2019 Partners

Central Coast Pride is a non-profit LGBTIQ Arts & Culture Volunteer led organisation leveraging creativity to drive a broader agenda for change & transformation.

Our very first 2019 Coastal Twist Festival had absolute reliance on not only the generous financial support of corporate & private partners, state & local government to enable this Landmark but the community partnering that aligns our region with human rights & social justice.

An understanding of LGBTIQ communities and populations can be developed through open and inclusive interactions and our little Coastal Twist festival is a symbol and an action for interaction which can lead to a more welcoming, resilient, harmonious community with empowered individuals and communities as well as improved community relations which can together building a sense of belonging and identity.

Regional lesbian, gay, and transgender young people have been identified as being found to feel less safe, have less access to health information, less support and experience greater isolation than their urban peers and being at particularly high risk of committing suicide.

Our community includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Young People, Culturally and linguistically diverse people, People with disability, older people. In fact we are the fastest growing aboriginal population in Australia. Forming part of our community is “Intersectionality” which refers to the multiple discriminations and marginalisation’s experienced by some members of our LGBTIQ community. For example, an Aboriginal lesbian woman may be discriminated against on the basis of her race, gender and her sexual orientation, or a transgender person with a disability discriminated against on the basis of their disability and their gender identity.

Make no mistake there have been challenges & blockers. Resistance is still here within our community where we are not seen as residents or customers but rather as something other. It’s made working together in collaborative partnerships with the groups below even more special, a powerful way to improve our community.

Not only do we thank the trailblazing sponsors and partners below from the bottom of our hearts but we encourage community, visitors, residents to use these brands, they have supported something which as a region we have not had before 2019, something way overdue and that is at its very least visibility & at its best true inclusion.