Ex-president Mary McAleese has discussed her openly gay son Justin’s experiences of fear during his time at Catholic schools. Mary McAleese highlighted her pride in the lead role taken by Jarlath Burns, the new president of GAA and principal of St Paul’s Catholic secondary school near Newry, in Newry’s first pride parade in 2012. As Mr Burns currently takes a three-year break to serve as president of GAA, Ms McAleese praised his bravery for his actions as a principal under an archbishop.
She expressed how Burn’s courage had positively affected many lives on that day, hers included, as she is the mother of a gay son who went through his own harrowing journey in Catholic schools. At Easter of 1999, she removed her son Justin, then 14, from the Jesuit-operated Belvedere College in Dublin due to issues surrounding bullying and enrolled him into King’s Hospital, a Church of Ireland coeducational school in Palmerstown, west Dublin.
During the interview, Mr Burns shared a worrying incident of a student at St Paul’s showing him face marks and despairingly questioning if any help was available for him. According to him, this lead to other students stepping forward and eventually to the Pride parade in Newry, where he led the students, proud in their uniforms. His message was clear – no matter who you are or your orientation, you are welcome in our school.
Mr Burns, on St Paul’s transgender students, noted that these children yearned simply for a peaceful existence where they could embrace their identities comfortably. This safe environment, he added, is what they endeavour to offer at the school. In a recent podcast episode titled ‘Changing Times – The Allenwood Conversations’, presented by Ms McAleese and ex-RTÉ host, Mary Kennedy, Burns also shared about his association with the GAA in Northern Ireland.
For him, this membership was their mode of expressing their Irish pride and identity by taking part in their sports. Although Irish, it served as a gentle, non-aggressive assertion of their identity which helped many including himself from joining IRA. The GAA always chose not to acknowledge the Ireland partition, focusing more on keeping activities on the field, he added.
Mr Burns also expressed his aspiration for a unified Ireland without any forceful attempts. Moreover, he also shared his fascination with the Orange Order, a community-centric entity much like the GAA. Internally, within the GAA, he emphasized preserving amateur status at its core with all other elements becoming professional except the players.
Despite increased investments, Mr Burns stated that Gaelic football had not grown more visually appealing, which he perceives as an ideal proposition to kick-start necessary changes. He also urged for a shift in the “football mentality towards hurling”, expressing his concerns about clubs who fear the influence of hurling on their competitiveness. The youth enjoy playing hurling, he said, even to the point of losing interest in Gaelic football, embracing the native game of hitting a sliotar with a stick.