Clodagh Finn: Bridget Coll — nun, lesbian, law-changer, and militant
Her story reads like fiction — a thriller even — just as the many words used to describe her don’t seem to fit together: nun, lesbian, teacher, militant, law-changer, even 'home-wrecker'
Bridget Coll, above, and her partner, Chris Morrissey, were grand marshals of the Vancouver Pride parade in 1999. Picture: QMUNITY/Simon Fraser University
Clodagh Finn is a journalist, writer and collector of stories. Her recent book, The Irish in the Resistance, co-authored with John Morgan, shines a light on the forgotten contributions of the Irish who resisted Hitler during WW2.
On this last Saturday of Pride Month, let us remember Bridget Coll, the “tiny woman with a fierce heart” born near Fanad lighthouse in Co Donegal. She made legal history for same-sex couples in Canada, opposed Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile, and fought for social justice all of her life.
Her story reads like fiction — a thriller even — just as the many words used to describe her don’t seem to fit together: nun, lesbian, teacher, militant, law-changer, even “home-wrecker”.
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