We’ve got no Pride

Cities around the world have been celebrating gay and lesbian pride with parades and parties -“ but Sydney missed out.

And it is likely to do so permanently unless the city’s Pride organisation gets a major injection of volunteers and a few extra dollars behind it.

Pride spokesman Murray Hood said although this year’s festival was cancelled because of a string of financial losses, the greatest hurdle to pulling off the event was the lack of volunteers -“ rather than money.

We’re likely to see it back next year, Hood said. Pride Week itself is very important to educate young people about our history.

Our first goal to getting Pride back on track is to see a successful awards night in August. Another is moving to a new centre in Kings Cross so we can provide auditorium-style services to the community again.

In terms of bettering our community, we need to understand the past and remember. That kind of knowledge and education is important for us to be able to move forward.

But Hood admitted the organisation would likely be wound up if it failed to get the support it needed.

Former New Mardi Gras chair Michael Woodhouse put it bluntly in 2004 telling Sydney Star Observer the two organisations must merge or die.

Obviously we can consider it, but one is a charity and one is not, Hood said.

The fear is that if they were to merge, the objectives of Pride would diminish -“ but that’s not the fault of NMG.

Pride and outreach group Rebellion have been in talks about how they could learn from each other -“ one strong in people’s hearts and memories, the other brimming with ideas and growing in numbers.

Rebellion president Bernard Busooa said Pride still had a lot of goodwill and it would be a shame to lose that in Sydney.

Pride is more connected to the community, through the kinds of work that it does and the organisation that it is, than a MG-type of corporation, Busooa said.

For more information on Sydney Pride visit www.sydneypride.com.au.

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