We're here, we're queer! 

By Kylie Mitchell 
 

I recently received an email begging for a more understanding culture towards Homosexuals in Queensland, and for more gay iconic areas in the state.  More events, more out and proud, more acceptance, more reality.  So I am taking a slight detour from my normal cheeky stance on things and getting down and dirty. 

Having spent quite a bit of time travelling around Australia with work, I certainly have noticed that in Queensland, it is very easy to feel like the world is starring at you.  Now that may be insecurities speaking but it may also be the fact that out of all the states, I have found our state to still be very prejudiced.  This may be because of its huge rural make up, or it may just be because we are a bit behind the eight ball when it comes to equal rights.     

I grew up in a rural area outside of a small country town were nobody spoke about “the gays”.  It was a taboo subject. When I myself released the truth of my own sexuality I was desperate to get to the big smoke but in reality it didn't really make much difference.  When ever I go back home to visit the family, it is part of the daily process, that if I go down town I will get the open mouth stares as I walk past, apparently I scream “Look at me, I'm a lesbian!  BOO!”  I left that town ten years ago and it really hasn't changed that much since.  My brothers will still say to me, “Look at that poof, don't bend over”  at which I will pull them up on that matter and they always respond,” oh we don't mean you”.  But we are all one and the same.   

Credit where credit is due, homosexuality was only “legalised” in Queensland in 1990, a long time after most of the other states.  Up until that point in time, it was still an arrestable offence. The state is moving forward slowly, even if it does seem two steps forward one step backwards at times. Changes to the law are happening, acceptance is building, and it is a damn sight better than it used to be.  I would take an open mouth stare any day of the week over a beating.  There are times though when I am walking down the street in Brisbane and I will get someone yell out some obscenity in my direction.  It is hard to ignore it, but we all learn to.  

The LGBT community have made a home in the Valley, but to be honest the only sign that it is even known as the Gay district is one lonely flag hanging from the roof of the Wickham Hotel. If you never ventured out into the valley at night you may not even notice the large LGBT population in Brisbane.  It has always been the centre for creative thinking, and alternative lifestyle and so we flock there to feel safe and connected.   

In my ideal world Brunswick and Ann Street in Fortitude Valley would have rainbow flags on every street pole, blowing proudly in the wind. It would be openly proud like Oxford Street in Sydney, and people would rejoice at its difference and defiance.  I don't take lightly the work that has gone before us so that we may walk down the street and hold our partners hand. A lot have suffered and fought extremely hard to give us this freedom, and I say thank you!    

There is still a way to go, and the only way mentality is going to change is through education and persistence.  They can't make us go away, and we will never go back into the closets. The best we can do now is to help those who are not so fortunately blessed at being gay to understand.  We are your sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and friends. We love, we laugh, we hurt and cry. We are the only ones who can drive change.  

Acceptance comes with awareness, so get out there and support your local events, live your life with pride, take your straight friends to gay events, show them what it is all about.  Were not recruiting, just living our lives in a manner that makes us happy, the same thing that everyone else is doing.  Don't wait until June when the Brisbane Pride Festival roles around to make a presences.  Do it everyday with your head held high, and let's see if we can raise enough awareness to get those rainbow flags flying in the Valley, the way they should be.