It was supposed to be a historic moment — the first time a Victorian premier had opened Melbourne’s Midsumma Carnival. But the demon La Nina had other ideas, sending floods across more than a quarter of the state.
Ted Baillieu went to tour the drowning towns and cities instead.
A reporter looking for a story asked if the community was insulted that the premier had ‘snubbed’ us. People looked at her in bewilderment.
Was she suggesting that the newly-elected leader of the state should neglect thousands of Victorians facing the loss of their homes and livelihoods, to come and party with the poofs and dykes? She’d have been the first to pillory him if he did.
We can be a fractious and divided bunch at times, but I could find very few who thought the premier had made the wrong call. Like him, we understood what was important on the day.
Large parts of our country are being devastated by fire and flood. Fellow Australians are losing their homes, their livelihoods, their lives. Floods have devastated Queensland. More than a third of country Victoria is under water. Waters also rose in parts of NSW, Western Australia, Tasmania and South Australia.
The old Seekers song says, ‘We are one, but we are many’. It’s right to celebrate our differences, as we do this festival season. But this is a time to remember that there is much more to us than this.
Our sexual identity is only a part of who we are. We are not just letters in an oft-contested acronym. We are more than just Victorians, or Queenslanders, or New South Welshpeople, though we celebrate those differences, too. ‘I am, you are, we are Australian.’
Felicity Brinschwitz knows it. Moving through the Midsumma Carnival crowds, she led a posse decked out with rainbow sashes and golden buckets, looking for donations.
Australia United, the Victorian GLBTI group first formed to help the victims of the bushfires, has arisen again to raise funds for the victims of the Queensland floods.
It’s not just right and proper that our community should join in the relief efforts: it’s good politics, too. As a minority we will always need the support of our friends and neighbours if we are ever to be accepted as full citizens.
We can help that process along by shouldering the responsibilities of full citizenship, even though we do not have the commensurate rights.
Let’s set an example, and be the good neighbours we would like our neighbours to be.
