Sydney council votes for new rainbow pathway in Newtown ahead of WorldPride

By MARCUS HAAR

A rainbow pathway in the Inner West may be just around the corner, after a motion to begin plans for a new pathway in Newtown ahead of next year’s World Pride event was carried unanimously by Inner West Council last week.

The motion, which was moved by Independent Pauline Lockie and seconded by the Greens Liz Atkins, noted that installing a rainbow crossing in Newtown would be “a visible sign of pride and support for our LGBTQ community”.

“Symbols representing our community make it clear that queer people are welcome in our community and, are in fact, to be celebrated,” Cr Atkins told City Hub when asked about the significance of installing the new rainbow pathway.

“That’s important, particularly for young people to see, at least in this part of Sydney, that it’s ok to be out.”

This follows a previously resolved motion by council in December 2019, where prospects for a rainbow crossing at the intersection of King Street and Enmore Road in Newtown were being investigated.

Transport for NSW intervened in a previous push for a rainbow crossing

Although the motion was then approved by councillors, an installation required the approval of Transport for NSW, who “advised Council that it would not support a rainbow crossing in this location and is also unlikely to approve other locations for on-road rainbow crossings”.

“That’s quite a complicated intersection anyway, there are multiple sets of lights; multiple crossing points; emergency access points; a train station there”, Cr Lockie told City Hub.

“What I didn’t want to do was miss our opportunity to have that in place in time for World Pride next year, and also, bearing in mind that we are having ongoing discussions of opening a Pride Centre in Newtown Town Hall, it makes sense to do all that planning together.”

Alternative options suggested in the motion included lighting one of the pathways in Camperdown Memorial Rest Park with rainbow lights, painting one of the existing pathways in the park in rainbow colours, and painting a rainbow pathway outside Newtown Town Hall.

Amendments were made to the motion

Two amendments were moved by Cr Mat Howard, who called on council to “submit a request to the Geographical Names Board to rename the public square outside Newtown Town Hall ‘Pride Square’ in advance of Sydney World Pride”, and that the council establish a World Pride Committee for a year, which will be chaired by Deputy Mayor Jessica D’Arienzo, and also include Crs Lockie and Atkins, two LGBTQ Working Group representatives and other relevant members of staff.

“This will further centre Newtown and the Inner West as the beating heart of Sydney and Australia’s LGBTQ+ community,” Cr Howard said.

“February 2023 will be here in a flash, and I want to make sure that we are planned, prepared, and that we deliver rainbow connections for our community,” Cr D’Arienzo explained further.