The first steps have been taken to set up a gay men's
swimming group. The swimmers meet informally in the
Mespil Leisure Centre Pool in the Mespil Apartments
Complex, entrance on Sussex Road [same side of the
road as the Burlington Hotel] anytime on Saturday
afternoons finishing at 4pm and retiring to a local
hostelry immediately thereafter. Visitors fee is £6
for this public swimming session. Facilities there,
though very compact, include sauna, steamroom and
jacuzzi. Venue and time are liable to change. Keep abreast of developments by subscribing to the e-mail list at: http://www.egroups.com/group/gswim
or subscribe directly to: gswim-subscribe@egroups.com

Gay Cork man Graham Norton has won this years Rear of the Year award. The Channel 4 presenter who currently holds the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' Best Entertainment Performance was a bit shocked when he heard of his winning, "I have no idea how I won, it's all been a bit of a bum scrum today, but apart from that it's a very nice experience." 
previous winners of the award are Robbie Williams, Frank Skinner and Michael Barrymore. For more on this story click here 

#GayDublin officialy opened this week, the chat channel  was recently registered with cservice who put a full time monitor on the channel. The monitor is a bot known as "W" and is used to make sure no one abuses the service. The channel can be found on the IRC undernet server, while its name might suggest otherwise its not exclusively for gay people from Dublin.
To join the channel check out our IRC chat pages, where you can also chat on the original
#gay-ireland room.

A photo of the man accused of a brutal attack in the George earlier this month has been released. Police are still appealing for people who were in the pub on the 6th of September to come forward. To view the released picture click here.

To view the TV Report from RTE News Click Here for 28k or Here for 56k video feed.. 

Gloria, Dublins gay and lesbian choir starts back in Temple Bar, Dublin, on Tuesday 3rd of October (new members welcoming session). We have added a recent interview with the group to the site on our Organisations page, where they discuss the mechanics of the group and talk about their favorite songs etc..
Visit the organisations page here

When Robbie Williams sang that he'll be loving angels instead, I wonder did he mean 'Angels' the nightclub for women only in Shooters bar on Thursday nights. It sounds like its going to be a great night. It's in a great location, still fresh as it hasnt been used much for gay nights much before and it has ample space to party in. Shooters bar is right next to UGC cinema's it was home to one of the succesful pride parties this year. This is the third regular nightclub that is catered at a female market, I wonder if this is what Cindi Lauper meant when she sang that girls just wanna have fun.

Gay-Ireland.com has won a Local Ireland award, the site was chosen "because of its outstanding content, navigation and design." Local Ireland is a directory service run by Eircom. The site is ranked in the top category, as a result we received a lovely banner which will be placed on the Gay-Ireland.com mantlepiece until next valentines day when it will be removed to make room for all the cards I get.

Two Dublin clubs are changing their names this week - Tag and shag is to become Disko and FF2 will now become soap-dish The clubs will still be on the same nights and will be held in the same venue. This is Fruit Factory Two's third name change since it began last year, it started off in velvet night club as fruit factory before reinventing itself as FF2. Click here to visit the fruit factory page.

Next monday (25th September) Baby 2K are holding a carnival night in the big top known as Club Mono on Wexford street. The drag queens won't be the only ones in makeup as an assortment of clowns are expected on the night. Club Mono are making use of the huge space they have by pumping up a bouncey castle in the club - it should make things on the dance floor quiet interesting - just stand clear of the bouncing people that have had too much to drink. There will even be a candyfloss machine for that added carnival feel and with games and prizes promised it sounds like it's going to be an unusual yet exciting night. 

The Gay Ireland Mailing List celebrated its second birthday last week, (13th September) The list started back in 1998 with 8 chatty subscribers
when a Mars bar was only 32p and you could get the bus into town for only 55p, two years on the list is bursting at the seams with over 400 regular members and others popping in and out. The list is made up of 80% people living in Ireland and 20% of our members are from abroad.
To join the list visit gayireland.listbot.com 

Dublin's fetish club 'Lube' are hosting a dress code party in Lynch's this Friday (Sept 22nd) Admission is £2 for members and £3 for non members. Doors open at 9. Dress code is very strict. Click here to find out what to wear and what to leave back in your wardrope.

Channel 4 is planning to bring the big brother cameras to Dublin this Friday (15th Sept) for a live link-up between a gay Dublin pub and the BB studios in London.  Friday is the final night of the show and huge audience figures are expected. Finalist Anna Nolan from Crumlin used to frequent the as yet un-named gay bar in Dublin and the show is in the process of organising to have her friends come down to the bar for live commentary. Watch this space. Visit the official BB site here

COTHU is a support and friendship group for gay men in the Kerry area, they are recruiting new members at present.  They meet at a secure location in Tralee on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. Meetings consist of discussions around gay issues, general chat or even a night out at the pub. Guest speakers visit from time to time, speaking on specialised, gay-related issues, such as gay rights, etc. the group is open to other suggestions for social activities.

A phoneline is available every Tuesday night from 7.30 pm to 10.00 pm at : 086 8841654 The group can also be contacted by e-mail cothu@hotmail.com

Gardai are still looking for people that were in the George last Wednesday (6th September) the night of the brutal attack of a teenage girl. People are urged to contact Garda Finbar Murphy, everyone will be treated with sensitivity and total confidentiality.  Meanwhile Gardai believe that a psychologically damaged young male targeted the girl in an effort to repress homosexual
feelings with which he was unable to come to terms. Click here for more on this story

Baby 2k are having their third foam party this Monday the 11th of September, It will be the last baby 2k foam party of the summer, expect more foam and more fun,
with DJ Ross Kay entertaining until the return of DJ fluffy on Sept 18th. Click here to visit our baby 2k page.

‘Johnny’ the Gay Peer Action Group have decided to do something to counteract the current trend of ‘Hate Crimes’ taking place against ‘Gay’ people in Ireland. 
They are urging as many people as possible to get in touch with their local TD’s and ‘voice’ their desire to see better policing for the GBLT community. Click here for full details of the campaign.

Its a busy month for girl clubs with Stonewallz changing dates and going head to head with popular girl club Libida, Stonewallz is now on every Saturday night from 9pm till late, Libida will next be on Saturday, September 16th in Chief O'Neill's, Smithfield. Saturdays look like they're getting exciting again. Click here to visit the Stonewallz page. Click here to visit the Libida Page.

A new group has been set up to cater for gay people in the West of Ireland (Mayo, Roscommon area). At the moment its in its early stages but already there is a disco planned, as well as monthly meetings and other events. Keep an eye on their website for a full list of resources. Click here to join the group.

A 17 year old girl was attacked and raped last night in the George, Dublin. The incident is alleged to have occurred in the ladies toilets of the George pub at 3.10 a.m. when the girl was assaulted by a man. Gardai have issued the following description of a man they wish to question. He is about 18 years-of age, 5 ft 9-10" in height, blonde hair and was wearing a white T-shirt with the logo FCUK with a blue denim jacket and black jeans. Police are looking for witnesses that were at the club to come forward.  

Meanwhile the owners of the George, Capital Bars have issued the following statement .

"We are aware of an incident at one of our venues, The George, George’s Street, Dublin in the early hours of this morning, Thursday the 7th September 2000. We cannot comment directly in relation to this incident as it is in the hands of the Gardai. We are hopeful that the tapes of the extensive security close circuit television coverage in The George, which we have made available to the Gardai, will assist them in their enquires. We are of course making available our management and security staff in offering every possible assistance to the Gardai."

Starting September 14th the Tivoli Theatre Dublin will be showing acclaimed Caberet act 'Ladyboys of Bangkok'  which features no less than 15 sensational Thai transvestites.
The play with the catchphrase 'You'll never look at the opposite sex the same again' is presented by Phillip Gandey. It comes straight from the Edinburough festival and runs until October 8th. Click here for a picture of the Tivoli Theatre.

On Friday (Sept 1st) National newspaper the Irish Examiner carried a full page story about the gay community online. The article covered Gay-Ireland.com labeling it an "undoubted success story". Click here for an extract of the article. 

The first case seeking to establish the validity of a marriage involving a man who has undergone a sex change is likely to come before the Irish courts as a result of an immigration procedure. Visit the Transgender section

The Mr. Gay-Ireland final is held this Sunday (Sept 3rd) in the Red Box (above the pod) - Contestants were gathered from around the country. The event is hosted by Harry French - The winner of Mr. UK 2000 and Siobhan Broadway - The winner of Mrs Alternative Ireland 2000. Tickets cost £10.00. For more on this story visit our events page. Check out these pages for a review after the event.

The Queen and Peacock opened this week in Waterford and will run until the 9th of September
when it will move on to limerick until the 16th.
The play is based entirly inside a pub and all of the main characters are gay.
The story follows five Irish characters that hang out in a bar in London,
one of them Ciaran is not seen on stage, he was a regular in the pub but is now dying of AIDS in
a London hospice, the directory hopes his audiences will go away with an awareness of how hard it
is for gay people in this country. It is not `an issues play' - but the issues in it are very strong.
Click here for the full story

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