Sir Roger Casement,
CMG, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist between 1911 and 1916, but was executed for treason during World War I. He worked for the British Foreign Office as a diplomat, becoming known as a humanitarian activist, and later as a poet and Easter Rising leader. Described as the “father of twentieth-century human rights investigations”, he was honored in 1905 for the Casement Report on the Congo and knighted in 1911 for his important investigations of human rights abuses in the rubber industry in Peru.
Casement grew to mistrust imperialism. After retiring from consular service in 1913, he became more involved with Irish republicanism and other separatist movements. During World War I, he made efforts to gain German military aid for the 1916 Easter Rising that sought to gain Irish independence. He was arrested, convicted and executed for high treason. He was stripped of his knighthood and other honours. Before the trial, the British government circulated excerpts said to be from his private journals, known as the Black Diaries, which detailed homosexual activities. Given prevailing views and existing laws on homosexuality, this material undermined support for clemency for Casement. Debates have continued about these diaries: a handwriting comparison study in 2002 concluded that Casement had written the diaries, but this was still contested by some.
Was Roger Casement a gay Irish martyr or victim of a British forgery? A century since he was executed, the story of Irish rebel Sir Roger Casement remains controversial due to the Black Diaries – either a genuine chronicle of his sexual history or a forgery by British officials to discredit him. On March 18th streaming from Kilmainham Gaol at 6:30 PM, Northern Irish politician and LGBTQ+ activist Jeffrey Dudgeon are holding a lecture on the life and sexual identity of Roger Casement.
Watch on our Facebook: https://bit.ly/GCNfblive Or on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq9StlUVMR0 Register for a free ticket to the in-person event: https://www.eventbrite.ie/.../the-casement-diaries-a... Support your local queer press, join our fundraiser campaign https://bit.ly/gcnval22, text “GCN” to 50300 to donate €4* or visit https://bit.ly/gcnluvs
