My research examines how colonial, nationalist, and Catholic legacies continue to shape the lives of young Queer Catholic men in post-conflict Ireland. While Ireland has recently been celebrated for progressive social reforms, such as marriage equality (2015) and abortion rights (2018), focusing solely on these milestones can obscure the enduring cultural and structural forces that continue to marginalise minority identities. This fixation on national achievements often evades critical discussion of how recent Irish history has affected marginalised communities, from the systemic abuses of the Magdalene Laundries to the violence and social legacies of the Troubles, and the criminalisation and marginalisation of Queer people.

These legacies must not be read merely as discrete forms of oppression for the Other. Rather, they operate as a reinterpretation of Irish nationhood and sexuality, co-constructed and haunted by the long temporalities of conflict and colonialism. By interrogating the impact of Church and State on queer individuals from a post-conflict and postcolonial perspective, this research seeks to reframe Western-centric Queer theory from within a Western context, centring lived experience in the Irish setting to reveal how historical, cultural, and political forces continue to shape identity, belonging, and social hierarchies today.

Using qualitative methods—including semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and autoethnographic input—this study explores how young Queer Catholic men navigate the tensions between religious upbringing and sexual identity. By foregrounding their lived experiences, it challenges a bifurcated narrative of a wholly progressive Ireland and a pathologised Queer, inquiring into how colonial and religious ideologies continue to influence national identity and personal belonging.

When treaties, peace accords, or even the decriminalisation of homosexuality are treated as discrete events—achievements to be marked, moments to pass—we overlook how these shifts endure. Irish anti-colonial nationalisms remain heteronormative and thus marginalise Queer struggle and liberation, stifling the imagination of a more egalitarian post-colonial Ireland. When non-normative political subjectivities are placed at the centre of analyses of post-independence Ireland, it raises questions about how the goals—and endpoints—of Irish nationalism hold up.