About

Welcome to the Cork LGBT History Website.

This website aims to chart and display information in relation to the history of the LGBT communities in Cork from the 1970s onwards.

Cork has a rich history of lesbian and gay activism: as well as campaigning for LGBT rights and providing services and supports to LGBT people, the LGBT community has played a vital role in movements for social justice and political change in Cork. Yet this community, like many other LGBT communities worldwide, has been largely invisible in historical accounts and its contribution to social and political change and developments largely unacknowledged.

I am working on developing a Digital Archive on the LGBT Communities in Cork. Through the development of this digital archive I would hope to redress in some ways the invisibility of the history of the LGBT community and document and acknowledge its contribution to the Cork’s social and political history.

I will be using materials which have been gathered over the past 30 years and that are currently stored in the basement of a house in Cork. See this post for further information: http://orlaegan.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/cork-lgbt-digital-archive/

As well as sorting and digitising the documents in the basement, I would also plan to record and make available audio and video recording of oral histories provided by members of the LGBT community. If you are interested in participating, in being interviewed for this archive, please get in touch: orlaegan66@gmail.com

I am also hoping to access and digitise other documents and photographs which may be in the possession of members of the Cork LGBT Communities. So if you have anything interesting on your shelves or in your closets, I would really appreciate if you would get in touch with me: orlaegan66@gmail.com

I am particularly conscious that I have very little information in relation to the Transgender community in Cork from the 1970s and that there is very little data on the Bisexual community. If you can help me redress this balance I would really appreciate it.

I hope that the development of this digital archive will create a sustainable resource that will be accessible and searchable by future scholars. It will also create a repository for archiving materials from current lesbian and gay organisations for future historical research. It will also create a template for others who wish to develop digital historical archives.

The information on this website is based on the information I have been able to gather so far. I am well aware that I may have missed some vital information or have got some detail wrong. If you notice this, instead of giving out about it, get in touch with me and help me to put the record straight, so to speak!

The development of a Cork LGBT Digital Archive is important for us in acknowledging our past and how we have come to this point in time. It could help us to develop a more nuanced understanding of the development of different cultures and identities within Ireland. It will, hopefully, help to provide a deeper and richer understanding of our past, of those who contributed to the development of our society and of social change movements in Ireland.

This website has been developed by Orla Egan.