I've never been a fan of Boyzone. Ronan Keating's vocals leave me cold and the whole boyband thing was never my cup of tea, pint of Guinness, whatever.

The band, Keating, Stephen Gately, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch and Mikey Graham) was marketed in 1993 as Ireland's answer to Take That (but at least Take That had Robbie Williams) and their image was built on the idea that they were five lovely straight young Irish men.

There was nothing controversial in the Ireland of the early 90s. The referendum to lift the ban on divorce didn't take place until 1995 and abortion has still yet to be legalized. That's the way Ireland was in 1993. No unwanted pregnancies, no broken-down marriages and absolutely no gay people.

Of course, the truth turned out to be much more complicated.

In 1999, Stephen Gately came out in some style.

The news (for those who thought it was news) was plastered on page one of the British tabloid, the Sun, which claimed it had an exclusive.

And the funny thing was, no-one in Ireland gave a hoot.

The closeted Irish public had long suspected someone in Boyzone was gay and the news didn't faze anyone.

There were always rumors swirling round the band in the early days but most of us in the Irish media didn't report the rumors because we knew it would kill their career. That's the way Ireland was then. Don't ask, don't tell.

Gately handled his "coming out" in such a way that he gave no small amount of hope and courage to thousands of young Irish men who were terrified of doing the same thing.

I admired Stephen Gately for coming out the way he did. I still hated the band's music but I admired him for stepping outside the hypocrisy and just saying, simply, "This is me. Take it or leave it."

And now, having watched the way his bandmates have reacted to his tragic death, I think I might be converting to Boyzone.

For one simple reason.

Gately's mother asked the boys to stay with Stephen overnight in the church because she did not want her son to be on his own. He was afraid of the dark, she said.

And so, the remaining members of Boyzone stayed overnight in the church, bedding down on sleeping bags to honor his mother's request.

In 1993 they were just five young strangers thrown together by Louis Walsh's mad ambition.

This weekend they showed us the true meaning of friendship.