A new symbol of pride over prejudice has opened in Sydney’s Surry Hills. Unveiled in February, just in time for the 2019 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, the Rainbow Crossing curves around the corner of Campbell and Bourke Streets near Taylor Square in Sydney’s LGBTIQ+ HQ.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore at the official launch of the Sydney Rainbow Crossing. Image by Courtesy City of Sydney
The new crossing is not simply street decoration, it’s a potent political symbol, coming after a six-year, global chalk-walk campaign.
In 2013, when Australia’s landmark marriage equality legislation was still over four years away, the City of Sydney council installed a Rainbow Crossing on Oxford St, near the location of the new permanent crossing, to celebrate the 35th Mardi Gras. However the crossing was removed by the New South Wales state government due to concerns for pedestrian safety.
The Sydney Rainbow Crossing. Image by Courtesy City of Sydney
In response Sydneysiders embraced James Brechney’s DIY Rainbow protest with gusto, chalking rainbow crossings all over the city. You can still see proud examples of these at Marrickville Market and at Summer Hill’s Lackey St Piazza. With the help of social media, the photogenic movement soon went global with supporters chalking rainbows in France, USA, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand and Cambodia.
The Rainbow Crossing in Surry Hills, Sydney. Image by Courtesy City of Sydney
‘San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flag has been a symbol of those first bloody struggles of the gay rights movement,’ said City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore. ‘The 78ers in Australia put up with brutal treatment during the first Sydney Mardi Gras, and the rainbow flag has come to represent the LGBTIQ community’s struggles for liberation, survival and equality.’ The 78ers are veterans of Sydney’s first Mardi Gras in 1978, which featured violent clashes between participants and police.
Castro District Rainbow Crosswalk Intersection – San Francisco. Image by ©Diego Grandi/Shutterstock
Rainbow crossings have been appearing in celebration of queer pride since 2012, including in San Francisco, Atlanta and LA in the US, Tel Aviv in Israel, Vancouver in Canada, Paris in France and Wellington in New Zealand.
Sydney’s rainbow crossing is trialling new technology to favour pedestrians – green lights for cars only trigger when a car approaches. It’s also a more accessible crossing, with the footway raised to pavement level so it’s not necessary to step down off the curb to cross.
The post Sydney launches the return of the Rainbow Crossing in time for Mardi Gras appeared first on Lonely Planet Travel News.