Image: Community Shows Support At Orange City Council Meeting. Source: AAP / Stephanie Gardiner
by JASMINE SIMMONS
A pride festival in regional NSW will go ahead despite attempts to have it cancelled, but mixed feelings about the controversy have continued in the community.
The Rainbow Festival in Orange New South Wales will be held this month after local councillors overthrew a motion to withdraw council support for the event.
A 10-2 vote in favour of the festival was made on Tuesday night, with LGBTQI community members and their supporters waving pride flags and embracing in celebration.
The Festival was announced by the council last month, comprising a parade and drag competitions to increase visibility and tolerance for the community in the growing regional area.
It was councillor Kevin Duffy who put forward the motion to cancel the council’s involvement in the pride event.
Duffy told a crowd of 200 at a previous council meeting that “sexuality, gender and identity are not jurisdictions or charters of the Orange City Council” and are “ideologies that we should be nowhere near”.
Anti-LGBT Group Calls For Festival Cancellation
Days before the meeting calling for cancellation, a group describing themselves as “Locals for Locals” handed out flyers speaking against the event.
The document targeted various activities, including drag queen story time and face painting.
The far-right flyers circulating Orange opened with, “Are you happy about the following event: a ‘Rainbow Festival’ to be held over three days with some sessions involving children as young as 3 years old to be entertained by drag queens?”.
The letter expressed anti-gay and anti-trans ideals and strongly encouraged locals to attend the council meeting and put a stop to the festival.
“It is an event to normalise what most of us do not consider normal,” read the Locals for Locals flyer.
Community Disheartened By Opposing Motion
The motion calling to cancel the Festival has left councillors and Orange locals with mixed emotions about the event going forward.
Adelaide Pratt, a young doctor, urged councillors to disregard “absurd” arguments regarding the festival and stated that opponents should “educate themselves”.
“We want all young people to know they will be loved and accepted for who they are,” said Pratt.
The council received a $125,800 NSW government grant for the festival. NSW Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence said that the funds were provided due to the recognition of high levels of suicide among LGBTQI community members.
Lawrence told the meeting how important it was for the festival to go forward.
“I know it’s brash and it’s loud, but it has to be to reach the people it needs to reach.”
Greens councillor, David Mallard, said that the campaign against the festival would have long-lasting effects, as it caused anxiety and stress for members of the LGBTQI community.
“It’s caused damage to the image of Orange as a progressive and welcoming city.”
The Orange Rainbow Festival will run from March 22.
More information about the event can be found on the Orange City Council website.
