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The History of LGBT (now LGBTQ+) in Northern Ireland

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The History of LGBT (now LGBTQ+) in Northern Ireland

Our Pride 1991 – by Terry McFarlane

 

 

The history of the LGBT (now LGBTQ+) in N Ireland is layered with groups that started to pursue a particular ideal missing from the community at the time.

 

 

 

Groups such as:

  • NIGRA
  • Cara Friend
  • COSO
  • GLYNI
  • Belfast Butterfly Group
  • Queerspace
  • Rainbow Project

Out of these groups came various local publications, e.g.

  • Gay Star
  • upstart
  • Update
  • NIGRA News
  • Gay Community News

The History of LGBT (now LGBTQ+) in Northern Ireland

 

But we also provided meeting spaces for individuals and groups, and the development of our own local lending library in the Carpenter Centre, Long Lane, Belfast.  This library held:

  • Books (both fiction and non-fiction)
  • Magazines

o   Foreign:

      • The Advocate (USA)
      • Christopher Street (USA)
      • Curve (USA)
      • Physique Magazine (USA) – a few copies
      • Zipper (*****)
      • Gai pied (French)
      • Lambda (Italian)
      • De Gayt Krant (Dutch)

o   Great Britain

      • Boyz
      • The Quorum
      • ScotsGay
      • Pink News
      • Gay Times
      • Gay News
      • Attitude
      • Diva
      • Fyne Times

o   Posters (both local and from abroad)

o   Banners (for various organisations)

o   Placards

 

NIGRA Banner at Pride

It was in a lot of ways our history repository.

The History of LGBT (now LGBTQ+) in Northern Ireland

Unfortunately, when we had to move to the Cathedral Buildings due to redevelopment, a lot of our history was lost, but still some of has found its way to.

 

  • The Ulster Museum – https://www.ulstermuseum.org/
  • The Linen Hall Library – https://www.linenhall.com/
  • PRONI – https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/campaigns/public-record-office-northern-ireland-proni

For people to access and learn about our history.

We need to develop spaces for writers, artists, and musicians within our community.  Yes, we need those spaces for well-being, befriending etc., but why have we limited ourselves?

I was thinking about when I first realised, I was gay, and how access to books and magazines seemed to be so restrictive.  But, after careful consideration what I have realised was that in terms of today, we had many more venues in which we could get a book or a magazine.  We had at least eight different bookstores we could visit, and then there were the various corner stores and bars that welcomed LGBT clientele (some grudgingly) but also stocked the various free gay magazines and papers. An enticement no doubt to bring people in, but at least they were there.

Today, we are a larger more supportive society, but, though we have the internet, Amazon, online magazines (which we mostly have to pay for) and a quarterly printed magazine (Attitude) available in some selected outlets (or by post), we seem to have less well written and researched news, less knowledge about the books that are available or the movies that are coming out (unless they are blockbusters).

We are also getting to that time in history when people who fought and made our history are reaching the end of their life.  Often without their history being noted, recorded, and save for our future.  Once they die, there is no way of returning that historical knowledge.

We have in part a way of saving our history, which is the LGBTHISTORYNI online archive site, but our community needs to get behind it, get involved with it and start telling everyone about our history.

 

 

Links:

 

 

Go to LGBTHistoryNI

Visit LGBTHistoryNI and get involved in recording our history

Go NOW

 

 

Make IT Happy Make IT Safe: What Sex is All About by Jane Cousins-Mills – Book Review by Geraldine Johnston

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You would be forgiven for thinking that a homosexual magazine (Gay Star) is an unlikely place to find a review of a sex education text, namely ‘Make IT Happy Make IT Safe: What Sex is All About’.  After all, these stirling manuals are usually crammed with information on how men and women do  “it”, how often, and how to negate the consequences.

Make IT Happy Make IT Safe: What Sex is All AboutHomosexuals have, for centuries, known the secret of fool-proof contraception – we’re just waiting for the rest of the world to catch on.  However, ‘Make It Happy’, despite its innocuous title, is of some interest to the gay community.  The author, Jane Cousins, regards homosexuality in a very positive light, and, as the book is intended primarily for young people, it’s good to see someone putting across such attitudes in a matter-of-fact, common-sense way.

Chapters on sexual development, masturbation, orgasms, sexually transmitted diseases, hygiene, and the law are of interest to all of us – male, female, hetero, homo.  One of the refreshing things about ‘Make It Happy’ is that Jane Cousins writes for young people in their own language, and she doesn’t assume that they are familiar with technical terms.  Hence in the narrative and index, you’ll find ‘penis’ and ‘tool’, ‘vagina’ and ‘twat’.  Having taught in various Belfast schools, I’ve come across sex education texts in which the basic assumption is that sex is something that happens between a husband and a wife, presumably only in bed with the lights off – anything else is either not quite nice or a mortal sin.

Thankfully attitudes are changing, and Jane Cousins’ book is both a reflection of this and an attempt to meet the demand for hard facts unseasoned with moral overtones.  Unfortunately, the Church and State school authorities either haven’t wakened to or choose to ignore the need for a direct, no-nonsense approach to sex education.  Therefore, I can’t see this book being used in schools, at least in Northern Ireland, for some time yet.

In the appendix of ‘Make It Happy’, there is a list of useful addresses, including major gay organizations.  My feeling is that the sooner such information is made widely available, the better for us all.

 

‘Make It Happy’ was of course available in the NIGRA library, now held by the Rainbow Project, along with a range of other books of interest to gay men and lesbians.  Some of these are not generally available elsewhere.

 

written by Geraldine Johnston in Gay Star No 3 Sep/Oct 1980 – the full magazine can be read in the Linenhall Library

Information:

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (30 Jun. 1988)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages

Links:

 

 

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’

Links:

 

Pandemic Impact on our LGBTQ+ Youth

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Pandemic Impact on our LGBTQ+ Youth

 

In 2018 whilst discussing ‘Rainbow Colours At Ards Town Hall’ reference was made to a report on suicide prevention from the World Health Organisation, Pandemic Impact on our LGBTQ+ Youthand the methods of measuring suicide attempts.  Reference was also made to the Rainbow Project report ‘Through Our Minds’ which indicated that 25.7% of those who responded, ‘had at least one attempt at suicide.’

But this is not the whole story, the following table gives a more concrete overview of the facts and figures:

General population (suicide attempt ever) LGBT population (suicide attempt ever) General population (suicide attempt past year) LGBT (suicide attempt past year)
Northern Ireland 4% 25.7% ? 6.17%
Great Britain 4.4% ? 0.5% 4.02%*
Ireland 7%** 21.4% 1.68%** 5.63%

 

*Excluding transgender people, recalculated on the basis of the two studies (2008; 2011) taken together
**Aged 17-25

 

LGBT Ireland’s Annual Report

LGBT Ireland’s Annual Report for 2020 published yesterday (May 10) highlighted how the LGBTQ+ community was affected by the COVID pandemic with a higher number than ever of younger people calling the LGBT Ireland helpline with a correlating uptake in online peer support groups….[FactcheckNI(https://factcheckni.org/articles/have-1-in-4-lgbt-persons-attempted-suicide/)]

So why am I raising this again?  We are all still living and working within the pandemic and its impact on all of the community within the United Kingdom.  However, the LGBT Ireland’s Annual Report covering the year 2020, has highlighted the LGBTQ+ community was affected by the COVID pandemic with a higher number that ever of young people calling the LGBT Helpline.

Pandemic Impact on our LGBTQ+ YouthBut in Northern Ireland, I would also suggest that the number of calls for support whether by phone, text or online will have gone up.  Our youth have also suffered from the impact of the pandemic, and so many reports, studies and articles over the period have indicated that for so many that had to return home from university halls, or from rented accommodation which they could no longer afford had the ‘return to the closet’ syndrome as they either were not out to their families, or their families preferred that they kept a low profile.

The cancelling of so many venues and the limitation of support groups has also brought further psychological pressure on our LGBTQ+ youth.

Indian Variant

Today we heard that we are moving forward towards new normality, however almost immediately we are being told about the ‘Indian’ variant and that if the numbers continue to increase from this it may lead to local or limited lockdowns. 

None of us knows the future, and indeed the one thing that is guaranteed apart from birth, death and taxes (which are bound to go up due to Brexit fallout and the pandemic costs) is that the pandemic is here forever, and that it is down to us all to be sensible and use the skills we have developed over the last 15+ months, but also that we need to think carefully on how we can support and care for our youth ( and indeed everyone).

 

Links:

Same-sex marriage in the UK and Ireland

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Same-sex marriage in the UK and Ireland by Gavin Boyd, Policy and Advocacy Manager of The Rainbow Project.
The cause of marriage equality for same-sex couples has been growing globally for a number of years with many European and Latin American countries moving quickly to legislate and with legislation and strategic litigation furthering the cause in the United States. The passing of same-sex marriage legislation in England, Scotland and Wales coupled with the passing of the marriage referendum in the Republic of Ireland has left Northern Ireland as the only region within the UK or Ireland which neither conducts nor recognises same-sex marriages.
These legislative changes which are happening around the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland have led to an increase in speculation as to how or when equal marriage can be introduced. In light of the successful marriage referendum in the Republic of Ireland, many activists and politicians have intimated that a similar campaign could introduce equal marriage in Northern Ireland.
It is, however, important to remember that the referendum in the Republic was used because it was the only way to introduce equal marriage. Had the responsibility to introduce fallen to Dail Eireann, equal marriage would have already been introduced because all of the main political parties supported its introduction. However, the understanding of the government and its legal advisors was that the constitution of the Republic would have to be amended to allow for same-sex marriage and only a national plebiscite or referendum could amend the constitution in this way.
As UK has no written constitution there is not the same tradition of referenda to amend or create laws. In the UK, Parliament is sovereign and referenda are not legally binding. Although referenda may indicate public support for an issue, Parliament still has the authority to give effect to the will of the public or legislate in another way. The Rainbow Project believes that a referendum is not the solution to marriage inequalities in Northern Ireland. We know that there would not be the same consensus among political parties as there was in the Republic, likely leading to a more divisive and contentious campaign, without a certain outcome, which would still have to be voted on by the Northern Ireland Assembly. As the Northern Ireland Assembly has now failed four times to introduce marriage equality, we see no reason that a referendum result would compel those members, who are intractably opposed to its introduction, to vote for a marriage equality bill, even if it was supported by the public.
Due to the barriers which exist to a legislative solution to marriage for same-sex couples in Northern Ireland, The Rainbow Project has turned to strategic litigation.  When same-sex marriage became lawful in England and Wales in March 2014, we understood that although couples from Northern Ireland could legally marry in England or Wales, they would only be recognised as civil partners when they returned to Northern Ireland. To us, this creates an anomalous situation where someone has their relationship reclassified against their will when they move to another part of the same state i.e. the United Kingdom. We are of the opinion, that if someone is married in the UK, then they are married everywhere within the UK and that any attempt to reclassify their relationship is an unlawful invasion of their rights to privacy, family life and marriage.
To this end, we are now supporting a couple who were lawfully married in England in 2014 who are seeking to have their marriage recognised in Northern Ireland. We are asking the family court to make a declaration of marriage; essentially stating that their marriage was lawfully conducted and that their marriage remains lawful in Northern Ireland. The role of The Rainbow Project in this test case is to source and support the clients. Our external solicitor had prepared the papers, sought counsel, and engaged with PILS to secure funding for the challenge.
Our clients wanted to be married, they did not want to enter a civil partnership. Had they wanted a civil partnership, they could have entered into one in Northern Ireland. The best option for them was to get married in England, as many people from Northern Ireland do.  When they came back to Northern Ireland their relationship was downgraded to a civil partnership. We do not think that this is reasonable. We do not feel that this achieves any kind of legitimate state interest and we strongly feel that there is a public interest in ensuring that a person’s marriage is recognised everywhere within the state they live and cannot be reclassified without their consent.
We are not, at this stage, asking the court to declare that same-sex couples may marry in Northern Ireland, but simply to state that if someone is married they must be recognised as married. The referendum result in the Republic makes the need for recognition of marriages even more urgent. We could now have a situation where a married couple who live in Derry/Londonderry are not recognised as married at home but if one partner travels across the border to work in Donegal, they are recognised as married but the partner who remains in Northern Ireland is not recognised as married. This is a truly unreasonable position for any government to hold and deliberately devalues a same-sex relationship comparative to an opposite-sex relationship without providing any evidence as to why they should be treated differently.
It is important to note that recognition of marriages is only one part of the puzzle, the second is to ensure that same-sex marriages can be conducted in Northern Ireland. However, we believe that the most strategic outcome is to secure recognition of marriages in Northern Ireland and then either allow the Assembly to legislate for marriages to be conducted in Northern Ireland or challenge the failure of the government to introduce same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.
As our recent rally for marriage equality in Belfast City Centre, with our partners Amnesty International and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, demonstrated there is enormous public support for the introduction of marriage equality in Northern Ireland.  Thousands of people attended to make their voices heard.   If legislative or referendum solutions are not practical to achieving this, then the public interest is best served by strategic litigation.
 
Reprinted 11th Edition: 22nd June 2015

Politics – What’s on your conscience?

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In December 2014 Paul Givan MLA launched a consultation for his proposed ‘Conscience Clause’. If introduced this would allow businesses to refuse service to same couples, based only on religious belief against what is referred to as promoting same sex relationships. This would mean that a restaurant  or B&B could refuse service to a same sex couple or a landlord could refuse a tenancy to a same sex couple and their family.

 

Join the campaign against the Conscience Clause. Simply just print out the attached speech bubble or draw your own and tell us ‘what is on your conscience’. Whether it is a story or message to inspire others or simply just a limerick we want to hear your thoughts. For some inspiration check out the images above! You can check out more by searching #noconscienceclause
You can also support the Riinbow Project’s  work by texting NOCC15 £3 to 70070 to donate £3, or NOCC15 £5 to donate £5 etc. Remember to tag us on Facebook and Twitter. Remember to use the #noconscienceclause

For more information on our campaign against the Conscience Clause please visit www.rainbow-project.org/noconscienceclause

Please forward throughout your networks and thanks for the support

Northern Ireland gay activists fight bill which could allow gay discrimination

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The proposed ‘conscience clause’ would allow people to refuse goods or services to LGBTI people on the grounds of strongly-held religious beliefs
| BY LIAM JOHNSON
The proposed ‘conscience clause’ would allow people to refuse goods or services to LGBTI people on the grounds of strongly-held religious beliefs

Image via Facebook/The-Rainbow-Project
LGBTI activists are rallying against a new bill proposal which they fear could legitimise anti-gay discrimination in Northern Ireland.
The proposed ‘conscience clause’ is a measure which could allow people to refuse goods or services to gay and lesbian people on the ground of their strongly-held religious beliefs.
An example of this would be the Belfast bakery which refused to bake a gay Bert and Ernie cake. Activists fear if the proposed ‘conscience clause’ was made law, then it would legitimise discriminatory behaviour such as this.
The Private Members’ Bill has been proposed by Paul Givan, a Democratic Unionist Party member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and has been backed by party leader and First Minister, Peter Robinson.
John O’Doherty, Director of The Rainbow Project which is a pro-LGBT rights group based in Northern Ireland, hit out against the bill.
‘Mr Givan claims that his bill will allow believers to deny goods and services to LGB people when it ‘promotes or facilitates same sex relations’. Let us explain to Mr Givan what this means,’ said O’Doherty.
‘Restaurants could deny same sex couples a table as this could be facilitating same sex relations. A mortgage provider could deny a mortgage to a same sex couple as it would be facilitating same-sex relations. Hoteliers could deny a room to a same sex couple as it would be facilitating same-sex relations.
‘The examples are countless. Mr Givan clearly has not considered the implications of his license to discriminate legislation. Ensuring LGB people can access goods and services without discrimination is good for business, good for the economy and good for Northern Ireland’s reputation with investors.’
In addition to the Rainbow Project, Amnesty International has also criticized the proposal.
‘What is proposed is not a conscience clause, it is a discrimination clause,’ said Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Programme Director.
‘This is not about freedom of religion; this is about treating a section of our population as second-class citizens.
‘This change to the law is not welcome and it is not needed. The law already strikes a fair balance between the human right to freedom of religion and the human right not to suffer discrimination.
‘Northern Ireland’s First Minister should concentrate on eradicating inequalities already faced by members of the LGBTI community here, rather than lending his support to a discriminatory new law.
‘He could start by publishing Stormont’s long overdue sexual orientation strategy, which could help tackle homophobia in Northern Ireland society.’
#NoConscienceClause has already begun trending on social media, facilitated by The Rainbow Project.
Today at 3pm (31 January), there is a planned protest against the bill at Belfast City Hall. There will also be partner protests in Derry-Londonderry and Newry.
Stephen Fry has signed a petition arguing for the dismissal of the bill.

– See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/northern-ireland-gay-activists-fight-bill-which-could-allow-gay-discrimination310115#sthash.MAMacSvl.dpuf

LGBT Remembrance at Belfast Cenotaph

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Those who gathered to remember past LGBT people persecuted for their sexual orientation or gender identity. Photo: Simon Rea.

Those who gathered to remember past LGBT people persecuted for their sexual orientation or gender identity. Photo: Simon Rea.


This morning about ten to eleven, a number of members of the LGBT community from the city of Belfast gathered to stand in solidarity and remembrance for all those in Germany, and all nations who lost their lives or were imprisoned for their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The short simple act of remembrance was instituted and organised in the past by PA MagLochlainn, who died about this time a year ago. This year, Andrew Smyth from Cara-Friend organised the event and we were pleased to support it.
We heard from a number of readings including an extract from The Men with the Pink Triangle by Heinz Heger which was read by John O’Doherty of The Rainbow Project.

The prisoners’ uniforms were marked with a coloured cloth triangle to denote their offence or origin.
…
Yellow for Jews, black for anti-socials, red for politicalise, purple for Jehovah’s Witnesses, green for criminals, blue for emigrants, pink for homosexuals, brown for gypsies.
The pink triangle, however, was about 2 or 3 centimetres larger that the others, so that we could be clearly recognised from a distance. (from The Men with the Pink Triangle)

A wreath in the shape of a pink triangle was laid at the Cenotaph by Jeff Dudgeon and Andrew Smyth and we stood together in silence to remember those that suffered at the hands of the Nazis and all who have suffered persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

'The Laramie Project'

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The Matthew Shepard Story

The Matthew Shepard Story


The story of Matthew Shepard
Location and Time:  Thursday 1st August 2012, the Metropolitan Arts Centre theatre; an intimate theatre of approximately 112 seats.
The play was ‘The Laramie Project’ which was written by Moses Kaufmann and members of the Tyectonic Theater Project, but our production was performed and orchestrated by the Dundonald Association of Music and Drama (DAMD) sponsored by the Police Service of N Ireland (PSNI) and The Rainbow Project.
The Laramie Project is a verbatim play about the reaction to the torture and murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998; The Angels during the rallyhe was a young gay man who was robbed, viciously beaten and left tied to a fence to die. Although he was soon found by the police and hospitalized, he soon expired.  Matthew was a student in Laramie, Wyoming and this play is based on a series of interviews conducted with Laramie residents in the aftermath of his murder.  Matthew’s murder focused attention on the lack of hate crime legislation in various states including Wyoming.
DAMD were formed in July 2009 by Melissa Smith.  DAMD’s artistic mission is to engage their community in theatre that makes you think or blink with tears).  ‘If we can inspire, nurture, challenge, amaze, educate or empower artists and audiences b y providing a quality performing arts experience then we retire happily with our bedtime cocoa.’
The stage setting consisted of eight chairs with a ‘goodies’ box beside each containing various individual props, and a stand for the presenter who guided us through the performance.
The performance was riveting, and it indeed did bring this audience member to tears as he remembered the harrowing news items from the time, and how utterly soul destroying the story was as it unfolded, including the trial.  The subsequent theatre production and also the movie release with of the Laramie Project and also the Matthew Shepard Story with Sam Waterston as the father of Matthew kept the story alive and in people minds, and continued to pile pressure on the USA legislature and government and local states.
DAMD’s performance was startling real, the accents were faultless ( at least to my ears), and the minimlist stage setting helped to focus attention on the dialogue, the speakers and the story.
The Laramie Project is often used as a method to teach about prejudice and tolerance in personal, social, and health education and citizenship in schools, and it has also been used in the UK as a General Certificate of Secondary Education text for English literature.  Having just been to an event during Belfast Pride about how our N Ireland Library Service for Schools is currently unable to provide the service needed for LGBT youth, and that a survey of LGBT books in school libraries only returned one item throughout Northern Ireland, it would seem that we need to put on more productions of this play, and especially try to get it seen within our school and college systems.
 
Further links:

  • [button_icon icon=”information” url=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laramie_Project” blank=”true”]The Laramie Project[/button_icon]
  • [button_icon icon=”information” url=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laramie_Project_%28film%29″ blank=”true”]The Laramie Project (film)[/button_icon]
  • [button_icon icon=”information” url=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matthew_Shepard_Story” blank=”true”]The Matthew Shepard Story[/button_icon]
  • [button_icon icon=”camera” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiKBv29xvS8″ blank=”true”]Youtube: The Matthew Shepard Story [/button_icon]
  • [button_icon icon=”camera” url=”Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1qiTmF0p4A” blank=”true”]The Laramie Project[/button_icon]
  • [button_icon icon=”information” url=”http://www.laramieproject.org/” blank=”true” colour=”green”]The Laramie Project Website & Charity[/button_icon]