From Brendan Fay
Remembering Tarlach MacNiallais (1962-2020) - a few images of years of friendship and activism - dancing together at the Eagle Tavern Monday night trad session, getting arrested together on 5th Ave. At Lavender and Green Alliance and ILGO telling stories of his Belfast childhood and with Youth against H- Block and Gays against Imperialism. In 1991 with his ma proudly marching with ILGO and Mayor David Dinkins.... For Pride 91 - he and his beloved Kevin invited a small group to their Queens apt to celebrate their love... They would remain close friends for life... And then getting arrested with him in March 1993... No better company when spending time time in jail. There were songs and stories - of James Connolly and Jim Larkin, of Belfast and Bobby Sands and the men behind the wire... the women of Armagh and the '70s anthem "Proud to Be Gay". How he could sing ! Denied and deprived of time to say good bye ... in tenderness we hold our memories of Tarlach . In heart and mind - we see him smiling, singing, hugging, dancing and advocating passionately. We remember Tarlach’s big hearted and fearless personality lighting up every room and life he entered with warmth and often a song and every street he walked, danced and rallied on. He kept our spirits up in the struggle - for Irish LGBT inclusion in the St Patrick's parade, for immigration rights, for marriage equality... From March 1995-I hear him singing at our Lavender and Green's first OICHE AERACH dinner dance in Flushing with Stanley Rygor playing accordion. He loved our sense of Irish LGBT history- No leprechauns on our walls - but images of Roger Casement, Oscar Wilde, Eva Gore Booth, Elizabeth O'Farrell, David Norris etc In March 1997 his sister Patsy and his mother returned for our 3rd ..dinner dance when along with Colleen Meenan we honored him with the Roger Casement - Eva Gore Booth Leadership award. Patsy and Tarlach sang from the stage. It was such a sweet celebration of his passion for justice and big bear hug tenderness... We honored his dedication to ARCH - for New Yorkers living with disabilities. There was a break of a few years ... except a call for his good friends- brothers who had died of AIDS and could I get Fr Mychal Judge to do a memorial mass for the broken hearted family on Long Island. Years later he joined St. Pat's For All in Queens. We missed him. And in 2016 he helped organize our Lavender and Green contingent on the historic day when we marched with our banner up 5th Ave for the first time.
At the March 2016 press conference to mark the historic breakthrough hosted by Irish Consul General Barbara Jones and Mayor Bill deBlasio - Tarlach with the rest of us celebrated with cheers and tears of joy as remembered the 25 years of longing, struggle and campaign for inclusion. Speaking to his big hearted ways - he reached out - right, left and center - bringing all of us -back together for the historic march and roll across the threshold of 5th Ave. And then only Tarlach MacNiallais- when invited - would become an official member of the 5th Ave parade formation committee. They too grieve and remember with us. Notes have come from Sean Lane, Hilary Beirne and Reilly Dundon. Tarlach MacNiallais- Always ready to reach out across a divide and become. When marriage became legal for same sex couples in New York Tarlach and his beloved Juan - whom he met in 2002 were among the early couples to wed at City Hall. How proud he was to meet marriage equality hero Edie Winsdor and thank her in person and sing our "Wild Mountain Thyme" anthem with Edie and Malachy McCourt on 5th Ave.... I hear him from our 2020 St. Pat's For All concert at the Irish Arts Center as Mick Moloney is singing "Daughters and sons" from the stage. A mere 4 weeks - It feels another world away. With booming voice Tarlach joins the chorus - "you sowed the seeds of freedom in your daughters and your sons...."... Love to all who are heart broken - the friends he loved and cared for at ARCH - his beautiful extended family in Belfast and beyond, his comrades and friends of many struggles- and his beloved spouse Juan. Remembering Tarlach- I think of the words from another Irish immigrant MOTHER JONES- Mary Harris who lost husband George and children to the terrible epidemic of yellow fever -and with her grief carried on - with a fearlessness and passion for justice - "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living". “Ni bheidh a leitheid ann aris.”. (His likes will not be seen again) . Tarlach MacNiallais - Presente!! (photographs- James Higgins, Amy Miller, Keryn Lowry, Efrain Gonzalez, Ray Hegarty, Tom Moulton, Gary Rissman etc)