June is Pride Month and Adelaide United is proud to be a part of the Welcome Here Project, which works with businesses and services across Australia to build and encourage environments that are visibly hospitable and inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI+) communities.
Welcome Here is part of our pledge to:
- Ensure that people who identify as LGBTI+ are welcomed and included
- Make a good difference in our community
- Celebrate LGBTI+ Diversity
What is the Welcome Here Project?
The Welcome Here Project is the new Safe Place Project. The Safe Place Project began in 1992 in reaction to elevated levels of street-based violence against the LGBTI+ community. So, businesses chose to become a ‘Safe Place,’ and proudly added a sticker to their storefronts to visibly show people of the LGBTI+ community where they could go for help if they were threatened with violence.
Although street-level violence has decreased as time has passed, work remains to be done in this area. The Welcome Here Project was established to assist business owners and services in Australia in creating and promoting surroundings that are visibly friendly and inclusive of LGBTI+ individuals.
Members that join the project are given Welcome Here rainbow stickers to put in their window to show that LGBTI+ diversity is welcomed and celebrated at their establishment.
Adelaide United’s role
Since joining this important initiative, the Welcome Here sticker now features prominently at the front of our Hindmarsh office doors on Manton Street. Adelaide United aspires to leave a legacy that it is a Club which promotes diversity and fosters inclusivity in the community, ensuring that all feel welcome and comfortable when entering our Club or Coopers Stadium on matchday.
Adelaide United became the first A-Leagues club and professional football team in Australia to hold an inaugural Pride Game in February 2022, involving our women’s and men’s teams. All proceeds went to Pride Cup, helping raise awareness of the work they do and as a show of solidarity and support of the LGBTI+ community.
