Melbourne’s First Trans Pride March later this month
Image: kATALYNA
By Eleanor Watson
In late March thousands of people are expected to flood Melbourne’s CBD with a wave of blue, white and pink. The occasion? To celebrate Melbourne’s inaugural Trans Pride March.
The march, which is inclusive of all members of the trans and gender diverse community and our allies, will take place Sunday the 29th of March. Rallying at the state library from 12pm and concluding at Federation Square around 2pm, the march will lend itself perfectly to International Transgender day of Visibility, Tuesday the 31st of March.
Miss Katalyna, a proud trans women of colour, activist and president of Trans Pride March Melbourne tells the Star Observer ‘the purpose of the of event is to increase visibility, awareness of the discrimination(s) and to celebrate the contributions [trans and gender diverse folk] have made to society’.
Trans Pride March Melbourne is an event for everyone and has a strong inclusion of First Nations people, QTIPOC, people living with a disability, the young and elderly.
Federation Square has proudly sponsored a Trans Pride Celebration Concert which will commence from 3pm after the pride March. The concert will open with an official welcome to country by an aboriginal elder from the LGBTIQA+ community and will include a large array of LGBTIQA+ artists and performers.
Ro Allen – Victorian Commissioner for gender and sexuality tells the Star Observer how excited they are that ‘Melbourne is getting [its] own major trans inclusive event, led by a local group of trans and gender diverse peers’.
Trans pride is not only a celebration of how far we as a community have come, it is also a commemoration of those who came before us as well as a commitment to continuing the movement for years to come.
Sahhara from TransVaild UK expresses just how important events like this are for the trans and gender diverse community, telling the Star Observer the ‘only way to dispel misconceptions and myths [about trans people, is through] trans visibility and community education’.
Organisers hope that this year’s march will become an annual event, which will grow each year. The trans rights movement is becoming increasingly more important. Conservative politics and discrimination protection rollbacks pose a threat to the LGBTIQA+ community.
Pride events such as this go a long way in raising awareness for the LGBTIQA+ community and are proven to promote social change.
