Pride March Adelaide

Do you feel like there’s nowhere to go? Nowhere you can go without being judged because you’re a man who likes men or a woman who likes women? Nowhere you can just be yourself and not worry about society’s heterosexist norms?

I feel like that too. I want to go somewhere where I’m surrounded by poofters and dykes, where being heterosexual is the weird thing and being attracted to people of the same sex is just normal. A place for all of us who are part of the GLBTIQ communities.

And I’m not alone. The rest of the Pride March Adelaide organizing committee feels the same way. So we’re investigating the feasibility of starting up a queer community centre/venue – a warm friendly space where everybody feels welcome. A place that is well run by community members, where bar income goes back into the centre and where we are not moved on when management decides they don’t want people like us anymore.

The first stage in this process is finding out what Adelaide’s queer community would want in such a place. So we’re conducting a survey and want you to participate.

The survey asks people to rate 48 different things they would like a community centre/venue to include, according to how important they are. From a coffee lounge/café, bar, a number of different spaces with different events happening to a flower and veggie garden, performances, workshops and many more.

So far, we’ve found out some interesting things about what people want. Most popular so far is an outdoor space. And did you know that live music is more popular than DJs? Or that almost everybody hates pokies and doesn’t want them?

People want a place that is comfortable, non judgemental, stylish but welcoming, with a great atmosphere. The survey gives you the chance to go into detail and people have been doing just that, down to colour schemes, ideas for design, furnishings, lighting, programming, location, etc.

Do you agree? Why not have your say. You can do it by downloading a survey at www.prideadelaide.org/survey. We’d love to know what you think.

We are also looking at models of how the centre can run, looking at other community-run centres around Adelaide which provide great venues and facilities to members and are not for profit.

We plan to present what we have found so far during Feast 2008. We want to know your views, opinions and ideas – exciting stuff!