Pride 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Pat Kenny Show. With Timber Living Log Cabins. Saturday and Sunday from 10am on Newstalk. Conversation that counts. If you are venturing into the capital today, be prepared for a colourful experience because just after we go off air, a rainbow of colour will be unleashed on the capital streets as the contribution of Ireland's LBGTQ plus community is celebrated. But 11 years since Ireland's historic marriage equality referendum, just how far have we moved the dial when it comes to discrimination and marginalisation of the LGBT community? Well, I'm delighted to be joined in studio by LGBTQ activist James O'Hagan and Tony Walsh, founding editor of Gay Community News. Good morning and welcome. Hello, Pat.
Great to be here. I haven't seen you for a long time, Tommy. You are now living in other parts of the world.
What is the significance of Dublin Pride and why is it being celebrated today?
Exactly. So when you come back to Dublin, how different is it to what we call the bad old days?
It's extraordinarily vital, in a word. That's what it is. It is exuberant, as you said. It's colourful. It's wonderful. I see people living their lives without fear and shame that are attached to it, when I remember coming out in the late 70s and early 80s. But that was not an easy thing to do. No, it wasn't. And also, too, we have to contextualise that Pride grew out of... Endemic poverty, the AIDS pandemic, there was a lot of other things happening in Ireland that actually impacted the troubles in the north. All of these social, cultural and political elements impacted on the way LGBT people had to struggle to find their collective voice. And also, we have to remember that David Norris was still progressing his constitutional action.
Sex between men was illegal.
How far has Ireland progressed on LGBT rights since the marriage equality referendum of 2015?
I mean, this goes back to the 1861 Offences Against the Persons Act, which remained in place until ultimately on foot of David Norris's efforts in Europe.
Indeed, until 1993 and also until those laws were abolished, it was impossible to advance anti-discrimination and equality legislation. Of course, James here has been very involved in that process. We couldn't have had things like Marriage Equality or the Equal Status Act or the Gender Recognition Act until we got decriminalisation out of the way in 1993. Now, the first Pride Festival was actually more than 40 years ago. Indeed it was, where two women and eight guys did a protest outside the British Embassy and the Department of Justice, protesting those very British laws that you referenced from the 19th century. And then if you jump forward a little while later, it was only with the establishment of community spaces like the Hirschfeld Centre and Temple Bar that provided the economic and human resources to progress an actual Pride festival.
And you know, with the first festivals, I mean, I remember going on my first festival in 1980, there were only 16 of us wandering around town and I was brazen as hell, a 19 year old, you know, just up for a little bit of crack. Not really appreciating the dangers that lurked around the corner. We just gave out flyers. There weren't enough people for a parade. All of that would actually happen much later on. And it's actually what's really lovely now is, you know, you look at 52 years of LGBT civil rights on the island of Ireland. We're still progressing that journey.
Now, the Pride event today will be enormous. There'll be thousands of people there and thousands more not participating, but watching and enjoying the spectacle. But some of the early Pride festivals, I mean, a picnic in Marion Square.
A picnic in Marion Square. It sounds very middle class, actually. A few bottles of wine on Sunday times or whatever. Gorgeous. But, I mean, you know, those sorts of sociocultural events were hugely important. And yet you were moved on. We were indeed. You know your history really well, Pat. We were actually moved on. But, you know, there's a gorgeous symmetry to actually the Dublin Pride Festival now being back again. in Merrion Square. I mean, that's the end point of the parade, where there'll be upwards of 100,000 people actually in a very family-centric environment marking today.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:53
2
What is the significance of Dublin Pride and why is it being celebrated today?
0:53–1:50
3
How far has Ireland progressed on LGBT rights since the marriage equality referendum of 2015?
1:50–9:12
4
What were the legal and social conditions for LGBT people in Ireland before decriminalisation in 1993?
9:12–13:42
5
How did early Pride events and community spaces like the Hirschfeld Centre shape the movement?
13:42–15:42