Irish Republicanism & ‘The Gays’: Cherishing all the children of the nation equally
The role of LGBTQ+ people within republicanism is still understudied and almost entirely unknown within wider society.
“Gay men and lesbian women have been involved in the struggle for national liberation and independence as long as any other section of our people.”
So wrote a gay republican prisoner in Long Kesh in 1991.
More than three decades on, the role of LGBTQ+ people within republicanism is still understudied and almost entirely unknown within wider society.
This new exhibition Irish Republicanism and The Gays: Cherishing all the children of the nation equally seeks to not only break this silence but also highlight the avoidance of historical readings of past working-class life and experiences, especially during last half of the 20th century.
Walk in any busy pub in the north of Ireland during the conflict and there was a gay or lesbian person there. Some of them played their own role in the north’s journey from war to peace.
This exhibition provides a window onto this hidden and too often denied aspect of our collective past. Within the republican community, some gay people took up arms and served time in jail, while others gave tacit and explicit backing to the movement as supporters or members of Sinn Féin or other republican groups.
All this time, there was also a broader struggle for gay rights which was taking place.
This exhibition provides a nuanced narrative of the advances and setbacks within radical Irish republicanism by which a highly socially conservative movement came to promote one of the most progressive agendas on sexuality.
Irish Republicanism and The Gays is an exhibition that will open your eyes to stories that few will ever have heard of.
Maeve Mc Laughlin, Bloody Sunday Trust: “This is a critically important work that places the story of the struggle for equality in a place within activism and republicanism which flies in the face of the traditional national and international narrative. It reads well and the testimonies are impactful. It is raw and makes me proud of our people and place!”
The Exhibition opens in Belfast on 22nd July 2025 @ Áras Uí Chonghaile/ The James Connolly Visitor Centre. Further Details @ https://arasuichonghaile.com/events/ or https://www.facebook.com/ArasUiChonghaile/?locale=en_GB
Then 7th – 20th August 2026. Firstly at Museum of Free Derry and then several other venues about the city. Further details @ https://museumoffreederry.org/whatson/ or https://www.facebook.com/museumfreederry/ ]