Annie Arnold is the cofounder and long-serving President of Albany Pride Incorporated, leading the organisation from its inception in 2011 until November 2025, from when she continued in a shared leadership as Co-President with Millie Reid.
After returning home to Western Australia from Melbourne in 2011 and settling in Albany, Annie quickly recognised the lack of visibility, connection, and support for LGBTIQA+ people in the region. When headspace Albany reported that one in five young people presenting for support identified as LGBTIQA+, she partnered with headspace manager Andrew Wenzel to explore how the community could be better supported.
Together, they founded Albany Gay and Lesbian… and Everyone In Between (AGAL) — an early grassroots effort that grew out of countless conversations, community surveys, and attempts to bring people together. With no existing local service following the closure of True Colours, Annie and Andrew worked to create the very first foundations: a name, a logo, a website, a Facebook presence, and importantly, a way for people to connect.
Their monthly meetups at Kate’s Place Café became one of Albany’s first visible, welcoming spaces for LGBTIQA+ people, families, and allies. Community input shaped their direction from the beginning, with Annie helping develop one of the region’s first LGBTIQA+ surveys to understand local needs around safety, belonging, and support.
Over the last fifteen years, Annie has helped guide AGAL’s transformation into Albany Pride, a vibrant, far-reaching not-for-profit delivering essential support groups, community events, advocacy, education, and one of Australia’s most respected regional Pride festivals. She has been instrumental in establishing key programs including Spectrum (a youth support group in partnership with headspace Albany), the Pride Social Support Group, and TransVerse for trans and gender-diverse adults — initiatives that reduce isolation, build resilience, and foster belonging for people across Albany, Denmark, Mt Barker, and surrounding areas.
Under Annie’s leadership, Albany Pride has become a trusted voice for LGBTQIA+ people in the Great Southern, providing community training, schoolbased antibullying support, media advocacy, referrals, and partnerships with numerous other Pride and Allied organisations such as headspace Albany and Living Proud. With thousands of followers online and hundreds engaging locally each year, Albany Pride continues to be an essential regional service supporting people of all genders, identities, abilities, and ages.
Grounded in her extensive background in social work and her years of dedicated child protection work in Albany, Annie brings a compassionate, communitydriven perspective to everything she does. Her enduring commitment to fairness, dignity, and inclusion has helped transform Albany into a community where LGBTQIA+ people feel increasingly visible, valued, and proudly embraced.
As Patron of the Albany Pride Festival 2026, the festival’s 10th anniversary, Annie celebrates its growth from a small weekend of events into a major regional celebration of diversity, accessibility, wellbeing, and the natural beauty of Kinjarling/Albany. Guided by values of inclusiveness and respect, Annie remains deeply committed to Albany Pride’s mission: promoting the health, wellbeing, and visibility of LGBTIQA+ people, and creating a community where everyone feels safe and proud to be their true selves.
