Cathal Kerrigan

b. 1955

he/him

Cork Gay Activist

Cathal Kerrigan is a Cork gay activist.

Cathal was born in Cork City in 1955.

Cathal's father Patrick was Lord Mayor of Cork 1973-4 and a Labour Party Senator (1973-7) and TD (1977-9).

Cathal came out in 1974 and was involved in founding the Cork Branch of the IGRM (Irish Gay Rights Movement) in 1975. He was also a founding member of the Cork Gay Collective in 1980 and was involved in organising the influential National Gay Conference in Cork in 1981. Cathal was President of the UCC Students' Union 1980/81 and helped set up the UCC student Gay Soc in 1980. As UCC Student Union President, Cathal caused a stir in by taking his then partner Mairtín to the Grad Ball.

In autumn 1980 Cathal and Mairtín set up Lesbians & Gays Against H-Block / Armagh and participated nationally in the campaign to support the hunger strikers in the H-Block prison.

Cathal and Mairtín moved to Dublin in July 1981 where they launched Lesbians & Gays Against Imperialismin April 1982. Cathal and Mairtín were also involved in establishing the Dublin Lesbian & Gay Collective. In January 1985 Cathal helped set up Gay Health Action and in 1988 GLEN [Gay & Lesbian Equality Network].

Cathal lived in Amsterdam during the 1990s. In 2003 he returned to Cork to work as a librarian in UCC Library. He was involved in setting up the UCC LGBT+ Staff Network in 2008 and was, with Joan McCarthy, one of its first Co-Chairs. Cathal retired from UCC in April 2020.

Cathal worked with artist Padraig Robinson on the book Gaze Against Imperialism which was published in 2019.