LGBTQ+ History Month: ‘Founding Cara-Friend’ Exhibition
To celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month this February, we are proud to host an exhibition on the history of Cara-Friend, a charity dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ+ community in Northern Ireland.
Cara-Friend was founded in 1974 as a befriending and information telephone service for gay and lesbian people. From its earliest beginnings in Belfast, during the conflict known as The Troubles, Cara-Friend provided an invaluable point of contact for gay and lesbian people seeking community and support. Demand for the service quickly grew, with additional phone lines opened in Coleraine in 1977 and Derry in 1980.
‘Founding Cara-Friend’ features photographic portraits of Cara-Friend’s founding members, many of whom were students at Queen’s University Belfast, as well as historic posters created by members. The exhibition also includes first-contact letters sent by LGBTQ+ people who contacted the service seeking connection, friendship and support.
Annual Reports
Special Collections & Archives holds a collection of Cara-Friend Annual Reports dating from 1974 to 2005. These reports have been digitised and are available to view here.
These reports offer a unique insight into Cara-Friend’s development, and the challenges faced by its founders and volunteers. The reports tell the story of a marginalised minority building community against a backdrop of sectarian conflict and division. As the service expanded, Cara-Friend were able to offer a telephone “Transvestite – Transexual Service” for trans* callers in 1976 and a dedicated “LesbianLine” from 1980.
“There are an estimated 70,000 homosexual men and women in Northern Ireland. It is not surprising that the social pressures on them to conform have resulted in many suppressing their natural sexuality, by attempting to lead a heterosexual lifestyle – with in some instances disastrous consequences. Many have preferred to live in a state of social and sexual isolation rather than take the risk of being found out. A very small minority have ’come out’ and become involved in gay social life in the cities, and others work in gay liberation groups to enlighten society. However the vast majority of homosexuals in Northern Ireland are isolated, not knowing any other homosexuals or indeed anyone with whom they can talk about their emotional and other needs.“
Cara-Friend First Annual Report, 1974-1975
As homosexuality was not decriminalised in Northern Ireland until 1982 – following a legal challenge by Jeffrey Dudgeon, who was also instrumental in the foundation of Cara-Friend – the organisation was subject to intimidation by police in their earliest years. In resistance to legal and cultural alienation, Cara-Friend advocated for LGBTQ+ acceptance and provided hope to isolated people.
LGBTQ+ Literature Spotlight
To accompany Cara-Friend’s exhibition, Special Collections & Archives has curated a display of the Library’s LGBTQ+ holdings.
With a focus on Irish and Northern Irish contexts, the titles chosen for this display uncover the histories and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people. A breadth of books are included, sharing personal stories, poetry, local history and critical analysis.
Orlando is both a love letter to Vita Sackville-West, and a transgender, transhistorical fantasy. Orlando lives for centuries and transforms genders, beginning his life as a young English nobleman in the Elizabethan era and eventually navigating life as a modern woman while the world changes around her. Woolf’s satirical biography offers a feminist argument against the gendered limitations placed upon women writers, and continues to resonate with LGBTQ+ experiences.
“Orlando had become a woman — there is no denying it. But in every other respect, Orlando remained precisely as he had been. The change of sex, though it altered their future, did nothing whatever to alter their identity.”
Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography
This first edition, published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s Hogarth Press in 1928, is available upon request for consultation in the Special Collections & Archives reading room.
‘Founding Cara-Friend’ is located on the ground floor of the McClay Library and runs until March 2026.
Bibliography
Cara-Friend, “Cara-Friend Annual Reports”, Cara-Friend; Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast (1974-2005). Available online.
Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography, (London: Hogarth Press, 1928). Available for consultation.