Queer in Canada: Meet Conor Galvin and Vancouver Queer Irish
The relationship between Ireland and Canada is a deep and enduring friendship based on shared values and people-to-people connections that go back centuries. Today there are over 4 million people in Canada who claim Irish heritage and a myriad of Irish community organisations sprinkled across the country.
One such organisation is Vancouver Queer Irish (VQI). Set up with the help of the Consulate General of Ireland, Vancouver in 2021, is a Vancouver based non-profit that focuses on supporting LGBTQIA+ Irish people living in the city, as well as those connected to the Irish community through ancestry, relationships, and friendships.
This PRIDE month, VQI President Conor Galvin sat down with the Irish Consulate in Vancouver to discuss the importance of organisations like VQI, growing up in Ireland in the 90s, and the importance of the Irish Consulate in Vancouver.
Hear from Conor Galvin
Leaving home
For the past number of decades Ireland has been a fascinating country to watch. It was a country working to find its identity and ask itself difficult questions about what it stood for, and where it stood on humanitarian issues, affecting not only its residents, but the global society, which was becoming more and more connected each year.
The last decade saw, in what was in my opinion, two of the most historic votes in the history of the state - the Marriage Equality Referendum (2015) and the vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment (2018).
More work to do
Now, in 2025, our country has many reasons to hold its head high. The country has moved fast to right the wrongs of previous decades for women and LGBTQIA+ people, but there is more work to do. For many queer and trans people who grew up in Ireland prior to the 2010s, Ireland was not an easy place to grow up.
But as has been the case since the beginning of time, our community is strong and resilient. Both home and abroad LGBTQIA+ people have created communities and spaces where people are allowed to thrive and express themselves truthfully and wholeheartedly.
Queer in Canada
In 2021, while beginning to figure out who I wanted to be as a queer person and an adult, I was part of discussions about a space where LGBTQIA+ Irish emigrants and friends could gather and celebrate who we are as both queer and Irish people. Thankfully, the Irish Consulate and a group of wonderful people, including VQI’s first president Dave Roe and future president Karen Brady had already been working hard to form a non-profit society, Vancouver Queer Irish.
On 26 June 2021, VQI held its first event, a get together, right in the heart of the city's queerest area - the West End. For many of us, it was our first time at an event in Vancouver filled with LGBTQIA+ Irish people sharing stories, laughter, and a deep sense of recognition. The warmth, connection, and pride in that space is a memory anyone who attended will forever hold closely.
Since 2021, the organisation has continued to grow each year with a constant influx of new members, collaborations with other organisations, and some (if we do say so ourselves) incredible events.
St Paddy’s Gay, camping trips, our annual Christmas lunch and the annual Vancouver Pride parade have now become part of our annual events schedule. Beyond the events, and even more importantly, VQI has created lifelong friendships, romantic relationships, and even a wedding or two.
Community impact
As VQI grows each year, it also provides us the ability to give back to other organisations in the city. Our annual Pride kick-off event has raised thousands of dollars for Rainbow Refuge, an organisation that sponsors LGBTQIA+ refugees looking for a home in Canada. Our recent marriage equality event raised much-needed funds for our Qmunity, and organisations supporting trans, non-binary and 2spirit people here in Vancouver, as well as RainCity Housing.
The board of VQI also continues to shift and change, and as it does, new and fresh ideas and varying viewpoints are brought to the fore, ensuring we are an organisation that supports the entire community.
On a personal level, VQI has offered me something that is difficult to put into words. For much of my 20s I struggled deeply with who I was, with whether I was accepted, and even more importantly, whether I’d ever accept myself. Both organising and attending VQI events allowed me space to meet people with similar experiences of navigating a queer existence in a world which can at times be unkind.
“It has allowed me and others to push each other forward, to celebrate our wins, to support each other when support is most needed and breathe and to, at times, let loose, without fear of judgement or animosity.”
A home away from home
Not only has the organisation led queer Irish people to the LGBTQIA+ community, it has also been fundamental in connecting our members to their Irish heritage. Many Irish people who live abroad, and many LGBTQIA+ Irish people at home can struggle to connect to the country which at times rejected them, but VQI has allowed them to reconnect with that part of their identity, to look at Irish community in a new light and to realise that the Ireland they left, is not the Ireland that continues to grow in their absence.
Vital support
A huge part of this is thanks to the Consulate of Ireland here in Vancouver. Not only was the Consulate an integral part of the foundation of VQI, but it has continued to offer unwavering support of our organisation in the years since. Each year it supports us in our application for the Emigrant Support Program - funds which are used to ensure our membership and all of our events are accessible to anyone who would like to attend.
Despite being 1000s of miles from home, the Consulate here in Vancouver has created a connected community, which can celebrate everything it means to be Irish. Meeting and befriending the team, who are so passionate about our culture and heritage, has drawn me closer to my Irish pride than ever before. I can now truly say, I am proud to be queer and Irish.