Antarctica holds its first LGBT+ Pride
Antarctica is set to have its first ever LGBT+ Pride this month, some 850 miles from the South Pole in the American McMurdo Station. A group of 10 LGBT+ scientists and researchers, led by Shawn Waldron and Evan Townsend, are hosting the event – complete with rainbow flags, penguins, and Drag Race viewing parties.
“We had a few LGBTQ social events that people showed up to and also because it’s such a small community, it’s easy to find out who is and who isn’t in the LGBTQ community,” Townsend said, describing the station which holds up to 900 people in summer, but only has 133 currently.
“My biggest fear before I left was, I’m going to be the only gay person, there’s going to be no one else here. I was wrong.”
Townsend and Waldron had to begin Pride preparations back in April, before Antarctica was plunged into a months-long darkness. They managed to take photos of the Pride flag with the continent’s indigenous population: penguins.
“Why not take this photo and let people see that there’s queer representation—even at the end of the earth,” Waldron said.
Townsend said an important reason for having a Pride event and sharing photos like this was to reflect LGBT+ representation, something he didn’t have as a child. “There was nobody I could look to and say, ‘Oh, that’s what I can do,’ because even for me, the idea of travelling alone was such a distant concept.
“Having an example of somebody who travels and can
have those adventures would’ve been a great thing for me as a kid but even more
so being able to see that there are queer people out there who are proud of
their queerness and that in no way inhibits them from living these adventures.”
Image by Planting Peace
Keep up to date with the latest myGnews
Sign up to mygwork
________
