Galway Pride Week returns this August with the theme: Rise, Resist, Rejoice! In an era marked by global uncertainty and rising tensions for LGBTQ+ communities, Galway Community Pride calls on everyone to come together in solidarity, love, and celebration. This year’s festival is all about uplifting one another, honouring those who inspire us, and reminding the world that queer joy is revolutionary. Check out our guide to this year's Pride Week right here..
From August 10th to 16th, the city will come alive with a packed programme of events that celebrate diversity, resilience, and community spirit. With live entertainment, exciting panels, and outdoor events to evenings of information, awareness, arts, performance, and music, Galway Pride 2025 will feature a delightfully diverse range of events for everyone throughout the week. For full programme details visit the website galwaypride.ie.
Sunday: 10th August
1-4pm - Drag Brunch at O’Reilly’s Rooftop Terrace - A fabulous Drag Brunch will take place at the stunning Rooftop Terrace of O’Reilly’s Bar & Kitchen in Salthill. Expect an afternoon of fierce performances, delicious food, and unforgettable vibes featuring sensational queens: Boola Bus, Donatella, María Tonka, and Minnie Buss. Powered by Aperol Spritz & O’Reilly’s – get ready to brunch, sip, and slay all day!
4.30-5.30pm - Flag Raising at Eyre Square - All are welcome to come along to Eyre Square for the Galway Pride Week's flag raising event. This is a great opportunity to mingle and meet new people ahead of the incredible lineup of events planned for the upcoming week.
7pm - Galway Community Pride 2025 Launch Party - Step into Pride Week with style, spirit, and celebration as the Galway Community Pride 2025 launches with a glamorous evening in the stunning Blue Room of The Dean Hotel.This event begins with a warm welcome and delicious canapés, leading into an inspiring evening of community, creativity, and connection. On the night: The Community Pride Awards, honouring the heart of Galway’s LGBTQ+ community, the unveiling of Queer Verse 2.0, a new collection of queer writing, and feel-good sounds from local band Siúcra, keeping the dancefloor alive until late.This is a night to celebrate Pride in all its beauty. You are invited to dress up, stand out, and show up exactly as you are; whether that means glam, dramatic, elegant, eclectic, or anything in between. Make it Yours. Make it proud.
Monday: 11th August
12-2pm - Rapid HIV Testing at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
12-2pm - LGBTI+ Community Hub at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
3-4pm - Outdoor Silent Disco at Spanish Arch - Start Pride Week off with an Irish boogie down by the Spanish Arch. People say Traditional Irish music was made for three things, sleeping, crying, and DANCING. So, dún do chlab and come put their playlist to the test. Deir daoine gur cruthaíodh ceol traidisiúnta na hÉireann ar trí chúis, codladh, caoineadh, agus DAMHSA. So, dún do chlab agus bígí linn chun ár seinmliosta a cuir faoi thástáil.
4-5pm - Caife agus Comhrá at Plámás - Bígí linn le Caife agus comhrá!! Cleachtaigh do chúpla focal agus bain sult as milseáin agus caife ó Plámás. Join Galway Community Pride for coffee and chats! Practice your ‘cúpla focal’ , enjoy some sweet treats and coffee with us and the wonderful folk at Plámás Caife!
4-6pm - Rapid HIV Testing at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
4-6pm - LGBTI+ Community Hub at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
6-8pm - Stray Cats Press Queer Zine Workshop at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre - It's free entry, materials provided, and your host Mot Collins teaching you how to fold paper and how to pronounce zine. All welcome.
Tuesday: 12th August
12-2pm - Rapid HIV Testing at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
12-2pm - LGBTI+ Community Hub at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
1.30-3.30pm - We're All Gendered: A Panel Discussion at Portershed a Dó - A thought-provoking afternoon where you'll explore how gender shapes our identities, experiences, and interactions in modern society. Facilitated by Galway Community Pride's committee members, the discussion delves into the complexities of gender beyond the binary - addressing social norms, intersectionality, and the impact of gendered expectations across cultures and communities. This event aims to facilitate open dialogue and critical reflection on how we all navigate gendered realities in everyday life.
4-6pm - Rapid HIV Testing at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
4-6pm - LGBTI+ Community Hub at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
7-8pm - Vigil for Palestine at University Hospital Galway
8.30-11.30pm - Trans Night Out - Come together and feel the Trans joy at Galway Community Pride! Non-binary, Gender non - conforming, intersex and people who are questioning gender all welcome!!
above: courtesy of Galway Community Pride
Wednesday: 13th August
12-2pm - Rapid HIV Testing at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
12-2pm - LGBTI+ Community Hub at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
4-6.30pm - Tea Party at Merchant Café at the Eyre Square Hotel - Come spill the tea and celebrate Pride 2025. At this event there will be chill vibes, chats, and more, so all are welcome to come along to socialise with others in the gorgeous surroundings of the Merchant Café on Eyre Square.
12-4pm - Loud and Proud: Workshop on noise-making and design at Macnas Workshop - A workshop on Noise-Making and Design is a chance for you to find out all about what it means to get ready for a community-led pride parade. Learn how to take up space, make noise and be heard loudly and proudly this pride parade.
4-6pm - Rapid HIV Testing at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
4-6pm - LGBTI+ Community Hub at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
6-7pm - Vigil at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
6-7pm - SH24 Sexual Health: Testing Information Session at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
7.30-10pm - Black Crow Comedy: Pride Edition at Massimo - Black Crow Comedy is a comedy open mic that caters to women and LGBTQIA comics. Join them on August 13th for a night of stand up performances. Bring your stories, your poems, your bits, your skits and your stand up. Don’t miss it!!
Thursday: 14th August
12-2pm - Rapid HIV Testing at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
12-2pm - LGBTI+ Community Hub at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
2-4pm - Intimate Partner Abuse: Awareness Talk at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
4-6pm - Rapid HIV Testing at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
4-6pm - LGBTI+ Community Hub at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
6.30-10pm - RDJ Pride Table Quiz with host Blondíe Boots at HYDE Bar - You are all invited to a Pride Table Quiz with Blondíe Boots to celebrate Pride and raise much needed funds for Teach Solais/ AMACH! LGBT Galway, a vital resource for Galway LGBTQ+ providing representation and advocacy, educational and training events and workshops, as well as the Teach Solais resource centre. On the night they will be also hosting a Raffle with some fabulous spot prizes up for grabs from our very generous sponsors. Bring your friends or family and form a team, and enjoy an evening of trivia and entertainment at this Table Quiz and Raffle!
7pm - Reel Lives: Trans Voices in Film - An evening of powerful storytelling and visibility as part of Galway Pride 2025. Reel Lives: Trans Voices in Film celebrates the richness, diversity, and complexity of Trans lives through the lens of short film. This curated screening features ‘Over the Moon’, a poetic Irish short written by Kai Donohoe & Rory Fitzpatrick which captures a young Trans person’s journey toward self-acceptance, and ‘As Human As I Am’, a deeply moving documentary by Alice McDowell that captures the global struggle for Trans rights and dignity.
9-11.30pm - To Gaze Upon Us at Róisín Dubh - Join local legends Sailhynm and Steven Sharpe as they celebrate their 10-year anniversary since their first Pride gig as To Gaze Upon Us. They're inviting all their friends and you're invited too. On the night there will be performances by Sulk Hogan, Liam McBearty, Dennis Mockler and new super duo TransAtlantic.
10pm - PARDON - Galway Pride Edition at The Loft at Seven - PARDON is back and bolder than ever to kick off Galway Pride Weekend with a fierce, fabulous night of drag, dancing, and pure chaos, upstairs at The Loft! Hosted by the incredible Annie Naggins and featuring queens and kings: Viktor Complex, Blaq Coffeee, Drew Dé Món, Laryngitis and Angel Baby. With a special guest appearance by renowned dancer Avatarguille. First 50 through the door get a FREE Absolut Vodka & Dash – so get down early!
From Midnight - Bears, Beats & Bottoms at The Loft at Róisín Dubh - Get ready for a feel-good, floor-filling frenzy as Steven Sharpe takes over Róisín Dubh for Bears, Bottoms and Beats – a Queer men's night packed with alternative anthems, indie bangers, and club classics to keep you moving ‘til late. Expect big tunes, bigger vibes, and all the love as Steven serves up a mix of iconic singalongs, dancefloor killers, and deep cuts for those who know. Whether you're here to dance, scream along, or just soak in the gayest energy in Galway, this is where you need to be.
Friday: 15th August
6pm - Café Lates: Craft Night at Plámás – Ceardlann Bráisléid - Bigí Linn at the next installment of Café Lates at Plámás… a Craft Night for Pride Week! If you want to share sweet words, wear an identity with pride, send flirty messages, or just glam yourself up in Irish for their big Friday night full of queerness, come along to a jewellery making workshop at Plamás. All the bedazzling will be provided, you just need to put those sweet/sexy/strong Irish words together and wrap them around yourself and friends with Pride. Más mian leat focail binn a roinnt, féiniúlacht a léiriú le bród, teachtaireachtaí cliúsaíocha a sheoladh, nó díreach cuma na mealltachta a chur ort féin i nGaeilge dár n-oíche mhór lán le haerachas, bí linn chun seodra a chruthú i bPlamás. Beidh an draíocht go léir curtha ar fáil, ní gá ach na focail Gaeilge binn/gnéasacha/láidre a chur le chéile agus timpeall ort féin agus ar chairde le Bród.
6-9pm - Africa Night at Teach Solais LGBT+ Resource Centre
7pm - Dyke Night by Péitseog (Peach) at Áras na nGael
8pm - The Dirty Circus at the Róisín Dubh - Step right up, Galway! Get ready to unleash your wild side with The Dirty Circus, the most dazzling, decadent, and deliciously daring burlesque and cabaret show in town! This Pride, they’re serving you feathers, glitter, jaw-dropping performances, and enough sass to light up the entire city. Expect a night of outrageous comedy, sultry striptease, and fierce queer celebration, because at The Dirty Circus, everyone is invited to sparkle. This is Galway Pride as you’ve never seen it before. Come for the tease, stay for the afterparty with MOTHER.
10pm - Mother X Absolut present Night Moves at Róisín Dubh - Galway’s nightlife ignites as Mother X Absolut present Night Moves - The Galway Pride Party at Róisín Dubh. This one-night-only queer extravaganza, headlined by the legendary Mother club night, features DJs Rocky T. Delgado, Ruth Kavanagh, Glamo, and a high-octane performance by the Mother Dancers. Guests will also enjoy a complimentary Absolut drink on arrival.
Saturday: 16th August
12-2pm - Pride Parade - After a sensational Pride parade last year, all the festivities are back once again this year and we can not wait to see the streets of Galway light up once more with a rainbow of colours and happy faces. It will begin at City Hall and continue through Eyre Square and down Shop Street, on past the Spanish Arch all the way to Father Burke Park. Get ready for a parade of music, dance, art and loads more…
2pm - Club GASS: All Day Pride Party at Róisín Dubh - Get ready Galway… Club GASS are throwing their biggest, boldest Pride celebration ever! From sunshine sips in the Beer Garden to a glitter-soaked UV dancefloor takeover, Club GASS is taking you on a wild ride from day to night. The drag lineup is stacked with fan favourites, fierce newcomers, and two ICONS taking the spotlight—Avatar brings the power, and Paul Ryder brings the polish. You already know it’s going to be iconic. Schedule: 2pm-Pride Beer Garden Party (featuring live DJs), 7pm-Pre-Drag Show Warm-Up (music + vibes), 9pm-Main Drag Show Extravaganza, 10pm-Upstairs DJ Takeover & Glittering UV Part. Expect big looks, big beats, and even bigger energy. This is your Pride night out, don’t miss it!
8pm - ABSENT 031: Pride Special at The Cellar - Another unmissable night comes from the team at ABSENT brings you a special EMO NITE featuring live sets from BRIGHTR, H_NGM_N (UK), and Steady Decline. Expect raw emotion, high energy, and a night of unapologetic expression.
10pm-2.30am - TABÚ Queer Night Club at Electric - TABÚ is delighted to be part of this year’s Galway Pride Week. The famous DJ Orla (@orla_littleo) and DJ Ryan Conway (@sleepyhea__d) will be providing the tunage accompanied by fabulous Queer performances.. more on that later! TABÚ will take place in Electric’s new venue The Space, a full private venue with two bars, dance floor, own smoking area and wheelchair accessible.
Feature photo from Unsplash
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