Victorian Commissioner for LGBTQIA+ Communities Todd Fernando and YUMCHA Hamilton’s Levi Cutchie.
The YUMCHA Hamilton crew and Southern Grampians Shire are proud to unveil a space-themed pride mural which celebrates LGBTQIA+ recognition in the region’s community.
The mural was unveiled on Wednesday as part of IDAHOBIT Day and was attended by Victorian Commissioner for LGBTQIA+ communities Todd Fernando.
It was designed by YUMCHA Hamilton participants while artist Jesse Shanahan lent a hand in bringing it to life.
“Every day across Victoria it’s becoming safer to be LGBTQIA+ and it’s murals like this that really showcase it,” Todd said.
“At the heart of Hamilton we have a space – and a literal space – dedicated to LGBTQIA+ people. This is a display of pride and celebration what is often in the face of hatred and bigotry.
“In Victoria equality is not negotiable. We stand committed as a government to support that work. That means we’re actively working to build the capacity of our organisations, both specialised LGBTQIA+ and mainstream in ensuring every service in Victoria can be accessible and have cultural safety at the heart of it.
“This mural represents just that.”
YUMCHA Hamilton participant Levi Cutchie said the mural was a pleasure to be part of.
“It’s here to represent all of the LGBTQIA+ youth within the Hamilton community. It was really fun to desing and I feel really thankful I was able to do this for the community,” they said.
“We decided on a space theme. Everybody was pretty happy with that. The space theme represents how some LGBTQIA+ youth can feel alienated from society – I say some because not all feel like that – but a lot of young people can tend to feel that way about their identity and how they present themselves.
“Each planet represents a different gender or sexuality within the LGBTQIA+ community. We stuck with the main things because there are a lot of different branches which are also very important.”
Levi thanked Jesse for his guidance and contribution.