Last year marked the 30th year for HIV Ireland (formerly Dublin AIDS Alliance and AIDS Action Alliance), the 25th for the GMHS clinic, and 21st for Outhouse. This year will also be the 25th since the decriminalisation of homosexuality and of course the 30th for Gay Community News (GCN), while 2019 will mark 25 years for Gay Health Network (GHN).
It’s no surprise that all these significant birthdays are happening around the same timeframe, reflecting community action and the continuation of these groups and services. It also highlights how AIDS, HIV and sexual health have become intertwined with these events, and especially with GCN.
Having a community-led, free magazine has made it possible to reach out to the base, which was badly needed, helping promote actions and developments in challenging the climate of homophobia, stigma, discrimination, and fear. After all, GCN came into being soon after the Supreme Court dismissed the Norris case for decriminalisation of homosexuality, the defeat of the abortion and divorce referendums, and the developing AIDS crisis, a time of discrimination and death when condoms were only available legally by prescription. A darkness had enveloped the island, leading to further marginalisation and cultural, gender and social emigration.
The community fightback relating to AIDS began in January 1985, when a meeting of NGF (now NXF), the Cork and Dublin Lesbian and Gay Collectives and Gay Switchboard Dublin led to the establishment of Gay Health Action (GHA). This, in turn, led to Lesbian Health Action, AIDS Action Alliance (later Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Letterkenny alliances), CAIRDE and the AIDS Helpline. Later on, the Eastern Health Board established the Gay Men’s Health Project (now the GMHS), the Lesbian and Gay Health Caucus, the AIDS Forum and the National AIDS Strategy Committee (NASC). All the above along with GLEN and ACT UP campaigning led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality, and condoms, in 1993.