"This is all about celebrating us, our wonderful, brave LGBTIQA+ community," said KL Joy, who founded A Place at the Table three years ago as a means of connecting Ballarat's rainbow community with local service providers, policymakers and leaders.

"It's really an opportunity to break bread together - I know that's a fairly formal religious term, but magic happens when you're in the same room as others, sharing food."

This year's event, to be emceed by Ballarat's Lance DeBoyle and opera and cabaret singer Issie Hart, will transpire over a long, three-course lunch at the Goods Shed, with promised performances by Hart as well as world-class pianist and composer Akasha Temple.

Headlining the speeches will be patron Anne Tudor, Victorian Senior of the Year, and LGBTIQA commissioner Todd Fernando, who will then make way for the keynote speech to be delivered by Eideann Sly, president and founder of the Australian Catholic University's Queer Collective.

"Eideann's story is amazing,' KL said. "To start up an organisation like that within a religious institution and then to take it to where it's gone is remarkable."

KL added that the theme for this year's event is 'bridging the gaps', which they said would ideally lend some momentum to Wear it Purple Day on 26 August - an annual awareness day for rainbow youth.

"A Place at the Table this year is about bridging all the gaps - elders with youth, the rainbow community with the wider community, and also helping health providers connect with each other," KL said, who added allies are welcome.

"It's about all of us coming out in force to celebrate."

Tickets for the 200-person event on 21 August have been quickly selling out. See online for details.

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