About Us
RFEN is a collection of like minded individuals that are working together to drive change for LGBTQ+ families in Ireland
Rian Love
Rían Love is one of 6 co-founders of RFEN. Rían’s background is within education and healthcare, with vast experience as a technical and quality director for an ISO accredited medical device laboratory.
Having identified within the LGBTQI spectrum for 18 years, Rían has had exposure to the many inequalities that are faced within our community. Rían is a father of 2 beautiful girls and was recently one of the fortunate LGBTQI parents who were eligible to utilise the CFRA 2015 act to be awarded parentage rights for both of them. A foundation built on the belief of equality for all, this has only served to underpin Rían’s determination to maintain the momentum in the fight for recognition and rights for all parents.
Lucille Grange Furlong
Lucille Grange Furlong is one of the co-founders of Rainbow Families Equality Network (RFEN). She has been involved in campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights for over 10 years, and has been very vocal about the inequalities and discrimination LGBTQ+ families face each day. Lucille is a Kilkenny woman who has lived and worked in Dublin for more years than she’d like to remember. Her career has been mainly focused in financial and business management and she has experience in the Quality, Operations and Sales functions. Lucille is married to Elaine, who is also a co-founder of RFEN and together they have 2 sons, who are 9 and 5 years old. They have recently been award declaration of parentage under the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, which both are very grateful for, but will continue to campaign, lobby and fight for equality for all families, regardless of how the children are conceived.
AnneMarie Whelan
AnneMarie Whelan is a co-founder of RFEN and a member of LGBT Ireland’s AHR Legal Strategy Working Group. She is a former practicing Barrister who currently works in the area of Regulatory Compliance.
AnneMarie has a long history of activism for LGBTQ+ rights which stems back to her membership of the UCD LGBT Society. While at the Bar of Ireland, she sat on TENI’s legal working group prior to Gender Recognition, was a Board member of the LGBT Lawyers Association and ran free legal advice clinics from OutHouse for the community. Having experienced the power of direct action over the past 3 years to secure commencement of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, she is eager to build on the protection it affords to some of our families.
Married to Ailbhe and having recently been granted a declaration of parentage, she is even more motivated to continue the campaign for fully inclusive Assisted Human Reproduction legislation, which gives ALL rainbow families a pathway to legal recognition.
Ailbhe O'Nolan
Ailbhe O’Nolan is one of the co-founders of RFEN and has a background in Science & Health research and administration.
Ailbhe has been campaigning in the area of LGBTQ+ rights for almost a decade and has been a consistent advocate for marriage equality, trans rights and parental rights.
She is married to AnneMarie and has a 1 year old son. Having recently secured a declaration of parentage under the CFRA, Ailbhe is committed to seeking to ensure ALL LGBTQ+ families get to experience the security of legal recognition regardless of the pathway to parenthood chosen.
