Blaring music and a rainbow of colour filled the streets of Dublin today as I took up my place on O’Connell Street, at the start of the annual parade to ask jubilant passer-bys just what pride meant to them. I got a mix of responses from the thousands of people, young and old who lined the streets in the Saturday sunshine. Kate, who had travelled to the city from Omagh, declared with a smile, “Community. Pride is all about finding solidarity in a community filled with warm, welcoming people who look out for each other.” Jake, who has gone to every parade for the last decade, bar the covid years, wrapped their flag around their shoulders as they told me that, “Pride is about celebrating how love is love. No judgement.” It surprised me, however, just how many people answered with the word ‘protest.’ But of course, isn’t that why we take to the streets year in and year out? Pride is about more than flags and parades and sunny drinks in Stephan’s Green and we could all feel it in the air today, on Dublin Pride 2023, a year of anniversaries. This year marks 50 years since the Sexual Liberation Movement was founded here in Trinity College and 30 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland — 40 years since the first Pride Parade was hosted in Dublin in 1983, winding through town from St Stephan’s Green to O’Connell Street, following the murder of 31-year-old Declan Flynn. Declan Flynn was attacked and murdered by a gang of teenage boys out ‘queer-bashing’ on the night of September 9, 1982 in Fairview Park, a common meeting place for gay men like Flynn who lived nearby. There had been several violent attacks in the area during the summer of 1982, but the police showed little interest in pursuing the perpetrators and protecting the people and as a result a man lost his life. Flynn had not been widely known in the LGBTQ+ community but his death launched an immense movement and a series of riots that changed Dublin forever.
“Pride is about more than flags and parades and sunny drinks in Stephan’s Green and we could all feel it in the air today, on Dublin Pride 2023, a year of anniversaries”
Despite the leaps and bounds that we have taken in terms of LGBTQ+ rights in these 40 years, things are still far from perfect in the eyes of the Irish public as I was informed today. An unnamed participant told me about the way Pride held a different meaning for them this year since coming out as transgender. They told me how they felt scared by the hateful opinions circulating on the internet recently, perpetrated by the far-right. “It’s scary to come up against such a wall of hate. To be told that to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community is unnatural or sinful and the idea that if you are trans or if you practise drag, you must be a predator. It’s even scarier when you look at comments on posts like that.” These fears are not without base, as on the Dublin Pride website the organisation has put forth a statement declaring that, “Ireland ranks worst in the EU for Trans healthcare, the ILGA Rainbow map only ranks us the 16th best place in Europe to be LGBTQ+, many children of LGBTQ+ parents are left without protection and legal recognition and violence against LGBTQ+ people has increased in recent years. Outside of Ireland, 67 countries still criminalise homosexuality, in 11 countries it is subject to the death penalty and in many countries, we have seen a recent rollback in our rights and safety.”
In the face of such fears, the LGBTQ+ community comes back bigger and brighter than ever and the parade of protest was an unbelievable joy to be a part of as I followed the march from O’Connell Street as it headed through the city centre towards Merrion Square. Many prominent faces were present in the crowds. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was pictured with some of the groups taking part at the start of the march and members of the group who formed the Liberation Movement back in ‘73 were invited to the stage in Merrion Square. A wide range of speakers addressed the eager crowds. One of the final and most striking speeches was delivered by Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin’s Stormont leader who mirrored the crowd’s sentiment that there is still work to do in the name of equality. “We certainly have more work to do on this journey,” she said. “We want to deliver a fairer Ireland, an Ireland where we have equality and respect at its heart. So let me say very loudly here from the stage today – homophobia and transphobia have no place in Ireland.”
All in all, Dublin Pride 2023 was just what we needed to see to find hope in a world that sometimes seems to be full of closed doors and ignorance. To see the community out in full force would warm even the coldest heart as it inspires millions from young people to old who mightn’t feel as comfortable in their identity, or who might be hiding in a closet too scared to face the world just yet. Dublin Pride has once again reminded us all that there is a huge community here. So go out into the world, and love and be loved, and do so as yourself, all of Dublin is cheering you on.
WORDS: Ava Bolger
PHOTO: Norbu GYACHUNG
