The good weather continues, with highs in mid 60s F / upper 10s C. Rainbow flags and banners are beginning to pop up around town for Pride month, including Bewley’s Oriental Cafe on Grafton Street, Murphy’s Ice Cream on Wicklow Street (not far away from me), and the KC Peaches cafe just around the corner from Spranger’s Yard.
Dublin Pride 2021 (dublinpride.ie) was officially launched on May 17 by The Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu (a queer woman of Chinese decent) on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia & Transphobia. Unfortunately, there won’t be any in-person events or a pride parade in Dublin for another year in a row due to COVID, but each week has a different theme:
Machnamh Bród (June 1–6): Machnamh is an old Irish concept that encompasses meditation, reflection, contemplation and thought. One year after the Black Lives Matter marches that took place around the world following the death of George Floyd, we examine and celebrate the intersections of communities within our own community and reflect on what we have done to challenge racism, misogyny, transphobia and ableism in the past 12 months and challenge ourselves to do more.
Culture, Arts & Heritage (June 7–13): A week dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ+ contributions to the arts, history and culture. Check out our Pride Player for LGBTQ+ themed virtual tours of galleries & museums, walking tours, theatre and dance performances, poetry & storytelling and more. In addition to our online programme, we will run exhibitions at Filmbase in Temple Bar and Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre.
Health & Wellbeing (June 14–20): The past 18 months have been particularly difficult, and LGBTQ+ people have had to face a number of challenges such as being forced back into the closet, living in an unsupportive or homophobic environment or isolation. Week 3 therefore focuses on ensuring our physical and mental wellbeing in times of crisis and beyond.
Community (June 21–28): In the final week of Dublin Pride 2021, we want to showcase the dedicated LGBTQ+ organisations and support services in the country. As always, the festival will culminate in the Dublin Pride Parade & March. The Virtual Pride Parade will once again be broadcast from The Round Room at The Mansion House on Saturday, June 26th as part of a full-day entertainment programme. The festival will end on the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots on Monday, June 28.
The George, Dublin’s largest gay bar and club which is only a block away from Spranger’s Yard, has remained closed since March 2020. However, my friend CJ alerted me that they will be opening an outdoor space this month and are accepting online bookings in anticipation of outdoor hospitality services opening up next week. I immediately hopped on to the website, but the earliest availability I could find was June 21 — so I guess we’ll be toasting the summer solstice. At the time I made the booking, I thought it was on a Sunday and not a Monday… oops! Well thankfully I didn’t choose a late time, so we’ll still be able to enjoy it. The reason for my confusion was that online calendars here are formatted with Saturday and Sunday at end of week (which seems more logical since it’s the “weekend”), whereas in the U.S. calendars usually show Saturday as last day and Sunday as the first day of the week, like this:
