'I love spending time in Cork city because the people are lovely,' says drag queen

Paul Ryder, drag queen and showbiz reporter on Ireland AM, with his partner Eddie McCann.

Drag queen and showbiz reporter on Ireland AM, Paul Ryder, says his second home is Cork.

He is delighted then to be acting as MC for the Diversity and Inclusion conference as part of Cork Pride week and on a lighter note, he will be the MC for the massive after party in the Port of Cork on July 31st.

It promises to be a fun event and will feature this year's Irish Eurovision singer, Brooke Scullion as well as Nadine Coyle of Girls Aloud fame.

"The great thing about Pride this year is that it's all in-person whereas over the last two years, everything was online," says Ryder. "It will be good to mingle with people in different industries to talk about diversity and inclusion in the workplace." And "the two Derry girls" headlining at the after party will be quite a draw.

"I'll be in full regalia giving it absolute socks. As a Dublin person, Cork has been my second home for a while for both professional and personal reasons. To be able to descend on the city for a week and to be able to enjoy Cork for what it is, will be really good. I will be showing my brand new look, making sure I'm standing tall with all the other fantastic performers."

 Such is Ryder's love of Cork that he got engaged to his partner, Eddie McCann, in the River Lee Hotel.

"I fell in love with Cork city five or six years ago. I had been back and forth doing gigs over the years. I spent a lot of time in the city dong a work project and I don't know what it is, it just felt like home. Pre-pandemic, myself and my partner were looking to move and we nearly moved to Cork but decided against it. But I'd love to spend a good chunk of time in Cork city because the people are lovely. If an opportunity appeared in Cork, absolutely I'd move."

However, Ryder is tired of travelling.  He and McCann lived in Newry during the pandemic.

"I wasn't working. Eddie was working as a nurse but a lot of his shifts in Dublin were moving to the north. He was doing a lot of work in Belfast. Obviously, I wanted to stay close to home. So we found a gorgeous two-bed cottage up the mountains in Newry with our two beautiful dogs.

“I would stay there only for the fact that my schedule is so busy right now. The travelling is killing me. We need to be in the thick of things, taking opportunities. That's why we're heading back to Dublin. But Newry has really served us well.  We got to do a lot of walking and hiking."

Ryder and McCann plan to marry in the River Lee Hotel in June 2024; "It will be a small affair. I'm not into the big hullabaloo. It will be a dinner with fifty to eighty guests."

Paul Ryder: Pride is not just a party — it has always been at the heart of protest

Is Cork the gay-friendly city that it used to be in the 1980s when gay bar, Loafers opened on Douglas Street and the Quay Co-op became a welcoming place for the LBGT+ community?

"Cork is very much the same as Dublin. What is weird when it comes to feeling safe in our cities is that since the pandemic, every city has taken a step back. Whether it's pandemic anger or hidden homophobia, I don't know."

While the country "took massive steps with the gay marriage referendum being passed in 2015, I think the pandemic has set some people back. That is why Pride is so important. It's not just a party for gay people to enjoy. It has always been at the heart of protest. And it's staying that way.

“This year, with the homophobic attacks that happened in Dublin and Sligo, protest is even more important than ever to make sure our voices are heard. We're standing tall for every part of the LGBT+ community and our allies. There's an amazing amount of ally-ships out there from our straight friends who are there to support us. We need to take a step forward having taken a step back."

Ryder says that we all changed the way we felt coming out of the pandemic compared to how we felt going into it.

"Whether it's good, bad or indifferent, we all built up some level of frustration as a result of being locked in our houses, not being able to see our families and watching our loved ones die. That frustration maybe brings a level of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) that can make anger come into you. We've seen it with the anti-vaxxers and the people who were anti-masks. Homophobia is just another level of that."

While Ryder describes himself as "a very proud gay man," he's not so sure he'd feel comfortable holding his partner's hand in public in the current climate.

"You still have to think about what's around the corner. We're in a different society at the moment. But looking forward, I hope everything will keep progressing the way it has (since marriage equality)."