Archivist, activist, writer and historian, Tonie Walsh, is leading a new queer history walking tour that will explore a range of historical LGBTQ+ spaces across Dublin. The 2.5 hour tour called Sex, Drugs, Saunas & Clubs guides participants through some of the most significant queer social spaces from the latter half of the 20th century.
Before decriminalising anti-gay legislation in 1993, LGBTQ+ people were refused from public spaces including bars and hotels. Ireland’s queer social spaces were often limited to college rooms, discos, and saunas. These safe spaces are where LGBTQ+ people could develop friendships, explore intimacy, and share important conversations about liberation and equality.
The tour will be led by GCN co-founder, Tonie Walsh, who has a long history with Ireland’s civil rights movement leading back to 1979. His avid love of Irish queer history makes him the perfect LGBTQ+ history walking tour host.
Some of the tour sites include Sides DC, Ireland’s first commercial gay dance club; J.J. Smyth’s, an essential night out for lesbians in the 1980s; The Parliament Inn, where Lola’s, the first Trans social night was held in 1977; the notorious Incognito sauna, where a priest was found dead in 1993; and the much cherished Hirschfeld Centre, an LGBT community centre destroyed by fire in 1987.
Many of these places served as sites of social resistance because simply socialising as LGBTQ+ people was considered transgressive and illegal. Tonie said: “I wanted to champion these sites of social resistance and put a new value on the people who endured to give these venues the fabulous longevity and history that they have.”
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Tonie said he was inspired to do this queer Dublin tour: “…to uncover an aspect of LGBTQ+ history that often remains hidden and under-appreciated: exploring the literal and metaphorical spaces that LGBTQ+ people built that allow us to develop friendships and have essential conversations around building community and liberating ourselves.”
He added: “We needed to create these spaces on our own terms because mainstream society didn’t offer them to us. I really wanted to dive into the history of these spaces and the personalities behind them.”
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The tour will also explore the history of Ireland’s Sexual Liberation Movement (SLM) which was founded by a small group at Trinity College in late 1973. SLM was instrumental in organising the first ‘Gay Pride’ demonstration in Ireland in 1974, and it’s a prime example of how significant change can happen when people find space to feel safe and imagine better futures for themselves.
Walking tours are hosted each evening from July 31 to August 2. Tickets are selling fast so be sure to book yours now.
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