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THIS YEAR HAS TESTED, TAUGHT AND REVEALED SO MUCH. LINC HAS SEEN AN INFLUX OF WOMEN OF ALL AGES AND BACKGROUNDS COMING OUT AND CONNECTING WITH OUR SERVICE FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY
It’s 12.30pm and the coffee is brewed, click on the link and you’re met with friendly faces and smiling, brady-bunch style arrangement of other members of the LINC community. ‘You’re on mute!’ someone says, as you’re mouthing away silent ‘hellos’. LINC-IN; LINC but from your kitchen or bedroom or spare room- come-home-office …. No one can see the stack of storage boxes in the corner, just the little windows filled with butch, femme, bi, non-binary faces ready to check in and catch up. This year has tested, taught and revealed so much. LINC has seen an influx of women of all ages and backgrounds coming out and connecting with our service from all over the country. One of the opportunities (though few) that Covid restrictions have afforded us; virtual drop-ins and remote conversations. Since March of 2020 LINC has moved many of our services to online platforms; we have 4 weekly drop-in sessions over zoom, an online health group on Facebook, peer support sessions over zoom and on the phone and our LGBTI+ diversity and awareness training has been running on Zoom and over Teams. Though Covid restrictions necessitated the use of alternative and virtual LINC-ING OUT
and this summer, during Cork Pride we aim to host a theatre experience that will be the first of it’s kind in Cork; ‘Queer Code’ is a park-theatre hybrid experience where the audience walks around Cork’s stunning Fitzgerald’s park and scans QR codes to reveal pre-recorded monologues from their favourite lesbian and bi thespians, it’s like Poke mon Go – but with queer people! We’re back to playing soccer outdoors and hope to re-launch our other out-door groups over the coming months. The expansion of LINC this year is testament to the ongoing work of the staff team and members of our steering group; we haven’t stopped working to improve and grow the organisation and we won’t! LINC now has a broader reach in the form of our two new out-reach workers in Kerry and Waterford, Hannah and Alison who are doing a fantastic job of bringing the counties together. Our new 3 year education and employment programme WorkLINC, funded by The Equality Fund, will employ another staff member to oversee the project, improving outcomes from lesbian and bi women in relation to education and employment. All of these adaptations show that regardless of the challenges and circumstances we find ourselves in, we will adapt, move forward and overcome. If you’d like to get involved in anything mentioned above, please don’t hesitate to contact us on info@linc.ie or on 021 4808600
spaces, we have an increase in numbers and locations in terms of who can now access our daily services. It’s rare that there’s an optimistic comment about Covid unless we’re heralding the easing of restrictions or a robust order of vaccines but there is one thing the pandemic has gifted us that we can cheer about – accessibility! Our online chats allow women with children, women who are carers and those with other commitments that may have previously acted as a barrier to connecting in with the community, to join us from their homes and various other locations. Our monthly ISL drop-in also means that our service is more accessible to those from the deaf community. Though we have finally been able to host in person meet-ups for the past number of weeks, we will continue our online presence into the future; with accessibility and inclusion at the heart of our service. LINC will gather up all the learnings the pandemic has provided and continue to build an ever-growing and adapting community space for lesbian and bisexual women in Cork and beyond and we’re excited about this.
With a broader reach we have a greater impact, so what will community work look like in the near future? A realistic approach is blended and weather-proof! LINC will continue to provide online spaces as well as endeavour to host out-door and other safe ways of meeting and connecting with the community. It’s clear that the past 15 months have exacerbated mental health challenges and feelings of isolation within our community, some hard to reach groups have become harder to reach and to combat this we have set up a pen-pal service called Silver Scribblers; older lesbian and bisexual women can make contact with LINC and we’ll connect them with a LINC volunteer to exchange letters each month in an effort to combat those feelings of disconnect and loneliness. Our outdoor meet-up – ‘OUTside Again’ currently has a capacity of 15 and each Saturday has been full with smiling faces, bursting to make those in person introductions with one another after a long period of time spent making friends on screens and Facebook groups. We have continued to run our drama group
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