Gippsland Lakes Complete Health (GLCH) proudly hosted one of the few regional Trans Day of Visibility events last week.
About 50 people came to a flag raising ceremony at the GLCH Bairnsdale site, including both trans and gender diverse community representatives and allies.
The event saw speeches from East Gippsland trans advocates James Bush and Angela Wiebenga and GLCH chief executive officer Anne-Maree Kaser, who spoke about the importance of inclusion.
Serah Harris, from Morwell, travelled from the Latrobe Valley to Bairnsdale to be there, wanting to celebrate at a regional event.
“It’s nice to get out and see other people in the community. It means a lot,” Serah said.
Orbost resident Anne McCluskey thanked GLCH for their proactive stance on visibility and inclusion.
“I really felt the need to come here to support trans people in the queer community. These times are hard, they’ve always been hard, but to young people the message is to hang in there, it will get better,” Anne said.
The East Gippsland Healthy Equal Youth (HEY) Project organised this inaugural event, with support from Switchboard Victoria’s Pride in Ageing and mental health service provider Wellways.
Organisers wanted to create more social connection and celebration, after a meeting working through the challenges the community faces, including transphobia and negative attitudes both online and offline.
Ms Kaser said the day was more than a simple ceremony.
“I’ve learned that true inclusion is not about making people fit into our existing structures. It’s about fundamentally reshaping those structures to embrace diversity,” she said.
“Every time we create a space where someone can be authentically themselves, we’re not just supporting an individual—we’re transforming our entire community.”
The transgender pride flag features light blue, pink and white stripes – symbolising connection to masculine and feminine genders, those who are transitioning, have a neutral gender or no gender, and those who are intersex.
GLCH HEY project facilitator James Bush said he uses his experiences as a transgender man to make a difference for other young people in East Gippsland.
“I have had an incredible amount of support and have been given wonderful opportunities because of my advocacy,” he said.
“I’m super grateful but I won’t lie to you, it has not been all rainbows and butterflies, things have been really hard too.
“We want trans joy; we want trans love, and we want to be proud of who we are and who we can become.”
Bryanna Paynter-Harvie said you don’t need to understand an individual’s experience to show respect.
“As a non-binary person with a transgender partner, it means the world to know that even in a rural community like Bairnsdale we have events that are elevating us to be visible and making sure that even in hard times we can stand together in community,” Bryanna said.
