To a large degree, it has to be acknowledged they are rarely effective, in the strict political sense of forcing immediate change to the offending law or action or policy. They mostly serve to make the participants feel good about themselves, less impotent, and to feel less isolated in their opposition to the establishment. Which are not bad things in themselves, of course. If a government measure or policy meets with no sign of protest on the streets, that silence speaks to a general compliance and apathy about the issue, and the government knows that it is probably going to get away with it.
However, protests have to be seen as part of a longer-term cycle of political change. The current government is not going to lift the ban on gay civil marriage, no matter how many marches there are. Fianna Fáil TDs are too conservative. However, the next Fine Gael-led government may not be much different. Equality will come in time, of course, perhaps by referendum, if the Supreme Court deems it necessary. As fanciful as it may seem, that there might be a referendum on gay civil marriage in Ireland in the next few years, polls consistently indicate that it would be passed, because the Irish people are more progressive than their politicians. The Catholic Family Values brigade has mercifully lost its purchase on the Irish psyche. The bigger the demonstrations in favour of equality for LGBT people, the more fully the Irish electorate will realise that it matters to us.
The discussions after a demo or march tend to be the most important part of it. They are how a political movement coalesces, focuses and energises itself, and figures out which speaker is the most inspiring, who shows the most leadership potential. In many cases, protest marches on a single issue mark the genesis of a new network of people who share similar values, and who are committed enough to put energy into agitating for them.
At the beginning of any movement for change, there is usually a seminal protest that sparks it off. The March for Marriage can trace its ideological roots back to the Stonewall riots 40 years ago in New York. But in Ireland, the first gay-related march was in March 1983, in which I took part. It was an angry response to the judgement in the Flynn case, in which the murderers of a gay man in Fairview Park were given suspended sentences. The first gay pride march in Ireland happened later that year.
In cyclical terms, the current wave of activism in Ireland for gay rights could be said to be on its last lap, with full equality before the law seen as its final crowning achievement, having seen off criminalization and employment discrimination. Of course there are facets of Irish life that are still hostile to gay people, and indeed Irish transgendered people have far less protection than in other Western democracies. But marriage is the issue that has galvanized the latest generation of Irish gays, even if, ironically, it’s not that long ago since divorce was introduced. I support it, because I think the remaining social changes that are necessary will become much easier to attain after the principle of equality has been fully accepted. And, all things considered, we are relatively lucky in Ireland. It is only this year that Havana and Shanghai saw their first ever LGBT Pride events, and in many parts of the world, gay people are harassed and murdered, especially if they engage in any sort of activism. But, change will come, eventually.
Here’s a lovely example of a parallel cycle of protest coming to fruition in Ireland, in the field of environmental activism. In 1970, a crowd of demolition men broke into four Georgian houses in Hume Street, Dublin, attacked the people they found inside, students who had been occupying them for six months, demolished the roofs and wrecked the interiors, in preparation for yet another scheme to “modernize” the city with the monolithic modernist architecture by the likes of Sam Stephenson. Within hours, a thousand people gathered to protest, and were addressed and inspired by impassioned speakers, including a young and inspirational Mary Bourke.
Although “unsuccessful”, in that the damage had already been done to the buildings, the episode marked the beginning of a new Irish movement of environmental awareness, and the emergence of a new generation of thinkers and leaders. Later in the seventies, the anti-nuclear marches and the Wood Quay protests followed, which brought people out on the streets in their tens of thousands. In time, the Green Party emerged. Now, 40 years later, there is a Green Minister in charge of planning and environmental protection, actively legislating to ensure that something like Hume Street can never happen again. And, this week, Mary Robinson, née Bourke, received the highest US Honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.