Sydney Might Be Getting Its Own Pride Centre

While most of the city is still washing the (biodegradable) glitter from its hair and nursing a hangover from Mardi Gras weekend, the Labor Party is making its next election promise: a Pride Centre for Sydney's inner west.

It won't be Australia's first — one is currently underway in St Kilda, and expected to open in 2020 — but it will be the first for the state. NSW Labor Leader Michael Daley this weekend announced that the party would invest $4.2 million in the centre, if elected later this month, which would be built in collaboration with the Inner West Council and ACON, a NSW health organisation specialising in HIV prevention.

The Pride Centre would both celebrate and foster diversity in the community, be home to a LGBTQI+ health and wellbeing services and a base for LGBTQI+ community organisations. The Inner West Council says it is looking to exisiting Pride Centres — such as those in Edmonton, Singapore and San Francisco — for inspiration.

The need for a Pride Centre in the Inner West was identified back in 2017, after the Council commissioned a report into how it could greater support a range of programs and initiatives within the local LGBTQI+ community. The report also suggested the hiring of a dedicated LGBTQI+ Community Engagement Officer, that all Council facilities be made inclusive and accessible and the commissioning of a gateway mural.

The Inner West Council is currently asking for feedback from the community, taking suggestions as to what services the Pride Centre should have and where it should be built. Feedback closes on March 24, 2019. For more information, head to yoursay.innerwest.new.gov.au.