Kyushu’s 4th Rainbow Pride!

The weather in October and November had not been friendly; it had been windy and gloomy for quite some time. Luckily, on November 5, a sunny day was bestowed on us! After all, it was the Kyushu Rainbow Pride. Yay!

At 9 a.m. Reisen Park was already full of a festive ambience; balloons, rainbows, uplifting music, and smiles on everyone’s faces. Ami, the partner of our beloved rainbow-fighter Karmen, kindly gave us a hand with booth setups. Time went by so quickly that the intro of the Pride had already started while we were still preparing.

A group cannot live without support and contribution from the public. This year we participated in “Connecting youth with youth supporting groups”, a booth project proposed by a local queer NGO FRENS.

With this project many young people came to our booth to learn about Stonewall Japan and, in exchange, we gave them a stamp as a token of appreciation for their time and interest (to our surprise, many young children came along in the company of their parents). I think this was a brilliant act to reach out and interact with booth visitors.

Face-painting has been Stonewall Japan’s signature booth activity for a million years. But we are also trying out new ideas. This time we launched an unprecedented Stonewall Kyushu Raffle which immediately became a highlight and attracted many people who wanted to try their hand at getting the jackpot – a rainbow humidifier/a unicorn hat. Stonewall member Nelson also initiated an extraordinary activity “Choose a Better Word” to reduce and eliminate the use of exclusionary or derogatory language.

Our lovely rainbow-makers Athena and Nelson were too busy to take a break. As the sun went down, the Pride closed on Kiyotaka’s enchanting performance. In general, I think we had a very fruitful day in promoting our local events and talking to lovely people.

I can hardly wait for the next Rainbow Pride. As always, thank you for all your support and devotion!

Vi ses! ☺