have done little to mark it, to record it and remember it. If you wish to have your history recorded, don’t forget the LGBTQIA+ Heritage Project (link below).

Links:

Ulster’s Lesser Spotted Queer Protestant

21/03/2021 By ACOMSDave

In this talk, in conjunction with the LGBT History Club, let Richard O’Leary take you in search of Ulster’s Lesser Spotted Queer Protestant

About this Event

The existence of the LSQP has long been hidden by shy historians and denied by conservative Christians but Dr O’Leary will present evidence to challenge the orthodox, missionary position. Drawing on newly accessed archival material he presents both an objective and subjective view. Imagine a 19th century Ulster same sex couple, erasure, Billy Elliot, pseudonyms, the whack of the crozier, exile and love.

This talk will be followed by a Q&A.

Dr Richard O’Leary is Coordinator of NI’s LGBT Heritage Project and a Visiting Scholar at Queen’s University Belfast. A performance storyteller of true fairy stories, his solo shows include ‘There’s a Bishop in my Bedroom’ (MAC theatre).

OUTing the Past – Festival of LGBT History

21/03/2021 By ACOMSDave

PRONI is delighted to be the virtual Belfast Hub for the 2020 OUTing the Past Festival of LGBT History.

About this Event

Join us for the 2021 OUTing the Past Festival of LGBT History.

This event will feature a number of speakers that will explore various aspects of LGBT history, including Richard O’Leary from the LGBT Heritage NI Project.

This event will take place on zoom. Sign-up to the event will close one hour before the event begins. The zoom link will also issue one hour before the beginning of the event.

We look forward to seeing you there.