An excerpt from Digging Deeper podcast | Pride Month

Deb shared her take on Pride Month, what GV Pride had been up to for it, and what being a supportive ally looked like.

Here’s an excerpt of what she had to say.

Nicola: Can you tell me a little bit about Pride Month and what it means to you?

Deb: For me, Pride Month is just about that visibility, giving a bit of a voice and a presence to queer members of the community and making sure the LGBTIQA+ community are included and have an opportunity to connect.

Nicola: As the leading organisation for LGBTIQA+ people here in the Goulburn Valley, what are some of the unique things that the LGBTIQA+ community brings to the region?

Deb: I think the community brings a real richness to the community. Shepparton and the Goulburn Valley are already quite a diverse community in so many ways and I think it just adds an extra dimension to that diversity and richness of culture that we have here in the GV. Because we’re at a point where we’re not just tolerating people who are different, but we’re really at a point where we’re embracing what they can add and how they bring a different element to the fabric of our lives.

Nicola: How can someone be a supportive ally to the community?

Deb: I guess there are degrees of ally-ship, and it’s really looking at what your sphere of influence is, and what you can do, to really advocate for other people. Supporting the queer organisations that are around you, supporting the events. The events aren’t just for community, they’re also creating safe spaces for everybody. So coming along and being part of the fun is probably the easiest way to be an ally. Depending on your role, you might be in a position to influence a policy or to influence an organisation, show some signs of visibility in your workplace.

If you hear a homophobic slur, and as an ally, you’re too scared to say something, imagine how the person that that slur is directed at is going to feel. Sometimes it’s up to the allies to take that first step. We certainly learnt that around marriage equality vote. It wasn’t just the LGBTQIA+ community that voted yes, we would have gotten 10 per cent. You know, it has to be a whole-of-community effort.

• Ruby Wyatt-Carter (who uses they/them pronouns) has been involved with GV Pride as a member and is on the committee for the OutintheOpen Festival.

They were recently awarded Young Volunteer of the Year at the Greater Shepparton Volunteer Awards for their work in the creation of the Queer History Museum, which has been touring around the region and state for the past seven months.

Here’s an excerpt of what she had to say below.

Nicola: Ruby, you’ve been awarded Young Volunteer of the Year at the Greater Shepparton Volunteer Awards, did you expect to receive that award?

Ruby: Yes and no as to whether or not I expected it because at the end of last year, I won GV Pride Young Volunteer of the Year. So my work for OutintheOpen Festival last year was already recognised in some way and I guess I didn’t entirely expect it to happen again.

Nicola: You’ve done a huge amount of work with GV Pride and what you’ve been doing with the Queer History Museum as well. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the work you’ve been doing in that space?

Ruby: So last year for OutintheOpen Festival I did a massive project called the Queer History Museum, and it was to fit in with the theme of the festival, which was ‘These are the days of our lives’.

To me, that theme means that now is the best time in history to be queer. Even the fact that we can use that word, so openly now, just in terms of the social stigma.

The project involved a lot of history research, like going back to the early 1900s, and I set up about six different stations, each representing a different time in history. Each station was decorated to look like a decade or two. It had a bunch of information about what sort of laws was happening around that time and what sort of major events happened in relation to LGBTIQA+ people.

Nicola: Can you tell me about being a part of GV Pride as a volunteer — what that’s brought you over the past couple of years of volunteering?

Ruby: I love being a part of the LGBTIQA+ community. I love to just get involved and be connected with people because being around other LGBTIQA+ people is just the most safe and welcoming and accepted that I’ve ever felt. I want to do everything I can to support the community and make other people feel safer and more accepted.

Nicola: You’re painting one of Greater Shepparton’s Moooving Art cow exhibits, can you tell me more about that?

Ruby: For GV Pride I am also painting a cow. I feel like a real artist now I’m painting a cow. Late last year in November or December I designed it and I have finally started painting it. It should be finished by Wear it Purple Day by August — that’s the goal.

You can listen to the full podcast by visiting The News website.