To mark the 50th anniversary of the first Dublin Pride March, the Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride Festival in collaboration with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will hold a special event in the National Concert Hall this June.
On 27 June, 1974, the Sexual Liberation Movement organised the first Gay Pride demonstration in Dublin.
Fifty years later, this event on 20 June aims to commemorate, celebrate, support and applaud the LGBTQ+ community in Ireland and beyond.
The music guests joining the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and conductor Stephen Bell are Wallis Bird, Shobsy, Susan McFadden and the Dublin Gay Men's Chorus.
Dublin singer-songwriter Shobsy is set to perform Bronski Beat's iconic song Smalltown Boy, the first single from the band's debut album The Age of Consent which was released 40 years ago.
The album sleeve famously listed 'European laws regarding minimum age for lawful homosexual relationships between men' which included - 'Eire – Completely illegal for males’.
There will also be a range of spoken contributions at the event. Tonie Walsh will speak about the memory, history and documentary of the queer struggle over the past 50 years.
Dr Mary McAuliffe, historian and Director of Gender Studies at UCD, will read from Dr Kathleen Lynn's diaries, concentrating on her relationship with Madeleine ffrench-Mullen in the context of the role played by women, and queer women in particular, during the Irish revolution.
This will be followed by Wallis Bird introducing and performing her song Dr James Barry, which is inspired by the pioneering doctor of the early 19th century who lived their life as a man despite being born Margaret Anne in 1789.
Moninne Griffith of Belong To – LGBTQ+ Youth Ireland, the Grand Marshall for the Dublin Pride Parade, will speak to the subject of young LGBTQ people in the context of Pride.
The writer, comedian and TV presenter Martin 'Beanz’ Warde will also speak at the event. He previously said of being gay and from the Traveller community that he’s "a minority within a minority within another minority."
Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra present SHINE on 20 June in the National Concert Hall, and on 21 June in University Concert Hall, Limerick.
For more information visit www.rte.ie/co.
