Tomorrow’s leaders today

A dozen young gay and lesbian people are one step closer to tackling the challenges ahead for the community after completing the six-month Twenty10 Q&A leadership program over the weekend.

Based on the idea that one doesn’t have to be in a position of authority to exercise change, Twenty10 began the adaptive leadership program to build the capabilities of a group of young people.

But it wasn’t just a confidence-building exercise, 26-year-old Puppet said, it was about speaking from the heart, hearing what others are saying, and having the strength to see projects through.

I’ve been working in the Bear community, but my big idea is that the many sub-communities come together and engage, Puppet said. From that will come a common purpose.

The group of young people was itself diverse, politically and with what relationship they have with the community, including public servants, choir directors, university students, and the welfare sector.

Puppet said he now saw adaptive change as stepping outside his comfort zone, getting angry and exploring other options, such as engaging with the straight community over the issue of violence on Oxford St.

We do stuff to challenge the violence and we end up having plastic cups and 3am lockdowns. It might help reduce some of the violence, but it’s not the gays with the glass cups who are causing the violence, he said.

Like the community itself, there was as much disagreement about what the challenges are as there was about what the solutions should be.

Returning from the 3-day retreat in Bundanoon 18-year-old Raquel Lowe said she went into the program with definite ideas of what the community needed most -” more services for its youth -” but came away with an appreciation for the varied challenges ahead.

I don’t think we’re a well community. We talked about a number of issues we saw, such as drugs and alcohol, and I don’t think if you have people feeling these things then that is a well community, Lowe said.

My fear would be that if those things stay the way they are there won’t be a community.
Not everybody wants to change the world, she said, but the community’s lack of visibility in western Sydney was a challenge that couldn’t go ignored.

My issue is mostly in western Sydney because there’s a big problem with access. Twenty10 is an hour away from Penrith, so it’s quite hard to get to if you’re from Penrith and wanting to get to a service, she said.

I did the program because I wanted to work with gay and lesbian youth and I thought it would be a good stepping stone. I wasn’t expecting to build up such good relationships with the group.