Tropical Pride

Let me continue my story about Tropical Pride in Cairns.

On Saturday, October 13, a rainbow crossing was organized in the city, which we crossed with rainbow flags in our hands, to the applause of the public. Then we went to the Cairns Museum to deposit a few posters of the YES campaign, in which we participated last year before the plebiscite about same-sex marriage. Let me remind you that the majority of Australians supported the LGBT community, and the law on same-sex marriage was passed by the Parliament. The director of the Museum, as it turned out, is a lesbian. She warmly welcomed us, along with other staff, and accepted the posters. Then she conducted a tour of the Museum. We were photographed with rainbow flags on the balcony of the Museum. By the way, in many events we had the company of Matthew Mitcham, an Australian Olympic champion, openly gay. On the first photo, he is on the left.

Then we went to our LGBT centre QuAC, which is located not far from the Museum. We had a meeting where people talked about themselves, their LGBT life and activities. The theme, as in the last year, was “Survival.” It sounds sad, but we heard not only sad, but also optimistic stories.

At 3 pm, our LGBT-resort Turtle Cove scheduled Queer Spring Break II. It is outside the city, and the place is beautiful. I went there. I saw a lot of people, mostly gay. There were also guests of Cairns there: from other cities of Australia and from overseas. I met, in particular, a 74-year-old resident of Brisbane. He began to live a gay life only 3 years ago! He was married (his wife died), has three sons, one of whom is gay, openly gay.

Sunday, October 14, was the main day – Fair Day. The program included concerts, a film, a drag show, a dog competition. Everywhere there were tents and tables with information materials and LGBT badges, pens, etc. In one of the tents was our local writer, who writes mostly on gay themes. In another tent, a candle company, people could buy rainbow candles.

Of course, there was a good opportunity to make acquaintances and chat with old friends.

At the end, there was a 45-minute concert by Matthew Mitcham, who entertained us with songs in French, Spanish and English. Many songs were autobiographical. Matthew has a good sense of humor, and a nice voice. He performed in Cairns last year. This time he arrived with a new program. He is public’s favorite.

That’s how our city held the most important annual event for our LGBT community – Tropical Pride.