Forty years of Pride: ‘We were angry. We were annoyed. But we also wanted to have a joyous time’
On June 25, 1983, 200 people marched through Dublin city centre demanding equal rights and visibility for Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community. Here, those who joined the first official Pride march share their memories of that day and talk about the fateful chain of events that brought them on to the streets
Dublin Pride marchers gather outside the GPO on June 25, 1983. Picture: Pauline O’Donnell/Private Collection
Tanya Sweeney
A few weeks ago, Pauline O’Donnell looked up the weather for Saturday, June 25, 1983, mainly out of curiosity. “It was actually 21.2C that day,” she says. “It turns out it was the highest temperature of that whole month.”