How Do You Know You Are Gay? Ireland 1984

The ideas of a group of young people about what it means to be gay are challenged when they meet a gay woman and man.
This episode of 'Access: Community Television' was made by the National Gay Federation (NGF) which was established at the Hirschfeld Centre, Dublin.
A group of young people with little or no experience of homosexual people meet with Tonie Walsh and Brenda Harvey of the Dublin Lesbian and Gay Men's Collectives. They answer questions about being gay and try to change preconceived ideas of what that means..
The group of young people are first asked to give their impressions of gays and lesbians.
I think it’s very wrong when they try to flaunt it.
Tonie Walsh points out that he knows he is gay just as another person knows they are straight however,
You don’t see so and so is a straight written on the wall.
Brenda Harvey says her experience of telling heterosexual people she is gay has been negative to the point that she tries to limit her association with them.
Having met with Tonie Walsh and Brenda Harvey some of the young people are surprised they were different to how they had imagined.
A couple of the men think Brenda was negative. However given the fact she must have to defend herself on a daily basis many of the group support her feelings, with one woman saying,
I don’t see why I should reason with you about how I feel about certain things she’s probably going through a rough time.
Another woman feels people who do not understand things, be they homosexuality or religion, often make fun of the subject to cover up their own ignorance.
The series ‘Access: Community Television’ shows programmes made by communities or groups about their specific projects.
This episode of ‘Access: Community Television’ was broadcast on 16 February 1984. The reporter is Ciana Campbell.

[@daniellfourie]

"It's not really a difficulty". Wow, Brenda is unbelievably stable in a time and space that must have been hell to her.

[@MrLetmein2011]

I left Ireland in 1982 , I was 17 and had had enough of being attacked spat at , and several times beaten up . If I had a pound for every time I was screamed at “ steamer “ but I survived and thrived in the UK

[@rosiemaughan2996]

Yeah try being a traveller for a day

[@rudithedog7534]

Or a gay traveller ​@@rosiemaughan2996

[@thescoobymike]

"You don't know what they're going to do next" lol

[@stefanscally4449]

Are you involved in any conversations today that will be equally embarrassing from future perspectives?

[@countsmyth]

How times have changed!

[@TheFERGALISIOUS]

The i dont know what they will do next line was crazy.

[@dorothyryan8028]

Would love to know what their opinions are today as times have changed so much .

[@gerardjames9971]

Fair play to the 2 brave gay people for facing that barrage of ignorance and stupidity. And for the Kajagoogoo girl sticking up for them 👏

[@gruntymchunchy1527]

My mother from Mayo, in her 90's now, Mentioned a neighbouring farm, just up the road when telling a story. An old bachelor who was often seen dressed in woman's clothes when out and about on the farm. Arah she said, a lot of those old bachelors and spinsters were fierce eccentric.

[@seancourtney9021]

I grew up in Ireland in the '70s. Up our 'terrace' there were same sex couples living together. No one ever talked about it. Not sure what people, including my parents, actually thought about the subject.

[@JackTorrance333]

Your parents had deep reservations about it all. I guarantee.

[@colin4958]

@@JackTorrance333They left them alone to live their life it sounds like

[@kevfit4333]

​@@colin4958 Every town and village always had gay people in every line of work. People knew they were gay and they were not blacklisted by their communities. Most of the heat gay people in Ireland got was from the RCC staff and it's hardcore holy rollers who were a minority of the general population. The irony being a huge number of priests were gay compared to the general population.

[@gruntymchunchy1527]

If no one ever talked about it, You wouldn't have known about it. They sure as sheet were not going about holding hands.

[@JackTorrance333]

@@colin4958 and look where that’s gotten us all. You need Christ.

[@Karl_with_a_K]

They are still like that in Northern Ireland, only this week Foster said she was ousted from the DUP because she planned to abstain (not even vote against) from a vote banning Conversion Therapy.

[@easterislandhead9579]

You don’t know what they’re going to do next… I’ve got a fair idea 🤣🤣🤣

[@fergal2424]

jesus christ, we have come on a long way from these attitudes thank fuck.

[@cruciallll]

TRUMP2024

[@fergal2424]

@@cruciallll congrats on being retarded.

[@stefanscally4449]

Are you sure? Maybe in a few decades they'll think we're mental

[@Animal_lives_matter]

We came a long way, then turned 90 degrees and went up another path even more terrible. I'm so ashamed that I voted in favour of "marriage equality", which relies on the premise that unmarried people should be discriminated against. Give em an inch and they'll take a mile, now the LGBT movement is doing conversion therapy on kids, that's "how far we've come"

[@manalivealiveo]

Was thinking the same thing

[@alllovingcowherdboy4475]

"Have you ever put your finger on it"..😂😂😂

[@MarieHarvey-q8s]

😂😂

[@lisaluscombe]

Those two gay persons appear to be nicely reserved, introspective individuals in contrast to whats been portrayed on the internet today. Shame that they were almost certainly subjected to various abuses throughout the years.

[@FrogulaWan]

How many roads must a man walk down, before you may call him a man?

[@geraldstafford2240]

Seventeen.

[@baintreachas]

it's funny how straight people watch this and think "wow, it's changed so much" and i watch it and think "so little has changed". sure i'm certainly not having this kind of "confrontation" as much as they probably were having it but i have had this exact conversation a fair few times

[@alllovingcowherdboy4475]

She's right...if you don't understand it you slag it to cover up for your own ignorance and hope it'll go away

[@Wacker156-p6m]

Feel silly asking but is that Charlie bird?

[@seangrogan3622]

being gay is okay

[@brianquigley1940]

"Is it a genetic difficulty"... 😂😂😂😂😂

[@DL10663]

It’s amazing to see how far we as a society has progressed and as a country we have advanced.

[@SmcdMcd-d2k]

Yeah, but now it’s gotten too far to the point of us you can identify as as anything and it’s now a crime to say that they’re not us. It’s ridiculous now. 0

[@DL10663]

@@SmcdMcd-d2k what do you mean you can identify as anything? I don’t understand.

[@SmcdMcd-d2k]

@@DL10663 no you can identify now whatever you want and then if someone says anything to you it’s now considered a hate crime. It’s ridiculous whatever about being gay or straight but then people are on 1 million labels onto things and we have to put up with it.

[@DL10663]

@@SmcdMcd-d2k people don’t identify whatever they want. Some people identify as male, some female and others gender neutral. That’s it. I don’t see the problem with this. Some people are very feminine, some very masculine. What’s the problem? It’s not a negative.

[@charchar6504]

LOL some people identify as a tree or a cat or a dog. I saw a grown man with 5 children identifying himself a 5 year old little girl. And even places that grown men go to so they can wear a nappy. So yeah , people are now identifying as many many things now actually

[@williambinions4205]

They should have interviewed the bull Mick daly about this subject. He has some good informative videos on Utube about these people

[@paddysyron]

Lol

[@paddysyron]

Donegal....

[@AnonAnonAnon]

Ireland is not like that now (unless you're gay in a small town or village in the middle of nowhere).

[@anothercomment]

Some places in Kerry could still be quite homophobic.

[@rosiemaughan2996]

Oh god yeah they love everyone apart from travellers

[@joesullivan-y9r]

That was gay.

[@JC-yc2sz]

These ordinary people don't have the vocabulary to dissect the issues here, and they are groping around in the dark trying to discuss this complex moral issue. They make a perfect target for this kind of Struggle Session, to be deconstructed, and picked off one by one. It's shocking how the people who created this obvious propaganda have been so utterly successful in turning the most obvious moral issues on their heads. There are serious answers to these questions and you can find them if you seek out the right people. The point of this TV program was to ridicule normal everyday people as a way of overturning the protections society has put on antisocial behaviour whether it's this carry on, or alcoholism, or thieving, or whatever kind of vice it is. Shameful to read the comments here. You lot have absolutely no clue what happened in the 20th century. Staggering ignorance

[@ElendilAndAragorn]

Up yer hole and away on yer bike. Stop speaking in riddles. Love is love is love. Christianity and all religions were invented by humans to explain things they didn't understand, and kept going cos it was a useful way to control people. The only moral issue at stake here is: Do they love eachother, and are they genuinely harming eachother or someone else? Lips are lips no matter what chromosomes you have, nipples are nipples, and indeed all genitals stem from the exact same root. A clitoris isn't so different from the glans on a penis - it's the exact same thing that went through a different course of development. Love is affection and care and sharing of experiences with eachother and that's the same no matter what you call yourself or what society calls you. Anti-social behavior is coming in here with the morals of a priest and saying you two can't love eachother cos otherwise we'll batter you and denigrate you from the pulpit because we're a bunch of ignorant control freaks.

[@stevenolove]

The good old days

[@jcJones02]

Yes, when you would get treated like dirt for simply liking someone of the same gender, very good!

[@scottblack9213]

Grimsville

[@manalivealiveo]

I don’t remember this episode of brass eye?

[@charchar6504]

And here we are 40 years on and they pushing in the schools and everywhere. I did notice and Brenda didn't mind being called she and her. Also she said herself it was a choice in the beginning! That's interesting

[@seamusdoherty]

Id like to go back to these times.

[@davidkavanagh189]

Get working on your time machine so!

[@anothercomment]

The music was the only good part about the 80s.

[@louiseb3491]

Omg

[@alllovingcowherdboy4475]

I thought this and I think that...😅

[@JackTorrance333]

The agenda.

[@alllovingcowherdboy4475]

Hee hee giggle giggle 😅

[@brianquigley1940]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂