Page 4495 - Week 12 - Thursday, 26 October 2017
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LGBTIQ community is facing every day. But I certainly did not expect that rainbows would cause people so much offence. Frankly, it made me feel like absolute rubbish when I discovered what has been happening.
But in some ways I am glad it has happened, because this small insight and how I have felt about it has given me some understanding of what the LGBTIQ community goes through every day and has been going through for decades. I pay tribute to their resilience, grace and determination for decades but also over this protracted period of debate over this survey.
Amongst the awfulness there have been moments of real beauty. I have spoken about some of them before in this place. I want to mention today something that happened at 8.10 one Friday morning. A group of Canberrans were gathered at the city interchange, not to meet friends or grab a coffee or even to catch a bus; instead, they were waiting to welcome a bus. Qwire is a community choir for LGBTIQ people and allies. The choir brings people together to share the joy of singing while challenging stereotypes. It aims to use music to build a bridge between the queer and non-queer communities in Canberra.
That morning, Qwire were welcoming one of Canberra’s two rainbow buses. As the bus turned into the interchange they launched into their incredibly stirring rendition of Phillip Phillips’ Home. The message of the song is that you are not alone, that you should not pay any mind to the things that fill you with fear, and that we are going to make this place your home.
I imagine it would be quite nerve-wracking breaking into song in the middle of the bus interchange, but Qwire’s music rang through the streets strong and proud. Passers-by broke into huge grins and many pulled out their phones, as I did, to capture the amazing display. The power and happiness of this song was infectious, as the singers put their arms around each other, danced, clapped and cried, bringing the song to life and brightening a chilly moment.
It made me very proud as a member of this government to see that Qwire could welcome a rainbow bus into the station. It may only be a bus but I think it served as a much greater symbol to the members of Qwire that morning who were brave enough to take to the streets singing. That bus represented the ACT government’s support for them and for the marriage equality cause.
Most importantly I want to acknowledge the many people who stopped to talk to me and share their stories: the man who told me he was waiting for his partner to return from a trip so that they could post their yes votes together; the woman who wanted to see her nephew get married but could not because he had to do it overseas; the countless people who have told me about their friend or relative who has been in a same-sex relationship for decades and deserves their right to marry; and the man who follows me on Twitter who stopped me in the street the other day to say he will never forget this government’s support during one of the most difficult periods of his life.
To each and every one of these individuals I say thank you. To everyone else I say please post your survey and make it a yes.
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