Historic moment

A HEARTFELT social media post was the inspiration behind Corangamite’s first International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersex Discrimination and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) event held over the weekend.

United: Gavin Smith and Freddie Wagner were a driving force behind bringing IDAHOBIT celebrations to Corangamite Shire for the first time over the weekend, which proved a hit with in excess of 100 attendees.

On Sunday Noorat hosted the shire’s first IDAHOBIT event, held each year on May 17, which saw in excess of 100 people unite behind the message of love and acceptance.

The moment was a heart-warming one for Terang’s Gavin Smith, whose words had inspired the concept for the event to be held.

“Quite some time ago I put up a post on the Terang Community Noticeboard asking if there would be anyone interested in creating an LGBTQIA+ event,” he said.

“There was some really positive feedback, but some really nasty blowback as well.

“I couldn’t keep up with the responses and some people had contacted me directly saying how upset they were with some of the comments, so I took the post down.

“In the meantime, staff at Terang and Mortlake Health Service (TMHS) had contacted me and said they could make it happen.

“It was just a little idea I had, but I never thought it would turn into something like this.”

The day saw a wide range of activities including drag queen bingo and stiletto throwing, in addition to resources available for people to learn more about the LGBTQIA+ community, safety and support.

Mr Smith said he was overwhelmed with the number of people who showed up on the day, in addition to the support in the lead up to make the event possible.

“I’m pretty overwhelmed,” he said.

“When I walked in in the morning the shire and health service had come in earlier to set up.

“To see everyone had who had contributed – from schools contributing with messages and props to our local artist, Jess Fowler, creating the rainbow wings, was incredible.

“The generosity has been amazing.

“We hope to build on it.”

Mr Smith said he hoped the event would be the start of a turning point for members of the LGBTQIA+ community to know they are accepted and loved.

“I grew up gay in the 70s and 80s in the suburbs of Melbourne when queer-bashing was expected and normal,” he said.

“We’ve come a long way but having moved to the country, in a lot of rural areas around Victoria, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of visibility.

“There’s a lack of resources so our aim was in part to help young people – a lot of them are hiding at home because they don’t feel like the broader community will accept them being themselves.

“This is something we need to work on but together we can do it.

“One person can’t do it themselves, but this is a testament to a community who do care.”

Among those lending their efforts on the day was Freddie Wagner, who Mr Smith had approached about helping to organise the event.

“We had a conversation about the importance of celebrating IDAHOBIT in our community,” he said.

“This is an amazing community – we have the Noorat Show, the Sponge Cake Festival and the Writer’s Festival.

“Why not add to the cultural diversity of our community and fill that space?”

Mr Wagner said there was still widespread challenges facing members of the LGBTQIA+ community, but he hoped such an event would highlight a positive shift among district residents.

“You can see the violence, discrimination and hate speech in our communities,” he said.

“In the last 12 months we’ve seen a change to discrimination laws, so vilification and discrimination is now protected against LGBTQIA+ people so it’s now even more important to make sure community members know their rights, to live free safely and free of stigma.

“We wanted to create a space that is safe and open for people to come in as they are.

“All our individual identities are reflected in this space and we can create an enduring opportunity to have safe spaces, to be open and public in saying we’re a big part in this community.

“It’s where we live – we belong here and we contribute to society, so let’s be valued and respected.”

TMHS health promotion officer Michelle Dowden said she was elated with the strong showing of support from the wider community.

“We’re pretty thrilled,” she said.

“We always knew it was going to get a lot of support but it’s just overwhelming to see the numbers that have turned up.

“It just shows that rural communities understand what it is to be accepting and positive about our LGBTQIA+ community.”

Ms Dowden said the diversity within attendees, from young to old, had highlighted the widespread support for equality within the region – however, the strong showing of support from younger members of the community had surpassed the expectations of organisers.

“Part of the impetuous for hosting IDAHOBIT day was for young people in rural areas to know that we can have such events here, we are accepting and we’re thrilled that young and old people are here,” she said.

“The younger demographic has shown up in numbers beyond what we were expecting and it is great to see.”