This year, ALBANY PRIDE has managed to fulfil a long-term ambition: to plaster Pride Flags along York Street, the central road of Albany/Kinjarling’s CBD.

Many of us at ALBANY PRIDE grew up in the region, or in regional areas like it, where the stigma and shame associated with being LGBTQIA+ was amplified and where Queer visibility was non-existent. We reflect on how much of a difference seeing just one Pride Flag in the area would have made when it came to feeling like we’re alone. Now we have a street filled with them!

Great strides have been made towards LGBTQIA+ acceptance and equality, but our existence is still placed under scrutiny. There are still organisations and institutions that think we can be ‘cured’ of our Queerness. Homophobia and transphobia are still prevalent. Our existence is still placed up for debate, and we are still fighting legislation that seeks to legalise discrimination against us and force us back into the closet.

We didn’t put up these banners along York Street just to promote our festival. We put them up to show those that seek to erase us through conversion interventions that we aren’t going anywhere and won’t be erased, to show that we will continue to fight those that want to erode our hard-earned rights, and most importantly – to show anybody that is struggling with their sexuality, gender identity, or intersex status that they are not alone.

It is a mark of celebration, solidarity, acceptance, and resistance. For the month of February, York Street is a reminder that – as the protest chant goes – “we’re here, we’re Queer, get used to it”.