Hold Hands on a Tram

Please send us your photo of two women holding hands  – on a tram, in a park, on the couch, in a paddock – anywhere that can be shared. Check out our album below of photos that have been shared. Ways to share include:

• Celebrate Ageing Twitter using the hashtag: #womenholdinghands
• Send via email to Alice’s Garage: director@celebrateageing.com
• Post them to Alice’s Garage Facebook page.

While taking photos for this project, a number of women reported feeling uncomfortable with community responses to them holding hands in public. Discrimination and oppression are not dead. As William Faulkner said:

“The past is not dead – it is not even past.”

In October 2017, a group of older lesbians boarded a tram from the Melbourne CBD and travelled through the City of Port Phillip to the St Kilda Town Hall for afternoon tea and to share their stories of resistance. The event recognised the historical experiences and resistance of older lesbians. It also acknowledged societal change – including the announcement of a Pride Centre in Port Phillip. Photographer Lisa White was aboard the tram to photograph lesbians holding hands. Check out our album below.

One of the beautiful things about the Tram Ride was the support it generated. Three beautiful families on the same tram, joined us for the whole journey as a gesture of solidarity. The next day we recieved an email from Teresa, one of the group:

Dear Catherine, I am contacting you to congratulate you on the event that you organised on Wednesday, holding hands on the tram to recognise historical experiences of lesbophobia. My friends and I were there with our children.  …  My name is Theresa. Following the event, I wanted to write to you and express my unequivocal respect for you and other older LGBTIQ people.  I heard you on the radio, on ABC 774, the day before the event and really wanted to be physically present to see you off on your journey and demonstrate my support for you.  Furthermore, I wanted to include my child in the event to teach him about making the world a better place.  I phoned a few friends and the three of us figured we could get the train from the Eastern Suburbs to be there with you before getting the train back out again to do school pick-ups for our other kids. I’m not lesbian.  And I’ve never had to seriously question my sexuality; I worked out pretty quickly that I was heterosexual.  My support for you and the LGBTIQ community doesn’t come from personal experience.  It doesn’t come from a family member’s experience.  I have nothing personal to gain, but we all have a responsibility to do what is right.  It is not ‘your’ community versus ‘my’ community.  It is ‘our’ community.  All people deserve a peaceful loving life.  All people deserve equality. You and all the older generations of LGBTIQ people have endured, fought and survived.  You have paved the way for younger generations to be more able to be themselves.  And so we came on Wednesday!  To stand up and be present and accountable to those that have gone before us.  Younger generation’s lives will be so much better because of you.  Our children will be more free to be whoever they want to be, because of you who have gone before.We thank you! Yours sincerely,Theresa & Blake, Kelly & Frankie, Peter & Gemma And families!”