I failed the Leaving Cert. Truthfully, I am happy that I did because it taught me that if you fail, it’s not the end of the world. It’s not because I didn’t study constantly for hours each day, because I did. I just wasn’t the kind of person who could handle the Leaving Cert and […]

It was recently reported that the LGBT+ website Gay Star News is to close after eight years with the loss of jobs for its 20 staff. We in GCN are saddened by the news and know first hand the challenges facing LGBT+ media in the current climate, both financially and ideologically. In a letter to […]

I find it very distressing when I publicly see groups who are actively trying to create a narrative that there is something wrong with being diverse, but it makes me even angrier when I see members of my community actively supporting hate groups like the alt-right. I don’t see it a lot, but it’s there. […]

The first time we formally met Noel Whelan to discuss how he might support the Yes Equality campaign as strategic advisor was in The Westbury Hotel in early 2015. After an initial chat, Noel said that he would agree to join us on one condition – that it would be us, the Co-Directors, who would […]

I still lived in rural Ireland when I came out. I was 18. The fifth person I told was my counsellor. We were sitting facing each other in an old renovated house in Gorey, a small market town near the Wexford/Wicklow border. After a strained silence, she spoke: “Be careful,” she warned, “gay people are promiscuous.” […]

Pride month is over and companies logos have shed their rainbow skins. Will they slither away only to be seen next June? With Pride sponsors hastily popping colourful balloons and disposable rainbow bunting not lasting past 1 July, it begs us to ask the question: Can companies be our allies? Gay Spar knows its Gay […]

A trip to the barbershop is, for many people, a simple functional exchange that we take for granted. But for many lesbians, trans and non-binary people and others across the queer spectrum, it can be the occasion of real distress and danger. Outright discrimination on behalf of the barber is not uncommon (announcing out loud […]

Showing as part of the GAZE Film Festival, Megan Rossman’s film The Archivettes looks at the Lesbian Herstory Archives – the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians. The Archivettes examines how they came together to combat lesbian invisibility and create ‘a place that says yes’. In advance of the double bill screening […]

Eve Belle has been killing it so far this year: she was chosen as one of Golden Plec’s ‘Plec Pics’ for 2019, released a new single followed by an EP The Fine Line Between Brave And Stupid. We caught up with her before her upcoming headline gig in Whelans. For those who don’t know you […]

Jack Rua is definitely someone you should have on your radar right now. His bold debut single Scarlet A, which offers the raunchy pop-goodness often missing from the Irish music scene, is unapologetically queer. The song, and it’s accompanying video, explore the taboos of desire and lust. Having already racked up more than 10,000 streams […]