From The Editor

I’ve been editing GCN for 15 years this month, exactly half of its existence. Before that I was hugely connected to the publication, having worked here on a FÁS Community Employment Scheme during the early ’90s, a stint that began my career as a journalist. Back in those days there was always a sense that GCN could close down at any moment. We were at the mercy of government cuts to FÁS, who annually held us under the wringer as we waited to hear whether we’d got funding for another year.

Times have changed, of course, but in the years that have followed, one thing has remained the same – GCN has always had to work harder than other publications to survive. At the beginning it was because advertisers didn’t want their products or services to be associated with the ‘gays’, or because they didn’t think there were enough gays in Ireland to bulk up sales of their products and services.

Even during the boom, when there were lots of advertising dollars about, it was hard to convince a company that advertising in GCN was good for their brand. When the recession hit, we lost 50 percent of our income and had to call on the community to give a helping hand with the GCN Forever campaign. This spawned the club, Mother, which is a funding stream that’s still alive and well.

Since the dawn of marriage equality more and more mainstream advertisers are recognising the value of the pink euro and generating business through GCN. However, across the newspaper and magazine publishing industry advertising revenue has steadily decreased year-on-year since the dawn of the digital age. Newspaper and magazine publishers have to find ever more creative ways of generating income to survive

30 years on, our publishers, the National LGBT Federation continue to believe in GCN’s key role as a community hub in Ireland, and an educational resource that fosters a sense of who we are as Irish LGBTs. We are partly funded to do this work by the Department of Rural and Community Development through Pobal, which also believes GCN is a vital resource, as we are by our advertisers. We send out a huge thank-you to all our funders and advertisers on this momentuous anniversary.

This month we’re launching our Support GCN initiative online, with which you can help fund your community publication for just €1.99 a month, a small amount which will have a huge effect in keeping GCN alive. We’re also launching our new subscription service, with the fabulous new Q Card to keep you up to date with special offers from our advertisers. It’s all part of the drive to keep GCN going for another 30 years!

In bittersweet news, after 11 years we bid farewell to our Deputy Editor, Ciara McGrattan this month. GCN Towers won’t be the same with out her intelligent, sharp-as-a-tack sense of humour, the magazine is loosing one of its greatest contributors, and I’m saying goodbye to my closest work colleague in all those years. We’ll miss you, Ciara, but you will always be part of the family. Here’s to the very best in everything you do from here on in.