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I bravely ignored the usual Saturday-morning hangover, to mosey along to today’s gay marriage-themed double-bill during the GAZE Film Festival. The films featured were Oscar-Winner Freeheld and award-winning Suddenly, Last Winter.

Given the current debate in Ireland about civil partnerships and marriage equality, I was eager to view these films, and the discussion afterwards with the makers and stars of the latter.

The first was the devastating documentary of police officer Lieutenant Laurel Hester’s struggle during the final stages of lung cancer, and against the local authorities - the Freeholders of Ocean County - who were refusing to extend her pension benefits to her partner, Stacie. We were told of Laurel’s 25 years of service as a police officer in Ocean County of New Jersey state, hearing accounts from her colleagues and friends testifying to her career-long drive to secure justice for others. We saw how her employers, the Freeholders of Ocean County, repeatedly refused pleas from friends, campaigners, local residents and Laurel herself to exercise their powers before her time ran out. We saw how the strains of the ordeal affected Laurel and Stacie, at a time when Laurel should have been entitled to palliative care in privacy and ease. We saw it, because we had to be shown. No-one should have to endure what these two women endured, and yet it is happening. Every member of this country’s houses of parliament should be made to watch this film.

As relative relief from the harrowing events in Freeheld, Suddenly, Last Winter depicted the journey of Luca and Gustav during 2006-2007. This film was an intimate and honest account of their relationship of eight years, and the harsh realities of increasing homophobic attitudes in Italian society, set against the backdrop of recently-proposed legislation for limited recognition of same-sex families. We are also given an insight into the dynamics of Italian politics and a poignant and humorous insight into the dynamics of the film makers’ relationship. This film was particularly an eye-opener for me, and I could not help but contrast the extreme homophobic attitudes of young Catholics in Italy with the increasingly liberal and accepting trend here in “Holy Catholic” Ireland.

Neither film makes particularly comfortable viewing, but the central message of equality in each - told in two different ways - has never been more relevant.

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You may also be interested in reading: Preview: Gaze 2008 - Dublin’s LGBT film festival