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From prejudice to pride: Moving to this small farming town proved 'life-changing' for Faez
Faez was forced to hide his sexuality in his birth country. Now, he's involved in the first ever pride parade in a small farming town in NSW.
Published 30 September 2023 6:40am
By Madeleine Wedesweiler
Source: SBS News
Image: Denise McGrath (left) and Faez Office (right) have been inspired by their own experiences to run Leeton's first pride festival. (Supplied)
Faez Office didn't come out as gay until he moved to Australia five years ago.
He says it wouldn't have been possible to express himself in Malaysia, where homosexual acts are still illegal.
"It's a pretty sensitive topic and the expression of (sexuality) can get you in trouble with religious police.
"Every time you say something closely related to being queer you're open to being bullied or harassed in real life or on the internet," he told SBS News.
Faez didn't know much about the town of Leeton, in western New South Wales, when he moved there in 2018.
"I knew it was a small town and I knew the best job to get was at a meat factory," he said.
"So I was surprised when I got here and everyone was very supportive."
Faez joined a social group for LGBTIQ+ people in Leeton and had a "life-changing" moment attending a pride parade in the nearby town of Wagga Wagga, where he realised it was okay to be gay.
It inspired him to join the committee organising Leeton's first-ever pride festival, which starts on 30 September.
Leeton residents say it's a big achievement to make the event a reality. The committee started planning the festival years ago but hadn't been able to host it due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Some people are conservative here, whether it's because they're farmers or immigrants with religious backgrounds, but we want to show them no matter where they come from they're safe to come out and they're safe to be who they are," Faez said.
Leeton has a population of around 11,000 people and, according to the 2021 Census, 20 per cent of its population was born overseas.
The town has the highest number of Afghan refugees in regional Australia and a long history of settling migrants from southern Europe, the Pacific and Asia.
It hosts a rice festival most years and recently held the inaugural multicultural Fiesta la Leeton food festival, and community members believed it was overdue to host a pride event.
The Leeton Pride Festival kicked off on Friday night with a launch party featuring the festival's drag queen hosts in a local pub. On Saturday morning, attendees will enjoy the street parade, a fair in the park, and a roller disco, followed by an after-party in the evening.
Come Sunday, a drag recovery brunch and queer film screening at the historic art deco cinema in town are on offer.
How did Leeton come to embrace a pride festival?
The weekend is the brainchild of Denise McGrath, who is .
Unlike 53 others, she avoided being arrested that night, when police started rounding people up, arguing they didn't have a permit to be out marching on the road.
Having moved back to Leeton in 2012 to support her ageing parents, Denise was unsure of her future in the town and thought about leaving for Sydney or Perth when they both passed away.
"I thought what can I do? I decided I'll bring pride to Leeton," she said.
Denise founded the Rainbow Pride Collective in the town in 2019, which morphed into a charity organisation putting on the festival.
There has been strong support for the LGBTIQ+ community in the town, bar a few moments, Denise said.
"It was interesting, when I made the first post on Facebook about starting the Rainbow Pride Collective, I then went out into the paddock for about four hours, and when I came back it had blown up," she said.
"A couple of blokes decided they were going to make really derogatory and horrible comments. But the interesting thing was the township of Leeton got stuck into them, and told them to pull their heads in."
Even though it was "a horrible thing for those guys to do", it proved that the town was largely supportive and some good came out of nastiness, Denise said.
"We have a great multicultural organisation here that has embraced all the colours that have come to town and the council has always supported our group," she said.
Denise said the Rainbow Pride Collective was mighty for its size, but acknowledged it had been struggling to attract new members.
"I'm not sure whether people are more comfortable these days and don't need support groups, or whether it's the opposite and they're afraid to come out and join. I don't know," she said.
"At the moment we have more trans people and allies than we do gays and lesbians and I'm not exactly sure why."
The parade probably won't be as big as the committee had initially hoped, she said, with only around 60-70 people registering to march and floats not allowed under traffic rules.
'We've become more open to new ideas'
Tyler Stafford came out around five years ago, when he was 14 years old.
"I received a lot of hateful messages, but I think now it's different. The younger generation understand more about what it's like to like someone of any gender."
Tyler Stafford says the thought of the Leeton Pride Festival helps him go to sleep in a good mood every night. Source: Supplied
"During the gay marriage plebiscite, we were a pretty high-voting 'yes, let's do it' kind of town. Which was a bit surprising, because we do have a large religious population.
"But we've become more open to new ideas, especially since a lot of the people that grew up here, they've moved away, and then some of them have come back and had kids and after being away they created new perspectives."
Tyler said thinking about the Leeton Pride Festival "puts me to sleep in a good mood every night".
LGBTIQ+ Australians seeking support with mental health can contact QLife on 1800 184 527 or visit . also has a list of support services.
