Going Backwards in Belfast or Ulster’s Peace Progress?

[Published in the November 2004 edition of Gay Times under the heading Bloody Belfast', somewhat (badly) edited down and rewritten.]

In August, four hundred gays, lesbianSeand their friends sat down for a civic banquet in Belfast’s City Hall to celebrate gay pride week. It was hosted by the Lord Mayor and paid for by the not-very-angry ratepayers. Speeches were made by Keith Ashe and Sally Young of the Pride 2004 committee. The Lord Mayor’s remarks, peppered with hiSeanti-litter campaigning sentiments, were responded to by Barbary Cook of the busy Belfast group Queer Space whose father had been a previous Lord Mayor and who pointed out she knew the venue, playing there as a child.

Under the headline Unionist claims City Hall gay bash turned into booze-fest rubbished’ one Sunday tabloid (Sunday Life) however tried to raise resentment: A Sinn Fein councillor who attended the first ever civic dinner in Belfast for gaySeand lesbians, last night denied claims that it had descended into a marathon boozing session. Furious unionist members, who boycotted the Gay Pride function last month, claimed that more than 300 bottles of wine were downed, and the glasses left strewn around the City Hall. And they also alleged that derogatory remarks had been shouted about one councillor – DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) member Sammy Wilson – during a speech by Lord Mayor Tom Ekin. But Councillor Eoin O’Broin, who was a guest at the function, in the banqueting hall, said: “I would be amazed if 300 bottles of wine were consumed. I can also say that the only remark I heard during the Lord Mayor’s speech was when he referred to the word ‘tolerance’, and someone said ‘it’s not tolerance anymore – it’s equality’. It was a very successful evening, and one I hope will be repeated”.

Gay Rights activist PA MagLochlainn said: “Some people seem to be getting hot under the collar about nothing. There were around 400 people there and those councillors who did attend went out of their way to show solidarity, and illustrate that attitudes are changing. But there was absolutely no drunkenness, and, while a few glasses may have been left outside the banqueting hall, that was probably smokers, who had to step outside to light up.”

Nobody responded to this story which majored, not on homosexuality but, aSean Irish newspaper perhaps ought not to, on gays’ drink consumption. I did however note on the night that the amount of wine was pleasantly and appropriately generous.

Such a civic dinner waSean occasion the like of which has probably not occurred in any other UK city and was both enjoyable and memorable. It also come before an incredibly successful, and visibly popular, gay pride parade in Belfast where numbers were swelled by threats of disruption from a new group, the Stop the Parade Organisation Christian Coalition Against Perverted Pride Marches who boasted a modish website but whose turnout on the day was paltry. They hardly outnumbered the traditional dozen Free Presbyterian protesters.

Under the headline SODOMITES HAVE HAD THEIR DAY they promised to hold a vociferous protest against the so-called Gay Pride’ parade which has scandalously been allowed to proceed through Belfast city centre They continued This demo will be the first in a series against the proliferation of these revolting spectacles across the UK. Christian scriptures declare sodomy and homosexuality to be sinful, abominable and perverse. We believe the vast majority of public opinion to be with us in our campaign against these disgusting displays of heinous perversionSeand we will strive to make the majority’s voice heard above the shrieks of the politically correct luvvies’ and politicians who pander to the homosexual micro-minority’s every whim. One’s major concern about this new slightly modish group is if they can link up with ultra-right political partieSeand thereby influence and organise loyalist youths who are conspicuously leaderless.

Despite generally good news, the media only a month before had been taken up with the trial of the murderers of 30-year old Ian Flanagan and increasing reports of attacks on gay people in Londonderry. Ian had been beaten with a wheel brace, then stabbed with a knife, his injuries being described by the pathologist as similar to those of a car crash victim.

That murder occurred in September 2002 in Barnett’s Park and was the latest in a long line of cruising and cottaging murders in Belfast – not unlike many in England. It was not remarkable for the high level of violence used, that is standard in the killing of gay men everywhere, but it was for the youth of the major assailant who was only fourteen.

Thankfully the prosecution in fear of the Portsmouth‘ defence ( he looked at me in a queer way so I stabbed him repeatedly), declined to consider reducing the charge to manslaughter was once standard. It had been said that Ian made advances to the accused. However such a defence would not have been easy as the younger murderer, Trevor Peel, admitted in the witness box to going equipped with a knife for a bit of queer bashing. Why he was put in the box iSeanyone’s guess but apparently even in jail he thought he would not be found guilty. Perhaps our old judicial tradition of gays’ killers getting suspended sentences gave him false confidence.

Interestingly, the judge Mr Justice Coghlin told the accused when sentencing them to 13 and 14 years in prison, that he had no doubt both set out to target a member of the gay community, confident in the belief that the social vulnerability of your victim would enable you to carry out your queer bashing’ expedition without any real risk. He described it as a crime which degenerated from despicable in its inception to becoming atrocious in its consummation remarking also observing both killers were extremely streetwise as a consequence of disrupted social and family backgrounds.

Ian’s father Samuel, a strict Plymouth Brethren, forgave his son’s killers on their conviction. Previously the family had zealously emphasised Ian’s recent engagement. In a lengthy Belfast Telegraph interview, Samuel alluded only once to his son’s gay aspect, the key paragraph reading: For the Flanagans, no pain could compare with the sudden, brutal loss of Ian. But within hours there waSeanother perplexing, difficult issue to deal with. Detectives informed them Ian's body had been found in an area used by homosexuals. Further, a possible gay link would form part of their investigation and they would be briefing the press accordingly. Inevitably, within days, the association had seeped into the public consciousness, where it remains to this day. The Flanagans are realists. Who knows the secrets of the human heart, reasons Samuel but it is genuinely not a side to their son they ever so much as glimpsed and they cannot help but remain sceptical. So his murder was motiveless. Nonetheless one estranged member of the family thanked NIGRA for its efforts to help track down the murderers.

This waSean easy crime to solve, with video evidence of the killers' movements available in the area. One, several months later, the cottaging killing of Warren (or Aaron) McCauley in Belfast, was not to be solved. He was found in an alley just 30 yards from the Church Lane toilets at 8 a.m. on 3 December 2002. He died two days later without regaining consciousness. His injuries consisted of a blow to the side of the head and another to the throat. These were the injuries that led to a fractured skull which eventually killed him. It is estimated that had he been found within twenty minutes he might have survived, otherwise he was doomed. He also had broken ribs on both sides of his chest.

As his head injuries were inflicted by an assailant facing him, Aaron was plainly not surprised by his killer. This led to the view that he had probably followed (or been followed out by) someone he had come across in the toilet, and was lured to his death. Robbery was not an obvious motive as, when discovered, he still had financial documents, including credit cards, and his mobile phone on his person.

The police believe he was attacked the evening before. They had video shots of him, over several hours, walking around the city centre while a shop assistant going home shortly after 9 p.m. heard a man moaning in the alley but thought it was a drunk. Arrests were made but no charges brought.

Meanwhile in Northern Ireland’s second Maiden’ city, attacks on gays are estimated to have doubled to thirty in the year to March 2004. They have ranged in seriousness from smearing excrement on windows, to beatings, threats from one paramilitary group (denied by the UDA), and the stabbing of a 19-year old, which resulted in someone being charged with attempted murder. There has been one conviction for the continued harassment of a young gay man. The Rainbow Project in Derry has also been named on Combat 18’s website.

Neither Rainbow nor the police feel these are organised attacks rather random. What is apparent is that they have become more viciouSeand it is feared that there will, as in Belfast, be a murder if something radical is not done. As a result of the high profile on such homophobia in Derry considerable support has been offered by politicians including the Sinn Fein Mayor, community activists, and the Church of Ireland Bishop. Rainbow says it is extremely concerned at the increase in attacks, and particularly their viciousness. It aims to hold a major conference in the city focussing on homophobia.

So why has there been so much homophobic hatred in this city of 100,000 people? If it can be explained, the fact that the population is significantly younger than elsewhere in Northern Ireland may have something to do with it, as will have post-war repercussions. Derry was the site of rioting by young males for two decades. There have also been a long series of aimless attacks at night spots that frequently include ear mutilation. I can instance one such attack on my nephew which was ascribed to him being too prosperouSeand good looking.

If there is more violence in Northern Ireland, it could be said to be because the place is backward or by virtue of the interlinked reason, that after 30 years of war, when killing was almost sanctified, it is no wonder that what might in other places be an serious assault turns into a murder. Violence here has fewer of the social curbs that other British cities have, although even across the water the controls seem to be slackening.

The fact that gaySeand ethnic minorities in Belfast are becoming more visible and more numerous has meant that resentment and attacks upon them are consequently greater. And this even with Northern Ireland being foolishly exempted from the policy of asylum seeker dispersal. The proportion of gays so attacked may however be statistically no bigger than before. No great comfort if you are attacked, but it has to be pointed out to avoid panic setting in and emigration soaring.

The link between greater visibility and greater violence may also be the consequence of easier access to alcohol as well as war psychosis. We have certainly had more than our fair share of domestic’ killings many of them horrifying in their brutality. But is it the working through of the erosion of normal values as occurred in and after the ending of the 1939-45 war when a huge increase in murders was noted?

Even Sinn Fein is aware there is no control to be had, even by paramilitaries, over underclass, disaffected Catholic youth, fuelled by cheap drink, glue and ever-stronger cannabis. The Protestant underclass is also severely stressed, being weakened politically and psychologically. Like frontiers people anywhere they are susceptible to extreme responses.

Action is needed but one suggested solution, the staking out of cruising areas by the police createSeanother difficulty. How do you avoid arresting the cruisers who break the law?

There have been a number of gay-on-gay killings here recently which suggests the loss of self-control is also to be found within the gay community. Nobody is exempt but the truth of the matter is that Belfast gay scene is welcoming, attractive and expanding, despite local difficulties.

Jeffrey Dudgeon

Author of Roger Casement: The Black Diaries, and Treasurer of the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association (NIGRA)

August 2004