Adelaide City Council has voted to create a Rainbow Walk in the West End of the city to celebrate the LGBTIQ community, as well as exploring lighting up the Town Hall with rainbow colours in November to mark the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in South Australia.
Adelaide City Councillor Robert Simms, who has pushed for the project, said there had been some initial discussions with a number of stakeholders in the West End – which has been a hub for the annual Feast Festival for a number of years.
“This is an opportunity to position Adelaide as a city that welcomes diversity and celebrates inclusion. The Rainbow Walk could become a drawcard to the West End while recognising our gay and lesbian community,” said Councillor Simms. “Lighting up the Town Hall will recognise this State’s proud history of activism and celebrate that South Australia was the first state in the nation to decriminalise homosexuality.”
Despite supporting the proposal, Adelaide City Council received more than 150 emails from the public in response to the idea – most of which were negative.
“The people that wrote these hideous emails should be ashamed of themselves,” said Councillor Anne Moran. “It’s shocking that young gay and lesbian people still have to deal with this sort of discrimination. I didn’t think the rainbow walk was needed until I read those emails.”
Council will be presented with a report in due course, which’ll determine the cost of the project, as well as how it would be funded. It is anticipated the Rainbow Walk will be installed sometime in 2016.
The 2015 Feast Festival runs 14 – 29 November. For more information, visit: www.feast.org.au for details.
Image: Concept image of a Rainbow Walk in Light Square – courtesy of Adelaide City Council