Hi friends (and not yet friends)!

Another Pride Month is upon us, and I’m even more excited then usual!
I will be of course walking in the Dublin Pride again, with my wonderful Queer Crafter group, but this year I’m most excited about, well… This!

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After over a year in the works, I’m proud to present to you a baby of my heart and labour - queer.irish. A new kind of social medium, one that is meant to be ran, owned and organized by queer people from queer people. A project very close to my heart, and I hope one that can be my way of giving back to Ireland’s fantastic LGBTQIA+ community.
When I arrived here a bit over three years ago, I immediately fell in love. Not only with the country, but with how queer community mainfests itself here. By dozens of grassroots, independent communities, volunteer-ran organisations, gigs, local initiatives, clubs, queer sheds, acts, parties, gigs, by all the solidarity and community values. The way the community organises itself here is unique to me and really beautiful.
But I also saw a problem. The only way we connect, share information and cooperate with each other, is through corporate social media; and that is, especially now, unsafe. In this day and age, most smaller groups and organizations don’t host their own websites or blogs anymore. We are all used to the simplicity and ease of reaching to people on social media - and I personally believe that is not a bad thing. Social media as an idea is great - talkin, coordinating and sharing joys with your community is fantastic. But what happens when the secial media become owned by international tech megacorporation, especially one that has ties to a government that’s outwardly hostile towards our community and rights? We are not safe anymore.
I have heard countless stories, and I bet so did you, of people who were suddenly banned from big social media platforms just for speaking openly about their queerness, which suddenly breaches the vague ‘community standards’; or about people, especially from the most vulnerable trans+ part of our community, who face harassment, which apparently is fine with ‘the standards’, of people who lost access to their income, businesses and people excited about their art… We need a place for ourselves again.
So I have started working on it, using the skills and expertise that I have, to make it possible for myself, and for you as well.
A social space that is created, ran, funded and moderated BY QUEER PEOPLE FOR QUEER PEOPLE. Where we can be safe, and share our joy and sorrows, and connect with eachother, without an allmighty algorithm or techbro censor looking over our shoulders.
So, once again:

Welcome, friends, to QUEER.IRISH.

Come in, take a look, make yourselves a cuppa, sit down and make your beautiful selves at home.
I’m so happy to see you here.