Pride isn’t easy for everyone
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. Now, June is Pride Month for a lot of people. It's a source of huge celebration, but not everyone finds it as easy to be comfortable in their own skin. I'm joined now by Off The Ball's Daniel Pitcher. Daniel, you're very welcome.
Good morning, Clare.
Good to have you with us.
What challenges do individuals face during Pride Month?
You were on the bus recently and you overheard a conversation.
Yes, and it really sort of sparked my sort of want to talk about this. So Basically going in, there were a group of teenagers just in from school and we were coming up the keys. They now have the pride flags installed right along the keys in the city centre here in Dublin. And they were looking at them and going, why do they still need pride? And I was kind of sitting, I was sitting a couple of seats behind them thinking about what they had just said. Why do they still need pride?
The inference being that it's all sorted now, isn't it, Grand? And if you're gay, you'll be happy to be gay and everybody will be delighted for you and there's no issue.
Yeah, and this sort of attitude that, ah, sure, look at, you know, we voted for... Well, they didn't because they would have been too young. We voted for a marriage referendum and, you know, all of this sort of stuff. But still, in my mind, it was... And even the word they, why do they still need it? It's like it almost seemed like, OK, well, you know, here I am now placed into a box. And when I say here I am placed into a box again is because, you know, I am a gay man.
What sparked Daniel Pitcher's conversation about Pride?
And, you know, it's something that... I have struggled with for years and years, stemming back to when I was probably their age in an Ireland that was a little bit different than it is now or, you know, maybe perhaps still even moving on from when, you know, in the 70s, 80s and 90s when it was illegal to be gay. But still going through school In a time where you were still bullied, picked on for being gay.
Do people know you were gay in school?
No, no. Even up to the marriage referendum itself, what, 11 years ago, I had put up all of these firewalls.
Why did you do that, Daniel?
Because I couldn't accept... So what I thought was... I didn't know how other people would react or didn't know if people would accept me. Much later then turned into I actually couldn't accept myself. And that was something that, you know, I've only sort of come to realising maybe in the last couple of years.
You're in your 30s now, right?
I'm 35, yeah.
So you didn't want to be gay? Would that be fair to say?
Yeah, that would be very fair to say, yeah. And, you know, growing up as a kid and like, you know, I kind of realised early enough into my teenage years that it was kind of like, OK, something feels different here. And then, you know, the eventual realisation of, OK, well, this is why. And going at the same time, I know.
Does your family know that you were gay?
Not straight away. And again, that was only sort of a conversation in the last 10 years. So I came out on the day of the referendum itself. I kind of figured that there was probably not going to be a better time. I was working in a different radio station and reporting on The referendum itself and, you know, the home to vote thing and seeing those hordes of queues of people coming in on flights to Dublin Airport so that they could vote in this and have their say.
And that gave you confidence, did it too?
That gave me confidence. And like, I remember even as well reaching, I reached out to a couple of people. One of those was Nigel Owens. I'm sure you know of his story. So he's the international referee, first openly gay sports person in the world. And I had actually much earlier, like years before the referendum, reached out to Nigel because it was something like I was like I was struggling and it was sending me to really dark places. And I found Nigel on Facebook and I said, do you know what? Look, all he can do is tell me to go away or he can give me a really good piece of advice. So I contacted him on Facebook and said, right, you know, here's my story.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:24
2
What challenges do individuals face during Pride Month?
0:24–1:42
3
What sparked Daniel Pitcher's conversation about Pride?
1:42–11:19
4
How did Daniel's experience in school affect his identity?
11:19–12:24
5
What fears did Daniel have about coming out?
12:24–17:09
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Claire Byrne Show
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