My name is Podrigotumma and the first time I went to a gay bar was the time I

almost went to a gay bar. I went to the door and knocked and somebody opened it

and said hello. This was in the mid-90s things were pretty secretive for the

LGBT community in Dublin and I said hi the guy said you know this is a gay bar

right and I breathlessly said yes and he closed the door in order to take off

the chain and I fled. I couldn't bear the idea of going in and being faced with

the possibility of all the freedom that lay inside it was much easier to go back

to the constraint and the fear that I had.

Pink Club by Romeo Oryogan. In the club at Garkey we dance in silence because

we are illegal because the man who tastes of gin also tastes of fear because

the club is hidden in the eye of the night in a place where man dancing into

another man is a beautiful song humming deep within my veins. I want to know

heaven in the mouth of a boy and we are crying because we are free because

there's no scene inside dance because your father's voice is a far

country where sadness resides. Call it home. Call it a place where boys who

taste of flowers are stolen at night. You know sanctuary is where you run into

anyone that calls you home. The drag queen dancing close to you tastes of whiskey

you want to lie inside her close your eyes and walk away into her voice. You

want to fill your bones with wine till a boy swims into your hands. The bar

sings a freedom we keep wrecking it because for once you are a butterfly

fluttering on the tongue of a boy who called you beautiful. I'm lying on a sofa

because I'm dreaming of cities filled with freedom because I'm free to drink

...