Before I left the non-gay White House pub, the same pleasant straight woman told me my best bet was to call the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard.
Not surprisingly, the younger gen-x and gen-y guys and girls go for it, for the music, the beat and the comradeship. In a city of 52,000 there are surely some pink folks around, but how many are brave or willing to show up in public is another matter.
So there is some gay life in Limerick-of course. In addition to getting oriented, I was impressed by the casual and non-judgmental attitudes of these straight locals who appeared quite friendly and willing to help me out–a far cry from the stereotype myth of sexually uptight Ireland. The cheerful desk clerk also offered that another club occurs at a disco upstairs from the Savoy cinema every Sunday late night. Sure enough, at the Glentworth Hotel from 11:30 PM till about two in the morning every Friday night was lesbigay night. From the bar tender I heard that the Yum Yum was a Friday-only club at the hotel around the corner. “I think it used to be several years ago but not any more,” she offered with a pleasant smile. The White House ‘restaurant’ turned out to be a straight pub where I asked two women chatting up each other if they knew whether this pub was a mixed place. “Oh yes,” she said without delay, “there is gay club called Yum Yum just two blocks down this street and there’s a gay restaurant on the next turning right.” She was quite sure of herself so I followed her directions and found myself two blocks later with no visible pub and no discernible restaurant. Gay Ireland News & Reports 2000 to presentĪccording to the gay Ireland web site and the opinions of some people in Cork-including the two gay farmers we met-there is supposedly no gay life in Limerick.īut a couple of questions asked at an Internet café in Limerick were cheerfully responded to by a pretty short-haired blonde attendant.