This week is the Mardi Gras edition of Honi Soit and it commemorates the resilience and bravery of the queer community throughout the years. As a proud member of the queer community, I’d like to pay my respects to the elders who have gone before me, fighting for equality in a world that wanted them dead. I’d like to extend special respects to the queer First Nations community, whose lives have been heavily impacted by the western ideals of heteropatriarchy imposed on them through settler colonialism.
Honi Soit has a unique opportunity and responsibility to platform the voices of those marginalised by mainstream media. This week’s edition comprises of an editorial about the treatment of Brianna Ghey in British media landscape following her death (p. 8), and Nicola Brayan’s opinion writing about making nuanced arguments surrounding identity politics (p. 13).
In this edition, you will get the chance to understand the intrinsic relationship between clothing and gender expression. Zoe Le Marinel (p. 22) drafts a love letter to queer clothing and Ana Isaacs (p. 23) explores the broad paradigm of femininity.
The feature this week is about one of the largest queer institutions in the country — Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. With the entire world tuned in to Sydney for World Pride, it’s important to interrogate the mechanisms through which we gather and express our queerness. We must also criticise the corporate structures that dictate pride and tend to erase the radicality of LGBTQIA+ struggles.
Eternal thanks to Barbi Ghanoush, the queen on the cover, for lending her time to this campus rag during the business of Welcome Week. Also a massive thanks to my co-editor and friend Bipasha, who contorted into some fantastic crouches for the images – there will be a gallery of photos online.
I believe that the queer community is resilient, creative, and fun. I hope you enjoy this edition of Honi and I’m so grateful for the privilege that it has been to put together this edition.
