Walk around Dublin city centre during June and there's no missing it: it's Pride month.
Recent years have seen the annual LGBTQ celebration explode in visibility and popularity. You don't even have to leave your home to see it: many major organisations and corporations now proudly update their social media logos to the distinctive rainbow colours - with everyone from Dublin Bus to the HSE getting involved.
You'll find Pride gear in Tesco (the supermarket joining only Google as one of the festival's top-tier 'platinum sponsors'), and even some Garda cars have been decked out in the Pride colours this year. Uniformed gardaí are also preparing to take part in the parade for the very first time.
The festival itself has only grown in popularity, and is now a ten-day long celebration. The schedule of events encompasses spin classes, film screenings, talks, gallery tours, a family fun sports day and much more. And plenty of parties, it goes without saying.
It all culminates in the Pride parade, which is taking place this Saturday. An estimated 30,000 people attended last year, and anyone who's been in Dublin on Pride day will know the city streets effectively transform into an all-day street party.
It's always worth remembering how this represents an extraordinary transformation for Ireland. It's just over 25 years since same-sex sexuality activity was decriminalised in Ireland. But progress since then has been remarkable, building towards the historic marriage equality referendum in 2015.
In terms of scale and visibility, Dublin Pride appears to be growing and growing. However, some members of the LGBTQ community have expressed discomfort at the direction of the festival - to the point some campaigners have organised an alternative event.
Pride Alternative 2019
The Queer Action Ireland group is tomorrow hosting Pride Alternative 2019, encouraging "all queers who are dissatisfied with the current state of Dublin Pride" to take part. The event will coincide with the official Pride parade.
Queer Action Ireland are organising a Pride Alternative as we cannot consciously participate in Dublin Pride 2019, even in an oppositional radical bloc. Rosie Hackett Bridge, June 29th, 12pm!
event link: https://t.co/1UI5b210pD
statment link: https://t.co/GOMvJRefEA pic.twitter.com/USSlOC6HaL— Queer Action Ireland (@QueerActionIrl) June 12, 2019
In a statement explaining the motivation behind the event, organisers express their dissatisfaction with a number of elements of the main festival. They note the participation of uniformed gardaí, suggesting it's "not a sign of progress, but rather a representation of the further cooptation of our struggle". They point out that the first Pride events were founded in response to police brutality that was directed towards the LGBTQ+ community of New York (this year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots - the event that served as a catalyst for the first gay pride events in the US the following year).
The Queer Action Ireland activists say they cannot march in a parade that so readily welcomes corporations "who see our community as no more than a marketing demographic". They raise objections to the involvement of establishment political parties. They point to their concerns with policies such as direct provision, highlighting the burial of transgender woman Sylva Tukula without any of her friends' knowledge following her death at a Galway centre.
In their statement, the organisers state: "Queer Action Ireland regret that we cannot consciously participate in Dublin Pride 2019, even in an oppositional radical bloc, as we have done in previous years.
"It has become a shadow of what it once was, co-opted by capitalists who hope to assimilate and profit off the queer community, reducing us to no more than statistics in their empty marketing campaigns."
A number of other activist groups have indicated their support for the alternative event, including the Abortion Rights campaign:
Tomorrow, we'll be attending the Pride Alternative organised by @QueerActionIrl. We hope to see you there https://t.co/Ib8iLHnSah #Pride2019
— Abortion Rights IE (@freesafelegal) June 28, 2019
The alternative event is likely to attract a significantly smaller crowd than the main Pride parade, but does illustrate that there are members of the LGBTQ community that have grown uncomfortable with the direction of the annual celebration: whether that's through the increased corporate influence (the Pride website alone lists around 60 corporate sponsors or partners), or the increasingly visible involvement of various official and State organisations.
"Different things to different people"
Of course, many other groups and people continue to proudly participate in the main parade. Indeed, most of the country's major LGBTQ groups and organisations are official partners of the Dublin Pride festival:
Garda Inspector Paul Franey is a member of the force's LGBT+ Employee Support Network, and has been heavily involved in the campaign to get uniformed gardaí involved in the parade.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast with Susan Keogh, he said: "Everyone's entitled to their views - if they want to have a different Pride event that's totally up to them.
"Pride means different things to different people, and the LGBT community isn't one homogeneous group of people who all think the same ways and have the same views.
"There are plenty of people working in the big corporates who [will be] there today, and they're really happy to be working for an organisation that supports open inclusivity and diversity."
And ready to go at @NewstalkFM with @susankeoghnews discussing @gardainfo #pride pic.twitter.com/TltvSXB7xd
— g-force (@GForceLGBTGarda) June 29, 2019
Paul also said today will be a "huge move" for many individual gardaí, and a very emotional day.
He suggested: "There's a huge amount of guards who would love to be there today, and simply can't. Today's about the journey, so that we can start building up an employment space where they feel they can bright their whole selves to work.
"Much more importantly than that, An Garda Síochana's primary function is to keep people safe. LGBT people are particularly vulnerable to crime, particularly trans people."
He added: "There's a whole group of people out there who feel they cannot come to An Garda Síochana to report crimes... We have a responsibility and a duty to reach out in whatever way we can to those communities.
"I wouldn't like to be back in a time when police are the oppressors. We've moved on, society has moved on, and most people in the LGBT community have moved on. I can understand there is a lot of pain for the past, but we do live in a different time."
'No easy answer'
Panti Bliss, real name Rory O'Neill, pictured with the outfit worn by him when he made the "Noble Call" speech during Ireland's same-sex marriage referendum as it goes on display in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin as part of the Rainbow Revolution exhibition. Picture by: Niall Carson/PA Wire/PA ImagesRory O'Neill - better known as Panti Bliss - is one of Ireland's most high-profile gay rights campaigners, and his venue PantiBar (plus the streets surrounding it) is the home of one of Pride's most popular annual parties.
Speaking to Newstalk's Josh Crosbie earlier this week, Rory explained that he understands the concerns people have with Pride in its current form - but he also believes it's inevitable such events will evolve from their initial form.
He observed: "People sometimes give out about the corporations and all that - and I get it. On the other hand, if I was an 18-year-old working for Google I'd love to see my company involved.
"That's why I say let people have whatever Pride they want. This year there's a second smaller protest, and I think that's brilliant. It's only one day a year - have as many little events as we want."
Rory said the arguments are still being had within the gay community over what Pride is, but his own perspective is that there are as "many different kinds of pride as there is people... pride is a lot of different things to different people".
He suggested that disagreements over Pride's direction ultimately happen in every city, explaining: "Pride starts very small, and it's a protest. Then it grows, and as it grows it becomes something else. Then you get to a point where it either stops growing, or it has to become much more official and you have to get the city involved and everything.
"Everybody tries to find their own answers to it - there is no easy answer to it. We muddle through and hope for the best."
For those trying to find their own path through it all, this year's official Dublin Pride parade starts at the Garden of Remembrance at 1pm; the Alternative Pride 2019 kicks off from 12pm at Rosie Hackett Bridge.
