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cavehillred AT yahoo.co.uk

Monday, July 30, 2007

You are now entering Gay Derry

The past two Friday nights, I've ended up in a gay bar. Fair play to my same-sexed compadres, they do know how to throw a party and keep a bar open a reasonable length of time.

I'm not gay myself, and I have some reservations about the wisdom of attributing the term 'marriage' to a gay union. I'm also not convinced about the necessity for gay people to adopt kids. But these aren't major issues for me. I've got gay friends and we tend to talk about other things.

Mind you, the North of Ireland has rarely been a friendly place for homosexuals, so it is to be welcomed (even if it is hideously garish, dahlings) that 'Free Derry Corner' has been painted pink in support of gay pride week.




Of course, openness to the gay community has not always been the hallmark of all of the North's main political traditions. Who can forget Ian Paisley's campaign over gay rights in the Seventies? (Clue: he wasn't in favour.) Or more recently, his son's expression of personal disgust at gay people?

So it was perhaps not surprising that two posters on Politics.ie decided to imagine what a gay eye for another notorious Northern Irish mural might result in!



St333ve goes for the subtle pastel look above, while Lenster Hauser prefers a more edgy and contemporary vision below!

3 comments:

Megan McGurk said...

Love the murals, JC! I'm guessing the UDA wouldn't cotton to a gay pride celebration. I liked the guy in the Irish Times article that said the Derry wall was always a symbol of civil rights, lending itself to the pride celebration.

JC Skinner said...

I think Free Derry corner did mean something at one time. To me, now, it's just another Derry tourist attraction, one less pretty or interesting than the Diamond or the walls, for example.

Anonymous said...

Funny how you say "Shankill"

When that mural is in Rathcoole - ballroot