Sydney Life

For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning students on campus, the past week has been a memorable one. The University of Sydney Union's Queer Convenors hosted the annual Pride Festival, celebrating sexual and gender diversity on campus.

I am always amazed by the incredible sense of community that can be found on campus. However, there are fewer close-knit communities than the queer student community. Pride Festival represents a showcase of that community spirit and gives hope for a more accepting and tolerant world.

Above: "My Life, My Pride". The mural I painted in the Graffiti Tunnel during this year's Pride Festival

My Story
I came to the University of Sydney in 2003, after attending high school in Sydney's suburbs. My high school life was actually very positive on the whole and I found a lot of acceptance amongst my friends. My story's quite usual. I came out to myself in Year 10 and progressively began coming out to my closest friends during Year 12. By the end of Year 12, I began to be confidently out and honest about my sexuality to all people. All people that is, except my family, who I didn't come out to until sometime later. The ones that you love the most are always the hardest to tell.

When I initially made the decision to come to Sydney Uni instead of a university closer to home, I would say that my sexuality was at least 50% of the reason. I needed to get away from my suburban life, discover a more open space to really ask the hard questions about my identity and find out what I'd been missing out on during my teens. Situated within walking distance of some of the most gay-friendly areas in Australia, Sydney Uni was the obvious choice. I was impressed by the Uni's long history as a Mecca of gay student life. After all, the first Mardi Gras - the symbolic birth of Australia's gay rights movement - was organised after a meeting in Sydney Uni's own Mills Building (where I now attend my Sociology Honours classes!). Justice Michael Kirby, the first openly gay High Court judge, was also a Sydney law graduate and past SRC President.

When I started here in 2003, I wasn't disappointed. I got involved with the queer student groups on campus and quickly made many friends. I also fell in love for the first time...

My Queer Student Involvement
As School Captain and SRC President during High School, I was heavily involved in organising events for students whilst I was at school. I came to uni with the confidence (and perhaps, slight naivety) that I could do the same here. And I did!

As a bright-eyed first year student, I came up with the idea to host a Coming Out by Candlelight celebration in the USU QueerSpace during Pride Week. The idea was that people would come together in an intimate candlelit night setting, sit around on equalising bean-bags and cushions and share their coming out stories with others. Everyone would also get to take home an envelope which people had filled with little scribbled-down notes; supportive comments or praise. Out:Spoken, as the event was called, was an incredible success. To a packed room, every single person shared their story and everyone took home a little envelope full of love and support. I still have my envelope. A tradition was born that night.

I was invited to re-host Out:Spoken in 2004 by the Queer Convenor at the time. In 2005, this time as Queer Convenor myself, Out:Spoken returned again. It has become an annual event, which in 2006, the new Queer Convenors again included in the Pride Festival program. It brings a smile to my face when I think that my original idea four years ago, has turned into a yearly tradition which people look forward to. Out:Spoken warmly welcomes new students (and re-welcomes old students) into the queer community. It's not very often that you sit in a room with so many different types of people, share your personal story and know that you are a valued part of a group.

Above: You couldn't help but walk in Pride in the Graffiti Tunnel this week.

Pride Festival 2006: "My Life, My Pride"
This year the annual USU Pride Festival celebrations returned in full force. Pride Day (Wednesday 5 April), the centrepiece of Pride Festival, was preceded by Pride Eve (Tuesday 4 April) and followed by Pride Recovery (Thursday 6 April). The theme this year was "My Life, My Pride" and all the events attempted to highlight how our sexual and gender identities are made up of many complex and equally important aspects. Coming Out by Candlelight was back ("My Story, My Pride"), as was a forum on spirituality and sexuality ("My Beliefs, My Pride"), a picnic book reading ("My School, My Pride"), a sexual health and technique workshop ("My Body, My Pride"), a Desperate and Daggy Ball ("My Prom, My Pride") and a women's cocktail performance night ("My Sisters, My Pride").

Above: "My Beliefs, My Pride" - a student tells it how it is in the Graffiti Tunnel.

Feeling well and truly a veteran of the queer student community, I decided to pop along on Pride Eve to see how my baby - Coming Out by Candlelight - was going. It never ceases to amaze me how important and powerful simply sharing stories can be. In a world that often overstates differences and likes to categorise people into rigid binaries, the sharing of stories allows us to remember just how many more similarities than differences we share with other human beings. After four years, the stories I hear at the annual Coming Out by Candlelight have become refreshingly similar and not that unique. (This is not a bad thing I don't think, but a testament to the overwhelming similarities that we share). There are always some who have had a difficult time coming out and others whose coming out has been an almost non-event. There are some who are keenly aware of the political statements their identities make, whilst others are equally happy to be as they are without delving into macro-analyses. Memorably, there is always at least one international student who comes out for the first time. I remember clearly last year when a Korean international student let out that this was: "The first time I say I am a lesbian". The room broke out in cheers and applause then, as it did again this year when a boy from Hong Kong shared a similar story.

Following the Coming Out by Candlelight, it was time for Q-Tagging the Graffiti Tunnel. Armed with paint, aerosols and imagination, we took to the walls to ensure that when Pride Day arrived the next day, everyone would know.

Above: "Gays are valued on this Campus" - Steps of Pride

Desperate and Daggy Ball: Pride Day @ Manning Bar, 7pm
One of the highlight events of Pride Festival was the Desperate and Daggy Ball held at Manning Bar. Dubbed the "queer school formal you never had", you were instructed to get dressed in the daggiest 80s gear for a retro-themed night; complete with a cheesy photo booth, balloon archways and synthetic floral corsages at the door! One of the great aspects of the queer student community at Sydney is that we have great links with queer students from all universities in NSW. Every year there is a queer student Mardi Gras float with participants from unis across NSW, so many of our friends from other universities joined us at the Ball.

Apart from guiltily enjoying daggy classics like Wham's "Wake Me up Before you Go, Go" and the B52s' "Love Shack", there were also many fantastic student performers from within the queer community and the broader university community. Special mention has to go to MADSOC (The Movement and Dance Society), who performed dance extravaganzas to the Pussycat Dolls' "Don't Cha Wish your Girlfriend was Hot like Me", Kelis' "Milkshake" and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive".

What a night! What a festival!

If you would like to find out more information on upcoming queer events for students on campus, you can contact the amazing USU Queer Convenors via email.