British Broadcasting CorporationAmid the chaotic noise that dominated Northern Ireland’s soundscape in the 1970s, some could find peace at the end of a telephone line.
Cara-Friend is a friendship and support service founded by volunteers in 1974 to help LGBTQ people find connections during conflict.
A Belfast theater company is touring the UK and Ireland with a critically acclaimed play to mark the helpline’s 50th anniversary.
The Calling, written by Dominic Montague, is a drama set in Cara’s friend’s Belfast office at a time when Northern Ireland was the only country in the UK where “homosexuality between consenting adults” existed. area Still a criminal offense.
The show recreates a collection of real phone calls and letters filed in the 1970s and 1980s held by the Public Records Office (PRONI).
‘Gay people live in fear’
The series is set five years after the helpline was set up and on the eve of legalization of gay events in Northern Ireland.
In 1981, Jeffrey Dudgeon won a landmark legal action against the European Court of Justice, which ruled that The law violates the human right to private life.
Before that, the maximum penalty was 10 years in prison.
Adam Murray, from Friends of Cara, said: “Gay people in Northern Ireland live in great fear.
“What Carla Friends does is provide vital support to people who feel scared, lonely and isolated.”
“The first year we received 150 letters”
Doug Sobey, co-founder of Cara-Friend, told BBC NI News: “You can imagine the courage it takes for people to put their name on a letter saying they are gay and then send it to an unknown person. organize.
“We received 150 letters the first year and in 1976 we set up a telephone helpline.”
He added that during the first wave of calls, there were so many calls coming in that the phone lines couldn’t handle them.
He described it as “just the beginning of social life for gay people in Northern Ireland”.
The helpline still exists today.
“On demand service as always”
add to The background of “Trouble”The group said headlines and political campaigns had left gay people in Northern Ireland with no alternative to helplines.
Paula McFetridge, theater director at Carbosch Theater Company, told BBC News NI that while laws and attitudes around gender and sexuality have changed a lot, “services are as needed as ever” because “Unfortunately, there is still an incredible amount of homophobia in society.”
“This show is about highlighting how far we’ve come, but also how far we still have to go,” she added.
“Love and Relationships”
Ms McFetridge emphasized the importance of the political and cultural context of the time.
She said a political and religious movement called Save Ulster from Sodomy, led by Ian Paisley, had actually “lashed out at the gay community”.
“You would think that the people who set up help lines like this were activists, but at the time they were ordinary people.
“We need to be very careful to commemorate the moments when volunteers face terrible threats, but also celebrate the moments when people connect.
“At its core, the show talks about the drive and heart of love and relationships,” she added.
