BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • Trending

#BBCtrending: Panti Bliss homophobia speech goes viral

  • Published
    6 February 2014
Share page
About sharing
Media caption,

An extract of the speech by Panti Bliss

ByBBC Trending
What's popular and why

An impassioned speech by an Irish drag queen about what constitutes homophobia has been viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube, promoting thousands of comments - it's even been discussed in Ireland's houses of parliament.

Panti Bliss was already an icon of Ireland's gay scene, but her profile has just rocketed. In a speech, external at the weekend, Panti spoke of the "oppression" she feels as a gay person living in Ireland - including her own sense of internalised oppression. "I knew we were witnessing something great - you could feel it in the room," says Conor Horgan who filmed her speech at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and is making a documentary about Panti. "It was very, very powerful," he says. "This is a big moment for Ireland."

There have been thousands of tweets on the hashtags #TeamPanti, external and #Pantigate, external - most of them supportive, and the video has been translated into French and Russian. Stephen Fry, Lily Savage, and Graham Norton are among the high profile figures to endorse the speech. Madonna even reportedly sent a message. In a tweet, external, Fintan O'Toole, a journalist with the Irish Times called it, "the most eloquent Irish speech since Daniel O'Connell [renowned 18th-19th Century political activist] was in his prime". Lise Hand, a journalist with the Irish Independent, predicted the speech will be debated in schools in years to come. "It was a speech about shame. And God knows that's something of a speciality among the Irish," she wrote, external.

The response has not been positive across the board. One YouTube comment said: "Men have no business dressing up as women, they need to be men!" And a Fianna Fail senator, Jim Walsh - who has referred to homosexuals as "fairies, external" in the past - on Wednesday criticised what he called "dangerous, vicious elements within the gay ideological movement".

Rory O'Neill - as Panti is known when not in drag - sparked controversy three weeks ago when he gave a TV interview to RTE, Ireland's national broadcaster. He accused two journalists and a Catholic lobby group of homophobia. They complained and RTE settled the case, paying 85,000 euros (£70,000) in compensation for defamation. The pay-out was the subject of discussion in Ireland's parliament, the Dail on Thursday. Ireland is due to hold a referendum on gay marriage next year.

Reporting by Cordelia Hebblethwaite, external

All our stories are at BBC.com/trending

Follow @BBCtrending, external on Twitter and tweet using #BBCtrending, external

Top stories

  • Live. 

    Israeli ministers discussing Gaza plan for ceasefire and hostage release

    • 5172 viewing5.2k viewing
  • Jeremy Bowen: There's now a realistic chance of ending the war - but it's not over yet

    • Published
      7 hours ago
  • How Trump secured a Gaza breakthrough which eluded Biden

    • Published
      1 hour ago

More to explore

  • Stars, secrets and slip-ups: Celebrity Traitors is off to a cracking start

    Alan Carr on the Celebrity Traitors, sitting in an armchair and smiling
  • Young children taking knives to school, BBC finds

    Graphic: Knives in foreground, in background children sitting at school desks.
  • 'It was like a movie' - How immigration raid on Chicago apartments unfolded

    Image of law enforcement officer pointing a gun, with sparks in the background
  • Inside the room where Nobel Peace Prize is decided – but will Trump get his wish?

    Members of the Nobel Peace Prize committee and secretary sit around a table in the room where they make their decision
  • 'I missed a £100 council tax bill while in hospital – the debt ballooned to £6k'

    A young man, with long dark brown hair and a brown beard and moustache , sits next to a hospital bed. He has a bandage on his neck.
  • My eating disorder made me good at lying, says Victoria Beckham

    Victoria Beckham waves while wearing a white suit with other people in the background as she attends the Victoria Beckham premiere in London on Wednesday.
  • The battle for Scotland's flag: Why the right has adopted the saltire

    A man raises his fist while standing in front of a group of people waving flags, including saltires and a union flag.
  • Would leaving the ECHR really 'stop the boats'?

    Montage image showing Nigel Farage, Kemi Badenoch and Sir Keir Starmer
  • The Upbeat newsletter: Start your week on a high with uplifting stories delivered to your inbox

    A graphic of a wave in the colours of yellow, amber and orange against a pink sky
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    Man who appealed Pelicot rape conviction handed longer jail term

  2. 2

    Man re-arrested over Manchester synagogue attack

  3. 3

    Sunak joins Microsoft and AI firm as paid adviser

  4. 4

    Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood charged with four counts of rape

  5. 5

    Naked mole rats' DNA could hold key to long life

  6. 6

    How Trump secured a Gaza breakthrough which eluded Biden

  7. 7

    Alleged McCann stalker 'sent creepy messages'

  8. 8

    From the fishing trip to a Gavin and Stacey film - five things Jones and Corden's book reveals

  9. 9

    Five ways abolishing stamp duty could change the housing market

  10. 10

    'I missed a £100 council tax bill while in hospital – the debt ballooned to £6k'

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

The Celebrity Traitors

  • An all-star cast enters the ultimate game of deceit

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    The Celebrity Traitors has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    The Celebrity Traitors
  • All the betrayal and drama unpacked

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked
  • Meet the Celebrity Traitors as the mind games begin

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    The Celebrity Traitors has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    The Celebrity Traitors
  • A treacherously good version of a pop classic

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    BBC Proms has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    BBC Proms 2025: Britney Spears
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.