LGBT Teen Abbie Kelly Is Bringing The Rainbow Shoelace Project To Sydney WorldPride
starobserver.com.auAnyone who’s seen The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, remembers the mining town where Mitzi does “a lap of the Broken Hill main drag, in Drag.” Almost 30 years on there’s even more colour stomping the ‘main drag’ thanks to the work of one tireless LGBTQI teenager.
The Rainbow Shoelace Project started as a few Pride Flag beads on 13-year-old Abbie Kelly’s shoelaces. On her first day of High School, to avoid bullying, she took them off, but thanks to some encouragement from friends, she put them back on and now, they’re going global.
Abbie Kelly with Joel Creasey. Image: Supplied“You normally see rainbows when you’re looking up, and when you’re experiencing homophobia and bullying you tend to look down and by looking down and seeing those little rainbow beads on someone’s shoelaces it can just change your life, it can change the way you see the world”To meet an LGBTQI teen who has achieved so much is impressive, but this isn’t even Abbie’s first rodeo.
Aged just eight years old, she donated her hair through the charity Variety to be turned into wigs for children living with cancer.
