A life dedicated to advancing LGBT+ rights
Diverse Ryan Book Donal In Rose, Kieran At Launch Sandra The 1994 Sheehan, And Brendan Rose Munities
For almost half a century Kieran Rose has been a constant voice in advancing LGBT+ rights in Ireland, a lifetime dedicated to the cause of a progressive, inclusive and diverse society.
Dating back to his early years with the Cork Gay Collective in the 1980s, where he led the successful efforts to get the Irish Trade Union Movement to support gay rights, his involvement with the Gay Lesbian Equality Network successfully lobbied for the 1993 Criminal Law Amendment Act that finally decriminalised sexual activity between males in the Republic of Ireland.
Add to that his role in securing an amendment to the Unfair Dismissals Act in 1993 to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, the introduction of the Employment Equality Act 1998, and more recently his contribution to the introduction of the Civil Partnership Act in 2010, later paving the way for Marriage Equality in 2015. So much of the success that came through in the 90s and 2000s began with the first public Gay Pride event in Cork in 1982 organised by Cork Gay Collective.
“It is 40 years ago this year that the Cork Gay Collective was set up. We had huge ambitions and determination to achieve great progress as soon as possible. We organised the first national Gay Conference in Cork at Connolly Hall which really set the agenda for years to come. It was also a time of political ferment and optimism generally,” Kieran recalls.
In his 1994 book, Diverse Communities, Kieran recounts another of the pivotal moments in Irish society on June 30th 1993, when the Minister for Justice, Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, crossed the floor of the Senate chamber and shook hands with the lesbians and gay men in the public gallery.
The Seanad had just passed all remaining stages of the Bill decriminalising homosexuality and providing for equality with heterosexuals.
“Cutting through decades of judicial and political fretting and centuries of criminalisation, the Bill stated with elegant simplicity that ‘any rule of law by virtue of which buggery between persons is an offence is hereby abolished’. The same legal regime would now apply to homosexual and heterosexual behaviour with a common age of consent of seventeen years and the same privacy codes. The atmosphere in the Senate during the two-day debate was one of joy, relief and excitement.”
He remembers the handshake as symbolising the end of a twenty-year law reform campaign and the beginning of a new relationship between the Irish state and its lesbian and gay community. In the concluding chapter of Diverse Communities, Kevin presents solidarity as a two-way process: “The granting of equal citizenship to lesbians and gay men expands the confidence of Irish society to deal with other controversial issues on a rational and principled basis. It is a welcome sign that we will not only tolerate but welcome diversity and equality in our society.”
Equality liberated the energy of the lesbian and gay community, signposting the opportunity for a much more creative relationship with the wider community.
“As a society we have come a long way, and while many issues have yet to be resolved, it seems that we can look to the future with great hope.”