{"id":529837,"date":"2026-03-09T23:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/529837\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T23:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:52:18","slug":"oranges-gay-elder-kevin-betts-leads-rainbow-walk-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/529837\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange’s ‘gay elder’ Kevin Betts leads Rainbow Walk parade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kevin Betts marched in the first Sydney Mardi Gras in 1978, and has spent his later years helping Orange’s LGBTQIA+ community feel secure and accepted.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the homegrown “78-er” was celebrated for his advocacy when he led the Rainbow Walk, the signature solidarity event of Orange’s annual Rainbow Festival.<\/p>\n

Riding shotgun in a ute adorned with rainbow flags and plumes of coloured streamers, a beaming Mr Betts fronted the largest crowd yet down the main street of Orange.<\/p>\n

“My heart was in my mouth the whole time,” Mr Betts said as the march concluded.<\/p>\n

“But I loved it.<\/p>\n

“All I need to do now is send a photo to my friends on the Gold Coast and say, ‘Look at the old bird now.'”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Marea Ruddy says Orange’s pride event is going from strength to strength. (ABC Central West: Micaela Hambrett)<\/p>\n

Orange City councillor Marea Ruddy said it was important to acknowledge the role of elders like Mr Betts.<\/p>\n

“He’s a really important part of pride history,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s great to have him involved and to continue to have people like Kevin involved in events like this.”<\/p>\n

A long road<\/p>\n

Originally intended as a peaceful protest march for gay rights, the 1978 Mardi Gras descended into violence<\/a> and brutality at the hands of the police.<\/p>\n

Retrieving his bloodied friends from Darlinghurst jail back in 1978, Mr Betts said he felt galvanised to keep fighting for those who would inevitably come after him.<\/p>\n

“We just had to fight for all those years, which we did,” he said.<\/p>\n

“To look at the younger people today, how they can come out and are not afraid, I’m just so proud to say that I am a 78er.”<\/p>\n

Part of his legacy to Orange’s queer community was a small bar called The Blind Pig, which Mr Betts established almost a decade ago with husband John Vanderburg.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Kevin Betts and John Vanderburg established Orange’s first inclusive social venue. (ABC Central West: Micaela Hambrett)<\/p>\n

Mr Vanderburg said The Blind Pig became a social institution almost overnight because the region’s vulnerable suddenly had a safe space to be themselves.<\/p>\n

“We had numerous young guys and girls come out to us at The Blind Pig,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If people came in we didn’t recognise, we’d sit down with them and make them feel at home.<\/p>\n

“Or we’d introduce people to one another and get them talking \u2026 it became a community.”<\/p>\n

It was also the scene of Mr Betts’s drag queen debut as Central West Sophie.<\/p>\n

Mr Vanderburg said he was anxious the younger crowd would not understand the cabaret-style performance.<\/p>\n

“But it went off. The place was packed to the hilt, and it went absolutely bananas,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

John Vanderburg and two Blind Pig patrons at the venue’s height. (Supplied: The Blind Pig)<\/p>\n

A ‘safe, happy place’<\/p>\n

Hitting retirement age, Mr Vanderburg and Mr Betts wound up their involvement in The Blind Pig last year.<\/p>\n

But locals like Kate and Brian Berrill said its closure had left a gaping hole in the city’ social fabric.<\/p>\n

“Coming from Sydney, there’s a lot of diversity and acceptance,” Ms Berrill said.<\/p>\n

“We have two trans kids as well, so we were searching for a welcoming place.<\/p>\n

“We found The Pig, it was such a safe, happy place.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brian and Kate Berrill are passionate about there being safe and inclusive spaces for people to socialise. (ABC Central West: Micaela Hambrett)<\/p>\n

The Berrills were the driving force behind commemorating Mr Betts’s legacy at this year’s Rainbow Festival.<\/p>\n

They said they hoped they could raise the need for another inclusive social space in the city.<\/p>\n

“It’s a really important thing for Orange to have space where people can go out and be themselves,” Ms Berrill saidPassing the baton<\/p>\n

Mr Vanderburg and Mr Betts are mentoring a former manager of theirs, Kristian Garlick.<\/p>\n

He and his mother Lisa Garlick have purchased a nearby restaurant that they hoped would become the new safe hub for the city.<\/p>\n

“[The Blind Pig] had a real community \u2014 from the elderly to young girls worried about being harassed, to the LGBTQIA community,” Mr Garlick said.<\/p>\n

“Once it closed down, there was nowhere for them to go.”<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

John and Kevin are mentoring Lisa Garlick and her son Kristian. (ABC Central West: Micaela Hambrett)<\/p>\n

The Garlicks said their new venture had been plagued by licensing issues and a perceived lack of support from Orange City Council.<\/p>\n

But in a statement, a council spokesperson said the council was working with the Garlicks and remained strongly committed to supporting Orange’s LGBTQIA+ community.<\/p>\n

“The Haze is approved to be used as a restaurant,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

“The owner has been in touch with Council and we are waiting on an application for a change of use.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A tattoo of The Blind Pig’s logo adorns Kristian Garlick’s arm. (ABC Central West: Micaela Hambrett)<\/p>\n

Mr Betts and Mr Vanderburg believe venues have a major role to play for vulnerable people wanting to be themselves on a night out.<\/p>\n

“I’m very pleased that a lot of people have come out of their closets to say, ‘Well, this is me’, and most parents stand by their kids these days,” Mr Betts said.<\/p>\n

“But if a younger person wants to dress up or hold their partner’s hand [in a pub] they’re going to cop it,” Mr Vanderburg said.<\/p>\n

“There needs to be a safe space.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Betts marched in the first Sydney Mardi Gras in 1978, and has spent his later years helping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134,72281,235577,38174,263244,32472],"class_list":["post-529837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-lgbtqi","tag-mardi-gras","tag-queer","tag-rainbow-festival","tag-venues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}