The Outing: Pride, joy, and fun at world's only LGBT+ matchmaking festival 

Across the weekend, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and straight singles enjoyed music, blind dates, drag shows, and a spectacular display of glitter and rainbow colours from hot air balloons.

Many festival-goers were there to find love while others have simply been attending the event with friends for many years.

Summer Keown from Indiana in the US, who has been holidaying in Ireland for the past week, said she was “delighted” to be at the festival.

“I came here on Friday night, and I was one of the contestants on the blind date show,” she said.

“I’m looking for a relationship and I’m looking for someone who is kind and funny, and it’s nice to be attractive too.

“I’m due to go home next week unless I find love. I take my time when I am looking, but I enjoy meeting new people.

“The drag show last night was fantastic, and the dating show has been brilliant, so I am having a really nice time. It’s a wonderful show.” 

Evelyn Roberts from Thurles in Co Tipperary said this was her fourth time attending the festival.

“It used to be held in Lisdoonvarna, so I went to two there,” she said.

“I’ve been to two here since it moved to this hotel.” The 44-year-old carer said she is now in a relationship but advised that people need to “take their time” when they are looking for love.

“I think people try to rush things sometimes,” she said.

“Just take your time, you might think you need to have someone for Valentine’s Day, but you don’t.

“You can be with whoever you want and just be yourself, but it’s a lovely community and even to this day, especially in the rural towns, it can be a little bit frowned upon still to be gay, even to this day, so this is a great place for people to go.

“I always knew I liked girls, but growing up in rural Ireland you wouldn’t dream of speaking about it, now it is normal. In some smaller towns it’s still a challenge, so it is great to be here.

Alan Peters, 29, single and from Co Tipperary, said it is important to have the festival in the west of Ireland because of the gay community in the rural areas.

“I’m still single, so I am still looking,” he said. “To have this in the west it gives the event to the people who don’t experience it elsewhere.

“Dublin Pride is the biggest in Ireland for our community, but with hotels, travel, and commuting, plus expenses, forget about it.

“That’s why it’s so good to have this here in the west. I’ve met so many people and made new friends. It’s a matchmaking festival, so it means we are open to talking to anyone.

“I’ve spotted one or two I like, I don’t instigate anything. I’m so shy, so I’m hoping maybe someone will spot me.” 

On Saturday night, a blind date event took place on stage hosted by the festival director Eddie McGuiness.

It saw three girls competing for a date with a contestant called Sarah, who chose a woman called Megan in the end.

“She’s lovely, I found her funny,” Sarah said on the stage.

“The audience was screaming for her so here we go.” 

Mr McGuiness, from Dundalk in Co Louth, first got involved with matchmaking when he was asked to work on the annual Lisdoonvarna show.

In 2013, he decided to develop “the world’s only LGBTQ+ matchmaking festival” and from there, it has now been running for 11 years.

“Since then, I’ve had two marriages, several hundred relationships, all celebrations of who we are as an LGBTQ+ community.

“Clare is the county of love, and the matchmaking started here. We put a twist on an old tradition and turned it queer.

“We are a not-for-profit organisation and part of queer arts collection. I’ve managed Dublin Pride for years and worked on St Patrick’s Day as a choreographer and producer.

“This year [the festival] started on Thursday, we did a ‘pre-outing’, and we went to The George, Nova Bar in Galway, and Mickey Martins in Limerick. We had guest performers and DJs and nonstop entertainment.

“We moved to the Inn in 2019, we needed a bigger place to be ourselves and we have signed up for another five years. The hotel and staff make us feel very welcome.

“We hope in 2028 to take on Euro Pride and bring it here. I’ve celebrated 30 years of continuously being at Dublin Pride and watching the decriminalisation of being gay. We have seen queer bashing, transphobia, mental health, suicide, and many deaths along the way.

“There are people still struggling and we shouldn’t have to come out, we should just be ourselves but there are still problems. The far right is creeping in, there have always been issues, but we are being targeted. We are staying positive as this is a safe environment. We all want friendship and love.” 

Drag queen Carrie Déway from Dublin has been performing as an artist for 15 years.

“The outing festival is a lovely festival and has been on the go for many years,” she said.

“I come here to perform my show and the community has the best time. People come together, whether you are finding love or marital prospect, the Outing festival is for everyone.

“It’s bringing back community to the gay community. We don’t have that anyone. The community vibe is gone because of social media.

“There is a lot of sense of having fun, laughing, and we are here to accept each other.

“Despite the changes for the gay community, there are still problems.

“Out of drag, I am a non-binary person, so you can be attacked for being yourself. Ireland is moving back, unfortunately since covid, we have reverted.

“I don’t know what changed, there is a lot of hate. Some people think we are easy targets, but we are all people trying to exist in this society together.

“There is a lot of fun too, it is an open queer space, but we don’t have as many of those spaces now. The older drag community is trying to bring it back. At the end of the day, my life is not affecting yours. We just want to spread joy.” 

Kimberly Maccadoe said she was relatively new to performing in drag shows, starting five years ago.

“It’s like a girl’s night out, there is a great sisterhood among us,” she said. “There are hundreds of drag queens in Ireland.

“We have a realistic idea of what a drag queen is. It’s not this huge budget, going on a TV show. We see the girls working.

“We just want pride in the performance, the local working girls do all sorts of shows, and they are the voice of the community.

“It’s the first port of call for the gay community who are learning about themselves. People forget that. Drag is a platform too.” 

Ennis drag queen Elle Uminati said she “loves” performing and was delighted her town had its first Pride festival in September.

“It’s amazing to be part of the first pride festival in Ennis, we did drag story time, and everyone was involved.

“During the week, I am Issac and I’m a fashion buyer, I’ve always loved fashion and drag. I was so lucky to get in with Lisa Daly, who is the chair of the Limerick Pride Festival, so I am on the committee and it’s fantastic to meet people who are like me.

“I started drag in 2017 and I’m 26. I was always a flamboyant child who played with Barbies, so I am very lucky to have a supportive family and to be around this supportive community”.