Global Travel - gay tours is a new travel agency in Northern Ireland that caters exclusively for gay holiday-makers. It is the first of its kind in Ireland, they are working closely with many tour operators around the world such as, Man Around in London, which gives them access to accomodation around the world.  The company is managed by gay and gay friendly people who can help with suggestions if you find it difficult to choose a destination.

Future special events include a trip to Australia for the Mardis Gras in February 2001,  a skiiing holiday to Innsbruck, Austria and Weekend breaks to London, Paris and Amsterdam. 

Out On The Liffey, the only gay bar on the north side of Dublin is currently under new management. The bar sittuated close to the Dock sauna is now open late on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. There is Karaoke on Wednesdays and Fridays. The new management are planning big chances for the  venue. Watch this space. 

Dublin guys are in for a treat, as the chain gang are making several appearances thruout the city over the next few weeks. 'Toy Boy' will be appearing in Out on the Liffey on Saturday July 29th and 'Randy' will be strutting his stuff on Monday August 7th in Freedom at Switch.

Our news desk received a short press release for a new group starting in Donegal, titled 'Donegal Gay'. The group hopes to attract members from Donegal and the surrounding counties, to find out more on the group e-mail donegalgay@hotmail.com or phone 087-2315466 

Have you been wondering why the Gay Ireland Chat Rooms have been over flowing with people at the moment, Yahoo news have reported that Ireland has the largest increase of people logging on to the net in Europe. Last year, there 
was a 5.2 per cent increase in the amount of people with access to the web,  and now almost a quarter of the population can log on. It is almost ten times the UK growth rate in web accessibility. 

This year marks Belfast’s 10th annual celebration of Pride, a milestone in the context of Northern Ireland and Belfast Pride 2000 have a hectic schedule to mark the occasion.

Click here to visit our Belfast Pride Feature. 
Click Here to view our pictures of Dublin Pride. 

Ferry Tales on Network Two last night was a fly on the wall documentary on Two of Dublins most popular drag queens - Annie Balls and Penny Bridge. The program followed the two to the White Hart club in London - where they hosted their first overseas show. It was interesting to get a glimpse of the drama backstage, both of the girls were nervous as they put on their wigs and makeup. Annie seemed disapointed with the performance - perhaps the Brits didnt get the Irish humour - I thought the little bit we saw looked entertaining. It is probably one of the last times we will see Penny Bridge as she announced her retirement during pride week this year.

A drug addict who targeted homosexuals has been jailed for a total of eight years, John O'Neill from Dublin 8 was convicted of robbing three males, he hung around known cruising areas in Dublin and lured his victims to quiet areas in the city where he mugged them. On One occasion a 24 year old victim was lured from Temple Bar to Christchurch and was forced to reveal his 
bank 'pin' number and his mobile phone 'sim' card, he had property to the value of over £1,000 stolen

Free to go outside

Outside - the late night event at the viper room on Aston quay has gotten rid of its cover charge. 
Previously there was an entrance fee of £5.00 but now that has been abolished we expect it to attract a large number of late night drinkers - Hopefuly other clubs will follow now that pub opening hours have been extended. 

MTV 1st Gay Weekend

Yesterday MTV UK and Ireland began their first ever gay weekend, the events will be repeated all day today, we have a special feature on programming in our events section here 

Lesbian Mother living in Fear

A Mother of four 'Patricia Bennet', has said she is being forced out of her home because she is gay, her home is targeted by vandals, recently all her windows were smashed in.

Her children have also been terrorised her son Gary (18) was admitted to tallaght Hospital after being hit on the head with an iron bar. She has since sent her children to live with relatives while she remains in her boarded up Clondalikin home. Patricia has requested a transfer, she says she has nothing to hide but her kids shouldnt suffer because of what she is.

'Who I sleep with is no ones business but mine'. Patricia points the blame at one neighbour in particular, he has screamed abuse at her and threatned to burn her house down. Gardai at Clondalkin are investigating the matter. See the Echo newspaper for more on this story.

Sing along with Oscar

Wednesday was the official opening of a new musical on the life of Oscar Wilde opened on Wednesday at the Mint, Henry Place
(off Henry street). 'A Chelsea Affair' is directed by Brian Merriman and stars a host of Characters some known some unknown. It will run until Saturday July 22nd, to book phone 01-872-9977, tell them gay-ireland.com sent you.

Casting Couch

The casting couch started last Tuesday at the front lounge, it is hosted by panti,
imagine stars in your eyes from TV but without Matthew Kelly, if you are talented in anyway 
then come along - They are looking for singers, jugglers, jokers, etc. to hop up and entertain 
the crowd, last week Vada and Shirley sang an out of tune version of 'I know him so Well' changing the lyrics around as a tribute to Panti. We will post one of the flyers during the week with panti in a rather fetching 'Mayo' t-shirt.

Gloria on Tour

Irelands gay and lesbian choir 'Gloria' will perform infront of 2000 people when they play at the opening ceremony of the world's largest Gay and Lesbian Choral Festival in San Jose on Saturday 22nd July. There will be over 6,000 singers taking part in the festival visit www.galachoruses.org for more on this story.

11th July 2000

Shirley Shopping

Cross Dressing Club on Trial

The owners of a cross dressing club on Ormand Quay have said it wont turn it into a brothel, the club which includes a 'tiger room' and a dungeon has been catering for cross dressing for almost 30 years.  It is the largest and oldest transvestite club of its kind in Europe. Mr. Brian O'Moore - Counsel of Landlords told a court that the club was being used as a brothel, the owners have denied all allegations, there will be a full trial later in the year.

Dana International brings the house down

Click here to view our Dana International feature.

Search for Alternative Miss Limerick

The judging panel have also revealed that anyone who loves kids, likes to travel 
and does a lot of charity work should spinkle their remarks with sarcasm and lace on the irony.
Those who do not hail from the historic city by the Shannon should not feel excluded from entrying the competition. Any tenuous connection to the city- such as having read Angela's Ashes may qualify you to enter.
In the tradition of all beauty pagents there will be a casual wear and evening wear round- the swimwear round will be optional.

Contestants will also need to wow the judges with their talent, the more off the wall the better- so if you are not a soprano you can get away with singing 'Oops I did it again' in Italian while gargling vodka.  The date for the competition is yet to be confirmed as Limericks favourite Saturday night venue is undergoing a complete renovation. 
The organisers of the Alternative Miss Limerick pagent  have decided to sit tight and wait until the large upstairs auditorium is ready- this should be in the next few weeks.A foam party has already been planned for the last night in the old basement club before the builders come in for the revamp- again a date can not be set until closer to the time.
Any closet Dana Internationals or seasoned wig wearers interested in shaking up Limerick city for the Alternative Miss Limerick pagent can get entry forms from Nicole at nicoledunphy@mailexcite.com or by calling 086-8241823. Forms are also available from the club on Saturdays.

Pope: Gays are Evil

Pope John Paul II yesterday labelled gays 'unnatural and evil' in his strongest outburst yet against homosexuality.
	He made his remarks after 10,000 took part in a gay pride in Rome. The pope spoke from his balcony in St Peters Square "The Church cannot silence the truth, because his would not help discern what is good from what is evil. "Homosexual acts are against natures laws."

Click here for more on this story.

6th July 2000

Eat, Drink and be Derry

Derry Pride Officialy launches at the tower museum this Friday (the 7th of July) The pride Ride on Saturday night is expected to draw special guests such as Shirley Temple Bar, Vada and Auntie Panti. There are special Buses leaving Dublin, Galway and Belfast, available to take people to the festivities. call the Foyle Friend information  line for more info on - 02871-263-120 or 048-7129-0110 . Also check out our Derry Pride Page Here.

You've seen the drag queen, Played the bingo game, now wear the T-shirt

 Baby 2k the Monday night club at Club Mono are selling Penny Bridge T-shirts. They cost £10.00 and money earned goes to Temple Street Childrens hospital. The T-Shirts will no doubt become a collectors item as the popular drag queen hung up her tights and retired last weekend.

New gay 'Outdoors' Group

Recent conversations on the gay-ireland.com Mailing list indicated that 
there are not enough opportunities for gay women and men to meet in surroundings other than pubs/nightclubs. With this in mind a new group has been setup 'Outdoors Eire'

The aim of the group is to organise events and outings (not of the Peter Tatchell type) 
which will not revolve around the pub/club scene. In Ireland at the moment there 
is a strong growing population of gay men and women who are no longer  satisfied with a night on the town, and coinciding with this there is a  growing number of sports to suit individuals and small groups needs (e.g. 
canoeing, rock-climbing/Abseiling, sailing, archery, kayaking, scuba-diving, horse-riding to name but a few). 

The group is non commercial, it is a way 
for people to get together in groups of various sizes and arrange meets. 
Other events include concerts, trips to gay games and other sporting 
events...... 

Visit the site at http://www.egroups.com/group/OutdoorsEire

1st July 2000

Sunday Night Club to Close

Galway Pride Parade 

Galways Pride Parade will be held today at 12:00 noon. Marchers are to assemble at the Spanish Arch. The parade is one of the highlights of Pride weekend in Galway and hopes to attract a large amount of tourists. Later on tonight  there is a cabaret and costume party presented by Joseph Bowlby followed by club mix at The Black Box on Dyke Road. Click here for more details on Galway Pride.

U Magazine Drag Article 

30,000th visitor

Gay-Ireland.com celebrated its 30,000th on Wednesday June 28th. We recorded our 20,000th visitor on June 3rd. Meaning we achieved 10,000 visitors in twenty-five days. Our previous site which ran from 1997 to 1999 only managed 12,000 over two and a half years, showing how fast the internet is growing in Ireland, possibly thanks to cheaper internet access from eircom.

 Alternative Miss Limerick star on RTE

Watch out as Shayanne hits 'Nationwide'. Shayanne made her debut in the Glentworth in Limerick a few months ago along with Yvonne Aman and Angela's Lashes. She wowed the audience with her own particular brand of coy glamour and amazing vocal talent. 

Word spread and she was quickly snapped up by the Nationwide team who followed her on her ritual of plucking, waxing and tanning. For her TV performance, she returned home to where it all began- Saturday nights in the Basement of the Glentworth in Limerick. 

Those of you not in happy telly land will get another chance to see Shayanne again soon as she has entered the very first Alternative Miss Limerick to be staged in the Glentworth in the comming weeks- date tbc. Shayanne will appear on Nationwide on Sunday July 2nd at 6.30 RTE 1. Entry forms for the Alternative Miss Limerick are available from Nicole @ nicoledunphy@mailexcite.com (please leave your postal address)- in the tradition of football if your great granny once went to a wedding in Limerick, you may be considered eligible to enter.

 Strictly Handbag's 300th Monday