Photograph taken in the Limelight Ormeau Avenue on a Monday night early 1990's. The subjects are Robert Brown and Peter Duffy dressed as characters from Whatever happened to Baby Jane
This picture was taken in Cookstown, Northern Ireland. This was the gathering spot for the committee members of Mid Ulster Pride just before the parade began. This was the first Pride Parade ever for Mid Ulster and was held during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In the photo, a series of placards and banners can be seen. one placard stating 'Born This Way!' way the Rainbow flag in the background, as well as a banner, remembering Lyra McKee.
Published from 1972, Gay News was an important
resource for gay men and women in Northern Ireland,
providing information about gay political and social
issues throughout the United Kingdom. In a London
court case the editor of Gay News had been found guilty of blasphemous libel and, as a result, Gardner’s refused to stock the paper
Jeffrey Dudgeon giving a presentation about the case
he had taken to the European Commission of Human
Rights at the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE)
conference in Nottingham in August 1977. The Belfast
organisations communicated and co-operated with
gay groups in the UK which were also campaigning
for the rights of gay men and women. Cara-Friend in
particular affiliated to FRIEND, the national befriending
organisation for gay men and lesbians.
Jeffrey Dudgeon and Richard Kennedy ‘camping it up’
while passing Campling’s butcher shop in Enniskillen at
Easter 1977. Richard served as president of NIGRA for
several years, and was known for his good humour and
wit during meetings.
A group of friends photographed during a party at 4
University Street, Belfast in the early 1980s. Tim Clarke (seated
centre) was president of NIGRA (Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association) at the time. Brian
Gilmore notes that ‘parties were important for the gay
scene ...they were quite good for socialising and getting
to know people’.
Phone in the Cara-Friend office. Due to a grant from the Department of Health in 1975 Cara-Friend set up a helpline.) 4 University Street, or ‘Number 4’ as it became known, served as a centre for the gay community in Belfast from early in 1977 to October 1983. The vacant and derelict house was ‘loaned’ to the Gay Liberation Society by QUB. It housed the Cara-Friend helpline as well as other LGBT organisations. After the building was vacated in 1983 it was demolished and replaced by modern flats.
4 University Street, or ‘Number 4’ as it became known,
served as a centre for the gay community in Belfast from early in 1977 to October 1983. The vacant and derelict house was ‘loaned’ to the Gay Liberation Society by QUB. It housed the Cara-Friend helpline as well as other LGBT organisations. After the building was vacated in 1983 it was demolished and replaced by modern flats.
This photograph of Wilma Creith (right) and a friend
from the Belfast Transvestite/ Transsexual Group was
taken at a house party in September 1977. For several
years Wilma was the organiser of the TV/TS group and
with others set up a transgender helpline that operated
one evening a week from the Cara-Friend offices.
Tragically, in August 1980 Wilma died as a result of a
blood clot after undergoing gender-realignment surgery in England. The Belfast Butterfly club was founded in September 1991, growing out of the former Belfast TV/TS Group run under the auspices of the Cara Friend organisation.
