Tropical Fruits Acknowledges and Supports our Trans and Gender Diverse Communities

This statement is a public acknowledgement that Tropical Fruits as a social club acknowledges the rights of trans and gender diverse people of all ages to self-expression, self-determination, medical, cultural and legal recognition, both within our rainbow communities and in broader society.

In the lead-up to the 2019-2020 Tropical Fruits New Year’s Festival a series of events occurred that lead to some conflict between members of the trans and gender diverse communities and the Tropical Fruits management committee. Tropical Fruits acknowledges that this situation was not planned well nor was an adequate or timely response offered to community feedback, which caused harm and heartache.

The Tropical Fruits committee is responsible for and reserves the right to select performers and production contractors who align themselves with the values of Tropical Fruits and will look at developing clearer policy and procedure on this.

As per Tropical Fruits’ public statement (December 2019), we remain committed to holding a Trans & Gender Diverse Community Forum in 2020 to strengthen community input into future events. However, with COVID-19 and public health restrictions, a traditional forum has not been possible to date. A steering committee of dedicated people from trans and gender diverse communities and members of the Tropical Fruits management committee has been formed and is looking into forum options. The group is meeting regularly and our first action was to consult on this public statement.

Through this initiative the hope is that we can all do better, be better and grow into a harmonious future, stronger together.