A BELFAST drag artist is setting up Northern Ireland's first LGBTQ Inclusive GAA club.
Martin Murray, who performs under the name Danu Variant, is in the early stages of establishing new club Aeracha Uladh after he spotted a gap in demand.
A total of 30 people, including two other drag artists, have already contacted Mr Murray, asking to join the new club.
"The main point is to be a safe space," he said.
"There have been a lot of issues in the sporting community with chants being called out at players and other homophobia. It's not just for LGBTQ people. It's for their straight allies too.
"No one should feel uncomfortable being themselves."
Mr Murray said members do not have to have played football before.
However, he said many of the people who contacted him to join had "played when they were younger and are now coming back to the sport in their twenties and thirties".
"One of the biggest surprises is I've had youth members of the Ulster Unionist Party reaching out to me," he said.
"There's that cross-community element too."
Mr Murray first got involved with Belfast's first LGBTQ Inclusive soccer club, Belfast Blaze, in 2019.
He later joined a GAA club in Dublin.
"Na Gaeil Aeracha, which is Ireland's first LGBTQ Inclusive GAA football team, was set up and I wanted to be a part of it," he said.
"My GAA background wasn't much. I would have played a bit of hurling with my grandad but I never joined a team. When I heard about it (Na Gaeil Aeracha) it was a bit of a connection with my past and my culture.
"I decided to join but it was two hours down and two hours back to Dublin every Saturday. I thought I'd set up my own team."
Aeracha Uladh has not played a match yet but is actively looking for players.
Mr Murray said the club will initially set up a men's football team. He also hopes enough women will sign up to form a team.
The club will host its first session at Ulster University at Jordanstown on April 30.
"It's just me at the moment," he said.
"I'm hoping to get a committee together. Then we can start to plan. I want the players to say where they want to go. It's a group effort."
Mr Murray said the GAA is setting up a think-tank, including with people from Sporting Pride Ireland, to discuss inclusion.
He said Aeracha Uladh will be "trans inclusive".
"It will be self-identifying," he said.
"If you identify as a woman you can join the women's team or if you are gender neutral you can choose which team you feel more comfortable with."
He said the team has been set up to support LGBTQ people's "mental and physical health".
"It's community supporting community," he said.
The club will be open to anyone aged over 18.
For further information, message the club on Instagram via www.instagram.com/aeracha_uladh_gac
