Photo by Babs Daly.
With a wink, he tells me, “We’re the divas of this choir.”
The atmosphere is jovial, and sassy comebacks are exchanged across the room. But, as musical director Dylan Walsh leads this choir through a series of warmups and rehearses the latest piece in their repertoire, it’s evident that this is so much more than a social group. Glória is gearing up for its 30th anniversary celebration performances, and the pressure is on.
Glória began life in 1995. Ireland was a hostile place for the LGBTQ+ community, but many found solace and solidarity in this choir. For Leah Bools, Glória’s Christmas performances served as an entry point between her family and the LGBTQ+ community. “It was the type of thing you could bring your granny and your mother to, and not freak them out,” she says.
Pauline Tracey also saw Glória as a means of bridging two worlds: “It really was something that you could involve your family in,” she says. “And there were very few things where you could—you’re not going to bring them to The George. But also, to have a safe space for the LGBTQI community at Christmas was huge because a lot of people would have been disowned, and they were very lonely.”
Since Glória’s founding, Ireland has become a different place for the LGBTQ+ community, and while they’re always preparing for their next performance, the choir is also using its anniversary as an opportunity to look back on some of their proudest moments. From travelling the world to performing at Yes Equality events to singing at a garden party in Áras an Uachtaráin, Glória’s 30-year history has been peppered with celebratory moments.
For Chairperson Richard Deane, however, he is particularly proud of the times when Glória stood by the wider community in moments of mourning, such as the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, or the killing of journalist Lyra McKee in 2019.
“Down the years, we’ve sadly had to sing at events where we’re commemorating an awful atrocity,” Richard says. “Those events in particular are so poignant.”
Glória’s sense of connection is apparent in the proudest memories of some of the newer members.
Gabriel dos Santos, Glória’s first-ever Brazilian member, describes the choir as his “Irish family”, and he felt particularly connected to them when they competed at Various Voices, a global choir competition, or, as Gabriel puts it, the “gay choral Olympics”.
“It was very beautiful to go with Glória and represent a country that has embraced me as a Brazilian immigrant. I’m not Irish, but I’ve been welcomed by the choir with so much love, they have become my family,” he says. “I call [being in the choir] a political act because we’re told we don’t belong in places like that, we‘re told we belong in the service industry, but I’m here now.”
Youth worker Ciara Boud Keegan’s proudest moment came when they were signing ‘Defying Gravity’ at Dublin Pride 2024. Ciara had spent the day marching with the young people they work with and left them to prepare with Glória. “I started singing and the young people I work with rushed to the front,” they say. “It was really lovely. They told me after that when they go to Pride and they see people just being themselves—not to downplay singing but we’re not doing it in a special way, we are just getting up and existing—they find it a very hopeful thing, to see adults being happy, and they can see it for themselves.”
One of Owen Walsh’s happiest Glória memories is similarly intergenerational. At their last Christmas concert, a number of the members’ children joined the choir on stage to sing the first song, and Owen’s child was among them. “It was great that they were able to stand up with me. Now we can both say we’ve sung in front of 800 people in St Patrick’s Cathedral,” he says. “To them, Glória is a safe space because it’s all queer people, and that’s their safe people. It was really nice for me to know that they feel comfortable here.”
As I leave the rehearsal space on Tuesday evening, one thing is very clear. It’s been a landmark 30 years for Glória, and the future of the choir is in very capable hands.
To see more from Glória, they are hosting an alumni event in St Laurence’s Church on October 18, a table quiz in Pantibar on October 22 and a Christmas concert in St Patrick’s Cathedral on December 18.