The Merri-bek City councilor who suggested the building of a Pride Flag art work on the streets of inner-city Melbourne says criticism from Sky News hosts shows why visual support for the LGBTIQA+ communities is needed.
Councilor Ella Svensson, who first put forward the idea of the artwork, has told the Star Observer, that 25% of the councils residents identify as being part of the LGBTIQA+ communities.
Svensson said that the negative comments made on the Sky News program The Late Debate earlier this week were a perfect demonstration of the crossings’ importance.
“When marginalised communities are under attack, visibility becomes a form of resistance and solidarity,” she told Star Observer on Friday. “Rainbow crossings show every young queer person, every trans resident, every rainbow family, that Merri-bek has their back. That’s exactly why right-wing commentators hate them.
“This is more than just a symbol. When we first passed my proposal to build the crossings, our community told us loud and clear just how much this would mean to them.”
This week Sky News host Freya Leach mocked the Melbourne council’s decision to install some rainbow flag artwork at a popular intersection. The Merri-Bek City Council in the city’s inner city will add the Progressive Pride flag on two roads or footpaths. The total projects will cost $45,000, which includes the required public consultation.
“There is no shortage of councils who are spending money on the most ridiculous things.” Leach said on Wednesday night’s edition of The Late Debate.
The council had defended their move saying it would “create streets and public spaces that encourage physical activity and socialisation amongst local communities’ and make public spaces feel safe and inclusive of all genders, backgrounds and abilities.”
Leach was not convinced by the explanation.
“Oh yes, because if there’s not a Pride flag painting on the road then all of a sudden it is highly dangerous in inner-city Melbourne for people of diverse backgrounds, I mean, give me a break!” Leach said describing the project as an utter waste of money.
Co-host Caleb Bond said he was concerned about the project because it did not follow proper flag protocol.
“I’d always thought the protocol with flags is you don’t put them on the ground. Flags are never to touch the ground, and their certainly not to be stood on, or driven over. It seems rather wrong.”
The shows third presenter, former swimmer and one-time Liberal Party political candidate, Jaimee Rogers also voiced her opposition to the pride flag artwork. Rogers dragged out the old line that the council should stick to “roads, rates and rubbish”. Bond said he thought the flag plan qualified as “rubbish”, before Rogers conceded it was actually about a road.
Research shows Pride symbols make LGBTIQA+ people feel safer
While Leach questioned if the addition of a Pride flag artwork makes a community any safer, a recently released study from the UK found that the presence of Pride flags certainly makes women feel safer.
The YouGov study has found that 75% of LGBTQIA+ women feel safer when they see a Pride flag displayed in a public place. This number jumps to 79% for other LGBTQIA+ identities.
Researchers said the findings were significant as previous research shows that queer Britons are often less likely to feel safe in public than their heterosexual counterparts.
The Meri-Bek council’s own LGBTIQA+ Action Plan found that while 4 in 5 participants saw Merri-bek as an inclusive city for LGBTIQA+ people, only 45% saw Merri-bek Council ‘as a leader in the LGBTIQA+ space’.
