'Growing Up Gay'

So,

The two part documentary series 'Growing Up Gay' concluded last Monday to a very receptive audience gay and straight alike.

The series, filmed over 18 months, followed gay young people in Ireland, the difficulties they face and how they confronted the coming out process.
Part 1 which aired on Monday the 19th of April on RTÉ2 followed Riyadh, Zoe, Patrick and Natasha as each dealt with their own individual turmoil along with their sexual awakening.
It was an excellent portrayal of the LGBT issues that gays in Ireland face even today, but never forgetting that these are only young teenagers barely of legal age. One by one we were introduced to each of them, each with their own problems, but none deterred from being a teenager that any parent would be proud to have.

However, the most interesting insight given by the program was that of the parents.
We saw the fear in Zoe's father when he found out that his daughter tried to hurt herself, but the love he had in his voice when he talked about his daughter.
We saw Patrick's father talk proudly about his son. "I'm proud of him" were the words he spoke defiantly and we the audience knew that he meant it with every fibre of his being.

One of the more heart-wrenching moments of the program was that of Sam, Riyadh's father. His overwhelming love for his son overcame his own misgivings and conservative Arab background. He says that at first he was angry “Why me? Why him? Why does it have to be that way?”, but that he trusts the gay community to stand by his son if he was ever to “be in trouble one day”.
This one scene was probably one of the more remarkable of the series as it gave any young gay person watching hope that no matter how conservative or disagreeing a parent is, it will turn out ok in the end.

One of the parts of the show that I felt was done very well was the showing of Zoe getting her hair cut “to look more gay” and Riyadh's date in Panti bar. These things were shown as not "gay" things to do, but typical teenager behaviour. Many teenagers go through a phase of 'odd' hairstyles and EVERY teenager goes through the stage of 'the first date'. The creators of the show therefore carried out the biggest feat of normalizing a person's sexuality, and as a result created a documentary that relates to everyone.

Part 2 of the documentary also showed the organisation of the 'Gay Prom' 2008! It gave us an insight of how the debs for young gay people in Ireland is often a horrible and lonely experience. 'Gay Prom' was a chance for those young people to have a second chance at their debs by being able to bring whomever they wanted. Hosted by Panti and Brendan Courtney, the event held at the Mansion House was a roaring success!
[Also, on another note, Gay Prom 2010 has been confirmed and will be held in around October time, but that's for another post.....YEY!!!]

The success of this documentary has been huge! I have already heard the words 'brilliant' and 'acclaimed' being thrown about several different circles. Growing up Gay not only provided us with an insight of how young people are dealing with their sexual awakening but also how Irish society has failed them. research commissioned by youth group BeLonGTo has discovered that the average age for young gay people to come out is nineteen, despite the average age of self-awareness being set at twelve. In the intervening years, a quarter of respondents had resorted to self-harm as a way of dealing with victimization and bullying, while a fifth had contemplated or attempted suicide.

For any LGBT person who has "come out", 'Growing up Gay' is almost painfully resonant. And hopefully will have opened many parent's eyes to the difficulties their gay children face in their lives. And hopefully they will give the empathy that their children need at this VITAL point in their lives.

Congratulations Kelleher and Rodgers and Across the Line productions on creating a beautiful documentary and giving the Irish public a glimpse of what actually lies behind the closet.

P.S. You can still watch 'Growing Up Gay' here Enjoy :D 

Love!x