Rainbow Pride
Editorial #19
When I think about human rights in our time, I often think about the right to be human. The right to write as a human, fully formed, no less, no more. This is the right to a humane intelligence, not an artificial one or even a Silicon Valley one. I think about what human rights means as the world begins to fracture, how it offers a ballast in rough seas. To be human, then, is at the very centre of meaning, at the centre of our stories and what we offer to each other, how we nourish, make way, connect. All of this is there in Portside Review’s Human Rights Essay Prize this year.
With a theme of Rainbow Pride, we wanted to read essays of lived experience, of advocacy, of LGBTQIA2S+ complexity, beauty, integrity. We wanted to share, as a journal, in the world created by writers being true to themselves, articulating for others what it is to persist, to resist, to create place and peoplehood anew. In doing so, we participate in a public, make sense of each other as readers, as neighbours in the world at large.
The essays selected here by our judges represent a sliver of the offerings that were entered. We are so grateful to all the people who chose to write for Portside Review and our humble little prize. We are especially pleased to share with you our winners. You can read the judges comments on Christopher Bryant’s piece, The Pursuit of Happiness, below, but needless to say it is a powerful piece that reflects and represents what matters to us all - that human rights are necessary as time and tide continues to unfold. Thanks for the support and we will see you soon.
Judges Comments
First Place: The Pursuit of Happiness by Christopher Bryant
This raw and compelling autoethnographic essay, written in four distinct sections, takes us on a wild ride through the intersection of queerness and disability. The author navigates a precarious vulnerability in the telling of their own story of addiction, trauma, and self-acceptance, reflecting on the shape of human rights and community belonging in a context of systemic discrimination. Sometimes hard and other times hilarious, this essay strikes a clever balance between realism and humour, culminating in a call for genuine curiosity and the pursuit of communal joy as the key to social change.
Second Place: Pollution Stops the Reflection by M Lombaard
Exploring the socio-political context in South Africa from a trans perspective, this essay reflects on the similarities across a range of social movements, with a focus on LGBTIQA+ rights. Weaving personal narrative through political analysis, the author carefully critiques the concept of human rights as the end goal, urging us instead to centre care and solidarity in the fight for equality.
Third Place: I Owe Everything to Old Lesbians by Em Readman
In an innovative mix of personal narrative and archival knowledge, this essay is the moving story of intergenerational queer advocacy. The author draws on their own coming of age across geographical locations, interwoven with local activist case studies across history, to shine a light on the value of role models in understanding ourselves and our place in the movement.
Thank you to Rainbow Futures WA for supporting this edition of Portside Review’s Human Rights Essay Prize.
