Kristian Nairn, best known for his role as Hodor in Game of Thrones, recently spoke out about witnessing the fatal shooting of police officer Darren Bradshaw in Belfast’s only LGBT venue, Parliament bar, in 1997. Nairn was 21 years old at the time and among the hundreds of horrified onlookers. The killing, which remains unsolved, sent shockwaves through the city’s gay community.
Homophobia was prevalent in Northern Ireland during the 1990s, with few legal protections and negative social attitudes being common. The Parliament was the city’s only gay bar when it opened in 1994, and the city had held its first pride parade just three years earlier. For young people like Nairn, The Parliament was the place to be.
Nairn described The Parliament as an “amazing place” where everyone had something in common. It was a safe space where people who had been repressed their entire lives could come together to have a laugh and a bit of alcohol. Nairn stated that it was immensely important and laid the grounds for what has come since.
The night of the shooting started like any other Friday evening. Nairn and his friends were sitting near the front door of The Parliament having a laugh when they noticed Darren Bradshaw, a regular at the venue, standing at the bar. A man entered the room sporting a shoddy disguise of a “weirdly drawn-on beard” and interrupted the normality. He marched up to Bradshaw and shot him in the back three times at close range.
The Irish National Liberation Army claimed responsibility for Bradshaw’s murder, but no one has ever been convicted. Those three gunshots had a ripple effect on Belfast’s gay scene, and the people who were present that night. Staff quit the venue, and fearful punters stayed away. News of the shooting and the police investigation that followed forced many people to reveal their sexuality to their previously unaware families.
Despite his experience and the reaction to it, Nairn went on to DJ in Belfast’s gay scene before he became an actor. He even did a stint as a drag queen, and has spoken in interviews about refusing to shy away from his sexuality. Nairn’s most recent role is in HBO’s pirate-themed comedy, Our Flag Means Death, which has been praised for its LGBT representation.