Stonewall riot lit LGBT rights fuse: Fifty years of progress but more to do

For many decades, Irish families, especially the ambitious bourgeoisie kind, regarded it a badge of honour if a son or a daughter committed to a religious life. A son ordained a priest, a daughter consecrated a nun — invariably Catholic — conferred a status unimaginable today, now that embracing a religious vocation is almost an act of rebellion.

That pursuit of position occasionally superseded any longing to serve a high ideal, and goes some small way to explain the horrors of our past. The economic advantages of a vocation, even one loosely felt, were significant too. Parallel to that process there was a second, less popular but every bit as pressing life choice that was not celebrated but more often than not hidden away.