Panti

Panti
Panti in 2013
Born	Rory O'Neill 1968 (age 48–49) Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Ireland
Occupation	drag queen
Website	Official website

Rory O'Neill, also known by his stage name as Panti or Panti Bliss is a drag queen and gay rights activist from Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Ireland.

O'Neill, the son of a veterinary surgeon (or 'vet'), grew up in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, and went to art college in Dún Laoghaire. Although raised a Roman Catholic, O'Neill is an atheist. O'Neill talked to Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin about being diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1995 on the RTÉ Radio 1 series Aoibhinn and Company.

Panti is considered to be Ireland's foremost drag queen. From 1996 to 2012, Panti has been the hostess of the annual Alternative Miss Ireland pageant.

In 1990, he appeared as "Seán The Transvestite Farmer" in the skit for RTE's Nighthawks TV show.

Panti regularly hosts the annual Dublin Pride celebrations, which take place in the month of June every year.

For a number of years Panti hosted a weekly karaoke show, The Casting Couch, at The Front Lounge pub, Dublin. Panti occasionally appears at Shirley Temple Bar's weekly drag queen Bingo show in the Dublin gay bar, The George.

On 30 November 2007, he opened the self-titled 'Pantibar' in Dublin.

'Panti' is short for 'Pandora Panti Bliss'. Panti danced on stage in Japan with Cyndi Lauper during her 1994 Twelve Deadly Cyns Tour. O'Neill and his alter ego Panti are the subject of a documentary about his early life, the events surrounding comments O'Neill made about homophobia and Panti's role during Ireland’s successful campaign for Marriage Equality. Filmed over a number of years, the documentary was directed by Conor Horgan.The Queen of Ireland premiered on 21 October 2015, followed by its planned nationwide release in Ireland from 23 October 2015.

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