2019 has been a significant year for all of us at the National LGBT Federation (NXF), as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the organisation’s founding. Some of the key events that have shaped 40 years of NXF advocacy and campaigning have been documented in GCN throughout 2019 in a series of monthly articles marking our anniversary. In 2019 we continue to assist in the improvements of LGBT+ lives by preserving the past, documenting the present, and improving the future for our LGBT+ community.

Archiving our LGBT+ history has been a focus of the NXF for decades, growing the Irish Queer Archives (IQA) by preserving documents, press cuttings, photos and other material that makes it one of the largest LGBT+ archives worldwide. The ‘Road to Equality’ exhibition brings highlights of that history to life and it has continued to travel around the country this year, being displayed in universities, town halls and conference rooms to help raise awareness of Ireland’s LGBT+ story. Creating full access to the IQA is a mutual aim of the National Library of Ireland (NLI) – where the IQA is housed – and the NXF. We have been working on exciting new developments for cataloguing and accessing the IQA, and are looking forward to announcing these in the new year. It is wonderful that this will soon be happening, enabling future studies of LGBT+ lives, histories and activists.