Closures of Cuckoo and Libertine are Brutal Barriers for Belfast’s LGBTQ+ Community to Overcome

By Rory Morrow

NOTE BEFORE READING:  If you are at all misogynistic, this article isn’t for you.  If you fear tournaments such as the Women’s World Cup or Gay Rights being, “thrust down your throat”, this article also isn’t for you. 

I only went to Libertine three times last year.  They were, however, three of the friendliest, fun nights out I have experienced in Belfast.  Whilst Tomb Street is quite the trek, even by Taxi, Libertine’s LGBTQ+ atmosphere was amazing and well worth a cabby’s fee. 

Amongst their popular weekly events were the performances by Drag Queens, breathtaking in their fearlessness, delightfully devilish with their laughter-inducing quips, some more sordid than others, and an all-round, joy-ish feature of the Saturday night show Libertine put on for six years. 

Cuckoo, despite it incidentally being far more conveniently located, I have less personal experience of.  Except for a few nights with course friends, which, sadly, never quite descended into what would have been some truly atrocious karaoke.  

Both Cuckoo and Libertine were co-owned by Jim Crawford-Smyth and Kristian Nairn. They stayed open for six years and two years respectively, from 2017 until August of this year and from 2021 until this October.  Unsustainable rent and spiraling costs were cited as the main reasons for their resignation as tenants.  

Understandable enough. As a young person, I am all too familiar with the current woes presented by our, increasingly permanent, cost of living crisis. Despite its inevitability in the current climate, Libertine’s closure is undeniably a loss for the LGBTQ+ community in Belfast.

The current state of politics in Northern Ireland and the UK more broadly indicates a larger attack on the LGBTQ+ community. With Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak stating earlier this month that ‘a man is a man, and a woman is a woman.  That’s just common sense.’ Stating in no uncertain terms his disregard of the trans community.

Authority figures in football are also to blame, Jordan Henderson’s switch to Saudi Arabia is a bitter betrayal by a player, who in taking an unprompted stance of public support during his years as Liverpool captain became an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, we thought we could trust. 

Worse was England manager, Gareth Southgate, claiming it ‘defied logic’ for Henderson to be booed off by some fans in the friendly win over Australia at Wembley. 

Firstly, booing, whilst unlikely to solve anything, isn’t the issue here. Fans are not devastatingly upset at Henderson’s substitution, (just how on earth will Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice cope in midfield?).  

What angers supporters across the world, will be the pretence of Henderson, a man who spoke well on sensitive matters, became admired, and then gave up on what he claimed to protect.

It is insulting of him to claim that he ‘understands’ the dislike over his summer switch to Saudi Arabia. Do you, Jordan?  Do you, like Gianni Infantino, also ‘feel’ gay today? 

LGBTQ+ supporters were made to feel included, crucially understood by Henderson, who at the time, was seen as commendable putting himself out there, an ally by choice and motivation to stand in solidarity with those in isolated identities.  Or whom, indeed, especially among young student age, may still be figuring it out, trying to find an identity that fits them, which they won’t get assaulted over, physically, verbally, or mentally.  Or, just as demeaning, undermined – no matter how unwittingly or unintentionally, by snide, offhand, impersonally dispensed, pub jokes.  

Loyalty is a fine, sadly fading, commodity today. But Southgate’s unruffled faithfulness in Henderson beggars belief, on and off the pitch. Saddening and quietly shocking it is to see Southgate stay, safe and snug, in his shell. Like a man stubbornly insisting on an eternal summer, Southgate is wearing the equivalent of t-shirt and shorts amidst a thunderstorm.

Effectively, he has, in a more mature, yet snidely, manner, stuck his fingers in his ears and waved his tongue at the LGBTQ+ community, particularly those who have supported him and his evolving England side, in recent years. 

What really rankles is that once in his reign, perhaps amidst the carry-on of Boris, we thought Southgate was the person to lead the entire UK, to everything, everywhere.  Sincerely taking the knee, honourably condemning the horrific racist abuse suffered by Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho after the Euro 2021 final defeat.  Southgate, it seemed, was the only moral compass, necessary.  Forget football!  Fancy Number Ten, Gareth?  

The miserable truth is that he’d be better than Sunak’s Tories and co, just by staying silent on the prickly topics. Is this it for inclusivity, in 2023?

Tempting as headlining Henderson was, he has also become a convenient smokescreen for Saudi’s regime.  His support of a Saudi World Cup drew only disappointment, not unsurprise.  

The ungracefulness of his departure, the petulant sulkiness upon seeing Jurgen Klopp recruit some dynamically youthful midfielders. Transferring with the stealth of a shapeshifting, shadowy Mad Eye Moody impersonator, Henderson left with all the classiness of a drunkard trying to kiss their ex at a wedding. Back in Belfast, where there is a high, vocally passionate, percentage of Liverpool supporters, how much Henderson’s move wounded wellbeing will vary, individually.

For the LGBTQ+ crew amongst them, it represents yet another gut-punch. Locally, losing Cuckoo and Libertine, only add to the practical problems confronting people seeking safe spaces to be themselves, but being neglected by an uncaring world.

Whilst the night club venues couldn’t function financially, how our LGBTQ+ resilience responds will most accurately reflect just how far Northern Ireland has actually grown. 

Twenty-five years on from the Good Friday agreement, another conflict stews.  Only this one is like the in-laws, extremely unhelpful, an overseas influence to contend with. 

To the local LGBTQ+ people: remember the good times. The enjoyed experiences at Cuckoo and Libertine over the years.  The freedom, liberty of honest, heartfelt expressions of themselves.  The fun, thrill of, the accompanying adrenaline. The acceptance there.  

If the parable of Henderson teaches us anything, it is the frailty of these environments, of LGBTQ+’s perceived importance, or lack of, by those in charge and society. That ministers and YouTubers alike won’t hesitate to discard LGBTQ+ for a majority elsewhere.  A practice also mired in misogyny, politics. 

Like with war’s elusive search for peace, acceptance is the future to which Cuckoo and Libertine can take their place as founders of a more inclusive, diverse cityscape.  A better Belfast, benefiting us all. A Better Belfast can’t arrive soon enough. 

Edited by Lucy McKinney