The 26th of April marks Lesbian Visibility Day. Lesbians have always been at the forefront in the fight for gay and women’s rights, despite lesbian-specific issues often being ignored by others. To celebrate Lesbian Visibility Day, we highlight just a few of the many Irish lesbian feminists throughout the 20th century who fought for the liberation of all women.
The Radical Lesbians of the Irish Revolution
Dr Kathleen Lynn (1874 – 1955) and Madeleine ffrench-Mullen (1880 – 1944) were suffragists and members of the Irish Citizen Army. They played influential roles in the 1916 Easter Rising, and were both imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol. Together in 1919, the pair established St Ultan’s – a pioneering female-run hospital for infants, establishing vaccination projects against the wishes of both church and state. They were also a lesbian couple, who remained together until ffrench-Mullen’s death in 1944. Until recently, this fact has been erased.
The women found their way into the fight for Irish independence through feminism, as part of a large network of lesbians living in Dublin. These women went on to become involved in the Revolution, trade unions, local government, and issues such as poverty, healthcare and housing. Other prominent lesbian couples at the time included Margaret Skinnider and Nora O’Keefe; nurse Elizabeth O’ Farrell and her partner Julia Grenan, who are buried together in the Republican grave plot at Glasnevin Cemetery; Helena Molony, Republican Revolutionary, Trade Unionist, Abbey actress and her partner, psychiatrist Dr Evelyn O’Brien; and the Trade Unionist and Peace Activist couple Louie Bennett and Helen Chenevix.
Kate O’Brien (1897 – 1974)
Novelist Kate O’Brien was born in Limerick to a middle-class family. In her writing, O’Brien dealt with topics of female agency and sexuality in ways that were radical for the time. Two of her novels were banned in Ireland: 1941’s The Land of Spices for its depiction of male homosexuality, and 1936’s Mary Lavelle for its sympathetic view of lesbianism. As a feminist, her work explores the oppression of Irish women in the 1930s and 1940s. She was particularly critical of then-Taoiseach Eamon de Valera, the 1937 constitution and its idealisation of marriage.
She was also an activist, who worked with the Women Writers’ Club in Dublin to advocate for female writers, as well as with PEN international to advance freedom of expression.
O’Brien dressed in practical clothes that differed from the dominant feminised style for women of her class, often wearing capes, cloaks and trouser suits. She had a wide circle of lesbian and gay friends and she had numerous relationships with women throughout her life. Her life partner, Mary O’Neill was her literary executor after her death. However, despite her lifestyle and dress code, she never identified herself publicly as lesbian at any point during her life. Academic Eibhear Walshe theorises that her education in Irish Catholicism and her family’s conservativism prevented her from doing so.
Her final book, As Music and Splendour, published in 1958, features lesbians as central characters. At the time of her death, most of her books were sadly out of print. Her body of work was recovered in the 1980s by feminist scholars and reprinted by feminist publishers such as Virago in London and Arlen House in Dublin. Today, she is considered a major twentieth century Irish writer and a pioneer of Irish LGB and feminist fiction.
Nell McCafferty
Derry-born Nell McCafferty is a lesbian icon in the fight for women’s rights in Ireland, and an outspoken journalist, civil rights campaigner and prominent second wave feminist.
As founder of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement, she wrote about and campaigned extensively for women’s rights, including taking part in the infamous 1971 “contraceptive train” protest, travelling to Belfast by train to protest the ban on contraceptives in the Republic. After the disbandment of the IWLM she continued her work for women’s and gay rights, most notably through her coverage of the Kerry Babies case.
Nell was also at the very centre of the civil rights movement in the north of Ireland, campaigning for republican women in jail and for equal votes, homes and jobs for catholics. Her feminism was often rebuked by male-dominated republicanism, while her republicanism was seen as a liability by feminists in Dublin. She once lamented: “In the south I could be a feminist; in the north I could be a fighter”.
Nell was famously in a relationship with fellow feminist and journalist Nuala O’Faolain. The relationship was tumultuous and ended after 15 years, but the pair never fully left each other’s life, with Nell saying: “We split, but we never separated”. Her 2004 autobiography explores her early life and coming to terms with her sexuality.
Nell turned 80 last month! She is a trailblazer for all Irish women, and her influence in the country is uncontested.
Joni Crone
When 26 year old Joni Crone appeared on RTE’s Late Late Show in February 1980, she became the first lesbian to come out publicly on Irish television. She faced intense questioning from host Gay Byrne, in front of an audience of a million people.
Joni played a huge role in lesbian community building. She organised the first lesbian disco in Dublin in September 1977. The event was promoted through word of mouth as no newspaper would run an ad with the word ‘lesbian’ in it. Despite this, 65 women turned up! She also helped plan the first Irish conference on lesbianism held in Trinity College in 1978, and established the Dublin Lesbian Line.
Joni was a gay rights activist and a radical feminist, and wrote about how lesbian experiences were often sidelined by the wider feminist movement in Ireland, and expressed frustration with the political conservativism and antifeminism of the male-dominated gay rights movement. After the dissolution of the Irish Gay Rights Movement, a group of lesbians including Crone established Liberation for Irish Lesbians (LIL) in 1978. The group was invited by David Norris to affiliate with the National Gay Federation, running a woman-only social every Wednesday night in Dublin’s Hirschfield Centre. The group also established Dublin Lesbian Line, a phone service to reach isolated and lonely lesbian women in Ireland.
Today, Joni is a prolific playwright and has written 10 plays, including the semi-autobiographical Anna Livia Lesbia.
Liz Noonan
In 1981, just a year after Joni Crone’s appearance on the Late Late Show, Liz Noonan became the first lesbian candidate to run in an Irish general election. She ran on a radical lesbian feminist manifesto that prioritised feminist issues. Although she didn’t win, she received the most 1st preference votes of any independent candidate in the Dublin SE constituency.
Liz was another founding member of the group Liberation for Irish Lesbians and was unafraid to speak publicly about her lesbianism in the media. In an interview with the Irish Times, she and her partner Ruth were the first lesbian couple in Ireland to publicly declare their relationship. Their openness, although shocking to the general public at the time, was welcomed by Irish lesbians as a positive story.
In just a few short years, Liz, Joni and the rest of Liberation for Irish Lesbians had not only advocated for lesbian issues and women-only spaces within the wider gay liberation movement, but also helped to significantly raise the profile of Irish lesbians among the general public. As well as this, they were radical feminist activists, who campaigned for the liberation of all women. They campaigned for affordable childcare, divorce and abortion rights, and against violence against women. They were prominent in campaigning against the 8th amendment as affiliates of the Anti-Amendment Campaign.
