On December 13, 2015, Edmund Lynch interviewed Gay Byrne as part of the LGBT History Project. During their conversation, they spoke of the now legendary Late Late Show and how the nation’s biggest television programme helped to change the attitudes of an Irish viewership unused to LGBT+ representation. In memory of Gay, we publish excerpts of their conversation.
“I do remember too that on the radio programme as on the Late Late Show, talking for the very first time to parents [of LGBT+ people] who were prepared to come on and, this was a big jump for them, this was a big, big leap for them, because it was not a thing that people spoke about readily, but the parents... spoke about their children being gay and the acceptance of that and the fact that there was love there anyway and it didn’t matter...and they came to understand and accept and all of those things. And those were mighty leaps...