No: 20 The GALAS

In 2008 when I first joined the National LGBT Federation’s board, I was motivated to contribute in some way to our amazing rainbow community in Ireland. Planning for the coming year was exciting – it’s amazing what happens when you put a group of people together in a room and the ideas that get generated. It was decided that Ireland needed an event that would celebrate the achievements of individuals and organisations who contribute to LGBT+ inclusion. I had literally just come back from an awards event in London and was buzzing at the idea. The GALAS was born!

Our first choice of venue probably reflected our confidence levels at the time and we were completely anxious about whether we would even sell the 150 tickets to make the event pay for itself with a tiny amount left over (the venue had capacity for 200). With 11 categories and a few sponsors and with the help of Karl Hayden and the amazing GCN and NXF crew, we pulled our first ever GALAS 2009 offand with just under 200 guests. We even had a ‘Molly Malone Gay Icon of the Year’ award, suitably given to Panti!

With a sense of achievement and newfound confidence the GALAS LGBT Awards has gone from strength to strength and our confidence has been reflected in our choice of venues too. 2016 was an amazing year to recognise all the achievements of the year before and was absolutely a GALAS highlight for me. Could we top this, we asked ourselves, but in 2017 we had a sold-out event at the Mansion House with our highest number of guests ever and some incredible and moving moments of acknowledgement. To me the GALAS represent all things good about our community, but what makes a community are the people. At the last GALAS event, I looked across the densely populated room and for a moment, whilst Glória were singing the opening number, thought, “What a fabulous bunch we are!” I can’t wait for the next one.