UCC explores LGBT history
This month will see University College Cork break the mould and begin classes in Ireland’s first LGBT+ modern Irish history course.
From Shame to Pride? A Short Introduction to LGBT+ Irish History (1970s-2020) will be taught by historian Dr Diarmuid Scully. The course - the first to examine the modern history of the Irish LGBT+ community - will feature as part of UCC’s Adult and Continuing Education Programme.
Speaking about the new course, Dr Scully said: “The history of LGBT+ people in Ireland was hidden or written from a hostile perspective until recently; this course is an opportunity to discover an often painful and inspiring history and learn about Irish LGBT+ people’s experiences.”
The course examines LGBT+ identities and the struggle for rights in Ireland since the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York. It will examine how the LGBT+ community were criminalised by the law in 70s and 80s Ireland.
It will also examine the homophobic murder of Declan Flynn in Fairview Park, Dublin in 1982 and its impact on Irish attitudes to LGBT+ people.
This course is based on the first ever degree-level Irish LGBT+ history module taught in any Irish university, Dr Scully’s LGBT Identities in Modern Ireland: Sources, Contexts, and Interpretations. Dr Scully introduced this module in 2018 to mark the 25th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
It’s offered to second year students in the School of History at UCC.
“I was in Dublin Castle when the Marriage Equality Referendum results were announced. The atmosphere was electric. Such joy in the courtyard, but so many lives destroyed by centuries of hate. In my head I heard Christy Moore singing: ‘This graveyard hides a million secrets, and the trees know more than they can tell’.
“That song was written by Philip Chevron, who was gay, and it spells out what oppression does to people. I then decided to teach modern LGBT+ Irish history to raise awareness and explore the struggle against homophobia by LGBT+ people and allies in modern Ireland,” continued Dr Scully.
Other themes covered in the course include the churches and LGBT+ identity and sexuality, the Irish LGBT+ diaspora in the United States and the Marriage Equality Referendum in Ireland in 2015.
The course runs on Wednesday nights from 29 January to 4 March, from 7 to 9pm in UCC.
The closing date for applications is Friday 17 January. The course fee is €150.
For more information, visit ucc.ie.