It took decades of fighting for recognition and several suicides before the Northern Territory's Tiwi Islands community finally accepted a group of Aboriginal transgender women.
Read more here: www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-02...
The Sistagirls want to spread the message of their journey of resilience and hope when they travel to Sydney's Mardi Gras for the first time on Saturday.
"To go to the Mardi Gras is to showcase our culture and our people, how Tiwi people evolved in this generation and how we became stronger in our community," said Sistagirl Crystal Johnson.
"To show people you can make a change."
Ainsley Kerinaiua said:
"It's going to be fantabulous, I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait to be in a glamorous outfit and parading out there with the rest of the LGBTI community."
The group have screen-printed costumes with glow-in-the-dark paint emblazoned with traditional graphic patterns and totems.
"We want to show off all the glitz and glamour but also the Tiwi culture with our traditional dressing and our traditional songs," Ms Johnson said.
"We want to showcase out there in the wider world that there are people who are Indigenous in Australia and LGBTIQ."
It took the women 15 years to win tolerance from the community, Nicole Miller-Mungatopi said.
"We had to fight for our acceptance," she said.
"Now they are accepting us because of suicides we've had here, deaths amongst our girls ... Now we're out, I just hope other communities accept their Sistagirls like ours."