RTE's screening of its first documentary on being gay in Ireland received a positive response from the public, according to the station.
The documentary, called The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name, was broadcast on RTE 1 on Tuesday night and was followed by the film Beautiful Thing, a gay love story.
While various programmes have touched on the subject this was the first time that an hour-long documentary had explored homosexuality in Ireland.
An RTE spokeswoman said the vast majority of the calls after the screening were positive. "Only about two were negative. We don't normally get many people phoning up to say that they enjoyed a documentary but that's what we got last night."
The programme was described as a "fundamental, seminal broadcast from RTE" by Mr Brian Sheehan, Gay/HIV Strategies director. "It was wonderful to see something like this on RTE at last and it will create a visibility of a different order for gay men and women in Ireland."
The documentary, from Radius Television Productions, explored the lives of gay people in Ireland, using Oscar Wilde's imprisonment in 1895 as a reference point. It included contributions from Senator David Norris, who fought for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland. It was eventually decriminalised in 1993, four years after the EU Court of Human Rights made its ruling in favour of Mr Norris.
"We've got an unreal reaction to the programme," said Mr Bill Hughes, producer of the documentary. "I got an extraordinary amount of calls this morning and they were very positive. It's been overpowering. When people discover they are gay they feel like they are the only ones. We wanted the documentary to show that they are not alone. Things have changed so much in urban Ireland but it's still very difficult in rural Ireland." Mr Kieran Rose, one of the programme's contributors, said watching the film was like watching something bad that had happened years ago.
"It's so positive because things have improved so much since then. Now we have one of the most progressive regimes in the world since decriminalisation, the Employment Equality Act and Equal Status Bill. But we still have a long way to go."
