A new project, entitled Out In The North East, by Anthony Kinahan and Dr Kirsty Park is looking for members of the LGBT+ community who live in, or who used to live in Louth, Meath, Monaghan and Cavan as part of a new study.

The study, which is in association with Create Ireland, Upstate Theatre Project, Outcomers LGBTQ Support Service and An Táin Arts Centre in Dundalk, is attempting to gauge the experiences of LGBT+ community in the North East of Ireland.

Members of the LGBT+ community who live in, or have lived in these areas are invited to take part in the project. If this applies to you, and are over 18, please check out this questionnaire in order to have your experience counted.

The researchers are particularly keen to hear from LGBT+ people who have recollections from the 1960s.

In introducing the project, the researchers highlight the aims of the study:

“We are conducting an exploration into what it is like (and what it has been like) to live as an LGBTQ+ person in the North East of Ireland in the last 50 years.”

The outline continues:

“At the moment, we are in the process of gathering experiences and stories, but ultimately the plan is to tell these stories through a theatrical piece, with members of the LGBTQ+ community in the North East telling the stories.

“There is no plan for the final piece yet, but the exploration, the participants involved and the experiences collected will all inform the final piece.”

All personal information collected in the exploration will remain private and confidential, and if an experience recounted from the questionnaire is used in the final theatrical piece, all identifying information will be changed to protect privacy.

The submission deadline for the questionnaire – which takes approximately 20 minutes to complete – is February 11 at 17:00 PM.

Take the questionnaire here.