In February, the City of Yarra presented a new campaign called ‘Queer Is…’, which shines a light on members of Yarra’s LGBTIQA+ community and celebrates its diversity, joy, connection and strength.
Photographed by local queer photographer Matto Lucas, the campaign features Yarra residents and members of the city’s many queer community groups, as well as iconic Yarra LGBTIQA+ locations like the Keith Haring mural, the Gertrude rainbow footpath and the Queerways mural.
One of the people featured in the vibrant campaign was none other than ACSO’s own Equity and Inclusion Manager Claire Noone (she/her), pictured with her partner Jack (he/they).
“When I was asked to take part in the campaign I felt so much pride!” said Claire.
“Not only were we being asked to visually represent queerness we were being asked to represent work that is very meaningful to us. For me that was my work at ACSO and for Jack, it was his work leading Key Change Choir, a local community choir for trans, gender diverse and gender-questioning people.”
“Like a lot of people from the LGBTQIA+ communities [Jack and I] live our lives in a way that differs from what many expect, and we have repeatedly experienced what it is like to be excluded and discriminated against.
“Taking part in the Rainbow Yarra campaign was our way of saying ‘Hey, being a LGBTQIA+ person can be difficult sometimes, but queerness also means joy, love, happiness, community and more’.“
The ‘Queer is…’ campaign was a celebratory campaign that ran alongside Melbourne’s annual LGBTQIA+ festival, Midsumma – but the campaign was also created in response to a recent spike a violence towards the queer and transgender community.
According to the City of Yarra’s Rainbow Advisory Committee, they’d received reports of queer and transgender community members were being abused on the streets – so this campaign was designed to increase awareness and ensure a sense of belonging, safety, and connection for LGBTQIA+ people.
“Yarra has been the epicenter of many historical LGBTIQA+ movements, like decriminalisation, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and marriage equality,” says LGBTIQA+ Partnerships Officer Renee Thompson (she/her). “We know that Yarra is celebrated as the LGBTIQA+ hub in Victoria, and this means there’s an expectation that we lead the way in rainbow Visibility.”
As ACSO’s Equity and Inclusion Manager, Claire is deeply passionate about the representation, safety, community connection and support for the LGBTQIA+ community. she says it was really meaningful for her to represent ACSO in such a deeply important campaign.
After taking part in the campaign, Claire also became a member of the Yarra Council’s Rainbow Advisory Committee, as a representative of ACSO.
“At ACSO we work with individuals and families who are navigating incredibly difficult systems and our people do such a phenomenal job at creating hope in what can be quite challenging times. ACSO understands the importance of a narrative and the power in rewriting it.
“My work at ACSO has included reviewing internal policies, updating procedures, implementing strategies and much more in order to support and empower our LGBTQIA+ staff and clients, and it’s been a wonderful experience to help ACSO take that spirit into the community.
“Our people are queer and transgender, our clients are queer and transgender and it was important to celebrate that in as many ways as we can.”
