RTE 2’s new documentary show ‘Reality Bites: The Only Gay In The Village’ highlights the struggles of being LGBT in rural Ireland

RTE 2’s new documentary show ‘Reality Bites: The Only Gay In The Village’ airs next Wednesday, November 9 at 9:30pm. The show will explore the experiences of LGBTs living in rural Ireland  – both good and bad.

“She was fourteen when she came out,” one mother says about her daughter. “My first reaction was ‘No, no. This can’t be right’ and I felt like I had to stop her.”

Another mother wonders if the lesbian porn she had on during her pregnancy somehow shaped the sexual orientation of her unborn child.

“When I was pregnant there was lesbian porn on. Did it go into my head and then did it somehow go down and reach the babies brain.”

Is That A Sickness?

This documentary highlights that growing up gay in rural Ireland can be difficult, with many LGBT people suffering homophobic bullying, isolation and with families who do not understand their sexual orientation.

“They were like ‘dirty faggot’ and whatever and they started like punching me and kicking me and pulling out of me,” a woman tells the camera.

“I moved back to Roscommon and then it turned out that I definitely wasn’t the only gay in the village,” one man says.

However, even though there may be other LGBT people within a community who can lend support to one another, one’s own family may not be as understanding.

One man sitting next to his son says “I said ‘How the fuck could you be gay?’ I said ‘None of our family is gay’ I said ‘Is that a sickness?'”

“It might be unconventional, it might worry but I’m happy, I just want to be myself” one green haired woman tells the camera.

LGBT Pavee

Another rural LGBT, Oein DeBharduin, author of GCN’s monthly horoscopes, explains how as a young traveller boy, he would sit in the corners of rooms so that he wouldn’t be noticed or bullied.

Now, as an openly gay man, he works for LGB Pavee in Dublin, combatting the prejudice and discrimination that exists in pockets of the travelling community. He travels home to Tuam, in Co.Galway, to meet his father and, in a uniquely personal conversation, shares how much the silence of his community has hurt him.

Tune in next Wednesday, November 9, 2016 at 9:30pm on RTE 2.