The cover of the June 1993 edition of GCN featured an iconic picture of a group of four people outside Dáil Eireann, celebrating the decriminalisation of homosexuality with glasses of champagne. Three of those people were members of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) – Kieran Rose, Chris Robson and Suzy Byrne – and they were not only ringing in a new era for gay and lesbian people in Ireland, they were toasting the culmination of a campaign that had been happening mostly behind closed doors for five years, only reported on in the pages of GCN and fleetingly in the mainstream press.
Pictured: Staff and board members of GLEN, receiving the Lord Mayor’s Award in 2016, left to right: Jeanne McDonagh (guest rather than board member), Alan Hatton, Simon Nugent, Marie Hamilton, Patrick Sweeney, Craig Dwyer, Kieran Rose, Sandra Irwin-Gowran, Davin Roche, Séamus Dooley, Ross Flanagan, Muriel Walls, Brian Sheehan
During this time GLEN perfected their approach to achieving positive change, one that slotted in seamlessly with the way politics works in this country. Instead of agitating with marches and banners, GLEN were ‘inside jobbers’ lobbying ministers and TDs, pulling offseemingly small feats that all the time massaged the greasy political wheel into turning in queer favour.