Gay scene belfast
Gay Belfast, Ireland Tour Guide: What a beautiful city Belfast is! A metropolis that we establish very welcoming as gay travellers, it was reassuring to see many other LGBTQ+ couples exploring the city hand in hand.
Full of incredible restaurants, traditional pubs, bars, and thrilling history, we could easily contain spent longer exploring Northern Irelands capital city.
In terms of gay Belfast, it has a lot to offer including some of Irelands most popular same-sex attracted bars and clubs (read on to find out about all the top gay bars and clubs),
But in a whirlwind 48 hours with Tourism Ireland – here are a few of the exciting things we got up to and would highly recommend.
Is there a gay area in Belfast?
Yes! There is a homosexual area in Belfast. This is where you will discover the gay bars in Belfast as well as some gay clubs (and in general is the main Belfast gay scene).
You can find the lgbtq+ area in Belfast around Union Lane sandwiched between Small Donegall St and Donegall St. This is also sometimes known as the gay quarter of Belfast
When did homosexuality become legal in Northern Ireland?
We are happy to state that Northern Ireland has caught up with the relax of the UK in terms of L
LGBTQI+ Belfast
Belfast is place to the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual person and transgender festival in Ireland and the city has a thriving LGBTQI+ community and male lover scene.
Belfast Pride Festival
Belfast Pride 2024 will run from Friday 19 July to Saturday 27 July with Pride Afternoon on Saturday 27 July. 50,000 people attend Belfast Event Festival events, with plenty of events taking place in the run up to Pride Night, including music, exhibitions, talks, workshops, arts and family fun.
Find out more
Outburst Homosexual Arts Festival
The annual Outburst Queer Arts Festival is packed with theatre, movie, music, visual art and discussions which explore and commemorate lesbian, gay, double attraction and transgender stories and experiences. It aims to carry you the very best in lgbtq+ talent.
Find out more
Going Out
Belfast's best same-sex attracted bars and clubs are located in the city's Same-sex attracted Quarter area, north of the town centre on the edge of the Cathedral Quarter.
Kremlin
The city’s most eminent gay club is probably Kremlin on Donegall Street. A Soviet-style industrial opulence exudes throughout the venue’s extravagant decor, with the Tsar Cocktail Lounge, the Long
Mapping 100 Years Of Belfast Gay Life
According to Roger Casement’s diaries, from 1903 to 1911, the lgbtq+ cruising areas in Belfast were at the Albert Clock (probably also around the Customs House toilet), Botanic Gardens, Ormeau Park, and the Giants Sound. Cottaging went on in Victoria Square in an elegant wrought iron edifice (which was still operating in the 1960s and may be in the Ulster Folk Museum) and at the Gasworks.
From then until after the 2nd World War, the GNR station in Great Victoria Street and DuBarry’s lock at the docks were recognized haunts, the latter, as in other cities, being shared with prostitutes. The blackout from 1939, and the arrival from 1943-44 of 100,000 American troops in Northern Ireland had a huge impact and special place in gay memories.
The Royal Road (RA) Bar in Rosemary Street (the hotel’s widespread bar, opposite the Red Barn pub) as portrayed in Maurice Leitch’s satisfactory 1965 novel The Liberty Lad (probably the earliest description of a queer bar in Irish literature) was the first in the city. It operated from some time in the 1950s being common at times with deaf and dumb customers who often occupied the front of the bar. T
By Richard Ammon
July 2017
(photo right, Northern Ireland capital building in Belfast)
Our final stop on our round-the-country drive was Belfast, a huge working class urban area of half a million souls with about 70% Protestant and 30% Catholic. At one of the trendy city center restaurants, housed in the old Whig Newspaper Building, we chatted with David Speer, an out government social worker and his friends Steven and Darien and Ciara. Decorated with big communist statues from Poland, the warehouse-sized place buzzed with early evening weekend people out for food and drink.
Amidst the din of voices, Stephen made some salient points about today’s Belfast gay scene: (1) he reaffirmed that the ‘notorious’ Sinn Fein political arm of the IRA has the most progressive policies toward LGBT; they’re socialist minded and solid on human right-equality for everyone—Catholics and Protestants, men and women, gay and straight.
(2) the current sporadic violence is not religious or political but rather local paramilitary gangs shooting each other for turf and control of drug traffic. But still they do threaten to undo the peace accord because the British government demands they be disarmed.