Orla Egan

b. 1966

she/her

Cork Lesbian Activist / Writer / Queer Archival Ac

Orla Egan is a Cork lesbian activist, writer and Queer Archival Activist.

Orla Egan was born in Cork in 1966.

She has been involved in the Cork LGBT community since the 1980s, where she could be found hanging out in the Quay Co-op and Loafers Bar. Her early activism was in the anti-nuclear movement and CND, and then in feminist groups and lesbian activism.

Orla was at the first Cork Women's Fun Weekend in 1984, and most of the subsequent annual events, and was involved in organising the Women's Fun Weekend a few years. She could also be found in various outrageous outfits at the annual Cork Lesbian Fantasy Balls.

Orla worked in the Cork Women's Place in the late 1980s and in The Other Place LGBT Community Centre when it opened in 1991. She was one of the organisers of the first LGBT float in a Patrick's Day parade in Ireland - in Cork in 1992 - in response to the exclusion of ILGO (Irish Lesbian and Gay Organisation) from marching in the Patrick's Day Parade in New York.

Orla was a member of the original Cairde Corcai Steering Group that led to the opening of Cork's lesbian centre in 1999 - Cairde Corcai later changed its name to LINC.

Orla was a member of the Irish Equality Authority's Advisory Committee on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues, established in 1999 and leading to the publication of the Equality Authority Report Implementing Equality for Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals in 2002.

Orla worked as Training and Development office with BeLonG To LGBT Youth Service.

Orla was involved in writing and performing in the play No Dead Lesbians with Dyke Dramas in 2004 and the play Ordinary Love with LINC Drama Group in 2014.

Orla is the creator and curator of the Cork LGBT Archive which she created in 2014 to gather, preserve and share information about the history of Cork's LGBT community.

Orla is the author of the book Queer Republic of Cork (Onstream publishers 2016) and of the short play Leeside Lezzies.