But is our past really a foreign country? My experience of writing biography, literary history and historical fiction has brought me to the conclusion that the past may be a foreign country in terms of clothes, hairstyles, social structures and laws but that private lives were as various, contradictory and rewardingly complex as our own. Surely people are much the same now in this country as they were years ago, in that foreign country called the past. They lived, worked, loved and hated much as we do now, and private lives were made around a variety of acknowledged and unacknowledged relationships, creating as many kinds of families as we have today. But, in one crucial sense, the past — specifically our own Irish past — is indeed a foreign country.

LGBT rights in the Republic of Ireland



LGBT rights in the Republic of Ireland - Wikipedia
By Andrew Rettman. Watch our editor-in-chief Koert Debeuf explain the reasons in this second video. People in Slovakia recently voted in 14 MPs from an openly homophobic party. Panti Bliss noted that the Brexit vote had also emboldened far-right elements in British society.


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Given the sometimes old-fashioned reputation of the country, it is normal to wonder about the state of Gay Travel in Ireland. For anyone in the LGBT community, the classic picture of Ireland as a very religious and generally quite conservative country may not bode well for travel plans. But take heart - travel in Ireland is generally problem-free, whatever your sexual orientation or identification might be as long as you are as safety-conscious as you would be in any foreign city or country. Ireland has become a much more gay-friendly country with the referendum passing of the Thirty-fourth Amendment which amended the Constitution of Ireland to permit same-sex marriage in Though generally, it might make sense to adopt a low profile in the more rural areas.




Your contributions will help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you. Earlier this week, the government apologised to men who were convicted of engaging in consensual same-sex activity prior to the decriminalisation in While the decriminalisation came 25 years ago, the battle to end the inequality of LGBT people in Ireland dates back long before that.