Paddy Power

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. This is one those religious feast days that has become very a popular secular celebration. Most people don’t care who St. Patrick was as long as he gives them an excuse to get drunk.

Millions of us with Irish ancestry (my great-grandmother was Irish) will be celebrating all things connected to the Emerald Isle today, though sadly without the St. Patrick’s Day parades.

There’s quite a history behind the lgbt community and the various battles to be included in St. Patrick’s Day parades, especially in the USA. There’s isn’t enough space to go into the full history here, but if you’re interested here’s a brief timeline of the difficulties lgbt groups have had in trying to join New York City’s parade. Other US cities have been welcoming lgbt paraders for several years.

Anyway, this should be a day to celebrate. So are seven lgbt “Paddies” who have made their mark of the community and the world. The legacy of most of them has come at a high price, however.

1) Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) – I couldn’t really list any lgbt Irishman without including Oscar Wilde. However, his influence is gradually fading within the lgbt community because each new generation has newer role models and heroes to commemorate. I’m sure some famous gay men were forgotten after Oscar Wilde hit the headlines due to his involvement with Lord Alfred Douglas. That’s where historians have a vital role to play – to resurrect and raise awareness of forgotten or overlooked people and events that have all helped to build our community. Oscar still exerts his influence among the older generations. In December he was back in headlines when plans were revealed to turn Reading Gaol, where he was imprisoned for gross indecency, into luxury apartments. Many British “A” list actors are campaigning to prevent this from happening. If memory serves, the gay activist Peter Tatchell once suggested that Reading Gaol would be the perfect site for the UK’s first permanent lgbt museum – if only he’d put his money where his mouth was. I take consolation in knowing that the door to Oscar’s cell will be saved – it’s currently part of the collection at the National Museum of Justice here in Nottingham.

2) Arthur Gore, 7th Earl of Arran (1903-1958) – Although English by birth the Earl of Arran held an Irish title and came from a distinguished Irish dynasty. He inherited his title from his father in 1958 but didn’t take his seat in the House of Lords because he committed suicide 28 days later. It is generally believed that personal struggles over his homosexuality was the reason. He was succeeded by his brother, a Liberal Party peer, who introduced the Sexual Offences Bill into parliament in 1965. Despite the majority Labour House of Commons voting against it twice (the Labour Prime Minister didn’t support it) the earl’s bill made its third successful passage through parliament to become the Sexual Offences Act 1967 which partially decriminalised homosexuality in England and Wales. This is seen as a landmark in gay rights and may never have made it through parliament without the 7th Earl’s brother pressing for a change in the law. Sadly, other people (i.e. the Labour Party, as usual) took the credit.

3) Declan Flynn (c.1952-1982) – Just as the murder of Harvey Milk gave impetus to the San Francisco lgbt community the murder of Declan Flynn gave impetus to the community in Ireland. Declan worked at Dublin Airport and was a volunteer at the city’s gay resource centre. On 9th September 1982 Declan was walking home after a night out with a friend. As he walked through Fairfield Park he was attacked by five teenagers who beat him to death with sticks. The murderers were quickly caught and put on trial. They all admitted to the killing but the judge, to everyone’s surprise, even the killers’, gave them all suspended sentences. A debate was held in parliament on the verdict. On 19th March 1983, eleven days after the sentencing, a protest march through Dublin was organised by the lgbt community and many supporters and allies. It was the largest gay rights demonstration seen in Ireland up until then. It inspired the relatively small Dublin Pride, which had been in existence since 1974, to form the first Dublin Pride march several months later. Declan Flynn is still remembered in the community, and the bridge in Fairfield Park which bears a memorial to him was decorated when Ireland passed their same-sex marriage act in 2015.

4) Lyra McKee (1990-2019) – Mention the name Northern Ireland to people of my generation and a subconscious image comes to our minds of “the Troubles”, the conflict between Irish republican militants and the British authorities who between them caused the death of hundreds of people. Even though “the Troubles” were officially resolved peacefully several decades ago there are fringe militant groups who still occasionally bring terror to Northern Ireland. In April 2019 lesbian journalist Lyra McKee was covering a militant republican protest in Derry when she was hit by a bullet. She later died in hospital. One of the militants was charged with her murder. Condemnation came from all sides and many nations and Lyra’s death was made more tragic when it was revealed that she was going to propose to her partner that week. Lyra’s death served as a reminder that violence and militancy are around us all the time and more determined efforts were made to keep peace in Northern Ireland.

5) Michael Dillon (1915-1962) – Physician, writer and Buddhist monk Michael Dillon is one of the pioneers in the British transgender community. In his early 20s he began taking testosterone pills. While recovering from a hypoglycemic attack a sympathetic plastic surgeon performed a double mastectomy and gave him medical certification which enabled Michael to amend his birth certificate. The surgeon put him in touch with Harold Gillies who had performed reconstructive surgery on penises of injured soldiers and intersex patients. This led to Michael Dillon becoming the first transgender man to have phalloplasty between 1946 and 1949. When Michael’s story was revealed to the press in 1958 he fled to India where he became an ordained Buddhist monk.

6) Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926) – A distant cousin of the 7th Earl of Arran (above) Eva’s privileged background gave her an awareness of the social and economic differences in society and became an activist for the less privileged. Her main focus was on women’s suffrage. After the Easter Rising of 1916, one of the major events of “the Troubles” I mentioned above Eva campaigned successfully for the release of her sister Constance who had been sentenced to death for her involvement. Constance later became the first woman elected to the British parliament, though she refused to take her seat because of the British involvement in Ireland. Eva was also a poet, and when her health declined in the 1920s and she was no longer able to take an active part in her campaigns writing poetry became her main occupation.

7) Frances Power Cobbe (1822-1904) – Another leading figure in the women’s suffrage movement was Frances Cobbe who was also a pioneer in animal rights. In 1875, in response to increased awareness of experiments carried out on animals, Frances founded the Society for the Protection of Animals Liable to Vivisection. It was the world’s first anti-vivisection organisation. It was renamed the Victoria Street Society and in 1897 it acquired the name which it uses today – the National Anti-Vivisection Society. In 1898 Frances left the society to found the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection. This merged with the New England Anti-Vivisection Society in 2012 to create Cruelty Free International. Frances supported the work of the Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals in successfully lobbying for the introduction of animal welfare legislation.