No: 2 The GCN Newsroom 1993

25 years on, reflecting on my involvement in GCN, I wince at the things we did and got away with, but also am very fond of those times working the Hirschfeld Centre, a building that should have been condemned due to a fire five years previously. Working with a group of talented and committed people being paid little or nothing who were also finding their way in the world, a world where it was not easy to be out at work or to your family.

Richie Prenderville, Editor of GCN 1992-1994

I was 23 and had very little (i.e. no) journalism experience, having worked previously in community development, youth work and politics. I applied for the job to edit GCN and didn’t get it (thankfully), and was asked to work on the FÁS CE Scheme. I was also getting involved in GLEN and became co-chairperson shortly afterwards, and this meant that I could access information easily for GCN on the campaign for decriminalisation – a conflict of interest that would surely not be possible or acceptable in today’s world.

Those times were also without text messages, email or the internet. News was gathered by listening to the radio, reading other papers, attending meetings and going on hunches. I attended press conferences held by political parties in the 1992 general election and sought information on the formation of the government and the impact on the LGBT+ community.

Throughout 1993 we charted the major developments and implications of the debates which took place on the changes in legislation that introduced an equal age of consent. I also wrote a media watch column, which I particularly enjoyed.

For our readers throughout the country the publication was often their only contact with other lesbians and gay men. It was important to remember that in the bubble of the Hirschfeld; and on the day of publication you were reminded when all staffwere involved in packing envelopes or dropping bundles of GCN to locations around the city.