Darren Davis, Sales Agent.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey.
I guess you could call me lucky; I had a loving family (although my brother and I fought a lot). I never had any issues with coming out. In fact that very expression is foreign to me. I never felt the obligation to tell my family, I was accepted for who I was.

Going to school on the South Coast was a different story. Although I enjoyed school and had lots of friends and did well I couldn’t truly be myself. I played Rugby League which I hated but felt I had to.

When I left school, I went into a government career with the State Rail Authority and then the Australian Army. My personal life was kept secret during these years which was quite difficult and stressful for me personally. It wasn’t until later in life that I found my ‘crew’ and went into the airline industry for 16 years, then real estate where my true passion lies.

What does pride mean to you and has that changed over the years?
Pride to me means exactly that – be proud of you who you are, you have the right to live your life as you please without prejudice or discrimination. You are an individual and that’s what makes us all special.

Pride has changed greatly over the years, and not to mention my age – I lived and survived through the HIV/AIDS epidemic where a lot of stigma and pressure was put on the community.

I was actively involved with lobbying the government for treatment and was volunteering during the time. At St Vincent’s, the ward was completely isolated, this was also the time where same sex relationships were not recognised. I clearly recall when partners were denied visitation as they were not recognised as immediate family members.

Thankfully we have come a long way as a society, however at the time the struggle was very real and there was great anxiety and sadness at the time. I lost a great deal of friends during this time which still brings a level of emotion that is difficult for me.

How do you stay true to ‘you’? 
I just live my life as the person I am, my personality is me. You get what you get and I am so lucky to have a great career and so many friends that support and surround me with love and acceptance.

 

What’s your vision for the future?
My personal vision is quite simple, to be happy healthy and enjoy life. With regard to “pride” I feel we are almost there with acceptance for all.

 

Darren Pearce, Sales Agent.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey.
I came out as a gay man when I was around 16, in the middle of the aids epidemic – being gay was a crime and there was fear in the community from being bashed, humiliated, and not being treated equally. I didn’t care what anybody thought or being intimidated. I was fortunate enough to have supportive family and I found a great bunch of gay friends. I’ve had a very good experience, but I was brave and invincible. I’ve felt confident and never really had any issues with family, friends or work, most of whom were straight funnily enough and that’s still the case now – not by choice, it’s just worked out this way.

I have been extremely supported by BresicWhitney as a company as well as by all of my work colleagues. I have always felt proud to be gay and wanted others to see through my actions and my work that others can do the same.

I am now a married gay man who has been in a loving relationship for 23 years, we married 3 years ago after the law changed. Wenever intended to marry, we were not that interested in this however, once the law changed, I realised how my mind was so brainwashed into thinking this was never going to be possible.

We also married to support our community and to say that we now feel very legally equal and to show others that we can/did.

 

What does pride mean to you, and how do you stay true to you?
It means that for those of us in the community that are struggling it helps them know there are many others out there, we are normal, and they can get support. I am just me, I don’t compromise because I am gay, never have, never will. I am lucky enough to have created a space where I feel completely safe and a very supportive community around me.

What’s your vision for the future?
For all people to live in peace and harmony, to be supportive and one day we won’t need to have a conversation about gay/straight or otherwise, for homophobia to be a thing of the past.

How can we create a better, more equal, safe and loving world?
Be less judgmental and let people get on with their own lives. Be open to other human beings as this is what we all are.

 

Alex Borthwick, Business Development Manager.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey.
The journey for me has been an ever changing one. It definitely started rocky. 20 years ago, finishing school and coming out to unaccepting parents, in particular my dad, was not easy. It created a huge rift between him and I, when leading up to that moment we were super close. It took quite a lot of years to become close again, as his eyes and mind slowly opened. I have a great relationship with my family now thankfully! I remember being spat on in public and silenced in the workplace in the early years. Being a part of the evolution of society through this time has been challenging and exciting and has given me great resilience and strength. I am so grateful that over the years our society has opened up their minds and become a lot more accepting. It is not as easy for a lot of other societies and cultures around the world.

What does pride mean to you? Has that changed over the years?

Pride to me means being able to be my true self. To not hide who I am. This has definitely changed over the years. When I was younger, my image was much more ‘out there’. Like I had something to prove, not just to the world but to myself – and I did. I feel that for anyone, your twenties is such a time of growth. Now I’m in my late thirties, it is less about the need to prove something. I know who I am and I’m proud to be me. It is about being comfortable in my own skin.

 

How can we create a better, more equal, safe and loving world for everyone?

This requires people to look inside of themselves. Speaking to others is like speaking into a mirror. When someone shows hate or anger, there is a part of them that hates or is angry at themselves. The level of consciousness needed to speak our absolute inner truth is very confronting for more people. It is easy to live and speak from a place of blame and allow external factors to dictate our words and actions. We can create a better world by looking in the mirror at the true person we are and showing this person to the world.

 

Grace Maroon. Balmain & Hunters Hill Office Manager

Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey.
The thought of being openly gay was a terrifying concept because of the backlash I had seen around how people view the community. After coming out as a lesbian in my mid-late teens and meeting my now long-term partner a few years after I was lucky to be surrounded by family & friends who continued to show me love and support and didn’t necessarily care about my sexual preferences.

What does pride mean to you, and how do you stay true to you?
Pride means to be confident and sure of the person you truly are. I stay true to this by never changing who I am to please others.

What’s your vision for the future?

One of them is to reduce homophobia and for people to accept everyone for who they are and to live in harmony.

How can we create a better, more equal, safe, and loving world?

Be kind. You’ll come across people from all walks of life, you don’t know everyone’s story – so be gentle and kind with everyone you meet.

 

Alexander Babukhin, Sales Associate to Shannan Whitney.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey.
I come from a very homophobic environment where everything gay had to be underground, hidden, unspoken. All of my life in Russia I felt like an outcast. I loved my family, my peers at school, my surroundings. But I could never be myself.

I had to sneak out from my family apartment and then change by the common fire escape to wear my sister’s shiny top or even her pants to feel like I could express my sexuality. I became quite frequent in the night clubs and found lots of great friends who then helped me discover myself. Shortly after that my sister figured out what I was up to and supported me all the way. We started going to gay night clubs together. It took me about 5-10 years to heal from feeling “not good enough” or “too gay”. Now, I feel absolutely PROUD, and I want to help people to come out and find their confidence. Especially to people with mental health problems due to their limited upbringings.

What does pride mean to you, and how do you stay true to you?
Pride is a way to express sexuality and say to the world, Here we are! We are also people, and we want to be treated equally! Pride has been going back and forth over the years. But I must say that the biggest achievements are by the ones who started this pride movement in the first place. Lots of people were lost and bashed by the police. That’s not my story but I am forever grateful to the ones who were there. I stay true to me by looking at myself in the mirror and knowing and I only have to protect myself and provide for myself and my family.

 

What’s your vision for the future?
I think we still have a long way to go. Unfortunately, the laws change all the time, and some countries are going backwards. However, I believe we are a very strong unit, and we will always be fighting for our rights. Plus, we have an enormous support from the different communities. We only want the good for the rest of the world and, we are possibly the most creative and stubborn community that exists.

How can we create a better, more equal, safe and loving world?

Education is the only way to create a more safe and equal environment in my opinion. BresicWhitney is doing an amazing job here and our colleagues are incredible in that regards. I feel free and I feel heard in life (at least most of the time). I just hope that this can spread into the other parts of the world. We need to spread more LOVE. Literally!

At BresicWhitney, we embrace the mission of WorldPride to create an equal, safe and free world for everyone. We have a proud history and intentional commitment to being a business that is welcoming and supportive of all inclusive of not only our people, but our clients, partners and suppliers. We bring this to life in a number of ways, including through ongoing partnerships in our local communities right across Sydney, many of which are home to some of our great city’s proudest LGBTIQA+ communities.