Ballarat will morph into a kaleidoscope of colour as the city stands in solidarity with its gay and transgender community.
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This Tuesday will mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.
The event has been running since 2005, but this was the first time the Ballarat City Council has raised a rainbow flag at Queen Victoria Square.
For Equal Love Ballarat co-convener Koby Bunney, it will be a watershed moment.
“It’s going to be a very emotional and proud day for a lot of people,” Mr Bunney said.
““This year we’ve seen more support for the day than we have ever experienced. It’s not just the City of Ballarat who are on-board, rainbow flags will also be raised at the Ballarat police station, Phoenix College Federation University and Ballarat Trades Hall.”
Mr Bunney vividly remembers the night the City of Ballarat took a stand against homophobia in the council chamber in 2014, following a movement lead by Councillor Belinda Coates.
“For me hearing the applause in the chamber and seeing the support from such as a broad spectrum of the community was incredible,” he said.
Mr Bunney said acceptance of homosexuality and transgender people in regional and rural towns were still lagged behind capital cities. He said 87 per cent of gay men still left regional areas “come out.”
“I moved away from Ballarat to have the courage to come out,” Mr Bunney said. “We want the next generation of young people who are gay or transgender to know we are here and we support them. They deserve equal access to society regardless of their sexual orientation, race, gender or age.”
The flag raising ceremony at the Queen Victoria Square will kick off at 11am on Tuesday morning.
To mark the occasion, the Ballarat library will host a range of activities including a Light Rainbow community lunch at 12pm. Creative souls can come together for a stitch group activity, teaching people how to make rainbow bags at 2pm. There will also be badge making and a pride wall for people to write messages of support. Equal Love Ballarat is hosting a community inclusion forum at Ballarat Trades hall at 7pm. It will be followed by the screening of Gayby baby. The film explores the experiences of children with same sex parents.
