A passion to bring Pride to a wider audience

Clive Davis, chair of Cork LGBT+ Pride Festival, looks forward to a day when everyone will feel pride in themselves and their community.

Clive Davis readily admits he’s an optimist. Having been chairperson of the Cork LGBT+ Pride Festival for over 12 years and led its strategic development from a small local march all the way to a national festival, he lists achieving charitable status for Cork Pride — the first and only Pride organisation to have accomplished this in Ireland — as one of his proudest moments. 

If passion is measured in voluntary dedication, his various positions including co-chair for the InterPride Governance Board; co-chair of the Ireland Pride Network, and treasurer of LGBT Ireland speak volumes for someone whose eye maintains a constant focus on the things that matter.

“I suppose it would be fair to describe me as being passionate about many of the things I’m involved in, particularly the LGBT community and social finance.” 

Having been part of Cork Pride back to its earliest days, he acknowledges its progress into an event as big as it is significant: “Achieving the charitable status two years ago was a major moment for all of us.” 

Entailing as it does a number of regulatory hurdles, the achievement elevated Cork Pride to a new level: “To be adhering to the governance code of the charity regulator and all the requirements that go with it, including audited accounts, showed how committed the group actually were. We are lucky in Cork in being the only part of Ireland that has two dedicated LGBT organisations — the Gay Project and LINC — both of which are unique in having community backing.” 

Clive is quick to point out that one of his main motivations is toward the people who are not in the Cork Pride parade: “These are the people who don’t have a rainbow on their face, the people who feel ashamed or embarrassed at not being part of a community. And that is the bit for me, the knowledge that there are still people out there in that situation and the thought that there will come a day when we don’t have to do it.” 

The continued prevalence of anti-LGBT+ sentiment both in Ireland and across the world underline the need for the waving of the rainbow banner as much as ever: “When you have situations happening like Oslo and the two men who died in Sligo resonate deeply with me, and the reasons why we need to highlight it.” 

While the last two years of Covid lockdown gave the entire population a sense of what social imprisonment looked like, Clive makes the analogy of how many gay lives endure similar circumstances as an ongoing reality.

“The limitations imposed on everyone by the pandemic demonstrated in one sense what it was like to be locked in a closet. Not being able to meet your friends openly, not being able to hug without fear, not being able to meet openly anywhere for a cup of coffee — that’s what being in the closet is like, a reality that LGBT people understand all too well.” 

The Work With Pride conference takes place on Thursday, July 28, and the Wellness conference on the Saturday — both of which deal with issues facing the community.

“Work With Pride is about supporting employees within organisations in the workforce, and Cork Pride has always supported the development of that community and the aspects still missing from it.” 

In an effort to reach fledgling gay communities and individuals outside of Cork City, last year saw Cork Pride Festival bringing its festive air to outlying towns around the county.

“It gave us an opportunity to develop the remit of our ‘Cork Pride by the Sea’ initiative established over earlier years in Kinsale, Youghal and Clonakilty. Bringing the festival to other less populated areas is an important opportunity for people in rural areas to learn more about Pride, what it stands for and to send an important message of inclusivity to them.” 

The 2022 festival will start with a similar traverse of outlying towns and villages, flying the rainbow flag and bringing an inclusive and festive air to new territories.

“Social isolation can be a huge problem for LGBT+ people living in rural areas that do not have the same kind of support structures that are in place in larger urban areas," said Clive. "The message that we want to send out to people is that there is a strong and vibrant LGBT+ support network in Cork and it is there for them.” 

Clive recalls leading the procession through one small town where there were no visible signs of LGBT activity — bar one significant symbol.

“There was one house in the middle of the town with a single, small rainbow flag on the gateway. Putting that into context – that person knew we were coming but could not come out because of whatever they were going through, but they wanted us to know there was somebody there like us. I grew up in a rural village myself in a time when being talked about at the back of the church was the norm. It was a very powerful moment to see that single small flag and what it represented in that place. It reminded us that what we were doing was the right thing to do.” 

While the Pride movement continues to evolve and grow, Clive cautions against any sense of ‘job done’ in a world where much anti-LGBT+ attitudes still fester.

“Certainly the Pride movement has come a long way, but there has been what I would describe as an insidious regression among certain sections of society — almost saying ‘you’ve got your equality and gay marriage and now we don't want to hear from you anymore.’ Cork Pride is about standing up for our rights and ensuring that bigotry, intolerance and inequality is consigned to the history books once and for all.”