Clive Davis: Gay life, The Other Place, South Main Street

Cork-Folklore-Project-LGBT-Collectionweb-768x797.jpg

Title

Clive Davis: Gay life, The Other Place, South Main Street

Subject

Stories and memories of LGBT life in Cork City and County.

Description

Clive talks about his experience coming out as a gay man. He comments about helping others with their difficulties or with coming out but regretting that once out he would never see them again.
He talks about the role and history of The Other Place, a café for the gay community. He explains how the idea of a resource centre has had to change as people use the internet instead.

Date

28 September 2014

Identifier

CFP_SR00532_davis_2014

Coverage

Cork, Laois, Ireland, 1960s-2010s

Source

Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive

Language

English

Type

Sound

Format

1 .wav File

Interviewee

Duration

54min 48sec

Location

Cork Folklore Project
Farranferris
Cork

Original Format

.wav

Bit Rate/Frequency

24bit / 48kHz

Transcription

SD So did you have a big coming out experience or was it just a general realisation.

CD No I think of a general realisation, I suppose because I am a very private kind of a person, I don’t think I am came dashing out through the snow, or like running out from the back of the bushes or anything like that, I just kept it to myself, and I you know, it wasn’t until later years that I was when I was with my current partner, I told my mum, and I told my family and you know, so I don’t think it was a big coming out event, it wasn’t that big of a deal, I told her, I expected she wasn’t going to be very happy about it but she actually, she was very happy about it, she didn’t mind, you know, I had the bags packed at the door, but you know. And I think it is good in my mind, it was kind of easier, because I was gay with somebody else, that you know because sometimes, I find that in that thing, I think I over thought it for so long, like I was twenty-six about the time I told my mother, it was kind of like all the time thinking, oh Jesus what is she, what will happen if this, if, if , if, if all the ifs and buts were going through my head, and finally I said, look I will do, but I think being with somebody else helped me, you know, and I know now that annoys people when I say that, that you have to be in a relationship to come out, I don’t think that at all, for me it was an easier path to take.

SD Okay.

DC And did your parents, did your mother have any suspicions, when you were a teenager?

CD She asked me before and I looked not at all, that is nonsense you know, but I think, I think that is because I didn’t realise myself, you know, I was kind of fighting with it myself, because in school, you know there was a few bullies and things and they used to call me gay, and I used always be trying to know I am not. I am not different at all I had girlfriends and blah blah blah, you know but I so, she did ask, and she kind of ‘oh well I always knew that’ and that kind of annoyed me even more, because you see, what was it about me that you thought like, how dare you, you know, and I am going through the series of having to be in front of the person when I came out so I have to sit in front of the person to see the reaction, and if their eyes were a bit skewed or if they looked down or looked up, then, oh that person, they are okay with it so I can’t be talking to them but my mother went on a spree of telling everyone, when I told her she just, I think she got up on top of the, the truck at the back of the house and just told everyone, so Clive is gay, Clive is gay, Clive is gay, Clive and I hated that because I wanted to see the reaction you know of people, but I think one of the sadder things about being gay, is that you have to, you are constantly telling people, it is not just when I was twenty one or eighteen or when you are meeting new people, [phone rings in the background] constantly your, your telling people, and you know that is very, you know it is hard, you know that you are always having to tell people about your, you know, about your sexuality.

Collection

Citation

Cork Folklore Project . , “Clive Davis: Gay life, The Other Place, South Main Street,” accessed March 28, 2024, https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/90.