I’m a proud ginger these days, but that wasn’t always the case. I was teased mercilessly at primary school. I wore a plate, had red hair, freckles and was a book nerd – so you can imagine the stick I copped. At high school I was called Anne of Green Gables, which secretly delighted me – but being called Bea, after the red, frizzy-haired monster on Prisoner sucked. Later in life, I was Fanta pants, fire crotch, ’ranga, the brunt of jokes about gingers lacking souls and when my mates found out that my husband was colour blind, they queried whether as a matter of fairness they needed to “out me” as a ginger.
There have been endless queries about my temper (no, I don’t have a quick temper, but once in a blue moon, if really pushed I will fucking lose it. Thanks for asking). I’ve also fielded a lot of questions about whether the curtains match the carpet. That’s just plain rude.
To top it off, my name is Meg – Ginger Meggs, get it? Get it? Piss off.
We redheads are benighted, although God knows why. Throughout history, there have been some fabulous redheads (Rita Hayworth, Lucille Ball, Ann Margaret, Gillian Anderson, Christina Hendricks, Molly Ringwald, all of the Weasleys, Willie Nelson and Jesse “the devil” Hughes).
In light of the above, I was chuffed to hear that Melbourne is getting its own Ginger Pride Rally. I was even more chuffed that under the guise of a bit of fun, it’s dealing with a very serious issue – namely that of bullying. For the event, Buderim Ginger has teamed up with the Bully Zero Australia Foundation and the Red and Nearly Ginger Association (RANGA – which raises funds dedicated to orang-utan survival) for the event. It’s estimated that 1,000 gingers and ginger-lovers will turn out for the event.
Bully Zero was launched by another redhead, Julia Gillard, in 2013. Back then, Oscar Yildiz, the now CFO and executive director of Bully Zero, was the mayor of Moreland and had heard too many stories about kids committing suicide. He'd also been bullied physically for five years as a kid, so when he was approached to co-found Bully Zero, he didn't hesitate. Subsequently, the organisation has educated 214,000 people about bullying and rolled out prevention programs nationally . “No one should be bullied, whether it’s because of the way they look, for race reasons, beliefs or sexuality," he says. "All people should be treated equally and with respect. That old saying, 'sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me' isn't true – words do hurt. We need to appreciate diversity and the difference between people."
The rally will convene at 10.30 outside the boat sheds on Boathouse Drive and will wend its way down to Fed Square. Register online to take part in the rally – participants are being asked to cough up a gold coin donation, which will makes its way to Bully Zero.
Join me at the Redhead Pride Rally, Sat Apr 16.