Waybe Carberry, aka Mr Gay Meath.

A young gay Navan man is vying for people's votes to be named Mr Gay Ireland this weekend.

Wayne Carberry, or Mr Gay Meath, from Johnstown, Navan, is the county's representative in the competition, which is run annually to promote the self-esteem of young gay men and to support HIV/Aids.

Wayne likens the competition to a fun beauty pageant that will see him go up against 19 other men to claim the role of Mr Gay Ireland, which could then see him represent Ireland on the world stage.

The Navan man got involved in the competition following his move to Dublin last June and is using it as a way to meet people in the gay community as well as raise money for the Guide Clinic at St James's Hospital - the largest free sexually transmitted infection (STI), HIV and infectious disease service in Ireland.

"It is a centre that does great work," commented Wayne, and somewhere that he is keen to support.

The 21-year-old, who completed his second-level education at Beaufort College in Navan, had ideas from a young age that he was gay and began confiding in friends when he was 14, which he found very liberating. "The more people I told, the more I became comfortable with it," he said.

It wasn't until he was nearly 20, however, that he decided to 'come out' to his family, which he found a much more daunting task. Since then, they have given him incredible support.

He added, however, that being gay in Meath can be a lonely existence as there are little or no support systems in place for the gay community.

"When I was 17 or 18, I knew that I had to move away as there is nothing for me," he said because there was nowhere for him to go or nowhere to socialise in order to meet people.

Wayne is urging people to vote for him at www.gayireland.ie. The final takes place this Sunday, 28th October, at the Arlington Hotel, Bachelors Walk, Dublin.