| Collection Description | The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) collection was launched and created in August 2014 by Stephen Dee and
Dermot Casey, researchers at the Cork Folklore Project. The Project was established to record and preserve stories and
memories of LGBT life in Cork City and County, with a focus prior to decriminalization in 1993 but also to document the
important achievements and struggles that contributed to a society that today is far more accepting of LGBT people. This is
proven today with the legalisation of same sex marriage through popular vote and the increased visibility of LGBT people in all
areas of public life. The collection’s aims are to explore three main aspects: ‘Personal Recollections’ including but not limited to
identity, coming out and experiences of homophobia; ‘Community Stories’ based on certain areas, streets, and forms of social
interaction within the LGBT community; and ‘Political Movements’, chronicling political events, motivations and outcomes such
as the creation of the Cork-based Irish Gay Rights Movement in 1976, Cork Gay Collective in 1980, and UCC Gay Soc in
1980. Each interview we conducted was unique with each interviewee covering some or all of these topics and with some
areas being explored in depth. We hope the material can complement LGBT research in Ireland and also stimulate further
interest amongst the public in LGBT history. To date we have distributed some of this material to the public with an audio visual
presentation on YouTube and in 2016 in conjunction with Cork City Partnership for LGBT Awareness week we produced a
public exhibition of our sound excerpts at Cork City Library. Special thanks to all our interviewees and also to Alvina Cassidy
whose research also features in this collection.
This LGBT collection of interviews is stored within the Cork Folklore Project permanent oral history archive run in conjunction
with UCC’s Folklore and Ethnology Department and Northside Community Enterprises, with both a physical and digital
presence. As with all our material, access to full interviews is supervised through a variety of permissions and forms.
[corkfolklore.org]
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