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Goodbye, My Friends

From early days as a team member all the way up to running the organisation, our beloved Managing Editor Lisa Connell will depart after an incredible 14 years in total with GCN.

During my time in GCN, I’ve worked on 140 issues of the magazine spanning over 14 years. Each one of those editions has documented the joys, progress, agony and ecstasy of our fabulous LGBTQ+ community.

When I first joined the team as a part-timer helping with distribution, we LGBTQ+ folks lived in a very different Ireland. In May 2008, there was not yet Civil Partnership legislation, no legal protection for LGBTQ+ families, no marriage equality, no gender recognition legislation, no reproductive health rights, no access to PrEP, huge stigma for people living with HIV, and Ireland was soon to experience a sharp and brutal descent into recession, the death of the septic tiger and the bailing out of the banks.

So much has changed for GCN, for Ireland, for the LGBTQ+ community in those intervening years and while there have been plenty of challenges and struggles along the way, it’s been a pleasure and a privilege to serve the community by working for Ireland’s national LGBTQ+ press throughout it all.

GCN has reflected queer life since 1988 and has provided me a job, a queer family, a purpose and an absolutely fantastic working life. I’ve learned so much during my time. How to write and edit, how to sell ads and distribute magazines, how to run community events and parties alike. How to fundraise and agitate and advocate and amplify the most marginalised voices in our community.

From 2008-2019, I worked on distribution, ad sales and events with brilliant people as teammates (too many to list here, but they know who they are) and successive board members of the NXF who voluntarily served their community across a turbulent period of time and seismic social change on the island of Ireland, much of which was driven and led by LGBTQ+ folks!

In 2010, I was part of the creative team who founded Mother, a queer club night for gays and their friends. A weekly fundraiser that kept GCN afloat in the darkest days of the recession and a project that has blossomed and developed over the past 12 years. Mother has given me (and so many others) so much joy and makes me immensely proud. I will be continuing my work on Mother with co-founder Cormac Cashman after my time with GCN is over.

2010 - 2019 saw many changes in the line-up of the team, a rebrand (or two) of the magazine and a step into the digital landscape, more community events and GCN changing and evolving to meet the needs of its audience and remain relevant.

In 2019, I was appointed Managing Editor of the organisation, a role that had long been a dream and aspiration for me. I have spent the past 3.5 years leading the organisation through some pretty challenging times but with the collaboration of the dreamiest and most talented team imaginable, I’m proud to say, I have achieved all the goals I set out at the start of my time and feel that the next person to take on this role is going to be so lucky.

The team and I have loved every second of those years and even though there was a literal global pandemic, we worked hard to keep the community entertained, educated and informed during the hardest days and the saddest days. We acknowledge that there was so much loss and pain suffered in that time.

I want to name these people and thank them for making my job easy and being so inspiring in their commitment and passion and talent. Peter Dunne, Dave Darcy, Stefano Pappalardo, Katie Donohoe, Seán Kennedy, Samantha McCafferty, Marlon Jimenez-Compton, Han Tiernan, Saoirse Schad, Alice Linehan and Beatrice Fanucci. Also to all our volunteers, interns, freelancers, community partners, fellow activists, and readers, especially all of you who rallied behind us during the pandemic and kept us going - thank you.

On a personal note, as a queer Irish woman, it has been such a formative time for me and a significant portion of my professional career. I have always had a strong belief in the importance of telling a story, of being seen and heard and the power of representation in order to effect change, I think that’s why I’ve stuck it out as long as I have. So here’s to all the visible queers (and the not so visible ones, we have your back). Here’s to the agony and the ecstasy and here’s to having a local queer press to document our lives, to represent us and to lift up our voices when we need amplification.

Your heart is a muscle the size of your fist. Keep loving, keep fighting.

Lisa x

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FROM THE TEAM
Welcome, dear reader, to the August/September edition of GCN.
THE NXF DURING PRIDE SEASON
We were delighted to use the occasion of the 2022 Dublin Pride Parade to unveil a new banner showcasing our rich legacy of campaigning dating back to 1979.
BEING ‘OUT’ IN THE WORKPLACE
Being queer means constantly questioning your identity and how you represent yourself to those around you, shares Leah Downey. There is a constant need to gauge the reactions of others, to understand if you are safe to be out or if it becomes a source of social isolation.
THIS IS ME
Up until the day she moved from Brazil to Ireland, Leticia Barbosa never really thought of herself as part of the Black community, but a new country brought about a new realisation of identity.
Sea Change
“My younger self always dreamed about traveling, so when I learned about a program that did internships abroad I knew this was my chance”, shares Olivia Fraser.
Scrambled Eggs & Androgyny My Genderqueer Story
Zayda Slabbekoorn shares her genderqueer story and her journey of self actualisation.
THE DARK SIDE OF MONKEY
With the rise of campaigns against equality, Beatrice Fanucci takes a look at where funding for far-right groups comes from.
DOMESTIC ABUSE IN THE QUEER COMMUNITY
“I have experienced domestic abuse,” writes Val Hourican. “It’s taken me two years to write that down and sit with it. It’s a hurt I’ve worked through but it still sits there under the surface. The tension ready to break at any moment like a fish jumping out of water to avoid a predator...
KING OF THE MOUNTAIN
An absorbing read full of twisted tenderness and atmospheric tension, Hawk Mountain, the debut novel by Conner Habib, is utterly compelling. He spoke to Lisa Connell on its journey to reality. Portraits by Hazel Coonagh.
Making A Move
Choreographer and performer Nick Nikolau dances through their memories in a daring solo show at DFF. Dissecting it with Oisín Kenny, they open up about the people, queer spaces, and club nights which breathed a euphoric life into their performance. The stunning images were captured by Hazel Coonagh.
FAMILY REVELRY
After igniting a RIOT at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2016, THISISPOPBABY celebrates the act of letting go with a glittering Irish WAKE. Ahead of their new show, writer Oisín Kenny dives into this raucous meeting between club culture and Irish tradition
All Shook Up
“Think The Wizard of Oz meets Thelma and Louise with camp pop classics as our soundtrack,” says Candy Warhol when asked to give an elevator pitch to writer Chris Rooke for her upcoming Dublin Fringe Festival show The Wind That Shakes the Wig. The stunning photos featured are all by Eoin Greally
ABSENT
Writer Dylan Coburn Gray on the the process of making a show about adoption.
Roundup of Queer Dublin Fringe Festival Shows
Take a look at the queer side of the Dublin Fringe Festival...
Fostering with Five Rivers
We started our fostering journey over five years ago now. We always believed that we had something to offer...
LETTING OFF STEAM
When it comes to his body, Geraint Llewellyn prefers to disappoint people one at a time – so as a result he’s never stepped inside a sauna. And by sauna he doesn’t mean getting sweaty in Sweden being hit by sticks.
Giving Voice
A series of short video portraits of queer men will be screened in Outhouse on the evening of Friday 23 September. The people involved share a part of their stories, accompanied by a series of beautiful images from Babs Daly
Directory
Trans & Intersex Pride 2022: Shared Communities
During the recent Trans and Intersex Pride, a powerful speech by Mike, a Trans Traveller, was read aloud on his behalf. We are proud to share his powerful words and thank those involved for permission
Goodbye, My Friends
From early days as a team member all the way up to running the organisation, our beloved Managing Editor Lisa Connell will depart after an incredible 14 years in total with GCN
Looking for back issues?
Browse the Archive >

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