The story of queer Irish visibility is one that is only beginning to emerge. While scholarly efforts to account for our community’s shared and varied histories continue to become uncovered, both within academic research and in broader cultural and social movements, media activism and visibility have been central factors to the story of LGBTQ rights in Ireland. THE QUEER REBELS While my recent book, LGBTQ Visibility, Media and Sexuality in Ireland, has demonstrated the significance of representation, along with the political and transformative potential of media visibility in Ireland, Cork has been one of the key players in this broader history and has been a hotbed of media activism since the founding of a gay civil rights movement in the region. Cork, or the Queer Republic of Cork, as it has been dubbed by archival activist Orla Egan, has always been a central and important player in the story of Irish LGBTQ visibility and history. As a gay civil rights movement began to spread across the island, with the likes of the Irish Gay Rights Movement and the National Gay Federation, Cork too saw a demonstrably active movement emerge in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Media activism and visibility was central to many of these early activist formations, particularly that of the Irish Gay Rights Movement Cork and the Cork Gay Collective (CGC). The CGC in particular developed a manifesto which stated that ‘society’s view of sexuality and the structures reflecting that view must be altered … underlying this fight is the need for access to a dissemination of positive information about sexuality in the media’. Cathal Kerrigan, a member of the CGC noted the significance of media activism to gay civil rights in Cork, when he states: ‘getting images on television that said we are Irish and we are gay and we are here was a huge step and very important for us to try and achieve’. This sentiment runs to the core of many of the prominent Corkonian media activists to have emerged and fought for LGBTQ rights across a range of media platforms and representational planes. Among these include Cathal Kerrigan, Orla Egan, Kieran Rose, Ger Philpott and of course the indomitable Arthur Leahy, to name but a few who have pushed the envelope for LGBTQ rights in Ireland.
Cork LGBTQ Media Activism & Visibility By Dr. Páraic Kerrigan
One of the first significant watershed moments for early queer Irish visibility occurred in Cork when self-identifying gay couple Arthur Leahy and Laurie Steele appeared on Irish television, on the current affairs show Week In (1980). This appearance signalled a significant shift for queer visibility in Ireland. The interview was shot in the domestic space of Arthur and Laurie’s home, which was significant as it was one of the first broadcasts to provide an alternative to the implicit heterosexuality of the home dominant within Irish culture. What was significant about their appearance was the heteronormative frame that RTÉ attempted to confer onto the couple, which was noted quite overtly when the presenter Áine O’Connor asked them: ‘do you have a sense of husband and wife?’ Implied in this question is the expectation that gay men would submit to the heteronormative family structure which permeated Irish society. In response, Laurie explained that he and Arthur had developed a relationship that operated outside of this strict binary and that put importance on themselves as ‘individuals living together’, a major signal of acceptance for many of the LGBTQ people watching. This first major media appearance of a Cork couple on Irish television was significant, particularly in the context of the fact that the climate of criminality hung heavily over the LGBTQ community, as gay male sex acts were criminalised. To appear as openly and brave as they did on the biggest platform possible at the time was massively important, not only for Cork but for shifting perceptions of gay people in Ireland.
While the reception of Laurie and Arthur was widely positive, homophobic undertones were evident in some of the Cork press, where the Cork Evening Echo noted: “here’s a pair of gay boys that must tell their story”. While demonstrating to audiences that being in a content, gay relationship was possible, this broadcast was also important in breaking the Dublin-centricity of queer media visibility in the late 1970s and early 1980s, confirming proudly that a gay civil rights movement was emerging nationally, especially in the rebel county. While appearances in national media have been a significant means by which Cork LGBTQ activists made their mark, the formation of alternative media systems and networks proved as important and crucial. A gay press proved central to early media activism in the region. In 1977, four issues of a Cork gay newsletter Corks Crew were produced. The Cork IGRM newsletter Sapphire was published on 30 January 1978 and was in circulation for a number of years. For a period of time, Munster GCN was produced as a four page spread, which was placed over copies of GCN in Munster and appeared as an insert elsewhere around the country. All these publications served as crucial forms of community building, consciousness raising and generating locally proximate queer knowledge for a community in Cork that was ever expanding and developing. The rich history and vibrancy of those from the rebel county continued throughout Ireland’s media history. In 2006, Orla Egan and Catherine Morley appeared on The Late Late Show following the birth of their son, becoming one of the first publicly visible lesbian couples in the mainstream
media in Ireland to discuss issues affecting lesbian families, particularly in light of the birth of their child through assisted reproduction. In 2009, Cork county hurler Dónal Óg Cusack became the first elite Irish sportsperson to publicly come out as gay, marking his coming-out on The Late Late Show. Cusack was followed by GAA footballer Valerie Mulcahy, who came out in 2014. In 2016, transgender siblings Jamie and Chloe O’Herlihy appeared on the RTÉ documentary My Trans Life, where they openly spoke about the challenges facing trans people in Ireland. Many of these appearances by activists and individuals from Cork were harnessed and utilized to disentangle LGBTQ identities from anachronistic, generic stereotypes and to make available to isolated LGBTQ people an awareness of shared existences and desires. While media visibility and media activism are an important facet to the story of Irish LGBTQ civil rights and LGBTQ representation, the Queer Republic of Cork has been a central presence in this story and in many cases, has been at the forefront of inciting change and ensuring more representation. Dr. Páraic Kerrigan is a lecturer and researcher in the School of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin. He has published widely on gender and sexuality in digital and traditional media, creative labour and data cultures. Further, he has a particular research interest in queer Irish culture. He has just published his first book, LGBTQ Visibility, Media and Sexuality in Ireland (2021), which was followed by his second book, Media Graduates at Work (2021).
Laurie Steele (left) and Arthur Leahy (right) as they appear on RTÉ’s Week In, 1980 Source: Cork LGBT Archive https://corklgbtarchive.com/items/show/148
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