Crown welcomed business leaders and community groups to their sixth annual Crown Pride Luncheon on Friday afternoon and it was a star studded affair.
The Crown Ballroom was filled with representatives from different companies who gathered to hear about the lives of well known LGBTIQA+ community members including Pride WA CEO Dr Laurie Butterly, Celebrity Chef Khanh Ong, and journalist Narelda Jacobs.
The event kicked off with cocktails, champagne and a Pride soundtrack from DJ Dean Misdale.
Local drag sensations Miss Cara, Fay Rocious, Donna Kebab and Cougar Morrison opened the event with a energetic number.
Joel Creasey hosted the proceedings, but shared that because of the time difference he’d being disappearing during the much to head into a room next door to log in for his east coast based Nova drivetime radio show with Tim Blackwell and Ricki-Lee.
While Creasey was on air in the adjoining room Alexander Circosta took over the MC duties.
Ingrid Cumming delivered the welcome to country sharing how proud she was to be part of the LGBTIQA+ community, but also shared humorous and uplifting stories of how her teenage children approach issues of sexuality and gender.
The crowd were entertained by a hilarious tale from Joel Creasey where he recalled one of his most embarrassing moments that occurred when he was hosting the Mardi Gras Live Broadcast on SBS.
It was one of the tales where you had to be there, but involved multiple Minogue’s, a sweaty dancefloor, a very expensive dress and misplaced candy.
Khanh Ong, shared his experiences of coming out alongside tales from his experiences on reality television. To date Khanh has ‘not won’ Masterchef Australia (twice!), Australian Survivor and I’m a Celbrity Get Me Out of Here Australia.
Ong created the menu for the luncheon that included an entre of Canh Chua Ca – cured hiramasa kingfish, tamarind and pineapple broth with crispy garlic, chive oil, micro herbs and tomato.
The main course was Bo Kho, a fivespicd beef cheek, pomme puree, braised carrots, and a spiced lemon grass jus. The delicious desert was Vietnamese Banh Flan – creme caramel with a lime sorbet.
John Van Der Wielen, the Chair of Crown Resorts Perth, spoke about the importance of inclusion and equality in the workplace.
“Our employment absolutely has to be around leading diversity in the workplace.” Van Der Wielen said of the approach taken by Crown, highlighting the advantages a hospitality based businesses gets when it’s staff in a true reflection of the community the business is within.
“I’ve always subscribed to the theory ‘that it’s best to just be yourself, because everyone else is already taken.'”
The Chair of Crown Perth said he truly believed it was possible to eliminate discrimination in the workplace.
The keynote address was delivered by journalist and newsreader Narelda Jacobs, who spoke about her experiences of racism and homophobia in the media.
Jacobs spoke not only of the way some big stories are covered, but also of how she’s had to navigate media responses to times when she shared her own opinions.
When Jacobs departed Perth to take on a bigger role at Network 10 she found that Sydney’s LGBTIQA+ community quickly embraced her and she made many new friends.
Becoming part of the team on discussion Studio 10 required Jacobs to share her thoughts on a wide variety of topics – and she quickly found herself being misquoted and misrepresented by other media outlets.
“Being part of Studio 10 was completely different to being a news reader, a news anchor. I never had to share my opinions, everything was on auto-cue, there was no time to ad-lib, there were no opinions.”
“First of all, I didn’t think I had any opinions.” Jacobs said of her arrival on the chat show. “I’d come from a place where I didn’t think anybody wanted to hear them.”
Jacobs shared that she quickly learned about both-sides-ism in the media and how clear facts can often be jettisoned in a desire to give positive and negative sides of a debate equal space.
In a blunt assessment of the role the media plays in society Jacobs touched on big news stories including the conflict in Gaza, the death of indigenous Perth teen Cassius Turvey and the arrest of Perth grandmother Donna Nelson in Japan.
Dr Laurie Betterly the CEO of Pride WA spoke about the highlights of the 2024 PrideFEST to date and the excitement ahead of Saturday’s annual parade thought Northbridge.
Butterly also noted that at last year’s event WorldPride CEO Kate Wickett had encourage Perth to aim big and bid for a major event.
Recently a delegation from Pride WA and Team Perth headed to Washington D.C. to present a bid to host the 2023 Gay Games. Next month the team will find out if they’ve made the cut for the final three cities being considered for the role.
The festivities came to a close with a 45-minute cabaret show from the fabulous Rueben Kaye.
