78ers Honoured With Key To City Of Sydney

78er and CAMP (Campaign Against Moral Persecution) member Robyn Kennedy accepted the key to the City of Sydney, Friday night, on behalf of past and present heroes of the Pride movement.

The Key was presented by Lord Mayor Clover Moore at the Progress Pride Flag Raising Ceremony, in honour of Queer activists and community heroes.

‘We Honour The Activists, The Advocates, The Community Heroes’

“Tonight, we honour the activists, the advocates, the community heroes who achieved these gains and built this community,” Moore announced.

“It is their efforts and commitment that made Sydney WorldPride 2023 possible and I’d like you to pay tribute to them with the presentation of the key to the City of Sydney.”

Kennedy accepted the Key on behalf of “pioneer activists, our advocates, our AIDS carers, our community historians, and photographers.”

She also accepted it on behalf of Qtopia Sydney, who will act as custodian of the key, and display it at the interim Qtopia museum in Green Park.

‘An Army Of Lovers And Allies Can Never Be Defeated’

Kennedy spoke about the achievements of CAMP, Australia’s first national gay and lesbian rights organisation.

CAMP was founded in 1970 when sex between consenting male adults was illegal throughout Australia, carrying penalties of imprisonment for up to 14 years. 

“We forced decriminalisation of homosexuality, we made governments face the AIDS crisis, we fought until discrimination against us was illegal, and until our children could not be removed simply because of our sexuality. We won the right to have our relationships treated equally. We paved the way for evolving definitions of gender and identity,” Kennedy said.

“All these victories have been hard fought, often at the cost of significant personal sacrifice, but being fearless is at the heart of everything we do – our 78ers are shining examples of standing your ground against overwhelming odds.

“We created a society where every single year since 1978 sequined dancers, drag queens and revellers across age, nationality, gender, and identity come together to celebrate our community, while also breaking the world record for the number of stilettos discarded in one night.

She added, “Our role now is to continue to live the motto that has carried us through the decades – an army of lovers and allies can never be defeated.”

A More Inclusive Representation Of Queer Communities

The Progress Pride flag was raised at Sydney Town Hall to officially mark the beginning of Mardi Gras and Sydney WorldPride.

Created by non-binary graphic designer Daniel Quasar. The Progress Pride Flag adds five arrow-like stripes to the traditional Rainbow Flag, incorporating a brown and black stripe to represent people of colour and the white, pink and blue stripe of the trans flag, in order to create a more inclusive representation of Queer communities.

The flag will fly over Sydney Town Hall for the duration of Sydney WorldPride 2023.

Sydney WorldPride 2023 began on February 17. The Queer mega-festival will go on for 17 days, ending on March 5. 

This will be the biggest LGBTQI event to happen in the Southern Hemisphere.

For information on Sydney WorldPride 2023, go to sydneyworldpride.com