From the archive: Belfast journalist Lyra McKee’s account of being gay in a hostile environment was turned into a short film
, who run Stay Beautiful Films in their free time. The video cost less than £1,000 to make, which Mulholland and Heaney personally funded. Since it went up, the video has been attracting a whole new audience, something McKee did not expect.
Now 26, McKee has thought further on the challenges she and her peers faced growing up gay in Belfast; challenges still faced by a new generation of teenagers. “I don’t hate the pastor who made those comments, but there have been times when I was angry about them. I hope he read my blog. I want people like that to understand what it was like for people like me growing me. I thought at 14 you could not be out and proud; that it was a secret that had to be kept at all costs.
Growing up, McKee knew at 11 that she was gay. “There was a little gang us who used to run about together who were gay. The boys were as camp as Christmas. As a woman, you can be a little bit invisible, but it was known we were gay by association because we were with the boys. The abuse was mostly from my peers; being ostracised. People would shout stuff at us as we went by: ‘Hello, ladies,’ to the boys, for instance.
McKee came out to her own family shortly before her 21st birthday and they were wholly supportive. “I was one of the lucky ones. I was so lucky, but not all people who come out are so lucky. If a child in Northern Ireland is growing up in an evangelical household, they might not know where to go for support. There are sections of the evangelical community - and I know them - where, if a child was to come out to their family, they would be at risk of physical abuse from their family.
“The church needs to acknowledge the legacy they have created. When people see scripture as a licence to violate and punish people ... the bar is set much lower for the local thug who thinks he can kick my head in. The church needs to deal with that.”
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