The City of Swan officially celebrated Pride for the first time on Saturday night with Pride in Swan, a community event in Midland.
Local vendors and community groups had stalls, there were drag performances, and performances from local dance groups, choirs, and musicians.
One of the highlights of the night was a Lip-Sync for Your life competition which saw an unexpected winner.
There was also the announcement of the formation of new non-profit organisation Pride in Swan to support the local LGBTIQA+ community.
Jeanene Williams thanked the local Rotary Club and the City of Swan for putting together the inaugural event.
“We couldn’t do this without everyone who has come along, so I really do want to thank everyone for coming.” Williams said.
Senator Louise Pratt officially opened the event and got involved in the celebrations.
David Gibson, President of GRAI: Gay and Lesbian Rights in Ageing also spoke at the event sharing that he’d grown up in the 1980s at a time when being gay was still illegal and he used to visit his grandparents in Midland.
He spoke about how public events such as this were important because they make people feel safe.
“It’s still not safe for us to be everywhere, but moments like this create safe spaces, and GRAI recognises that we need to our part as older LGBTIQA+ people in supporting the new events.
“This is an exciting this to see happen, and we want to see more of it.” Gibson said. “For so many of us we didn’t have these opportunities in our youth. We didn’t have the chance to come out and be who were around people who we felt safe with.”
Drag performers Prism and Lola Blades entertained the crowd performing several numbers and getting the crowd up dancing too.
The dup also invited audience members to take to the stage for a lip-sync competition persuading Senator Pratt to take part too.
The senator, who is stepping down at the end of her current term, showed she could lip-sync for her life if needed, and gave a energetic performance.
The winner was decided by audience applause but there was a clear victor with Senator Pratt getting loud applause and cheers for her effort.
The Acceptance Choir also performed for the crowd alongside a variety of local community groups.
One of the highlights of the night was a performance from the band Midnight Angel featuring acclaimed guitarist Jaime Page.
They invited Senator Pratt on stage to thank her for her many years of service in the Western Australian and federal parliaments. She joined in a performance of a Celine Dion classic, but maybe showed that lip syncing was her stronger performance skill 🙂
