Rainbows?

The rainbow crossing across Oxford Street. Now let’s talk about that.

Firstly, a rainbow crossing, yes it was a lovely and colourful symbol of gay pride. But, at a cost of $110,000? I agree it was a community spirited and inclusive act by the local government to put it there in the first place. But with the continuing controversy of it being removed can we take just a moment to think about what $110,00 could of done for the gay community had it been spent on facilities such as the Gender Centre, Twenty 10 or ACON?

Energy is now being spent on blame, name-calling and outrage. How about we get outraged at the number of homeless youth that identify as gay. With statistics like these:

• 20% of homeless youth are LGBTQ. In comparison, the general youth population is only 10% LGBTQ.
• While homeless youth typically experience severe family conflict as the primary reason for their homelessness, LGBTQ youth are twice as likely to experience sexual abuse before the age of 12.
• LGBTQ youth, once homeless, are at higher risk for victimisation, mental health problems, and unsafe sexual practices. 58.7% of LGBTQ homeless youth have been sexually victimised compared to 33.4% of heterosexual homeless youth
• LGBTQ youth are roughly 7.4 times more likely to experience acts of sexual violence than heterosexual homeless youth
• LGBTQ homeless youth commit suicide at higher rates (62%) than heterosexual homeless youth (29%)

Or how about we start getting antsy about how new diagnoses of HIV have increased by 8 per cent last year, and by 50 per cent during the past 10 years. Could $110,00 have helped ACON increase awareness and create community projects around this? I think so.

Maybe we need to focus our energy less on ‘token’ scraps of government acceptance for our queer community and more on the real issues at hand. The crossing is gone. That is a fact. How it was removed was indeed ‘discrete’ and probably below the belt, that is not in question. The question here is why are we wasting our time, public funding and breath on a matter that is not pertinent to the actual struggles going on in the community right this second?

How about we inject $110,000 into schools to educate our youth on the topic of being gay, coming out as gay and or normalising it so we aren’t continuing the cycle of misinterpretation and miseducation.

Education crushes fear.

Thinking about creating your own rainbow crossing? Maybe as an act of defiance? Maybe you could spend that time volunteering at a LGBTQ community service? That could possibly do a lot more good for the cause than fighting a topic that should be fought not with defiance and a war of words but with action within our community to keep it safe and keep imperative services going.

The crossing itself was nothing more than a tokenistic move on the governments behalf during Pride as Pride attracts more than 400,000 people each year and injects about $30 million into the NSW economy. I wonder exactly how much of that $30 Million goes back into funding queer community projects and services?

Hmmmmmmmm.

Don’t paint a fucking rainbow – Give some time to causes that need your time and energy.