Emily O'Reilly

I mean, it was criminalised.

And so anything was done if you wanted to go to clubs or pubs and meet other men.

You know, you always run the risk of a raid by the Gardaí or being sort of exposed in your workplace or whatever.

So that was a huge deal.

And it's hard to remember.

In fact, before, you know, today, I decided I kind of just refresh my mind about that.

And I watched...

A documentary that was made a few years ago by Bill Hughes about Vincent Hanley, the RT presenter who died of AIDS in the 90s.

No, not even the 90s, 1987 he died and he was 33 years of age.

And I met him in New York with Brian, but the documentary, it's a wonderful documentary and well done, Bill Hughes again.

But it's still extraordinary to recall just how terrifying things were for gay men.

And the year that Brian went to the United States was the same year that there was an infamous killing in Fairview Park in Dublin.

And that was of a young gay man, Declan Flynn, who was beaten to death by four teenagers, including a 14-year-old.

And that was horror enough, but the real horror was actually the court case when they were found guilty of manslaughter.

The judge let them walk free.

He said there didn't need to be any correction really because they all came from good homes.

And that was it.

And in fairness to the community, there was a lot of anger about that.

I think there were marches as well.

But it was as if, you know, there was a little daylight between, you know, the judicial system in relation to the way it treated gay men and the way society did.