LGBTQ+ life on the island of Ireland is made up of persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise.

Queer culture and history

Politics

There was all-party support in 2010 for the

Civil Partnership Bill The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced by the Labour government, which grants civil partnerships in the United Kingdom the rights and responsibilities very similar to those in civil ...

, introduced by the

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

/ Green government which provided for legal recognition for the relationships of same-sex couples. As of August 2014, all parties in the

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

, the lower house of the Irish parliament, supported same-sex marriage: the Labour Party, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

, the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

, Fianna Fáil and

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

. Before the 2011 general election, the Labour Party manifesto added a commitment to a referendum to allow same-sex couples to marry. This was mentioned as an item for the

Constitutional Convention Constitutional convention may refer to: * Constitutional convention (political custom), an informal and uncodified procedural agreement *Constitutional convention (political meeting), a meeting of delegates to adopt a new constitution or revise an e ...

in the Programme for Government between Labour and Fine Gael after the election. In 2006, at the opening of the new headquarters of the gay rights organisation

GLEN A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, the then-

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste a ...

said: The only Irish political party that officially came out to oppose the LGBTQ+ rights was the small Christian Solidarity Party, and has never been a successful electoral, at either local or national level. On 23 May 2015, Ireland became the first country to legalise same sex marriage through nationwide referendum in favour of allowing same sex couples to wed.

Openly LGBT Oireachtas members

* David Norris, elected as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Senator for

Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

in every election since 1987, was the first openly gay member of the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...

. *

Colm O'Gorman Colm O'Gorman (born 15 July 1966) is the executive director of Amnesty International Ireland. He is founder and former director of One in Four. He is a survivor of clerical sexual abuse, and first came to public attention by speaking out agains ...

served as a Senator from May 2007 to July 2007. He was appointed as a Taoiseach's nominee representing the Progressive Democrats. *

Dominic Hannigan Dominic Hannigan (born 10 July 1965) is a former Irish Labour Party politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Meath East constituency from 2011 to 2016. He was a Senator for the Labour Panel from 2007 to 2011. Early life Hannigan ...

, was elected as a Labour Party Senator in 2007, and was elected to the Dáil in 2011 for

Meath East Meath may refer to: General *County Meath, Republic of Ireland **Kingdom of Meath, medieval precursor of the county ** List of kings of Meath **Meath GAA, including the intercounty football and hurling teams **Diocese of Meath, in the Roman Catholi ...

, becoming the first openly gay person elected as a

Teachta Dála A Teachta Dála ( , ; plural ), abbreviated as TD (plural ''TDanna'' in Irish, TDs in English), is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament). It is the equivalent of terms such as ''Member of Parli ...

. * John Lyons, was elected in 2011 in Dublin North-West for the Labour Party. *

Katherine Zappone Katherine Zappone (; born 25 November 1953) is an American-Irish independent politician who served as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs from May 2016 to June 2020. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-West constituency from ...

, was appointed to the Seanad as a Taoiseach's nominee in May 2007. She was the named plaintiff in a case to seek legal recognition of her marriage and was the first openly gay Oireachtas member to also be married. She was elected as a TD at the 2016 general election. *

Jerry Buttimer Jerry Buttimer (born 18 March 1967) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann since December 2022. He has served as a Senator for the Labour Panel since 2016, and previously from 2007 to 2011. He served ...

, was elected as TD for the Cork South-Central constituency in the 2011 general election for

. In April 2012, he became the first Fine Gael TD to come out, doing so after the party announced a new forum for gay equality. He is the chairman of Fine Gael LGBT. *

Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to De ...

, first elected in 2007 and appointed to Government in 2011, served as

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport The Minister for Transport ( ga, An tAire Iompair) is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the Department of Transport. The current Minister for Transport is Eamon Ryan, TD. He is also Minister for the Environment, Climate ...

from 2011 to 2014. He also served as Minister for Health since July 2014. In January 2015, he told

Miriam O'Callaghan Miriam O'Callaghan (born 6 January 1960) is an Irish television current affairs presenter with RTÉ. O'Callaghan has presented '' Prime Time'' since 1996, and her own summer talk show, ''Saturday Night with Miriam'', from 2005 onwards. In th ...

RTÉ radio RTÉ Radio is a division of the Irish national broadcasting organisation Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Radio broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels nationwide. Founded in January 1926 as 2RN, the first broadcaster in th ...

that he is gay. In 2017 he became a

(Head of Government). *

Fintan Warfield Fintan Warfield (born 1992) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has served as a Senator for the Cultural and Educational Panel since April 2016. As of 2017, he was the youngest senator in Ireland. Early life and education Warfield attended ...

is a former

Mayor of South County Dublin, who is currently in Cultural and Educational Panel of Sinn Féin. *

Cian O'Callaghan Cian O'Callaghan (born 7 May 1979) is an Irish Social Democrats politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay North constituency since the 2020 general election. In 2012, as a member of Fingal County Council, he became Irela ...

was elected Mayor of

Fingal Fingal ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished for administrative purposes in 1994. ...

in 2012, becoming Ireland's first openly gay mayor.Cian has a strong track record in local government. He was first elected as a Councillor in 2009 and then as Mayor of Fingal County Council in 2012. He was elected in 2020 as a Social Democrat TD for the

Dublin Bay North Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...

constituency. *

Annie Hoey Annie Hoey (born 3 October 1988) is an Irish Labour Party politician who has served as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel since April 2020. Early life and education Hoey is from Beamore, Drogheda, a suburb just by the border between County ...

, who has served as a Labour Party Senator for the Agricultural Panel since April 2020, is openly bisexual. * Roderic O'Gorman was elected as a Green Party TD for the

Dublin West Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cens ...

constituency in the 2020 General Election and subsequently became Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

Media

Ireland's longest running LGBT publication is '' Gay Community News'', which was first published in 1988 before homosexuality was legal in Ireland. In April 2013, ''EILE Magazine'' was launched, serving as a new platform for Ireland's LGBT community. The national broadcaster

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

provides various LGBT related programming, such as the television documentary ''

Growing Up Gay ''Growing Up Gay'' was a groundbreaking two-part documentary series broadcast on RTÉ One, which began on Monday 19 April 2010 at 9.35pm (after the main evening news). It explored the experiences of the first generation of lesbian, gay, bisexual ...

'' or the drama series ''

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'', which contained gay characters and gay-related storylines. The RTÉ programme ''

Telly Bingo The National Lottery ( ga, An Crannchur Náisiúnta) is the state-licensed lottery operator in the Republic of Ireland. Established in 1986 to raise funds for good causes, it began operations on 27 March 1987 when it issued its first scratchca ...

'' was presented from 2001–2004 by drag queen

Shirley Temple Bar Declan Buckley is an Irish television personality and drag queen from Dublin, Ireland, going by the persona Shirley Temple Bar. This name is a play on both Shirley Temple and a cultural area of Dublin city called Temple Bar. He also writes a we ...

. The radio station

RTÉ Pulse RTÉ Pulse is an electronic dance music station from Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's national broadcaster. It plays a varied mix of dance music, with a small number of shows covering RnB. It started broadcasting in April 2008, but ...

schedules Wednesday nights as ''Gay Wednesday'' where they broadcast programming related to the gay community. Drag queen Joanna Ryde is a presenter on regional youth station

Beat 102 103 Beat 102 103 is an independent regional radio station in the Republic of Ireland licensed by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland covering counties Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Tipperary in South East Ireland. It began broadcast ...

Gay life in the country

Cities and towns

The gay scene in Ireland is quite developed. Irish society has become more open and tolerant as a result of increased levels of prosperity and rising liberal attitudes. There are vibrant gay scenes in all major Irish cities:
Dublin
(2 superpubs, 3 gay bars + 13 club venues)

(1 superpub, 3 gay bars + 5 club venues)

(4 gay bars + 5 club venues) *

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

and

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. There are 8 gay & lesbian resource centres in Ireland – one each in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Derry, Waterford and

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

. Cork is home to two: one for gay men and one for lesbians. There are also some gay communities in the smaller towns in Ireland.

Strabane Strabane ( ; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,172 at the 2011 Census. It lies on the east bank of the River Foyle. It is roughly midway from Omagh, Derry and Letterkenny. The River Foyle marks ...

has a gay bar, and

Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Developing around a 13th century castle of the de Barry family, de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal poi ...

, Dundalk,

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

Newry,

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

and

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, midlands reg ...

all have occasional gay club nights.

Gay pride

All Irish cities and many smaller towns celebrate Gay Pride with parades and festivals. The town of

with less than 20,000 inhabitants has its own annual Gay Pride parade and festival and is warmly received and supported by the local population, something which is becoming increasingly common in rural Ireland. The gay scene across the island of Ireland is brought together during the annual Alternative Miss Ireland drag contest, Ms Gay Ireland and Mr Gay Ireland events.

Bear Movement

As in many other countries around the world, the Bear Community has taken hold in Ireland and continues to grow. The bear movement considers itself a counter culture to the mainstream gay scene and works toward challenging the single archetype of the effeminate gay man. Most things traditionally considered masculine are celebrated within the Bear community, and Bears identify as a large subset of an already diverse demographic of gay men in Ireland. There are Bear events held monthly in Belfast and in Dublin. An all Ireland Bear Event called Béar Féile is first took place in 25–28 March 2010 and is now held annually every March. Béar Féile was the first event of its kind to take place in Ireland.

St. Patrick's day

Saint Patrick's Day is another occasion for gay people to celebrate, as all of Ireland's ethnically diverse population including the gay community take an active part in the St. Patrick's Day parades and celebrations across the island in cities such as Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Derry, Galway and Waterford.

Annual events

There are a varied range of LGBT-themed events throughout the calendar year in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

References

External links

Belfast Pride

Dublin Pride
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lgbt Culture in Ireland