Reclaim The Right Vigil A Success
Sydney’s Reclaim The Right vigil was a great success, with about 1000 people showing up to Harmony Park in Surry Hills to show their support for victims of homophobic violence and to demand more action from police and government.
It was an Australia Day event with a twist – the park was a sea of flags, with both indigenous and pink Australian flags waving in the breeze.
The event was brilliantly hosted by Steph Sands and drag icon Maxi Shield. Camp, colourful band The Homotones kicked things off, before Shauna Jensen performed Des’ree’s You Gotta Be. She also spoke briefly, urging the crowd to look after one another and to make sure we didn’t allow the current state of the strip to let us become heterophobic. “In the words of the song I sang before,” said Shauna, “Love will save the day.”
Courtney Act performed an original song What About This? which she wrote after being assaulted on the strip by two men last year.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore was the first speaker to address the crowd. She spoke of how the City Of Sydney is addressing the problems in the Darlinghurst area – which include more surveillance cameras on the strip, more development of local shops and cafes in the area to restore balance, as well as pushing for new frameworks to make homophobic venues in the area more accountable for the damage they cause.
Things got a little heated when Shelly Dahl from Community Action Against Homophobia spoke. Her speech was thought by many to be too negative, extremist and off-topic, and she was eventually shouted down by some folk in the crowd until she left the stage.
Councillor Shayne Mallard gave an impassioned speech about the need for our government to recognise gay equality and how discrimination on this level makes our government a silent participant in the violence we’re currently facing.
ACON President Adrian Loveny wrapped things up beautifully by speaking of the cyclical nature of homophobic violence against the Sydney gay community and how efforts in the nineties saw us make progress, but how these initiatives have since fallen by the wayside. Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officer program was once the model that police around the world looked to, but now it’s fallen into disrepair, even in Surry Hills Local Area Command.
Shauna and Courtney closed the event with a rousing performance of M People’s Proud.
The highlight of the event was when Maxi and Steph urged the community to hold hands and walk as one from Harmony Park up to Taylor Square. “It’s our street, isn’t it?” said Maxi. “I’m proud to be an out gay woman in Sydney!’ added Steph. The large crowd snaked it’s way to Oxford Street, blowing whistles, waving flags and cheering, while onlookers waved from buildings and traffic stopped.
While we’re a long way off changing the Darlinghurst area, the event showed that at least wheels are turning and that there’s still a core group of community members committed to making it happen. Lets hope this is just the beginning of our community standing up for itself once more.
Rod Spark’s photos from the vigil are here.
You can see Morgan Carpenter’s shots here.
Were you there? What did you think of the vigil? Tell us your thoughts in the forums.
Your Thoughts
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flungabunga
said ages ago