According to an extract from David Norris’ autobiography ‘A Kick Against the Pricks’ the Irish leader Michael Collins may have been gay… Really?
So what is Norris saying about ‘The Big Fellow’?
Well, in his newly published autobiography ‘A Kick Against the Pricks’, Norris claims he once spoke to an elderly man who claimed to have been “one of Mr Collins’ principal boyfriends”. Now obviously there’s no way of actually checking the claim as any alleged boyfriends have probably passed away at this stage – not to mention Collins himself.
But is there any historical evidence to say that he was gay?
No, there’s not. At the moment there’s no physical evidence (that we’re aware of) which states Collins was gay, or even bisexual for that matter. However, we do know that he was engaged to Kitty Kiernan and their wedding was scheduled for November 1922 – four months after his death. So if Collins was gay he was certainly keeping it in the closet.
Oh right. So why is Norris saying he was?
Well, whether or not Norris actually talked to one of Collins’ alleged ‘boyfriends’ we just don’t know. However what we do know is that Norris isn’t afraid to say what he thinks and with his autobiography recently being released he’s sure to get his fair share of time to talk about the claims in the book. Basically, it smells like there’s some PR work going on here. In fairness, Norris isn’t trying to change the face of Irish history, he’s just saying… that’s all: “If Michael Collins was gay or bisexual – so what? Who cares? It shouldn’t matter as it is just a neutral fact,” Norris writes.
“It certainly isn’t a slur, and the vast majority of the Irish people no longer regard it as such.”
Oh, so are there any other claims made in the book?
Norris does say that, “Other heroes of Irish nationalism were also less than 100 per cent heterosexual” and it’s believed that Patrick Pearse and Roger Casement were both homosexual. However, like we said above, there’s no way of knowing seeing as they’re all dead.
I’d say there’s uproar over the allegations, especially with the die-hards?
Well, no, there’s not. People on the likes of politics.ie are more so p*ssed off at the fact Norris is making the allegations about the dead without any hard evidence. No one could care less if he actually was gay and right too. In fairness, regardless of which team he was playing for, Collins is still one of (if not the) most iconic Irishmen that ever lived. Also, a Sinn Fein spokesperson dismissed the claim that republicans would be uncomfortable with any key figures being gay.
“Speculating on what was some historical person’s sexuality is the stuff of the tabloid media,” said the spokesperson.
