GAY AND PROUD

Northern Ireland is, let's face it, a society that is rotten to the core with religious bigotry and narrow mindedness, something which none of us need reminded of. Most of the hatred is religiously motivated but as with anywhere in the world, any minority or anyone who is seen as different will at some time be at the receiving end of anything from verbal abuse on the street to discrimination in the workplace. I was shocked to learn that in Northern Ireland an employer can sack an employee in the first three years quite lawfully on the grounds of being gay. The result of such discrimination leads to gay men feeling isolated from mainstream society.
It would be patronising and naive of me to pretend to know what life is like for a gay man in Northern Ireland, so I decided to hear it from the horse's mouth. I spoke to Robert May, a resident DJ in the Parliament Bar - a nucleus of entertainment for the gay community in Belfast and beyond.
"The family that I was brought up in was very good living and the very mention of being gay was just a no-no. For a lot of gay people in similar circumstances the first few years are spent in denial. You can't believe that you're different or gay and you go about trying to convince yourself that you're not.
"Prejudice is there and it's alive and well. I was brought up in South Belfast which is quite a cosmopolitan area now but we're talking as far back as the sixties that never actually swung as far as Belfast. We got it in the late eighties," Robert laughs. "But I never actually worried about the way I was too much. I knew for a long time that I was gay, but I was about 16 before I decided to do anything about it. Even when I was playing as a kid I was the one that wanted to wear the jewellery or the dress, so you were either going to be one of two things, a transsexual or a homosexual." As with most gay men that I have ever encountered, Robert May has an amazing sense of humour. He explains that this could be seen as a defence mechanism against the everyday knocks and jibes that anyone who is deemed as 'different' has to deal with. Certainly some of the sharpest wits can be found among the gay community. This is often displayed in theatre and television. Some of the funniest performers in television comedy are gay.

Male Friends Having said all that, Northern Ireland is improving,. There is a lot more for the gay and lesbian population than there ever has been as Robert explains: "When I first hit the Belfast 'scene' as they called it, there was this grubby wee bar called the Crow's Nest and it was absolutely bunged to the doors. In the mid-eighties the main congregating place was a place called The Whipping Saddle in the Europa Hotel. The reason why they were so happy to take 'the pink pound' was the city centre at the time was dead and the Europa was bombed on a regular basis but the gay community were more than happy to go in there for a drink and became a meeting place that grew and grew but when a new management came in they sort of turfed everybody out.
"It was then that the Crows Nest became the major gay venue. It was when you looked around and saw other people the same as yourself that you realised that you weren't some one off or a freak of nature."

The gay scene has come a long way from being tucked snugly away in some old spit and sawdust bar out of the city centre. The Parliament Bar is placed in a prime position in Belfast's Dunbar Link where the atmosphere is electric. In fact, you won't find a club where you can witness euphoria and excitement on such a scale. This goes for most gay clubs.
"I have DJ'd at a lot of discos but you will never witness such excitement, enthusiasm and zest for life as in a gay disco. I suppose it's all tied in to the fact that we can go down there and let go and have a good time without feeling inhibited. Unfortunately, though, for as lot of people, being gay is a weekend thing. It has to be for so many reasons: sometimes they have to hide it for their family's sakes or they may have at one stage already been married and could have kids. A lot of people don't accept that they're gay until later on in life."
Male Friends

The Rainbow Project Belfast's Rainbow Project is an organisation that was set up in 1993 by a group of gay men concerned about the increase in HIV among Northern Irish men. The project, which is the only one of its kind in the province, offers counselling and a drop in service where gay men can meet other men in a safe and confidential environment. The Rainbow Project has five main priorities. These include;
Information on a wide range of topics and issues via leaflets, booklets, postcards and posters.
Education enabling gay men access to honest and factual information on health through seminars, workshops and information days.
Prevention where the project works with various venues throughout Northern Ireland where gay men can meet and socialise, distributing safer sex resources and are encouraged to protect themselves and their partners.
Advocacy, supporting gay men in dealing with issues such as access to benefits and rehousing due to discrimination.
Drop in and counselling, providing advice from a BAC approved counsellor in their Belfast office and access to various resources such as literature and gay newspapers and magazines.

As well as
providing sex aids, lingerie
and magazines etc, for hetrosexual
couples, Thraldom sex shop in
Belfast's Lower North Street, also caters
for the growing gay community in Northern Ireland. Here you can find gay magazines,
videos, vibrators, creams and sprays. For the
more unihibited there is laytex, PVC, rubber
and leather wear, restraints and whips on
offer. Thraldom boast the ultimate in
fetishwear and specialise in the restrictive
and the bizzare. Pay a visit to Ireland's
leading sex shop and let your
dreams be fulfilled!

If you wish to get in touch with the Rainbow Project and speak in total confidence to any of the staff volunteers, Contact: The Rainbow Project, Floor 2, 33 Church Lane, Belfast, BT1 4QN, Tel(01232) 319030
Buzz Magazine would like to thank the staff at The Rainbow Project for their help with this article and Robert May for providing valuable and honest information on gay life in Northern Ireland.

Cornell Hanratty

Go back for more - from this issue's Contents!

The gay scene has come a long way from being tucked snugly away in some old spit and sawdust bar out of the city centre. The Parliament Bar is placed in a prime position in Belfast's Dunbar Link where the atmosphere is electric. In fact, you won't find a club where you can witness euphoria and excitement on such a scale. This goes for most gay clubs. "I have DJ'd at a lot of discos but you will never witness such excitement, enthusiasm and zest for life as in a gay disco. I suppose it's all tied in to the fact that we can go down there and let go and have a good time without feeling inhibited. Unfortunately, though, for as lot of people, being gay is a weekend thing. It has to be for so many reasons: sometimes they have to hide it for their family's sakes or they may have at one stage already been married and could have kids. A lot of people don't accept that they're gay until later on in life."
The Rainbow Project Belfast's Rainbow Project is an organisation that was set up in 1993 by a group of gay men concerned about the increase in HIV among Northern Irish men. The project, which is the only one of its kind in the province, offers counselling and a drop in service where gay men can meet other men in a safe and confidential environment. The Rainbow Project has five main priorities. These include; Information on a wide range of topics and issues via leaflets, booklets, postcards and posters. Education enabling gay men access to honest and factual information on health through seminars, workshops and information days. Prevention where the project works with various venues throughout Northern Ireland where gay men can meet and socialise, distributing safer sex resources and are encouraged to protect themselves and their partners. Advocacy, supporting gay men in dealing with issues such as access to benefits and rehousing due to discrimination. Drop in and counselling, providing advice from a BAC approved counsellor in their Belfast office and access to various resources such as literature and gay newspapers and magazines.
As well as providing sex aids, lingerie and magazines etc, for hetrosexual couples, Thraldom sex shop in Belfast's Lower North Street, also caters for the growing gay community in Northern Ireland. Here you can find gay magazines, videos, vibrators, creams and sprays. For the more unihibited there is laytex, PVC, rubber and leather wear, restraints and whips on offer. Thraldom boast the ultimate in fetishwear and specialise in the restrictive and the bizzare. Pay a visit to Ireland's leading sex shop and let your dreams be fulfilled!
If you wish to get in touch with the Rainbow Project and speak in total confidence to any of the staff volunteers, Contact: The Rainbow Project, Floor 2, 33 Church Lane, Belfast, BT1 4QN, Tel(01232) 319030 Buzz Magazine would like to thank the staff at The Rainbow Project for their help with this article and Robert May for providing valuable and honest information on gay life in Northern Ireland.