3 mins
TEAM GCN
What are you most looking forward to about being able to celebrate Pride together this year?
Lisa
Having an entirely in-person Pride to plan for and attend this summer is an absolute joy! With our work on Mother Pride Block Party, the thought that we’ll be bringing thousands of LGBTQ+ people and our allies together to dance and celebrate Pride for the first time in two years is incredibly motivating and moving.
Stefano
After the past two years when we couldn’t get together, march and celebrate, I am so excited for this year’s Pride! It almost feels like my first time going to a Pride event. The thing I am excited about the most, outside of celebrating the day with all my friends, is marching with our GCN family. In my five years in GCN, we’ve always been at Pride, giving it live coverage, but this will be the first time where we’ll also march in the parade with other wonderful organisations and groups.
Han
For nearly 20 years Pride has been a vital part of my queer visibility and the parade has been an integral part of that. Marching in my first parade with Bi Irish when the parade had only about 6,000 people was so exhilarating. This year, I can’t wait to get back to the streets after three years and feel that same rush, only this time marching with ten times as many supporters, and of course my incredible new family here at GCN.
Beatrice
For me, this year will be the first time I celebrate Pride in Ireland. I moved here not long ago, but I’ve already found the Irish LGBTQ+ community to be so welcoming. As someone who has started to explore her bisexual identity fairly recently and who has grown up in a sexually repressive environment where finding community was almost impossible, what I’m most looking forward to this Pride is being a part of the community and being able to witness all the differences that queerness allows to exist in freedom.
Marlon
I look forward to seeing beyond the glitter and the excitement to think and reflect on the challenges we have overcome as a community, and to take a moment to express gratitude for who we are and have become as a result of what we have achieved together. I look forward to showing love, because love is the one unseen, yet very-well felt colour in our beautiful rainbow. I wish you all a wonderful Pride!
Peter
Working daily in the centre of the LGBTQ+ community, there were some years Pride wouldn’t have made as big of an impact on me – we’re constantly speaking and writing about queer news, what’s another rainbow flag on one certain day of the calendar? The last few years have been a real wake-up call – Pride is essential. It’s not just celebration, it’s solidarity, it’s a riot, it’s comfort. I’m looking forward to seeing familiar faces on the streets, but even more-so, seeing unfamiliar faces, people finally able to attend their first Pride, people finding a family amongst strangers, people witnessing in the flesh that they aren’t alone.
Saoirse
I get the privilege of writing about the Irish LGBTQ+ community every day for GCN; I get to write about the how we overcome challenges, fight worthy fights and support each other in our efforts to make Ireland a better, more diverse and more colourful place. I get to write about queer icons and activists and leaders who make real change every day. Pride is the one time of year when all of those dazzling rainbow community members come together and celebrate, so I’m most looking forward to seeing in person the heroes I write about every day.
Dave
Pride is always a hugely important and celebratory time of the year, but after two years without marches, no huge parade and no place for us all to come together, I expect this year will be bigger than ever. I am constantly impressed by the GCN crew, but particularly by how they handled the past two years, so marching alongside this team of superhumans, and acknowledging their hard work and dedication - that’s what Pride will be about for me this year. Well, that and the Block Party!
Alice
The sense of community you feel at Pride is unlike any other experience. It’s not been an easy year for us, but when we get to gather together in all of our glory we remember that we are not alone and that nothing can stop us from living authentically. I think the resilience and bravery of our community will be highlighted this year, and I can’t wait to celebrate arm in arm with my queer family.