11 January 2026
Laurie Steele was a pioneering figure in the LGBT movement in Ireland and internationally. In 1978 he took a leading role in the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and was one of the 53 marchers, the ’78ers’, arrested and subjected to police violence.
For me, Laurie was a dynamic charismatic force, he empowered me in the bleak environment for gay people that was Cork in late 1970s and early 1980s.
Moving to Cork with Arthur Leahy, Laurie was crucially involved in all the subsequent breakthroughs such as the setting up of the Cork Gay Collective in 1980, the first National Gay Conference in Connolly Hall Cork 1981, the setting up of the Quay Coop in 1982, and was involved in many other Civil Rights campaigns such as the Anti-Amendment campaign, as well as setting up Gay Health Action.
Laurie was a committed trade union activist, and as a worker in the Quay Coop he and others like Donal Sheehan and Arthur Leahy were able to join a Union, the Irish Distributive and Administrative Trade Union (IDATU now Mandate). They advocated successfully within IDATU for progress for LGBT workers, and IDATU and it’s General Secretary John Mitchell were crucial in the achievement of the radical 1987 ICTU policy statement ‘Lesbian and Gay Rights in the Workplace’, which was a
game changer and opened the door to advancement in many areas.
Below is a selection of photos of Laurie featured on my website at kieranrose.ie/gallery and www.corklgbtarchive.com with many more available. Also included an important RTÉ ‘Week In’ episode from February 1980 featuring Laurie.
Kieran Rose
Other resources
Kieran Rose 