Lesbian
and gay
rights in
Ireland
THE recent case of the 14 year old rape victim who was prevented, on the basis of the Irish constitution, from travelling to Britain to have an abortion, highlighted that country's reactionary social laws. The outcry against this decision, on the other hand, showed that contemporary Irish society is not in the image of the country's constitution. This contradiction also applies to Irish lesbians and gay men, as International Viewpoint found out when it spoke to Kieran Rose of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network in Dublin in April.
W HAT is the legal
lesbians and gay
In Ireland the Victorian British laws were never changed as they were in Britain in the 1960s; that means that consenting sexual relations between men are theoretically punishable by terms of imprisonment. However, these laws have not been applied for a long time, which results in the paradox that there are more convictions for homosexuality in Britain - and therefore Northern Ireland - than in the Irish Republic. Lesbians are not mentioned • What is your organization, the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network?
The European Court of Human Rights declared against Ireland's anti-gay laws in 1988. Around that time we realized that there was going to be a huge campaign so we set up the Networms and individual pale 9 groups and individuals. Equality is the June 8, 1992 • # 230 International Viewpoint
IRELAND / ITALY basic demand, but we have specific ways of implementing this which we think are acceptable in Ireland and can draw broad support. The first one is that a government-appointed commission has said that there should be no distinction between heterosexuality and homosexuality in the criminal law. We believe this should be implemented.
We believe that there should be a broad anti-discrimination code. Ireland does not have such legislation at the moment; what does exist is an unfair dismissals act, taking up gender and marital status, which could be amended to take in homosexuality.
Most of the organizations we are in contact with are service organizations such as switchboards; there are strong organizations of this kind in Cork and in Dublin, where there are also theatre groups and a good newspaper. • What was the reaction here to the - rebuffed - effort of New York's Irish lesbian and gay community to join this year's St. Patrick's Day Parade?
Emigration is a big problem for us in Ireland. Many of the best activists are in London or New York. In New York the lesbian and gay organizations wanted to take part in the March, with the support of many of the city's politicians, but were refused by the march organizers. The organizers of the New York parade, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, states that it is a Catholic organization, and for them Irishness does not include lesbians and gays. We carried out quite a big campaign here in support of New York. • What about here in Ireland?
In Cork it would be the Junior Chamber of Commerce and in Dublin the Tourist Board doing the organizing. We have no particular problem here.
It is a sign of the doublethink here that there is in fact quite a positive attitude towards lesbians and gays. Our campaign has support from figures in all the Irish political parties. The feeling is that if we make some progress it will help the general moves towards a less repressive attitude to homosexuali-
There is a history of disrespect for the law here; the establishment has no great support and thus there is a sympathy for the marginal and disadvantaged. You get sympathy for disrupting the consensus. Nonetheless, even after four years the law has not been changed. When it comes down to doing 10 ticulet something practical it seems more difInternational Viewpoint # 230 • June 8, 1992
In fact there is no big anti-gay sentiment here; you don't have the kind of bigotry promoted by tabloids like the Sun in Britain. On of the British tabloids, the Star, has an Irish edition, but this doesn't contain the virulent anti-lesbian and gay stuff they publish in Britain. It doesn't ring any bells. • To people outside Ireland events such as the constitutionally-based attempt to prohibit a 14 year old rape victim from obtaining an abortion seem almost mediaeval, representing intense anti-women
There is prejudice, but it isn't virulent. The anti-gay group here, Family Solidarity, is very soft. Perhaps the Church is doing the job so well they
We have had trade union support for a long time, from the level of the Congress of Trade Unions down. We want groups that offer us support to take up our demands and implement them themselves, and this has happe ned in some cases, as for example, with the Irish Council of Civil Liber-
The Unfair Dismissals Act is to be finalized this month; it is not clear what will happen. We are hoping for support for an amendment from leaders of political parties. Indeed, we are getting some criticism for not being activist enough, not out on the streets which we will be, if the act is not • A Republican prisoner, Brendan McClenaghan, has written article on what it is like to be a gay
This was a very important thing on a personal level. We could not know what it was like to be a gay man in the ghettos of Belfast. He was in contact with us for a long time. He visited us on his Christmas leave, before he wrote the article. It also cut across the repression of the issue of republicanism and the armed struggle in Ireland. We have been able to set the tone on the basis that everyone should be liste-
The republican movement has supported us, but we have had much more positive support from mainstream political organizations and liberal groups. The Sinn Fein paper An Poblacht carried a very strong editorial supporting lesbians' and gays' right to take part in the New York St. Patrick's Day march, but Sinn Fein have their own constituency which they are perhaps afraid of. Here the revolutionaries are behind the reformists. *