GCN is in trouble. The latest edition tells us just how much financial difficulty the publication is in, but we’re also provided with details on how to donate – no matter how small or big the contribution – here.

When I was a wean, a budding teenaged lesbian, I picked up my first copy. Appropriately, I was sixteen-going-on-seventeen at the time, and I was a big fan o’ th’music (the more angsty the better, of course), so I was a regular at the Virgin music shop on Henry Street, Dublin. One day, while queueing to pay for my latest Skunk Anansie CD, I noticed next to the Event Guide a freesheet newspaper (back then, on newsprint!) called Gay Community News.

Of course, being a teenager, everyone in the shop was interested in my to-ings and fro-ings, so I had to devise a way to get my hands on that paper without anyone being any the wiser. And devise I did: I came up with the clever ruse of pretending to be leafing through the Event Guide and then, when picking it up, also picked up the top-most copy of the GCN at the same time, and quickly folded it up inside the Guide. Truly, I was an evil genius.

GCN opened up a world to me which had previously been a total mystery. I wasn’t the only gay in the suburb any longer. And through the Listings Page (hallowed be thy name!) I discovered OutYouth, the LGBT youth group based at OutHouse, which was then located at 6 South William Street in Dublin. Through the group, I met many friends – in the proper sense, outside of the pub and club scene. Many remain among my best friends, after more than 10 years. Of course, I was introduced to the social scene, too, discovering The George, H.A.M. at The Pod, Stonewall at Griffith Barracks, among many other nights out.

I attended OutYouth for a total of about 6 years, including for a couple of years being one of a handful of members who took over from the previous volunteer organisers when real life meant that they had to move on.

We came to realise that the group needed experience and support that we couldn’t provide by ourselves. Eventually, with the help of Gay Switchboard Dublin, a wonderful trainer called Fran McVeigh, and an inspirational young chap called Michael Barron, OutYouth prepared applications for funding to the Department of Education and met with their officials in order to provide structure and support for the group, including a permanent qualified youth worker. After some time, the process was completed and the group’s name was later changed to BeLonG To.

I don’t know that I could have had these experiences without the resource of GCN.

I know that GCN has been the target of criticism for various reasons, including from yours truly. Nevertheless, I think that – feck the banks – GCN is too important to fail. The publication has gone through many changes since its founding in 1988, and was and is part of Irish LGBT history.

What are your memories and experiences of GCN?

Donations can be made to GCN at gcn.ie/forever. Payments can be made by PayPal or credit card, or by cheque or postal order to GCN, Unit 2, Scarlet Row, Essex Street West, Dublin 2.

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