Modern Brigids 2025 - LGBT+ community activists

To mark Brigid’s Day, HerStory is celebrating the modern women who embody her qualities and share her passions as an environmentalist, feminist, Pride icon, healer, pioneer, human rights activist, goddess of the arts, alchemist and wisdom weaver.

St. Brigid may be a woman who lived 1,500 years ago and the Celtic goddess Brigid pre-dates Christianity, but she continues to inspire today. 

LGBT+ community activists

Gráinne Healy – marriage equality activist

Gráinne Healy – marriage equality activist.

Gráinne Healy has excelled in multiple roles, including chairperson, facilitator, researcher, evaluator, trainer, published author, and social inclusion projects manager.

As a longtime feminist and LGBTQ+ activist, she played a crucial role in the "Yes Equality" campaign, which led to the successful 2015 referendum legalizing same-sex marriage in Ireland. She is also the co-founder of Marriage Equality, an organization dedicated to achieving civil marriage rights for same-sex couples. In 2017, she authored the book "Crossing the Threshold: The Story of Marriage Equality in Ireland".

Dr. Lydia Foy – transgender activist

Dr. Lydia Foy – transgender activist.

Lydia Foy is a legendary icon in the fight for gender recognition in Ireland. After undergoing sex reassignment surgery in 1992, she endured a 20-year battle to have her birth certificate changed to fit in line with her gender identity. Her perseverance led to significant changes in Irish law, culminating in the introduction of the Gender Recognition Act in 2015, which allows transgender people to have their gender legally recognized. Lydia Foy’s story is a testament to one woman’s struggle for respect, privacy, and dignity in the face of Irish legal and societal challenges.

Nuala Ward - LGTBQ+ activist.

Nuala Ward is a pioneering activist and one of the founders of Galway Pride, Ireland’s longest consecutively running Pride event. She also played a key role in establishing the Galway Rape Crisis Centre, the Galway Lesbian and Gay Helpline, and Amach LGBT Galway. In recognition of her three decades of dedication to human rights, particularly LGBTQ+ issues, and her extensive work in advocacy, activism, awareness-raising, and community service, she was honored with a Degree in Law by NUI Galway.

Izzy Kamikaze – lesbian and civil rights activist

Izzy Kamikaze – lesbian and civil rights activist.

Izzy Kamikaze has been a longstanding LGBTQ+ activist for decades, championing LGBTQ+ and women’s rights in Ireland long before such rights were recognized. She has tirelessly worked on numerous initiatives, including the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform and the Marriage Equality campaign. Notably, after Dublin Pride was halted in 1986, Izzy and two of her Act Up teammates courageously reinstated the march in Dublin Pride 1992, showing remarkable bravery and pioneering spirit of the time.

Mary Dorcey – author, poet, LGTBQ+ activist, feminist

Mary Dorcey – author, poet, LGTBQ+ activist, feminist.

Being the first lesbian to openly speak out about her sexuality at University College Dublin, as well as the first Irish woman to address gay and lesbian lives in poetry and fiction, Mary Dorcey is a trailblazer in many respects. Two of her most well-known pieces are “A Noise from the Woodshed” (1989), which won the Rooney Prize in 1990, and “Biography of Desire” (1997). As an LGBTQ+ activist early in the 1970s, she advocated for the community both in Ireland and internationally. She was also a founding member of Irish Women United, Women for Radical Change, and The Movement for Sexual Liberation.

* Herstory is every woman's story. Founded in 2016, Herstory is a multi-disciplinary storytelling platform that illuminates and celebrates female role models.

Through pioneering education and art programs, they inspire, educate and empower the youth and nation. In turn, they spark sister movements across the world. For more visit Herstory.ie.