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# Ireland's The Gay Project launches Cork Queer College
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/irelands-the-gay-project-launches-cork-queer-college/
- Published: 2025-07-08T17:27:37.000Z
- Updated: 2025-07-08T17:27:37.000Z
- Author: Graham Robson
- Tags: Europe, News

**The Gay Project**, one of Ireland’s longest-standing LGBTQ+ advocacy organisations, has announced the launch of **Cork Queer College**, a pioneering educational initiative aimed at creating a radically inclusive learning environment for LGBTQ+ individuals and allies.

The announcement follows the Gay Project’s recent milestone — the acquisition of its **first permanent community-owned centre** in Ballintemple, Cork. 

The new space will serve as the home of Cork Queer College, offering a blend of academic, creative, and community-based programmes rooted in queer experience and liberation.

**Stephen Spillane**, Chairperson of the Gay Project, described the college as “a bold step forward in reclaiming education as a space of empowerment for queer people.”

> “For too long, LGBTQ+ people have had to navigate educational systems that marginalise or erase our identities. Cork Queer College is about rewriting that story — on our own terms.”

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/2025/07/516466869_1163225469169877_129356309986099815_n.jpg)

The initiative builds on Cork’s rich legacy of LGBTQ+ activism, dating back to the early 1980s when the city hosted Ireland’s first national gay conference. The Gay Project itself was founded in 1984 and has played a central role in advancing rights and visibility for gay, bi+, trans, and queer men in Ireland.

The new **Ballintemple** centre - the first of its kind in Cork - provides the physical and symbolic foundation for the college.

“This is more than bricks and mortar,” said Spillane. “It’s a space where learning, healing, and organising can happen side by side.”

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/2025/07/518007359_1163225472503210_476163873344980278_n-1.jpg)

2025 courses include: **Gays CAN Drive**: Theory Test Preparation; **Outspoken**: LGBTI+ Toastmasters; **GOLDen Plates**: **Air Fryer Course for Older Men**; **LGBTI+ Community Development**; **LGBTI+ Community Leadership & Advocacy**; **Queer Lens**: Capturing Our Community (Photography); **Creative Calm**: Stress Management Through Art with **Rainbow DiverseAbilities**; **The Green Room**: LGBTI+ Drama Programme; **Transcend**: Make Up for Trans Women with **Gender Rebels**.

**Applications now open. To register and for further info** [**CLICK HERE**](https://gayproject.ie/cork-queer-college-2025/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)