Derry Journal Editorial: Nell McCafferty, a woman from Derry who told it like it was

As a young journalist, I was aware of the legend status applied to Nell McCafferty, and would only cross paths briefly on a few occasions. Having started out in this profession post Good Friday Agreement, we operated in very different circumstances. For a generation of us young reporters it was often intimating speaking to the older cohort of journalists, people who brought the news to the world over the course of the Troubles as it was happening.

More so yet with those like Nell, who did that and more, challenging the status quo and exposing the darkness and warped morality at the heart of various aspects of Irish life.

You always felt a bit green. But on the few occasions I saw or met her, Nell was, as we say in Derry, ‘sound’.

‘Fierce’ and ‘difficult’ are words often applied to woman who show great courage and skill in challenging the accepted norms and status quo in a way they never would be applied to men doing or saying the very same things. Especially when they touch a nerve.

And when you look at her output in journalism, what comes across quite clearly is that she cared about people, particularly the people of the north. She forced a rethink on how those in senior positions in politics, the media and other aspects of life in Dublin and the south often disregarded or looked down their noses at the people here.

She spoke about the way women were maltreated and often shunted or shuttered out of public life and view, and about the lack of diversity, and about being a gay woman when few others of her generation could or would.

In doing that, Nell McCafferty was also one of the few people of her generation who publicly challenged mainstream notions on people who happen to be gay. The world today is very different, and we wouldn’t have witnessed the changes and the advances we have seen towards equality made without the openness of people like Nell, but she was right that it is the last taboo in Ireland. You only have to look at how freely homophobic language and slurs are used and abuse thrown about everywhere from the playground to the pub to the public pages on social media.

On Friday crowds will gather in Derry for Nell’s funeral in her native Bogside. On Saturday, thousands will gather in the city centre for the Foyle Pride parade, one of many across this island this summer that would not have been possible even 30 years ago but for generations past who stood up and spoke out. It might be nice if Nell McCafferty, a woman of Derry, was remembered in some way there too.

For all you were and did, from all at the Derry Journal, ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam, Nell.