It is a sultry evening in New York. Hot. Humid. One of those evenings where you might just stay home in the air conditioning and watch bad TV instead of trudging through the open-air hothouse to descend into the 7 circles of A train making Q stops over the 4 line. Nevertheless you persist and you are so glad you did.
Pride. Pride Month. Irish American Writers and Artists pride Salon. Beautiful welcoming space of the Houghton Hall Arts Community on East 30th Street. You have no idea what to expect of your hosts Honor Molloy and Shelley Ann Quilty but you know you are in good hands and you know you are proud of IAW&A for hosting this event.
Pride. Pride month. Solidarity. Community. You grow into a greater understanding of each of these as the evening unfolds.
Deputy Consul Gareth Hargadon demonstrates the support and solidarity of the Irish Consulate and eloquently reminds you of how proud we should be of all the great steps Ireland has taken: being the first country in the world to legislate marriage equality, nevertheless cautioning that vigilance and persistence are needed and there is no space for complacence.
Shelley Ann Quilty compliments the moment with a short and poignant reading of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Warming Her Pearls.” She will continue to punctuate the evening with deft and sensitive readings of an extract from Diarmuid Fitzgerald’s “Count Day” and breath-taking snippets from Oscar Wilde.
Gayli with Deputy Consul General Gareth Hargadon. [Photo by Archley Prudent. More photos from the salon appear in today's print/digital issue of the Irish Echo.]
S.J. de Matteo immerses you in the riveting, moving account of the chance encounter where she got to comfort a young Belfast youth beaten and dumped in the River Foyle for challenging arbitrary violence and vicious homophobia who must now find a way to come out.
Liz Hanley draws you deep into her Sean-Nós inflected singing and fiddle playing with her mesmerizing renditions of “Dark Horse on the Wind” (by Liam Weldon), the trad “Jug of punch” and her own original “Wild Woman.”
Joseph Goodrich in his excerpt from his novel “In a Lonely Land” envelops you in the struggles of a young man in 1930s Nazi-flirting Hollywood, forced to conceal his gay self.
Honor Molloy takes you into her novel “Smarty Girl” and, through the eyes of an untrammeled child, you see the unquestioning acceptance of a lesbian couple forced to conceal their true selves from the theocratic Ireland in the 1960s.
To round out the evening Brooklyn Irish Dance Company led the assembled through their “Gayli.” You, of course, having been forced through years of weekly Irish dance lessons in a Christian Brothers School, took a PTSD abstention, but much enjoyment ensued.
You look back on what you have written and know you are not one for hyperbole and realize what a special confluence of talent and commitment you have been privileged to witness.
You just know that Brendan Costello and Malachy McCourt, stalwarts of IAW&A, recently lost to us, are looking down on this event and smiling to see the organization continue its mission of supporting inclusivity and human rights.
You understand that LGBTQIA+, whether stated or not in the acronym, is a community you, a straight white male, are proud to know and proud to stand beside in solidarity.
