Derrick Gerety he/him
Derrick Gerety is a gay activist who opened Loafers Bar in Cork in 1983.
Derrick Gerety was born in Clontarf in Dublin in 1950 and came to Cork in 1965 as a marine engineer cadet with Irish Shipping Ltd. He remained with the company for most of his young adult life, living on ships and spending most of his leave in Cork city.
He was part of Cork IGRM in the mid 1970s and was involved with opening a gay dance venue in the Cork Gay Centre on McCurtain St. called 'Number 4.'
In 1983 Derrick, now a chief engineer, left Irish Shipping, bought The Shamrock Bar on Douglas Street in Cork, changed the name to Loafers and ran it for 16 years. During that time Derrick also volunteered on the gay helpline which gave him some insight into how difficult life was for gay people, particularly in rural Cork.
Derrick sold Loafers in 1999 and was quite moved by stories people told him about their first visit to the bar and how a safe space had been created for gay people to meet.
After Loafers Derrick went on to do an MA in Core Process Psychotherapy with the Karuna Institute in Devon, trained with Bob and Rita Resnick of GATLA as a couples therapist and enjoyed seeing clients for 12 years.
During his time in Loafers, Derrick became a student of Tibetan Buddhism and has remained a student ever since. At the moment he is taking things easy and is really enjoying teaching a meditation course for the Gay Project on Zoom.