Ireland's Gay Community News is at the center of one of the country's biggest political issues this year: same-sex civil partnership legislation. The Irish government is expected to introduce the first draft of a partnership bill by March 31.

But any new partnership law would not go into effect for at least another year or two, according to GCN. While everyone expects some sort of civil partnership law will be enacted, the debate likely will be over whether the law should grant same-sex couples most, all, or just some of the rights afforded to heterosexual married couples.

GCN is a monthly publication but its staff produces a weekly e-mail newsletter that focuses on the latest developments around the partnership legislation. The newsmagazine celebrated its 20th anniversary last month.

In its early days, GCN was more political than it is now. But with the debate over partnership legislation, the publication is returning to its political roots.

In related news, a just-released study from California will undoubtedly be cited in GCN's ongoing coverage of partnership legislation. The University of California Los Angeles Law School reported that as many as a third of Ireland's gay couples are living in the United States. The study, by the school's Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, estimated that 1,200 Irish-born men and women are living with a same-sex partner in the United States. An additional 2,000 same-sex couples are living in Ireland, according to the study. More than 500 Irish-born same-sex partners are not U.S. citizens and would be among those most-likely to return to take advantage of the law, the researchers concluded. Repatriated gay Irish citizens would help the Irish economy, the study's authors said.

"Such [same-sex partnership] legislation could help to entice a very talented group of Irish-born emigrants back to their homeland," stated Gary Gates, senior research fellow at the Williams Institute in a news release.

Gates noted that 43 percent of Irish-born same-sex partners living in the U.S. are college educated.

GCN's editor, Brian Finnegan, told the Bay Area Reporter in an e-mail this week, "The government wants to introduce limited civil partnerships, which would focus on financial rights. Irish gay rights groups are pushing hard for the equality option – which is civil marriage, so that children will be protected under law in same-sex parented families and that non-European Union partners in same-sex couples where one partner is Irish can access immigration rights."

The issue of immigration rights is becoming a big issue in Ireland because of the recent influx of immigrants. As Finnegan noted, it is an issue that is also paramount to gay immigrants to Ireland.

Finnegan explained that the gay newcomers to Ireland are very much integrated into the city's gay scene. Because of the relatively few gay bars in the city, different classes, nationalities, and ages mix together. That was the experience in Belfast where gay Protestants and Catholics have always mixed well even before the current truce.

Despite the current struggle over partnership rights, Ireland has come a long way in 20 years. Finnegan recalled that in the early days, GCN was discreetly bundled in brown paper to be dropped off and uncovered only in gay and very gay-friendly businesses.

But how things have changed. Now you can find the publication throughout Dublin's downtown. It boasts a circulation of 11,000. Finnegan said that the paper's research shows that each edition is read on average by three people. GCN's Web site averages 145,000 hits per month.

The paper is a nonprofit organization and receives government funding of nearly $150,000 per year. That represents about a third of its budget. The rest of its money comes from advertising. As a matter of policy, the paper does not run escort or massage ads.

The paper maintains a balance of entertainment and features with hard news. GCN also employs an AIDS editor who contributes a section each month.