h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Three years ago, Dublin Pride organised a historical walk of gay Dublin the weekend before the parade. It was the first gay event I went to. I also got to a debate and deaf karaoke during the week, and to the pride parade itself.

Next year, I had to miss the parade, because a friend was having a leaving party (though she was actually moving nearer to me, from Westport to Galway), but I still got to the historical walk.

I got to it this year too. The last too years, we met at the Central Bank. This year, we met at the statue of Oscar Wilde in Merrion Square. Merrion Square was also the headquarters of the Street Performance World Championships, so it was rather busy. Two friends joined me on the walk, for the first time. It was interesting, as usual, and rather sad in places. We talked first about Wilde, of course. And then we went to the National Library to discuss the Irish Queer Archive. Then down to The George to talk about the '70s and the murder of a young gay man. The murderers were acquitted because they were "cleaning up the streets". The outrage over this led to the first pride marches in Dublin. We ended up in Dublin Castle, and talked about the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels and the many gay rumours which have surrounded the British administration in Dublin Castle over the centuries.

After a brief pop into The Front Lounge, U637566 and I headed back to Merrion Square to watch some of the performers and to join in the record-breaking collection of people dressed as Wally. She'd picked up the costumes earlier. Stripy red-and-white top and a bobble hat.

It rained. They played music. We danced. They took photos. They played YMCA and we wondered which festival we were actually at. My friend remarked that she'd never danced it sober before.



She went home, and I went back to The Front Lounge to meet back up with our other friend (she had left and come back in the meantime). I stayed the night in her place. We watched Torch Song Trilogy, a film I'd never heard of before. It was absolutely beautiful. I intend to buy it and watch it many more times. And yes, it did make me cry. As it should.



In the morning, we glanced at footage of the Wallys on YouTube. I'm pretty sure I spotted a friend I've not heard from in years. He wasn't in a Wally costume. He was in grey. I'll have to find that video again and look properly.

I spent the rest of the day in Merrion Square, taking a lot of photos. And I was in the second collection of Wallys, which broke the previous day's record. I was at the back of the crowd, though, so you won't find me in the Irish Times photo. A random woman grabbed me and asked me to put a small child on my shoulders. She had more children than shoulders, and wanted some help. At the end, I discovered that another guy nearby with a child on his shoulders had also been drafted in. They were small kids; no weight.



I watched a couple more shows, realised I'd missed my last train home, and headed for the city centre. The Bunkhouse was full, so I checked into Isaac's. I like Isaac's because it's near the tram, so it's easy to get to the train station in the morning. It's also clean, unlike The Chelsea on Lower Gardiner Street around the corner, but it does tend to be hot and stuffy. Anyway, I checked in, and headed for Pantibar, where there was a comedy night as part of Pride. Unfortunately, I only caught the end of it (two male comedians making jokes about sex with women).

I was tired, so I headed back to Isaac's and the dorm, where I had a long chat about books, train travel, and other random stuff with an American girl who shared my surname, until her brother came back, whereupon we all went to bed. The rest of the beds in the dorm were filled when four girls came back at 3.30 am with much talking and turning on of lights. The Americans slept through it, or at least appeared to.



And now I must go to bed, and get up early tomorrow to catch a train for my second Dublin Pride parade.

TRiG.

Sounds quite surreal!

The red and white is quite appropriate...

Hope you had a great time, TRiG

I don't know much about these gay pride marches (maybe someone should write a guide entry), but they always seem to attract a 10-second slot on the news featuring a few people mincing around in gold lamé hotpants. I guess there's more to it than that?

It was fun, yes.

The history of gay pride would make for a fascinating guide entry. Stonewall would, of course, feature prominently, but it's interesting that the first gay organisation in Dublin was called the Hirshfield Centre, deliberately named to look back on the European tradition instead of the American one. That said, the main gay rights pressure group in the UK is named Stonewall, so the riots there certainly had an effect in Europe.

TRiG.

Belfast's march has its lone blackshirt who turns up every year in uniform and gives fascist salutes at the parade. He's roundly derided for the sad, pathetic little cretin he is, by marchers and bystanders alike. Which is nice.