This year’s GALAS were a necessary celebration of a community that continues to strive for better

It’s been a hectic month in GCN Towers, what with all the machinations behind The GALAS, and putting together this, our eighth annual weddings edition, which is our second biggest issue of the year and choc-a-bloc full of information for those of you planning to tie the knot, queer-style.

The GALAS also took place for the eighth time this year, and what a year it was, with record numbers of nominations from the public, and record attendance too at the ceremony in The Mansion House.

It was a particularly moving ceremony, in that while celebrating so many individuals and organisations who have contributed to a better life for LGBTs in Ireland and abroad, we also used the occasion to mark the passing away of longtime activists Dave Roche and Ann Louise Gilligan, who both left us this year. As Katherine Zappone, who accepted the Lifetime Achievement award for her wife Ann Louise, said, their legacies will affect generations to come.

We also honoured Bouhdid Belhedi, a young man who lives in Tunisia and is one of the leaders and a member of the Executive Bureau of Shams, a non-governmental organisation that works for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer rights. In Tunisia, where homosexuality remains illegal and punishable by up to three years in prison, Bouhdid is one of the very few visible and outspoken LGBT+ rights defenders. As a result of this courageous choice, he faces serious risks and has been the target of threats and brutal physical attacks.

Bouhdid has been reluctant to file complaints against his aggressors due to a previous complaint he made to the authorities, which was ignored, and also due to the homophobic attitude of police officers, who routinely threaten LGBT+ people with imprisonment and torture. As homosexuality is a crime in Tunisia, victims are treated as criminals and subjected to violent physical examinations to prove their ‘guilt’. Bouhdid also avoided going to the hospital as he did not have a police report, which is required for hospital admission in the case of treatment for an assault.

In spite of the enormous challenges and risks, Bouhdid remains determined to fight for the LGBT+ community in Tunisia, and as part of his International Award at the GALAS he was given a bursary of €2,000 to help him with his work at Shams. We thank the National LGBT Federation, Front Line Defenders, ICCL and Amnesty for their contributions to this fund.

We thank everyone on the entirely voluntary GALAS organising committee for their sterling work in bringing this formidable event together. We also thank everyone who attended The GALAS and made it the marvelous, moving event that it was. I say it every year, but we need celebrations like this to ground us in the knowledge that the work we do as LGBT+ activists is important. Amid all the positive change for our community in this country, The GALAS make it clear that queer activism still much needed.