Content Warning: This piece makes mentions of derogatory homophobic language.
The protest was in response to the recent surge in discriminatory rhetoric and anti-LGBTQIA+ attacks against queer people in Sydney. Just one week earlier, the national LGBTQIA+ awareness event Wear It Purple Day saw the targeted attack of drag queen Carla from Bankstown at her dedicated stall in Bankstown Central.
At the protest, drag queen Pomara Fifth spoke on the matter: “As someone who has been doing drag on these very streets for 10 years, I have seen a massive increase in non-queer people flooding our safe spaces — our clubs, our bars.”
The vitriol and vilification from onlookers expressed at the protesters on the historically queer street, along with two groups of counter-protestors who attempted to disrupt the rally, emboldened attendees’ demands to protect queer spaces.
When speaking to attendees, drag performer Buster Nut also shared their firsthand experiences of anti-LGBTQIA+ attacks:
“Following WorldPride, everyone was taking breaks, but I was like, this is so ideal for me to get a heap of little gigs because no one else is taking them. I had two gigs in Newtown, on King Street. Walking between the gigs that night — there was a protest by Christian Lives Matter — I was spat on, and called a faggot.”
Protestors underlined the importance of abolishing the Religious Discrimination Bill 2022 as a critical step in safeguarding the rights, well-being, and safety of queer individuals. The Bill – introduced in 2021 to accompany associated laws that protect race, disability, age, and gender – would provide religious groups with legitimate legal protection, potentially bolstering them with the privilege to disseminate anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric under the guise of religious freedom.
“Our community has witnessed and experienced discrimination from far-right religious groups, TERFs, and conservative politicians each time they introduce bills and legislation that dilute our human rights in the name of religious freedoms,” said Aidy Magro, a member of the National Tertiary Education Union.
Magro additionally maintained that the queer movement could only be strengthened in unanimity with workers rights: “Solidarity between workers — and that includes sex workers — queer people, business people, and unions will burn much brighter than the people who contribute to our discrimination.”
Speakers emphasised the significance of community, unification, and mass mobilisation as paramount to the queer movement.
“It’s not the rainbow crosswalks or the pride merchandise that makes Oxford Street, or anywhere else, a safe space. It is the collective action of all of us fighting for queer liberation,” said Jamie Bridge, co-convener of USYD Queer Action Collective.
Bridge highlighted the power of such collective action on our own campus: “When queer staff at the University of Sydney called on management to offer gender-affirmation leave for employers, it was only after mass strike action with organic student support that the University acquiesced.”
Finally, speakers demanded for the Parliament to deliver the overdue Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTQIA+) Bill 2023 as a capstone in bringing better equality for queer communities. Amidst all the fervour for advancement, the night concluded in a vibrant celebration of dance and music at Taylor Square, echoing Buster Nut’s appreciation for Queer Joy — “In the rise of all this hate, it is so easy to feel beaten down. Joy is so much more powerful than hatred. Joy brings people together.”
