The National LGBT Federation (NXF) is a non-governmental organisation in

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 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, which focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

) rights. The current board (as of September 2021) comprises the following: Chair Gavin Hennessy, Vice-Chair Steve Jacques, Emily Brennan, Brendan Byrne, Siobhan Curran, Claire Egan, Hayley Fox-Roberts, Adam Long, Mary McAuliffe, Conor McCarthy, Anna Nolan, Dr Chris Noone, Rob Partridge, and Steve Sands. High-profile feminist and LGBT+ advocate Ailbhe Smyth served as Chair of the organisation for many years.

History

The organisation was founded as the National Gay Federation (NGF) in 1979. It leased a building in

Temple Bar, Dublin Temple Bar ( ga, Barra an Teampaill) is an area on the south bank of the River Liffey in central Dublin, Ireland. The area is bounded by the Liffey to the north, Dame Street to the south, Westmoreland Street to the east and Fishamble Street to t ...

and established the Hirschfeld Centre, Ireland's first, full comprehensive LGBT community centre, named after the prominent German doctor and sexologist,

Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist. Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...

. The Centre included a meeting space, a café, and a full-automated 16mm cinema, the Hirschfeld Biograph. The Centre held a youth club, film club, and women's group, all funded by Flikkers, the centre's community disco. In 1981, NGF members participated in the first national gay conference organised by the Cork Gay Collective. On 4 November 1987, a fire irrevocably damaged the Hirschfeld Centre. In September 1990, the NGF board voted to amend its name to the National Lesbian and Gay Federation (NLGF). The change was supported by 84% of NGF members. The name change took effect on 1 January 1991. In 2000, the NLGF was incorporated as a

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

limited company by guarantee and achieved charitable status. In February 2014, the NLGF was renamed the National LGBT Federation or NXF for short. A new logo was also unveiled. The announcement was made at an event in Dublin celebrating 35 years of the organisation's existence.

Publications

''Identity''

From 1982 to 1984, the NGF published ''Identity'', Ireland's first gay literary journal. Edited by renowned film-maker, Kieron Hickey, the publication was not profitable and ceased publication in March 1984, after its eighth issue.

''Out''

From 1984 to 1988, the NGF published ''Out'' magazine, Ireland's first commercial lesbian and gay magazine. Unlike ''Identity'', ''Out'' magazine was distributed by Eason's. Contributors included

Nell McCafferty Nell McCafferty (born 28 March 1944) is an Irish journalist, playwright, civil rights campaigner and feminist. She has written for ''The Irish Press'', ''The Irish Times'', '' Sunday Tribune'', ''Hot Press'' and ''The Village Voice''. Early l ...

Tonie Walsh Tonie Walsh (born 25 December 1960 in Dublin, Ireland) is an LGBT rights activist, journalist, disc jockey, founding editor of Gay Community News (Dublin) and founder of the Irish Queer Archive. Biography Walsh spent most of his childhood in Cl ...

Nuala O'Faolain Nuala O'Faolain (; 1 March 19409 May 2008) was an Irish journalist, TV producer, book reviewer, teacher and writer. She became well known after the publication of her memoirs ''Are You Somebody?'' and ''Almost There''. She wrote a biography of I ...

and

Thom McGinty Thomas McGinty (1 April 1952 – 20 February 1995), known as The Diceman, was a Scottish-Irish actor, model, and street artist specialising in mime. Born in Scotland of Irish parentage, McGinty spent much of his life and career in Ireland, whe ...

. The final issue in October 1988 was delayed as the magazine printers, the ''Carlow Nationalist'' and ''Leinster Times'', refused to print the previous issue due to an allegedly offensive Gay Health Action advertisement on safer sex for gay men.

''Gay Community News''

On 10 February 1988, the NGF published the '' Gay Community News'' (''GCN''), an 8-page tabloid newspaper.

served as founding editor. In 1997, NLGF and ''GCN'' moved from the Hirschfeld Centre to the Outhouse Community Centre, located on Wicklow Street in Dublin. When Outhouse moved offices to

Capel Street Capel Street is a street in Dublin, Ireland. On 20 May 2022, it was made traffic-free, following a campaign by people who wanted to improve the quality of life on the street. It is now the longest traffic-free street in Dublin. History Capel ...

Dublin 1 Dublin 1, also rendered as D1 and D01, is a historic postal district on the northside of Dublin, Ireland. Area profile D1 lies entirely within the Dublin Central constituency of the Irish parliament, the Dáil. The Dublin Central constituency ...

in 2001, ''GCN'' moved to its own premises on Scarlett Row in

Dublin 8 Dublin 8, also rendered as D8 and D08, is a historic postal district in Dublin. D8 is one of only two postal districts to span the River Liffey. While the majority of the code's built up areas are on the southside, it also includes northside areas ...

. Receipt of

Atlantic Philanthropies The Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) was a private foundation created in 1982 by Irish-American businessman Chuck Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies focused its giving on health, social, and politically left-leaning public policy causes in Australia ...

funding in 2002 allowed NLGF to begin developing ''GCN'' as a commercially viable magazine.

Irish Queer Archive

In 1980, members of the NGF created the

Gay Community Archives ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, an archival collection of material and literature associated with the LGBT community in Ireland and precursor to the

Irish Queer Archive Irish Queer Archive (IQA) ( ga, Cartlann Aerach na hÉireann) is a comprehensive collection of material in Ireland relating to homosexuality, LGBT literature and general queer studies. The Archive contains the most comprehensive collection of ma ...

. The 1997 move from the Hirschfeld Centre allowed the IQA to open a small public office. In December 1999, the NLGF board appointed an IQA working group, comprising academics, historians and writers.

GALAs

The Gay and Lesbian Awards (GALAs) is an annual, all-Ireland awards ceremony established to honour LGBT individuals and organisations. Categories include: * Blogger/website of the year * Broadcaster/journalist of the year * Business person of the year * Community organisation of the year * Employer of the year * International activist of the year * Irish artist/entertainer of the year * LGBT political figure of the year * National event of the year * Noel Walsh HIV activist of the year * Person of the year * Regional event of the year * Voluntary organisation of the year * Volunteer of the year

Previous winners

2011

Alternative Miss Ireland The Alternative Miss Ireland (AMI) was an annual gay event which took place in Dublin, Ireland, on the Sunday closest to St. Patrick's Day, 17 March. It occurred over three-and-a-half hours and featured a pastiche of the beauty pageant rounds ...

* Kerryann Conway * Cork Women's Fun Weekend *

Emma Donoghue Emma Donoghue (born 24 October 1969) is an Irish-Canadian playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter. Her 2010 novel ''Room'' was a finalist for the Booker Prize and an international best-seller. Donoghue's 1995 novel '' Hood'' ...

* Paula Gilmore * Glória * Greenbow * IBM * ''

Ireland AM ''Ireland AM'' is an Irish morning television show on Virgin Media One. It airs live every weekday from 07:00 to 10:00, and weekends from 9:00 to 12:00. The program features news, current affairs, weather updates, showbiz, fashion, beauty, fo ...

'' * Paisarn Likhitpreechakul * Maman Poulet * Maureen Looney * Marriage Equality *

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ga, Máire Pádraigín Mhic Ghiolla Íosa; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer and former politician who served as the eighth president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. She is an academic ...

2010

* Darina Brennan * Martina Devlin *

Lydia Foy Lydia Annice Foy is an Irish trans woman notable for leading legal challenges regarding gender recognition in Ireland. In 1992 Foy had sex reassignment surgery, and began a 20-year battle to have her birth certificate reflect her gender identi ...

* An Garda Síochána * Jimmy Goulding * ''

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 ...

'' * Joël Gustave Nana Ngongang * David Norris * Northwest Pride * QueerID.com * Billy Rabbitte * Colm Tóibin

2009

Ivana Bacik Ivana Catherine Bacik (born 25 May 1968) is an Irish Labour Party politician who has been Leader of the Labour Party since 24 March 2022 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay South constituency since winning a by-election on 9 July 2 ...

BeLonG To BeLonG To is an LGBT youth organisation in Ireland which caters for young people aged between 14–23 years. It is a registered charity and is supported by the Irish Department of Education. The service was set up in March 2003. The group rece ...

* Bingham Cup 2008 * Margaret Gill * Gaelick *

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

* LGBT Noise* * Jackie McKeown *

Panti Rory O'Neill (born 16 November 1968), also known by his stage names Panti, Panti Bliss and Pandora Panti Bliss, is a drag queen and gay rights activist from Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Ireland. Early life O'Neill, the son of a veterinary surgeo ...

(Rory O'Neill) * Mick Quinlan * Noel Walsh* *

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 ...

and

Ann Louise Gilligan Ann Louise Gilligan (27 July 1945 – 15 June 2017) was an Irish theologian who taught at Saint Patrick's College, Drumcondra (part of Dublin City University). A former nun, she was the wife of Katherine Zappone. In '' Zappone and Gilligan v. ...

(* = joint winners)

References

{{Authority control LGBT history in Ireland Organizations established in 1979 LGBT political advocacy groups in the Republic of Ireland