{"id":602544,"date":"2026-08-23T22:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T22:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/602544\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T22:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T22:28:16","slug":"we-were-always-here-irelands-first-permanent-lgbtq-museum-exhibition-opens-in-cork-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/602544\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We Were Always Here\u2019: Ireland\u2019s first permanent LGBTQ museum exhibition opens in Cork \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland\u2019s first-ever permanent LGBTQ<\/a> museum exhibition has opened in Cork.<\/p>\n

The exhibition, \u201cWe Were Always Here\u201d, opened on Wednesday at the Cork Public Museum in Fitzgerald Park and is a collaboration with the Cork LGBT Archive and features both a physical collection and a digital archive.<\/p>\n

According to curator Orla Egan, the exhibition builds on the museum\u2019s continued commitment to ensuring a more inclusive version of Cork\u2019s history and heritage is on display and follows on from similar permanent exhibitions on Travellers and the Jewish community in Cork.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo often the history of the LGBT community has been invisible, ignored or erased. Having Cork\u2019s LGBTQ history on display in the Cork Public Museum will ensure that is it accessible and cannot be forgotten or ignored,\u201d said Egan, who is also the founder of the Cork LGBT Archive. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt sends a powerful message of respect and inclusion for a community that too often has experienced prejudice, punishment and exclusion. This is even more important in today\u2019s world when we are witnessing an increase in transphobia and homophobia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Egan explained that the exhibition traces LGBTQ history in Cork through the stories of the people and organisations that sought to support and defend the LGBTQ community, especially when it was illegal to be homosexual in Ireland until 1993.<\/p>\n

Dan Breen, curator of the Cork Public Museum, noted that the museum has often had to re-evaluate its exhibitions and collections since it first opened 80 years ago, and the museum was proud to be the first in Ireland to host a permanent LGBTQ collection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe exhibition continues Cork\u2019s tradition of firsts in Irish LGBT history. In 1981, the first National Gay Conference was held in the city while Cork also hosted the first Irish Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in 1991,\u201d said Breen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then less than six months later, in 1992, the city\u2019s St Patrick\u2019s Day parade featured the first LGBTQ float seen at a St Patrick\u2019s Day festival anywhere in the world so now, with this permanent LGBT exhibition, Cork is leading the way again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SomeSome of the pieces from the Cork LGBT Archive on permanent exhibit in Cork Public Museum. Photograph: Izabela Szczutkowska <\/p>\n

The exhibition, which is funded by Cork City Council<\/a>, the Heritage Council<\/a> and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport<\/a>, also marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the first gay centre in Cork when the Irish Gay Rights Movement rented a premises on MacCurtain Street in the city.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Cork this week also became the first city in the world outside of the United States to exhibit the original Rainbow flag \u2013 the global symbol of LGBTI+ pride, visibility, inclusion and equality.<\/p>\n

The Gilbert Baker flag, as the original Rainbow flag is known, was designed by activist and artist Gilbert Baker in 1978 and created for that year\u2019s San Francisco Gay Freedom Day and it is on loan to Cork for four months for display at the LGBT exhibition at the Cork Public Museum.<\/p>\n

Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Damian Boylan said that Cork\u2019s motto \u201cStatio Bene Fida Carinis\u201d \u2013 translated as \u201cA Safe Harbour for Ships\u201d \u2013 speaks of people knowing that when they have arrived in Cork, they have reached a place of safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we accept the Gilbert Baker flag and become its custodians for the next four months, we should pause for a moment and reflect on those words \u2013 how our city provides a safe harbour not just for ships, but for people too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s first-ever permanent LGBTQ museum exhibition has opened in Cork. The exhibition, \u201cWe Were Always Here\u201d, opened on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[46,6037,147595,255363,61,60,4829,43],"class_list":["post-602544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cork","tag-cork-city-council","tag-department-of-culture-communications-and-sport","tag-heritage-council","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lgbtq","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}