As part of GCN30, we’re taking a look back at the community’s progress. In 1988 Ireland got a second TV channel, the Molly Malone statue was unveiled on Grafton Street, David Norris won his case against the Irish government at the European Court of Human Rights (which ruled the existence of laws in Ireland criminalising consensual gay sex to be illegal) and Ireland hosted the Eurovision Song Contest for the third time. And from a little office at the top of the Hirschfield Centre in Dublin’s Temple Bar, GCN was published for the very first time, with the mission of becoming central to the evolution of Ireland’s gay community.

Three decades later, GCN is still going strong as the heartbeat LGBT+ Ireland, and in June we’ll be celebrating our 30^th birthday with a very special GCN30 exhibition at the Gallery of Photography. The show is about how GCN has positively affected so many people’s lives, along with being at the heart of ushering in great change in Ireland.

For this ambitious project, we’ve worked with The Community Foundation of Ireland to secure seed funding, in order to recruit to GCN’s founder, Tonie Walsh as our curator. The exhibition will use archival material from Ireland’s beloved LGBT+ publication to tell a momentous story of social, political and cultural change, driven by individuals and groups who envisioned an Ireland where all people were equal.

GCN30, By The Community, For The Community

GCN is published by the community, for the community, and on its 30th birthday is the oldest publication of its sort in the world. All of you, GCN’s readers, are part of this story, and all of you have been part of GCN over the years.

We want you to be part of our GCN30 birthday exhibition too, so we’re asking you to come on board to help fund it. We’d like you to be there with us all the way as we present a look-back at 30 momentous years of a little publication that changed lives, and in doing so changed Ireland, and get some fabulous rewards along the way.

Fund it is an all-island crowdfunding website for Ireland’s creative projects, giving everyone the power to help good ideas happen. Fund it is based in Ireland, run by Business to Arts, a not-for-profit organisation working to support resilience and transformation in the cultural sector through research, innovation, and partnership. As such Fund It is the perfect partner for the GCN 30 exhibition

Find out more about how you can become part of the GCN30 Fund It campaign here. Come with us on to help celebrate GCN’s journey so far!