Dublin Gay Pride

What's the craic? Gay Pride Dublin – offically known as Dublin LGBTQ Pride – is a true gem in Ireland’s LGBTQ calendar. Over the years Dublin Gay Pride has grown from a one-day parade into a full-on, ten-day extravaganza of social and cultural queer events. The calendar is packed tighter than Tom Daley’s diving shorts: there’s something for everyone!

Despite Ireland being quite a religious country, particularly in the past, Dublin has continued to have an identified LGBTQ community, who has fought relentlessly for all the rights local gay, lesbian, bi, trans, and queer people can enjoy in the country today. Following the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the LGBTQ movement in Dublin began to gain traction during the early 70s, with Gay Pride often being represented each year in the form of a picnic in Merrion Square. A little later in 1974, the city's very first low-scale march took place, uniting 10 people who rallied from the Department of Justice on Stephen’s Green to the British Embassy in protest of the existing criminalization of homosexuality.

History was made, however, in March 1983, when Dublin celebrated its very fist LGBTQ Protest March. Organized in response to the release of several people who murdered a gay man, Declan Flynn, roughly 900 rallied on the city streets, marching from Liberty Hall to Fairview Park. Later the same year, in June, Dublin welcomed the inaugural Dublin Pride Parade, which traveled from St. Stephan's Green to the General Post Office on O'Connell Street.

Since its relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Dublin Pride has evolved into a momentous event, and is in fact considered one of the biggest LGBTQ people parades in Europe. It comes as no surprise then that Dublin Pride is the second biggest festival in Ireland after St. Patrick's Day. For almost two weeks in June, the city comes alive with a host of pride-related events, including a Pride Run, an after-parade Block Party, and of course the incredible Pride Party. So what are you waiting for? Gay Pride Dublin is the craic, so we'll see you in the Emerald Isle this June.

For full details on Dublin Pride 2024, be sure to check out the official event program. Happy Pride!