24th June, 2005
Pride WA will sponsor the major national LGBTIQ student conference 'Queer Collaborations'.'Queer Collaborations' was first staged in Sydney in 1991 and it occurs annually at various Australian universities. This year's conference will be staged at the University of Western Australia from 3-8 July.
Pride Youth Co-Convenor John Vidovich said Pride's sponsorship was part of Pride's effort to engage with younger members of the Pride Community.
"Pride is excited to be sponsoring Queer Collaborations and we hope our involvement will demonstrate our commitment to younger members of the Pride Community," he said.
"There are issues that are specific to younger members of our community and Queer Collaborations will provide an ideal forum for Pride to engage on this level.
"Our involvement will see us sponsor the welcome party, host a seminar session and lead discussions, in addition to staging the Conference's opening function and promoting Pride memberships among delegates."
Pride Co-President Laura Foster said it was vital for the future of Pride that the organisation attract younger members.
"Over the last couple of years, we have seen Pride's membership swell from about 400 to almost 900 members," she said.
"However, the vast majority of our members are between the ages of 25 and 40 and if we are to continue to grow our membership, we need to increase our relevance to younger members of our community.
"Our involvement with Queer Collaborations will not only enable us to meet with more than 200 young and active members of the Pride Community, but it will enable us to gain an understanding of the issues that are important to them."
Queer Collaborations Spokesperson Beth Cole said she was delighted to have the support of Pride WA.
"Pride's sponsorship of Queer Collaborations is commendable because it shows a fantastic willingness to engage with young GLBTIQ issues.
"During the conference we will look at queer homelessness, the discrimination trans* and intersex people are subjected to along with the devastating effect Voluntary Student Unionism will have on the ability for Queer university students to organize. We will also address marriage equality and the huge amounts of homophobia LGBTIQ high school students face."
More information about Queer Collaborations could be found at www.qc05.com.