From The Team
Welcome, dear reader, to our January issue of GCN, the very first of a new decade. Taking as our theme the idea of ‘Travel’, we look at all that word encompasses.

NXF: Ambitious For Change As A New Decade Dawns
The long awaited National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy was finally published in the closing weeks of 2019.

Culture Stripping
Dublin’s culture is quietly being stripped away, or at least that’s how many are feeling with recent venue closures

Travelling with HIV
Living with HIV shouldn’t stop you from living the life you want, and that includes travelling.

HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Now Available Through The HSE
From November 4, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is available free of charge through the HSE to those who are at substantial risk of contracting HIV through sex.

PUT ON YOUR RED SHOES
Fans of the Starman rejoice – the Dublin Bowie Festival is about to land. Falling to earth January 8, the space oddity himself will be celebrated with a feast of events. Here are just some of the highlights

Culture Club with Conor Behan
The end of the year always results in Best Of lists and countdowns. Depending on your perspective, it’s either a chance to catch up on what you missed from the previous 12 months or to eye-roll at pompous critics trying to outdo each other

Reeling in the Years: 2019
It’s been a memorable year for Ireland’s LGBT+ community. Here are just some of the highlights that took place across the country over the past 365 days

Rainbow Travel
While Disneyland proved to be the happiest place on earth, a simple trip abroad turned out to be anything but for Ranae von Meding. As well as telling all about her holiday to Orlando with her wife and daughters, she shares the reality of travel for families led by same-sex parents.

Stranger in your own land
While Poland remains more socially conservative than many countries in Western Europe, attitudes to LGBT+ issues are changing. Will St Leger speaks to activists standing strong in the face of oppression

Enter the Dragon
With a stage positioned 12 feet above the bar, and nothing but flimsy scaffolding to prevent performers from toppling onto the crowd below, mishaps were plentiful, and oſten expected. So how is it that The Dragon, a place so haphazard in design and atmosphere, is remembered so fondly by its former patrons? David Monaghan revisits a queer nightlife landmark

Safe House
From trans and non-binary folk forced into situations that may compromise their welfare, to an older generation at risk of isolation, to queer creatives unable to focus on making and doing, the effects of the housing crisis are diverse and unique in their manifestation. Here, Stephen Moloney speaks with a handful of members of the LGBT+ community to gain some insight into the lived experience of a broken system

Not Done Yet
It has been a remarkable few years for women in Ireland. Shubhangi Karmakar details a personal journey into activism and talks to other activists fighting the good fight.

A Year of Transformation
Pádraig Rice and Michael O’Donnell of the Gay Project in Cork fill us in on their amazing year supporting the community.

Get In Early!
As their successful Winter Pride draws to a close, Dublin Pride have announced that registrations for next year’s Dublin Pride Parade are now open.

New Year New You
Start 2020 by making new friends and blowing the cobwebs off with Wet and Wild’s annual January Hike!

PROTEST
Experiencing the genius of Derek Jarman at an exhibition in IMMA, Tonie Walsh gives us the background on, and the impact of, an unmatchable artist.