Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Geelong Rainbow festival

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (09:44): This coming Saturday is the Geelong Rainbow festival. It begins with a Pride March in Johnstone Park at 10:00 am, and it continues for the day at West Park. This event is an opportunity to celebrate LGBTQIA+ people in the Greater Geelong region and for allies and the broader community to come out and show their support. It is also an occasion to reflect on the courage and leadership of those who fight for the rights of LGBTQIA+ people to be treated as equal human beings, valued and included in all areas of life.

The fight is not over. LGBTQIA+ people still face exclusion, lack of safety and poorer health and wellbeing outcomes, including significantly higher rates of mental illness and suicide. These disparities are the result of discrimination, both overt and insidious, through power structures and cultural attitudes. This is compounded when we see the bodies, identities and bedrooms of LGBTQIA+ people continue to be a political target for some, as the shameful acts outside this place on the weekend demonstrated. The trauma that results when one’s life is up for debate is hard to imagine. It is a reminder for the need for LGBTQIA+ leaders to remain strong, however exhausting that may be, and for allies, particularly those in positions of power, to step up. We cannot assume that progress will occur by itself or that any gains made are irreversible. I ask all Greater Geelong residents to join us at the Geelong Pride March and Rainbow festival this weekend and show solidarity with our rainbow community.