Two months after the ‘Perth Needs a New Gay Pub’ group kicked off a spirited debate about queer venues, community safety and culture, the discussion continues, albeit at a reduced rate. Here’s an overview of the developments of the last month.
Pride Announcement
At their AGM in March a motion was passed to publicly condemn The Court Hotel for its ongoing refusal to provide any financial contribution to Pride from its Pride night party which directly competes with Pride’s major fundraising event.
The new Pride committee have announced that they will not be seeking financial contributions from The Court Hotel at this time, but will be requesting a meeting with the management of the venue to discuss concerns raised by the community.
CCQN Reclaiming Queer Venues Campaign
The Cross Campus Queer Network, the group that organized the public forum, had a follow up public meeting to discuss all the suggestions that were raised. A wide range of ideas were discussed, however the second half of the public meeting was closed to the media. CCQN spokesperson Shamini Joseph updated OUTinPerth on the group’s activities, which include regularly visiting venues to monitor conditions, and said “It’s really great to see other community groups taking notice of concerns and making it their own.’ The CCQN has begun to liaise with Pride regarding future actions.
The WA Gender Project
The WA Gender Project has published a letter to The Court Hotel highlighting concern over the increasing number of complaints of gender discrimination they have received in recent months. The collective highlighted that the signs outside the toilets were distressing to the trans* community.
Speaking to OUTinPerth, Zoe Hyde from The WA Gender Project said ‘The easiest solution is for The Court Hotel to remove the signs and stop having staff at the entrance determining people’s gender… the signs outside the toilets are fostering an environment where discrimination against trans* people is acceptable.’
The Court has yet to remove the signs.
PFlag Concern
The Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays group published a letter they sent to The Court Hotel highlighting concern about recent reports that alleged an increasing level of violence at the venue. PFlag also raised concern about the recent condemnation of the venue by Pride WA and agreed that the venue should give something back to the community. PFlag representative Elsie Hiller recently told OUTinPerth that PFlag has received a satisfactory response from The Court Hotel.
Queer Beers
Once of the most positive outcomes of the community forums have been the creation of the Queer Beers event. This regular get together, organised through Facebook, sees people meeting up at different venues – sampling the service at other bars and pubs. So far events have been held at The Universal Bar and The Rosemount Hotel. The next event is at Harry’s Bar on Francis Street from 7pm on Wednesday May 11.
Hashtag Queer Perth
The twitter hashtag #queerperth has started to gain popularity on the social networking site. The Cross Campus Queer Network, OUTinPerth and Gay and lesbian Equality WA all now regularly tag posts.
The Court Hotel
The Court Hotel has announced they are reviewing their code of conduct for the venue.
Graeme Watson
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