Open Letter from Mr Gay Pride Australia 2022 – Dion Alexander

Dear Friends

I cannot begin to express how truly grateful and honoured I am to have been awarded the title of Mr Gay Pride Australia for 2022. The competition has given me a great opportunity to reflect on my personal journey, our Rainbow community and the importance of the work that still needs to be done for all our Queer friends.

For those of you that don’t know me, my preferred pronouns are he/him. I am originally from Adelaide but now call Sydney home. I have always wanted to leave the world in a better place, particularly in regard to Queer issues. This is what drove my involvement with the Marriage Equality Campaign in Western Sydney and drives my involvement as a committee member of the Rainbow Swans, the official LGBTQIA+ supporter group of the Sydney Swans. I have been fortunate enough that my work with the Rainbow Swans has given me many opportunities to speak to people about the impact of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in sport with the particular opportunity to talk to over 40,000 fans at the SCG during the Pride Game earlier this year.

My goal, for my time as Mr Gay Pride Australia, is to make significant contributions to ending homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in sport with a particular interest in campaigning the AFL to hold a fixture-wide Pride Round in the Men’s competition. While I have been so privileged to be involved with the Pride Game which is a game between the Sydney Swans (up the Swannies!) and St Kilda; it is just that, a single match between two clubs and does not involve with other 16 clubs. I have already started work with the members of the AFL Pride Collective, a group with representatives from all the Pride Supporter Groups of the AFL clubs. I look forward to working with these very dedicated individuals and groups so they can all experience a Pride Round that involves their club.

I am super excited to be your representative for the Mr Gay World competition in 2023. This will not be the first time I have been an Australian representative as I previously represented Australia in my chosen sport of Tenpin Bowling back in 2012. At the world competition, I want to expand my campaign of ending homophobia, biphobia and transphobia to a global scale and start conversations about issues like the World Cup in Qatar and how we better support athletes travelling for International competition to be their true selves. 80% of people in sport have experienced or witnessed homophobia, biphobia or transphobia and this is just far too high. Sport should be based on ability and not your sexuality. If you want to play, then you should feel like you can play.

Friends, together we are going to create sporting spaces where everyone is welcome and where everyone can play.

Last Updated on Jan 11, 2023