It was raining mostly men in the dark of Lobo. The stylish nightclub in the Morrison Hotel on Dublin's Lower Ormond Quay filled up quickly. Guests at the launch party for GI, the new glossy magazine for gay Ireland, had candyfloss and lollipops to keep them going before the speeches.
Samantha Mumba came, and producer Bill Hughes, of Mind the Gap Films, turned up too.
With a print run of 15,000, the monthly publication of GI is "an important milestone in Ireland," said John Ryan, co-publisher with Melanie Morris.
The magazine is also "a bit of an antidote to all the doom and gloom," he added. Morris received flowers from her parents, Valerie and Fred Morris, President of the High Court, who were out of the country for the launch.
Soon the party-goers were dancing, singing and havin' fun. For those who were heart-broken, writer Quentin Fottrell, an acknowledged expert in affairs of the heart, was on hand to offer advice via his www.worldweary.com website, which he launched some months ago. He's off to Vermont shortly to ski, taking a Thanksgiving break from his role as an agony aunt.
Shay Healy, whose son Fionnβn Healy is a graphic designer on the new magazine, came along to applaud its publication.
Declan Buckley, aka Shirley Temple Bar, presenter of Telly Bingo on RT╔ 1, will be a regular GI columnist.
Catherine McGuinness from Killybegs, in a stylish Karen Millen outfit, drops in on her way back to London.
"It's good for us in the music industry to see a quality magazine where we can have reviews," explains Freddie Middleton, managing director of the record company, BMG Ireland.
Kevin Downey from Galway was all talk about the first gay nightclub, Devout, in Bogart's, Salthill. "It will have a straight-friendly policy," he added. Brian Sheehan, director of the annual Dublin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival attended, and the dashing Brian McIntyrne, "an arrivist at Howth", was there too.
There was even some magic when Waterford-born magician Keith Barry pulled out cards and, under the watchful eye of his manager Nigel Doolin, said: "Pick a card. Any card." The Jack of Hearts came up.