A MESSAGE FROM AN TAOISEACH
My very best wishes to everyone celebrating Cork Pride this year.
#CORKPRIDE2023 THANK YOU We’d like to say a huge thank you to all of our
Pride is a time when people who are gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual or queer, who’ve been made to feel shame for being who they are, who’ve had their culture condemned, march together to say we are not ashamed of who we are. We will do so with our LGBT+ friends and our straight allies. The theme of Cork Pride 2023 is ‘30 years on’, commemorating the 1993 decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland. The criminalisation of homosexuality is now widely recognised as an affront to human dignity and a significant historic injustice. The Government is introducing a scheme to disregard historic convictions related to consensual sexual activity between men prior to decriminalisation in 1993. Despite all the progress we have made as a community since decriminalisation, this year, Pride, will be tinged with a sense that the warm embrace felt by the community after the marriage equality referendum is not as warm as it was. Homophobic violence has increased and there is a growing feeling that overt and covert homophobia is on the rise again. We are updating our laws around incitement of hatred and hate speech, and we are increasing the number of Gardaí on our streets. The increase in homophobic attacks highlights the continued need for Pride. It also reminds us that Pride started out as a protest, and remains a protest march today, as well as a celebration of diversity, equality and inclusion.
Aoife Whelan, Stephen Campbell and all the team at eBay; Aoife Kavanagh and all the team at McCafé; Vincent Phelan and all the team at Solarwinds; Amy O’Shaughnessy and the team at Energia; Noelle Mulcahy and all the team at Teamwork; Grace O’Sullivan MEP, Rob O’Donnell, Alana Daly Mulligan and all at the Green Party; Cllr John Maher; Ciaran Austin and all the team at NOSP; Triona Healy and all the team at HSE Cork South Community Work Department; Rachel McKeon, Shane Bowles, and all the team at Abtran; Cllr Mick Finn and the team at CETB; John Goulding and all the team at WorkVivo; Phoebe Holland and all the team at Rugs.ie; Mary Weathers and all the team at DFS; Bernadette Boyle, Molly Forsythe and the team at Pat McDonnell Paints; Ruairi O’Connor, Sinead McDonald, and all the team at The River Lee; Peter Loughnane and all the team at Trigon Hotels; Diana Pyzio and all the team at Jurys Inns; Cork Pride Artist in Residence Stephen Doyle; Cork Pride Master of Ceremonies Paul Ryder; Mike Boyle and the team at BCE Consultants; Murt Whelan and the team at Murt Whelan Sound; Shane Healy and the team at Healy Sound and Lighting; Paddy Ahern at Herlihy Consulting; the Work with Pride Committee: Damien O Halloran, Mary White, Kery Mullaly, Aoife Dilworth, Ronan Kenny, Lauren Hogan, Don Crowley, Darren Fitzgerald, Evan Murphy-Keogh, and Nuttawud Nutchanat; Nicki French Davis and the team at Civic Trust House; Claudine at Claudine Leonard Design; Cork Pride Magazine Editor Dee Finn; Event Coordinator Geri Murphy; Accounts Administrators Mary Flanagan and Maeve Conroy. Daragh Murphy and all the team at Hairy Baby; Alma Brosnan and all the team at Fuzion Communications This year’s cover artwork and branding was designed by Ethan Desmond of From The Sketch Up. The story of the artwork is 30 people from the last 30 years - 15 are well known faces and activists from the Irish LGBT+ community and the other 15 are representative of the LGBT+ community in all it’s diversity. Huge thanks also to our dedicated Board of Directors: Clive Davis, Denise Boyle, Damien O’Halloran, Samantha Lake, and Darren Fitzgerald, and our teams of volunteers who generously give of their time and skills to bring you the Cork LGBT+ Pride Festival annually, Cork Pride simply couldn’t and wouldn’t happen without you!
community partners, loyal sponsors and advertisers – but most especially to each and every one of you, our fabulous LGBT+ community - you have helped build the Cork LGBT+ Pride Festival into what it is today! We’d also like to thank An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar; Lord Mayor Cllr Kieran McCarthy; Denise Coleman and all the team An Garda Siochana Anglesea Street; Dave Browne and all the team at Port of Cork; all the team at Cork City Council; all the team at Cork County Council; all the team at LINC; all the team at the Gay Project; all the team at the Sexual Health Centre; Karen O Donoghue and the marketing team at the Irish Examiner; Dave McCardle, Stevie Grainger, and all the team at Red FM; Justin Cronin, Kieran Rigby, and the team at Coolgrey; Peter O’Toole; Maurice Supple; Daragh Kelly; Ethan Desmond; Benny McCabe, Conor Lyons, Kate O Shea, Saoirse McCabe and the team at Cork Heritage Pubs; Will Organ and all the team at PepsiCo; Niall Donnelly and all the team at Gilead; David O’Meara and all the team at Merck; Mícheál Barry, Sara Bronnenkant and all the team at Apple; Fiona Connolly, Linda Allen, and all the team at Bus Eireann; Clodagh Graham, Emma Madigan, and all the team at Stryker; Diane Murphy, Ruan Pais do Nascimento, Vivie Nguyen and all the team at Remitly; Lucille Tordella and all the team at Qualcomm; Mark Browne, Philip Greene, and Courtnee Kyle, and all the team at Permanent TSB; Louise Dorgan and all the team at Pfizer; Eilín Ni Chroinin, Tim Kearney, Ozren Čolović, and all the team at J&J; Bex Hill, Lucy Clode, and all the team at Tesla; June McCarthy, Kevin Egan-Higgins, and all the team at Musgrave; Aoife Dilworth and Robbie McKeown at Tesco; Chryssa Dislis and all the team at Johnson Controls; JP McCarthy and all the team at Amazon; Maria Barry and all the team at EY; Anca Titu, Shane McCarthy and all the team at VMware; Siobhan Curtin, Erica Lester, and all the team at Clearstream; Jarred Arendse and all the team at Logitech; Eden Bovi, Dean Constable, and all the team at Blizzard; Don Crowley and all the team at MTU; Dr Claire Murray and all the team at UCC, Niamh Timon, Bridget Fitzsimons, and all the team at Accenture; Cristina Ioana Tudoran, Addy Azmi, and all the team at Cloudera; Sophie Lambert and all the team at Trellix; Philip Harris, Olivia Trought, and all at Collins Aerospace; Aoife Breslin, Sarah Stamps, and all the team at Sims IVF; Dave Walsh and all the team at Irish Water; Gilda Morrison and all the team at Zazzle;
We also recall the fact that in many countries in the world, homosexuality is still criminalised and that only thirty or so, out of two hundred, have marriage equality. We recommit to raising the rainbow flag all over the world and fighting the global fight for acceptance, respect and equality. It is great to see how Cork Pride has gone from strength to strength in recent years, becoming the largest LGBT+ Pride Parade outside of Dublin. Congratulations to all involved in becoming the first Pride in Ireland to be awarded charitable status by the Charities Regulator, and for being the first to join the European Pride Organisers Association.
Leo Varadkar An Taoiseach
www.corkpride.com
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