(Part 1 of 3)
Well we have always been here but the time for hiding, being
quiet and not drawing attention to ourselves and staying in Narnia is over. Now, more than ever before, with the lives of
LGBT people around the World in such jeopardy we cannot relent. Let’s not even mention the hate and vitriol
coming out of Australia at the moment.
Quoting Panti Bliss in her Noble Call:
“They are being imprisoned and beaten and tortured and murdered and executed”.
We cannot and should not be silent. In fact, with Irish LGBT people being in such
a minority – that is of being protected in law and mostly accepted in society –
we more than others should not be silent.
As the saying goes, bad sh$t happens when good people do nothing. In
this blog I recall some of my proudest and toughest moments of the last 12
years. Of course, there might be a
little touch of hindsight and rose-tinted glasses but I'm allowed that. This is my blog and my opinion.
In 2005, myself and a group of friends set up a support group
for the LGBT community of Wexford. We
had lofty ideals and our name echoed our aspirations – EAGLÉ – The Equality
Alliance of Gays & Lesbians in Éire.
We had a manifesto, aims, objectives and everything. The inaugural committee consisted of gay and
straight people, some friends before EAGLÉ and others to become great friends
during and after that time. As with most
groups, we had strong people with lots of ideas, we fought, made up, dispersed
and regrouped. But a couple of ideals we
never lost. Most importantly, we were a group for
LGBT people, their family and friends.
We were no longer going to hide and organise ourselves in private
groups, back rooms in pubs and each other’s houses. We were going to be out, proud and
strong. We were going to provide a place
for LGBT to be comfortable but also, and most importantly, an exercise in
“normalising”, for the rest of Wexford the idea that LGBT people lived in their
community. Whilst I hate the word
“normalise”, part of the Equality fight is breaking down barriers and smashing
up those pigeon holes that separate us.
We all needed to become normal in that regard.
For decades before EAGLÉ there were groups in Wexford (GLOW
comes to mind – Gays & Lesbians Out in Wexford) but they were never out,
mainly because they couldn't be. But,
the problem was this was perpetuating into my generation. This needed to change. We wanted to change the public perception of
“The Gays”. There was no need to be
scared of us and we were just like our peers in mostly everything, we wanted to
go out, have a few drinks, shift someone by the end of the night and go home. Were we talking to our parents about who we
shifted?...hell NO...but “the straights” didn't go home and talk to their
parents about who they ended up on the dance floor with for the last slow song
of the night. You see, we were no
different really.
The country was alive. Unemployment was low, people had jobs,
college was free and banks were throwing money around to buy your first
house. This was the same for
everyone. Again, we were no
different. So we started working in the
community, breaking down barriers, aligning ourselves with other community
groups fighting for equality and socialising like everyone else. We had regular social nights, in the pub
(mostly South 51). Anyone could come
along. There was very little trouble and
the jugs of cosmo were flowing. It was
also important for businesses, bouncers and bar staff to see us and treat us
well. For the most part we behaved (yes,
in every group there's always one...) we brought a lot of business with us and
earned respect. It was also a common
occurrence for our social nights to be covered in the local press, in the same
was as any other party was covered and this was great. Positive publicity for a group of people
having a fun night out.
We also had fundraisers & teamed up with other groups in
the town. We organised group art
exhibitions during the festival with a good mix of LGBT artists and
straights. Again, more positive and fun
things, whilst providing a forum for the LGBT community in Wexford which
promoted integration. We officially
launched on 20th July 2005 and the EAGLE well and truly landed. Wexford Borough Councillor Anna Fenlon
launched the night with a video of some fireworks but this cemented a political
relationship. It didn't hurt that
Councillor Fenlon was wheelchair bound and was leading the fight for equality
and access for disable people in Wexford, EAGLÉ and the Disabled Association in
Wexford continued to work well together.
It also gave us some great exposure.
Myself and Val Scallan-Walsh continued to push the political agenda of
Equality whilst the rest of the group continued with organising the social
element of EAGLÉ. We had meetings with
TD's and County Councillors. We made
presentations and submissions to the County Council for the community section
of the County Development plan. We
worked with other groups in Waterford, Carlow and Kilkenny. All of these things were gently but
irrevocably changing the World for LGBT people, well at least in Wexford. We were no longer hidden and couldn't be
ignored. Hell YES, we were here to stay.
(I'll pick up on this later)
Then, as with most groups the inevitable happened. New people came on board and things
changed. Oh Well. Of course, in the meantime, it was now normal
to see LGBT people out (in every sense of the word) and not unusual to see them
dancing in Moonies, the Stores & Chocolate.
Also many of us partnered up and began long term relationships, so the
need for organised social nights, for us, was at an end. EAGLE as we knew it ended. But myself and Val Scallan Walsh didn't stop,
myself joining Labour and Val joining Sinn Fein, we continued the fight, jived
each other for joining the wrong party but still agreed in the fundamental
equal rights for LGBT people.
For me meeting amazing passionate people like Dr. Ann Louise
Gilligan (RIP), Senator Katherine Zappone & Senator David Norris were my
highlights whilst working with EAGLE. I
still get a lump in my throat when I think of the huge loss Dr. Ann Louise is
to the people of Ireland and I cannot imagine how far we would have gotten if
we did not have her and her beautiful strong wife Katherine “fighting the good
fight” as they say.
In 2008 EAGLE became a limited company in an effort to become
more organised and make funding streams available to us. We had great fun and again made some
important contacts.
To be continued
John The Captain Ryan
#LGBT #Equality #Wexford
Intriguing 3 parter, lovely reference too back to when times were 'good' with banks throwing money out their doors at people, unemployment was low and people could actually buy a house and afford to live too. I think you're enjoying the blogging, how are you liking the course?
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle, yes I'm really enjoying the blogging and love the course. The structure of the course is great, enabling me to learn new material and put it together with my existing IT skills. Working on Thing4 at the moment.
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