Paul van Lieshout, 18, is the youngest ever member of Pride’s board, a fact that should be greatly in his favour as he seeks to drum up interest in the festival and parade among the community’s younger members.
With a purview that covers youth, marketing, sponsorship and membership, van Lieshout will have his hands full in the run-up to the Pride Festival and the last October Pride Parade before it switches to February.
While also occupied coordinating the All Things Queer show on RTR radio, van Leishout is determined to broadcast the message that Pride has a place for everyone, including the young and disaffected.
‘So many young people nowadays don’t even know what Pride is; don’t even know what the community is.
‘They can hit guys up on Man Search and go to Connections, and that’s the end of their involvement, but there’s so much more out there and great role models for them to meet.’
When asked what motivates him to take on his new busy but unpaid role, van Lieshout said, ‘I owe the community a lot.
‘When I came out at 16 it was a bit of a horror story and I basically ended up homeless with nowhere to go but the Freedom Centre; and with the help of the people there I managed to get my life back together.’
Van Lieshout is currently tossing up a number of projects to draw out the younger members of the community, including drag queen bingo at the Moon café in Northbridge, ten-pin bowling nights, lasercorp skirmishes, cheaper membership for the under-26s, a competition to design the next membership card and a series of forums to seek their views, as well as making the Fair Day more youth-friendly.
‘The main thing we got from the first youth forum we ran (in early April) was a desire to see more arts-based stuff, so that’s definitely a priority’, van Lisheout says.
‘As well as the fact that none of them really knew who or what Pride was.
‘That’s gotta change.’
Steven Carter
