Pride as an Important Element of Social Inclusion for Children

Introduction

Pride is fast becoming a key instrument in boosting social inclusion in towns and cities. It is a celebration of many different sexual orientations and is inclusive to everyone who either identifies as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Asexual (LGBTQ+) or is an ally that supports the Pride movement. This report will outline the history of Pride, the range of different events that happen throughout Dublin Pride, Pride festivals in Ireland and future developments of Kerry having their first Pride in 2020.

History of Pride

The 1960s was time of change across the globe. It had The Black Power Movement, the Women’s Rights Movement and Woodstock which inspired the way youth celebrated change. Stonewall was the pillar of revolution that began the Gay Pride Movement. Homosexuality was illegal in the 1960s and The Stonewall Inn was a place for all members of the LGBTQ+ community to get together socially and hide from the law. It is located in New York, and at the time was owned by the mafia who bribed the police regularly to avoid raids and a mass arrest of all their customers. (Evans, 2018) On the 27th of June, 1969, many members of the LGBTQ+ community came to New York to mourn the loss of Judy Garland and gathered at The Stonewall Inn after the funeral. In the early morning of the 28th of June, 1969, police raided the bar for illegally selling alcohol. The police arrested the owners, women and drag performers and put them into a wagon, they also used physical violence against members of the community. A riot eventually broke out on the street and the crowd expanded to hundreds. Every time the riot was broken apart, it formed again in the name of Gay Pride. Protests continued a week after the event and an intolerance to the way people were being treated started to develop. From 1970, different countries all over the world started their own Pride marches during the month of June as a legacy to what happened at The Stonewall Inn and to get acceptance from their home states. (Matzner, 2015)

Range of Events Throughout Dublin Pride

Pride has grown from just having marches or protests to having many events that take place throughout Pride month. Dublin Pride is the biggest in Ireland and has many different events targeted specifically at the sexual orientation in which a person identifies with. In 1974, 8 people protested against the laws in Ireland that criminalised homosexuality. Over 60,000 people turned out for Pride in 2018. (Gallagher, 2018) This year, Dublin hosted Transfusion Festival in the month of Pride, opening it up to a wider audience. This had a range of different educational workshops and entertainment nights over the course of 10 days.

There was a focus on mental health as different events such as a Health and Wellbeing Day (Appendix 2) and a Dublin Pride 5K run took place. The theme of Dublin Pride 2018 was ‘We Are Family’ which was a response to ‘The World Meeting of Families’ event to happen in August of that year. Pope Francis was to appear at ‘The World Meeting of Families’ and pictures of people in same-sex couples were erased by The Catholic Church from any flyers to be printed for the event. (McGarry, 2018) Former president Mary McAleese spoke out against this at the end of the Pride parade in Smithfield. (Gallagher, 2018) Take a look at us. Listen to our voices. Listen to what we are saying. We are family. We are family and we will no longer endure the injury and the damage. We will no longer put up with those who tell our children that they are less than us. (McAleese, 2018)

Queer Action Ireland held a protest against corporate sponsorship having a place in Pride parades. They feel it is taking away from the essence of Pride and that they use the parade as a marketing ploy. They were also protesting against the Gardaí marching in the parade as it was officers that attacked members of the community in Stonewall. About 150 people came together for the protest at the Rosie Hackett Bridge. (Gleeson, 2019) Every year, a festival called ‘Mother’ takes place after the parade. This year they announced a new venue in Collins Barracks as a celebration of 50 years after Stonewall. This event had many drag performers and comedy acts as well as local and international music artists. (Appendix 4)

Pride Festivals Throughout Ireland

Many different counties and towns across Ireland held their first ever Pride festivals to mark the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Annually, Pride is held in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Belfast and Galway as these are cities but 2019 saw Pride happening in Carlow, Mayo, Derry and smaller-scale places such as Dundalk and Larne.

Clare

County Clare held ‘The Outing Matchmaking Festival’ as a nod to the well-known Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking festival. Eurovision winner, Johnny Logan was a headliner at the event and they also had many other entertainment acts. Eddie McGuinness is the new gay matchmaker in Clare and the event has moved from a smaller place to a bigger hotel due to a high turnout the year before. (Appendix 5)

Derry

Derry relocated their Pride to Foyle as a commemoration to the death of Lyra McKee. She was journalist who was a member of the LGBTQ+ community and was shot in a riot in April of this year. Foyle Pride was the only parade not to have corporate sponsorship across the UK and Ireland. (Donohe, 2019)

Tipperary

Thurles had its first pride this year and had events such as a ‘Wild Blind Date’, ‘Battle of the Drags’ and a crowning of ‘Mr and Ms Gay Tipperary’. ‘Battle of the Drags’ was an event inspired by reality TV show ‘Rupaul’s Drag Race’ and consisted of people dressing up in drag and competing against each other in a lip synching contest.

Galway

Galway had an art exhibition for the duration of a week leading up to Pride. They included events containing the history of Pride globally and the gay rights movement in Ireland. They also had a focus on the Irish language and their posters had everything written as Gaeilge.

Future Developments of Kerry Having Their First Pride in 2020

Kerry held a small Pride in 2015 but due to bad weather and lack of funding, there was a small turn out for the event. Research by the HSE was brought out in the form of a survey from November 2018 to March 2019 and called ‘Living in Kerry, an LGBT+ perspective’. Results from the survey showed that people in the community didn’t feel ‘visible’ or ‘accepted’ and that they couldn’t come out in the workplace. A working group came together called ‘ScEEN in Kerry’ and planned events targeted at the LGBTQ+ community during two weeks in October. This included coffee mornings, a flash mob, a movie night and a social night in The Ashe Hotel. A volunteer group stemmed from the research too and are planning Kerry Pride 2020 as its shown from the research, it is needed for the community. Tralee will host a parade and there will be a social night on the 13th of June, 2020.