MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS

WILL ST LEGER

Will St Leger, who wrote this month’s feature about the future of sexual health in Ireland, is a member of ACT UP Dublin, a diverse, nonpartisan group of individuals united in anger and committed to direct action to end the HIV and AIDS crisis. Formed in July of 2016, ACT UP Dublin is a response to the steady growth in new HIV diagnoses in Ireland, and the persistent silence and stigma that continues to surround HIV.

“Our government needs to make accessing sexual health services convenient by introducing full-time, six-day a week clinics that offer STI testing and treatment, along with links to mental health and substance use support services,” he says.

RÓISIN MCVEIGH

Róisin is the co-founder of the online zine, Cheap Trick (cheaptrickzine.com). She’s also written for The Irish Times, U magazine, OFFSET magazine, and Totally Dublin,

We asked Róisin about the key thing that stood out from her interview with legendary writer, HIV and AIDS activist, and founder of the Lesbian Avengers, Sarah Schulman and she said: “Sarah stressed the importance of remembering you don’t need to convince everybody in order to create a massive social change, you just need to convince the critical mass – the amount of people that make a difference.”

We couldn’t agree more.

NIGEL CONNOR

Nigel has just completed a research masters in sociology, looking at Irish LGBT+ activism in the wake of ‘Yes Equality’ – paying particular attention to rural activists.

For this issue of GCN, Nigel wrote about bear culture. In looking at the research around bears he found that “the way bears subvert masculinity through taking on the appearance of straight men is fascinating.

I love the idea that as queer people, by not embodying straight people’s fixed ideas of queer and presenting as ‘straight’, we can still be subversive, disruptive and just as queer”.

HAZEL COONAGH

The photographer of our cover shot, Hazel Coonagh’s work always has a representation of strength and is heavily focused on women, and that’s why we invited her to photograph queer female activists for International Women’s Day.

“International Women’s Day, for me, is a welcome reminder that there is a massive community of people who feel like you, who are working to push things forward,” she says.

“Equality can at times feel like a never-ending issue but seeing and reading stories of extraordinary like-minded women from around the world is extremely moving and completely reinvigorating.”