After Iris Robinson’s controversial comments about homosexuality, what is it really like being gay in Northern Ireland? 

Ahead of Gay Pride week, which starts tomorrow, Jane Hardy and Kerry McKittrick talk to some of the people who are out and about

‘That poor lady, Iris Robinson,

has a view. We have our lives’

Robert McCready (36) is better known in Belfast as the notorious drag queen Titti Von Tramp, hostess of various gay club nights throughout the city. He says:

Pride is a celebration for me. It’s a time for the gay community to unite and celebrate their sexuality in such a way that they don’t have to be afraid. 

I’m really looking forward to the Pride march. It’s such a carnival atmosphere, the biggest parade in Northern Ireland outside of the Twelfth of July marches, and we get support from so many people.

You can definitely see how times have changed and how tolerance has increased. I went to my first Pride when I was 17, 

it was on an open-topped double decker bus as we were too scared to actually march. Nowadays literally thousands show up.

What I hope is that this year’s march doesn’t get too politicised. That poor lady (Iris Robinson) has her views and we have our lives. Pride is about us, it shouldn’t be about her.

The scene in Belfast has got so much better over the years. There are more pubs and clubs, more sexual health organisations. 

There’s help for young people in the country who don’t live in Belfast and don’t get to be with lots of like-minded people. The real issues now are human rights issues. 

As the world gets smaller, we can see the struggles that gay people in other countries have, and we should be focusing on those, not battling with people like Iris Robinson over here.

I spent seven years in England and moved back here eight years ago. Back then, the differences in the two places were huge, but now Northern Ireland has caught up with England. 

The scene over here hasn’t become overly commercial yet — big companies aren’t chasing the pink pound. 

There’s a real sense of community and organisations really work with each other.

Over the next week my life is just going to be an explosion of gayness. 

One of the things I’m looking forward to is a documentary that’s being shown in the Black Box on the night of the launch.

It goes behind the scenes of Belfast Pride, and I’m really looking forward to the unsung heroes getting a bit of acknowledgement. 

Everyone knows about me and the other drag queens, but for the volunteers and organisers, it’s good to put faces to names.”

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