TikTok: @rainbowhistoryclass with substitute teacher Garry Wotherspoon

Check out Garry Wotherspoon on TikTok with @rainbowhistoryclass explaining to the kids of today about the first mardi gras, and about how the queer liberation movement began in Australia

Newsletter - December 2022

View this email in your browser December 2022 In this December edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Karl Zlotkowski on Out of the Bars! and onto the Bridge! Barry Charles and Garry Wotherspoon on the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes Photos from Christmas at Kinselas Diane Minnis on the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras AGM Michael Fenaughty on Queer Literacy for Young Adults in the Bush Robert French on ACT’s Naming of Lex Watson Circuit First Mardi Gras Inc. contribution to NSW Council for Civil Liberties statement on Jailing of Peaceful Climate Activists How to buy CAMP: Australia’s pioneer homosexual activists by Robyn Kennedy and Robyn Plaister and early bird tickets for the CAMP play at the Seymour Centre Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton on How to get your 78ers and CAMP badges Calendar of Events.  The next First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting is at 4pm, Saturday 14 January 2023, by Zoom.   Diane Minnis By now all 78ers should have heard from the SGLMG 78ers Committee that a 78er contingent will join the WorldPride 2023 Harbour Bridge walk on 5 March 2023. The final arrangements for this event are still coming together, but we can now confirm that the 78ers will meet at 0630 AM outside North Sydney Station, ready to join the opening smoking ceremony and then lead off across the Bridge at 0700. 78ers will not need to join the public ballot for tickets to join the Bridge Walk – places have already been reserved. The SGLMG 78ers Committee will contact 78ers early in the New Year to confirm their plans, and will liaise with Sydney WorldPride to organise ticketing. Please be aware that the walk is approximately 4.5 km, with some significant grades – all the way from North Sydney Station to the Domain. If you’d like to join but feel you might need assistance, or would like to borrow a wheelchair (and/or someone to push it) please let us know now. All this is in addition to planning for the 2023 Mardi Gras Parade, which will take place on Oxford Street one week earlier. 78ers have already been asked to signal their intention of joining the 78ers group in the parade – if you have not yet responded please do so as soon as possible. The parade will start from Liverpool Street, as it did in 2019. Mardi Gras are well advanced in planning access arrangements and ticketing, and 78ers have been allocated one of the largest groups in the parade. This year we will be featuring placards celebrating key events from the campaigns of 1973, in line with our ongoing ’50 Years of Visibility’ theme, along with many of our favourite signs and slogans from previous years. 2023 is the 45th anniversary of 1978 - Onto the Streets!   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Secretary Two 78ers, Barry Charles and Garry Wotherspoon, have given evidence to the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes. The Commission is investigating unsolved suspected hate crime deaths of LGBTIQ people (or people who were presumed to be LGBTIQ) in NSW between 1970 and 2010. The Commission was set up earlier this year, on the recommendation of State Parliament’s Legislative Council Standing Committee on Social Issues, which had highlighted the fact that so many cases remain unsolved from the 88 deaths or suspected deaths of these men or trans* women, and which were potentially motivated by gay hate bias. Of particular interest for the Commission are the police responses to these cases over the decades. The push for this Inquiry was, in many ways, set in motion by ACON’s report, In Pursuit of Truth and Justice (2018), which in turn led to the Legislative Council’s own investigation and Report (tabled in Parliament in May 2021) that found that the NSW Police Force failed in its responsibility to properly investigate historical hate crimes. The Report also found that victims carry enduring physical, mental and emotional trauma as a result of their experiences. A team of independent barristers, solicitors and investigators has spent the last five months combing through more than a hundred thousand documents, drawn from 40 years of police files, coronial files, and other sources in relation to LGBTIQ hate-related deaths. The Commission started its first public hearing on 21 November 2022 and is continuing through December. Barry and Garry told the Commission of their own experiences, of growing up in a world hostile to homosexuals, their ‘coming out’ and developing their sense of ‘identity’, and of their own experiences with beats. It is important that the Commission hear stories like those of Barry’s and Garry’s. The wider Australian society knows so little about the ‘gay world’ and how our lives have been lived differently from theirs, especially in the past, when all elements of influence in society (the law, religion and the medical profession) were prejudiced against ‘dissident sexualities’. For gay men, their emotional and sexual lives were illegal. As Barry notes. “We were viewed as very serious criminals, worse than bank robbers. Sodomy (or Buggery as it was called) was liable to 14 years in prison.” Garry felt it was important that the Commission knew how far back the antagonistic actions of the police to our communities had been, documented going well back into the early years of the twentieth century: “not only did they harass gay women and men whenever they could, but they also acted as agents provocateurs with gay men, inciting them to commit acts they could be arrested for. And since inciting anyone to commit a homosexual act was illegal, they themselves were breaking the law, to get us to break the law”. Over the course of the Inquiry, there will be both public and private hearings at which various witnesses will give evidence and provide information. Other contributions have come from activists from later years. Dr Gary Cox and Bruce Grant for instance from GLRL and the Anti-Violence Project 1988-1990s. Carole Ruthchild also Co-Convenor of GLRL described in her submission “the invisibility of anti-lesbian violence” and the success of the Off Our Backs survey and report in highlighting and remedying that. The next session of the Commission began on 5 December 2022. On that day lawyers for the Police Commissioner tried to block evidence and investigation into Task Force Parabel (see First Mardi Gras Inc. statement below). The Commissioner John Sackar rejected completely this attempt to prevent him from a proper examination describing it as “offensive”. Assistant Commissioner Anthony Crandell, who headed Parabel, was then questioned over four days and the inadequacies and attempted cover-up of police actions during the period were revealed. All sessions are live streamed and previous days can be viewed at The Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes (nsw.gov.au). The Commission is appealing for the public to come forward with any information they may have into unsolved deaths over that period, which may have been LGBTIQ hate crimes. Families and friends of persons who have died because of LGBTIQ hate crimes in particular are encouraged to contact the Inquiry. Any person who has information relevant to a person who is suspected to have been murdered in NSW in the period between 1970 and 2010 for reason of their sexual or gender identity (or presumed sexual or gender identity) should contact the Inquiry. Information can be provided anonymously and confidentially. You may contact the Inquiry by: Email: contact@specialcommission.nsw.gov.au Mail: The Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes GPO Box 5341, Sydney NSW 2001 Phone: call +61 2 9228 4855 and leave a voice message. The Commission is likely to bring down its findings in May 2023. It is important that acknowledging past wrongs by those who failed to protect and deliver justice to the state’s citizens is a necessary step towards healing. The Commission of Inquiry is a big step in that direction.   Garry Wotherspoon and Barry Charles 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Members 78ers Reject Police position at Crimes Inquiry (Statement issued 6 December 2022) 78ers, veterans of Sydney’s first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1978, have today condemned the position adopted by NSW police in hearings of the Special Commission inquiring into historical LGBTQI hate crimes.  Police have objected to aspects of the Inquiry relating to their own Strike Force Parabel Review and further, have claimed that the burden of responding to the Commission’s requests for information has put a strain on their workforce and financial resources. First Mardi Gras Inc., as an association representing 78ers, is particularly concerned that the NSW Police position is indicative of a continuing resistance to transparency of police operations, and an insensitivity within the force towards issues of profound importance to the LGBTQI community. When the then Police Commissioner Mick Fuller apologised to 78ers and the LGBTQI community for the behaviour of police in 1978 there was genuine hope that a cultural change might be underway. That was in 2018, and since then the community has seen little evidence that this change runs deep. Eight months after the 2022 Mardi Gras parade there has been no explanation for the treatment of Barbara Karpinski – a 78er – who was ejected from the reserved 78er viewing area. Although a personal apology was issued, there has been no clarification of who ordered this treatment and on what authority, or what actions have been taken to ensure it does not happen again. First Mardi Gras calls on the Board of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to review the inclusion of an official Police entry in the 2023 Mardi Gras parade and to take clear steps to ensure that the terms of its own Accord with NSW Police require police to demonstrate sensitivity and transparency in their dealings with the LGBTQI community.   First Mardi Gras Inc. A community association for 78ers The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras AGM on 26 November was an arduous event, particularly for those of us online. The sound quality was poor and the chair, same chap as last year, was not really skilled enough to manage a factious meeting. But the real problem was the lack of democracy. Pride in Protest (PiP) motions on notice were taken as questions and responded to dismissively by the (thankfully) outgoing Co-Chair and Board member Jesse Matheson. Other motions on notice were spoken to, no further speakers called for, and no votes taken. Mardi Gras mainstays like Liz Dodds and Kathy Sant objected to the PiP motions not being put. They were unlikely to be in agreement with PiP, but objected to this undemocratic action. I’m not sure if there was a vote to accept the Treasurer’s report and there was not a Returning Officer’s report, let alone a vote to accept it. It was good that voting was reopened during the meeting, but the online system should have been able to give a result before the end of the AGM. Towards the end of the meeting, Liz Dodds pointed out that, as a charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission, SGLMG had to maintain standards of transparency and accountability to their members. And they clearly did not at this AGM. During the meeting, SGLMG CEO Albert Kruger reported on Sydney WorldPride 2023 (SWP) and the Human Rights Conference. As you will see on one of the slides above, SWPs Arts curatorial priorities include 10% elders. This would not seem to apply to the Human Rights Conference which rejected the workshop application made by First Mardi Gras Inc. The fact that Sydney’s bid for WorldPride was based on the 2023 celebrations of the 45th anniversary of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and 50th anniversary of the first national Gay Pride Week has been ignored. Our workshop, Fifty years of Activism and International Solidarity, would have discussed the impacts of these events and the advances in human rights and legal reforms that they led to for our communities. All three of our presenters were involved in the campaigns around the first Mardi Gras, 45 years ago, and the upsurge of activism that followed. Two of our presenters took part in Gay Pride Week, 50 years ago. So much for your curatorial priorities to include 10% elders Sydney WorldPride!   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair During 2021 I was contemplating what I could do to improve the lives of LGBTIQ young people in Murtoa, a town of 900 people in the northwest of Victoria where I live. I’ve loved books and libraries from an early age. Books gave me access to all sorts of worlds beyond the restrictive heteronormative boundaries of my previous homes in Jerilderie and Crookwell. So, I hit upon the idea of donating a collection of LGBTIQ books suitable for a young adult readership to the Murtoa College Library. Murtoa College is a P-12 school and I contacted their Librarian, Jenny Reading. Jenny informed me that the existing LGBTIQ collection was modest, and that the College would love to have more LGBTIQ books. I then contacted The Bookshop, Darlinghurst, and staff members Noel and Graeme did a wonderful job of putting together a list of recommendations, ordering the books, and sending them to Jenny. When the collection of 50 books arrived at the College there was great excitement amongst the LGBTIQ students and the Murtoa College LGBTIQ Collection has become an excellent and widely used resource for LGBTIQ students. And as a number of graduating students took their favourite books with them, I’m in the midst of refreshing the Collection. I’ve also decided to expand the reach of this project: Horsham Secondary College has accepted my offer of a collection and is currently selecting the titles for it. I’m particularly excited about this as the College has over 1,000 students and therefore the books will reach a large audience. I’ve always loved books and libraries. And now I’m having a tangible impact on them and the lives of LGBTIQ young people in the bush through this important work.   Michael Fenaughty 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member The ACT Place Names Authority approached Lex Watson’s sister, Wendy Dundas, and I for our reaction to their proposal to name a street in Lex’s honour. Wendy approved and I corrected their draft citation. We recently received the following confirmation: On behalf of the ACT Place Names Advisory Committee, I am pleased to confirm the approval of the public place name Lex Watson Circuit in the ACT division (suburb) of Denman Prospect. The new place name commemorates Mr Lex Watson AM for his contributions as a gay rights activist for people living with AIDS and HIV and to homosexual law reform. The public place names approved at this time commemorate the nomenclature theme Activism and Reform. I was chuffed and Lex’s family were delighted at this tribute!   Robert French 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member Over 220 organisations representing millions of members across the country have united to condemn the recent 15-month jail sentence for climate activist Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco and to express concern about increasing repression, including the recent introduction of new anti-protest laws in multiple states. On 2 December, Violet, from Fireproof Australia, was sentenced to 15 months in custody with a non-parole period of 8 months. Her appeal for bail was heard on 13th December. A solidarity action took place outside Downing Centre Court. We reject the claim from Premier Perrottet that protest should not inconvenience people and are concerned about the message this sends in a democracy. Peaceful but disruptive protests have won many of the rights we take for granted today, including the 8-hour day, voting rights, end to conscription, and to enjoy the forests and precious places we defended. Australia is a signatory to conventions protecting our right to freedom of movement, association, peaceful assembly, and political speech which the government must respect, and we must defend. We welcome the support from the UN and international human rights organisations, including the recent statement from Clement Voule, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly who expressed “I am alarmed at NSW court's prison term against climate protester Deanna Coco and refusal to grant bail until a March 2023 appeal hearing. Peaceful protesters should never be criminalised or imprisoned.” Violet was charged with several offences, including disrupting vehicles, failing to comply with police direction and resisting or hindering police. The charges arose from her action blocking one lane of traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge for approximately 25 minutes. First Mardi Gras Inc. – a community association for 78ers said: If these laws were in place in 1978, we would have all ended up in gaol. As it was many of us did. Under the provisions of the NSW Summary Offences Act police were able to shut down protests, to judge whether a person's behaviour was offensive or not, and to entrap gay men with contrived homosexual advances. At the time there were over 100 convictions every year for sexual assault of a male person in NSW. Many ended with gaol terms of up to 14 years and others accepted court-directed homosexual aversion therapy. Radical social movements changed everything. They didn't have liability insurance or permission from the state.   From statement by NSW Council for Civil Liberties In 1972, the body of a murdered lecturer floats in the River Torrens, a young woman escapes a lobotomy to ‘cure’ her sexuality, and a single mum struggles to find her place in a society which brands her as ‘abnormal’. CAMP, a new play by Elias Jamieson Brown (Green Park) chronicles the birth of Australia's fierce gay and lesbian rights movement; the struggles, successes, and legacy of early Pride activists who risked family, careers, and imprisonment to achieve social change in Australia. Associate Producer: Robyn Kennedy. More info: CAMP | Siren Theatre Co EARLY BIRD TICKET OFFER: Purchase discount tickets now until December 23, 2022, by quoting CAMPSWP2023 at the checkout. Tickets available from SEYMOUR CENTRE MAKE A FULLY TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO PRODUCTION COSTS THROUGH Artist Project: Camp - a new play by Elias Jamieson Brown (australianculturalfund.org.au). 78er badges are $5 each and postage is $3.09 (total $8.09). Postage is still $3.09 for up to five badges. To order badges, email your name, postal address and the number of badges required to info@78ers.org.au. Then make your payment by funds transfer. You can also post a cheque CAMP badges are $3.50 each plus $3.00 packaging and postage. To order, contact Robyn Kennedy. Please include your name, address and number of badges requested. Banking details for direct deposit will be provided.   Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Members Calendar of Events   First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 14 January 2023, by Zoom First Mardi Gras Inc. Pre Mardi Gras Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 5 February 2023, Terminus Hotel, Pyrmont, downstairs room, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au The Coming Back Out Salon – 2-6pm, Saturday 18 February 2023, Sydney Town Hall, https://moshtix.com.au/.../the-coming-back-out-salon/143631 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Fair Day – 10am-9pm, Sunday 19 February 2023 First Mardi Gras Inc. 78ers 45th Anniversary Cocktail Party – 6.30-9.30pm, Thursday 23 February 2023, tickets available in January Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade – Saturday 25 February 2023 Sydney WorldPride Human Rights Conference – Wednesday to Friday 2-4 March 2023, https://sydneyworldpride.com/ Pride History Group Conference Reception – 6.30-9pm, Friday 3 March 2023, Pride History Conference — PRIDE HISTORY GROUP Pride History Group Conference – 9am-5.30pm, Saturday 4 March 2023, Marrickville Library Pavilion, Pride History Conference — PRIDE HISTORY GROUP  Sydney WorldPride Harbour Bridge March – Sunday 5 March 2023 Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras Parade and After Party – Saturday 11 March 2023, Wagga Mardi Gras | The biggest party Wagga's ever seen! Tropical Fruits (Lismore) Easter Party – April TBC 2023, Events - Tropical Fruits Broken Heel Festival, Broken Hill – September TBC 2023 Sapphire Coast Pride, Bega Valley, www.Facebook.com/groups/sapphirecoastpride For other events, please check: https://australianpridenetwork.com.au/lgbtiq-festivals/new-south-wales/. And remember to check links closer to the advertised dates for confirmation of events.

Star Observer: 78ers Slam NSW Police Over Objections Before Sydney Hate Crime Deaths Inquiry

Newsletter - November 2022

View this email in your browser November 2022 In this November edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Karl Zlotkowski on WorldPride 2023 – 100 Days to Go Bill Ashton on Christmas at Kinselas – 3pm, Sunday 11 December 2022 Bob Harvey on Successful Tamworth Pride Fair Day and After Party Barry Charles on Newcastle and Hunter Pride Fair Day Barry Charles on Queer Crime History Walk: Gross Offences & Abominable Acts Diane Minnis on InterPride World Conference Guadalajara, Mexico Ken Davis on International Confederation of Trade Unions LGBTIQ+ Caucus Karl Zlotkowski on Voices from 1978 Sue Jackson on Coming Out! Celebrating 50 Years of Gay Liberation, Melbourne Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton on How to get your 78ers and CAMP badges How to buy CAMP: Australia’s pioneer homosexual activists by Robyn Kennedy and Robyn Plaister and early bird tickets for the CAMP play at the Seymour Centre How to buy tickets to The Coming Back Out Salon Calendar of Events.  Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay is on this weekend, 25-27 November 2022. If you would like to join other 78ers in the Parade, contact Helen Gollan at hcg78er@yahoo.com. The next First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting is at 4pm, Sunday 27 November 2022, by Zoom. And Christmas at Kinselas is at 3pm, Sunday 11 December 2022, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au.   Diane Minnis and Sue Fletcher On 17 November the great and good (and others) from Sydney’s LGBTIQA+ community gathered at the Opera Bar for a bout of drinks and speeches, all to mark the beginning of a countdown to the start of WorldPride 2023 next February. WorldPride 2023 bills itself as a global family reunion of LGBTIQA+ people and their allies, sponsored by InterPride – the International Association of Pride Organisers (of which SGLMG and First Mardi Gras Inc. are members). WorldPride 2023 will deliver a diverse festival coinciding with the 45th anniversary of Sydney’s Mardi Gras, also featuring an international Human Rights Conference over three days from the beginning of March. At the Opera Bar drinks, the CEO of Sydney WorldPride, Kate Wickett, paid special tribute to the 78ers for their role in the birth of Sydney’s own Pride celebrations, and in particular acknowledged Robyn Kennedy for her support as InterPride Vice President, Global Outreach and Partnership Management. The 78ers themselves were there in force (and hard to miss). With 100 days to go, First Mardi Gras Inc. is pushing hard to have 78ers included and acknowledged in all WorldPride Events. In particular we are firming up arrangements for a group of 78ers to join the Harbour Bridge Walk on Sunday 5 March. The logistics of this event are difficult, and the physical task of walking from North Sydney Station all the way to the Domain may be challenging for some. If you’d like to join the Bridge walk (and associated photo-op) but feel you may need some help, please let us know at info@78ers.org.au as soon as possible. Likewise, if you’re from out of town and feel you may need help with the trip to Sydney for any WorldPride events; let us know as soon as you can. Of course, all this is in addition to our own First Mardi Gras Inc. events next February: our Cocktail Party on 23 February and the launch of our new Voices from 1978 booklet that same day. And there are the main Mardi Gras events coordinated by the SGLMG 78ers Committee: Fair Day on Sunday 19 February and the Parade itself on Saturday 25 February (one week earlier than usual please note). This will be the biggest Festival for many years – our 45th. For more information about: Sydney WorldPride 2023, including the Festival Program https://sydneyworldpride.com/ InterPride: www.interpride.org/ourorganization. I’d also like to note that Penny Gulliver and I have been re-elected to the SGLMG 78ers Committee and Rebbell Barnes will also join us for our two-year term.   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Secretary   We are gathering for Christmas at Kinselas on Sunday 11 December at 3pm. Kinselas is at 383 Bourke St Darlinghurst, right on Taylor Square and close to bus stops and the ground floor venue is wheelchair accessible. First Mardi Gras will again provide canapes and you can buy drinks at reasonable prices. You can also buy tickets in a raffle that will be drawn on the day and we now have a payment square to make this easier. Let us know if you can attend Christmas at Kinselas, from 3pm on Sunday 11 December 2022 by emailing info@78ers.org.au.   Bill Ashton 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member It was a long three year wait due to COVID restrictions, but Tamworth was finally able to hold its second Pride Fair Day at Bicentennial Park and its very first After Party that night at West Diggers Club. Saturday, 29 October was a glorious sunny day for the LGBTIQA+ community and wider public at Bicentennial Park and Helen Golan and myself were the two representatives for the 78ers and we made our way to the park with the 78ers Fearless banner in the back of Helen’s ute. Once we arrived, the banner was mounted on the main stage for Tamworth Pride. We mingled with the public and the queer community and we both thoroughly enjoyed meeting people and championing the 78ers legacy. Earlier in the morning, I sold many raffle tickets for Tamworth Pride and at the same time handed out our 78er information leaflet. The Fair Day itself truly epitomised the LGBTIQA+ community spirit of Tamworth and its surrounds and the growing strength of Tamworth Pride Inc. It attracted many hundreds of people. Various organisations such as ACON , Rosalie House (deals with domestic violence and drug abuse issues), NSW SES, E- Mental Health in Practice (deals with mental health issues for young queer people), the Australian Drug Foundation, funded by NSW Health) and the Narrabri Police were among the many who had community stalls. I managed to have a constructive discussion with a young police officer on the Narrabri Police Stall about the importance of maintaining a positive, ongoing relationship between the police and the LGBTIQA + community and he readily accepted my 78er info leaflet. I was also able to engage in an informative conversation with a female Youth Mental Health Project Officer about the importance of mental health for young people in the LGBTIQA + community and after bringing up the subject of ageing in the queer community. I was provided with some useful follow up links. For entertainment and amusement, the Fair Day presented a number of fabulous performers. The drag queens, Luci Dream and Sheila Works dazzled us with their performances whilst the country acts Loran Ryan, Matt Barrat and Evelyn Banoffee delivered heart rendering performances. After midday a puppy show, and competition was hosted by our fabulous Miss Sparkles and the canines were all barking for a trophy. Around 1pm it was time for a change of pace when the fun, friendly games were held between competing community organisations. Yours truly as a 78er helped the SES with the first round in a tug a war against the Rural Fire Department. Unfortunately, we lost the subsequent rounds. The very first Tamworth Pride After Party at West Diggers Club was the climax of the day’s events. The event was decorated with glittery silver streamers and set out comfortably with tables, a cocktail bar and a large dance floor. It was reported to have been Tamworth’s Pride largest ever nighttime event. Young DJ Angus Renton pumped out the dance tracks ranging from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and noughties. Two drag queens, Sheila Works and KA$HA dazzled us with performances. Helen and myself were resplendent in 78er t-shirts with additional colourful attire. We chatted with many of the Tamworth LGBTIQA + locals and we were heartily welcomed as 78ers. Overall, both the Tamworth Pride Fair Day and the After Party were a raging success and we look forward to welcoming even more 78ers to these events next year.   Bob Harvey Tamworth based 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member Two weeks of events and celebrations concluded on the weekend of 5-6 November 2022 for Newcastle Pride. For the first time since 2019 the largest LGBTIQA+ event in NSW outside of Sydney was able to go ahead post-COVID. The last weekend of the festival included the Fair Day at Gregson Park in Hamilton and a spectacular event it was. With 2,000 to 3,000 attending and up to a hundred stalls and marquees. As is becoming common at these events across the country, the 78ers had a marquee and First Mardi Gras Inc. was represented by locals Richard Riley and John Witte and visitors Helen Gollan, Karl Zlotkowski and Barry Charles. We received a grateful reception from many people coming by our tent and were able to discuss past and current milestones and issues with those attending. Late in the afternoon Helen Gollan represented us on the mainstage and gave a rousing speech about our on-going commitment to building on the advances in gay rights achieved in the past 50+ years. Congratulations Helen! Visitors to the fair included the local State and Federal MPs. Sharon Claydon, the Federal Labor Member had a long discussion with us about her support for the community. The big day ended with a multi-themed dance party.   Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member On 5 November 2022 at 10am (before the Fair) I joined the Queer Crime History Walk organised brilliantly by the Hunter Rainbow History Group and led by 78er John Witte. We met at the Newcastle Lock-Up in Hunter Street for a review and wander through the city surveying Newcastle’s rich queer history stretching back to Colonial times in the 19th century. As a former port and penal detention hub, the Newcastle region had an amazingly full record of an underground gay life, which frequently came to the surface in the press and through police actions. The Hunter Rainbow History Group does great work making sure we do not forget our past histories and experiences.   Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member InterPride’s 2022 Annual General Meeting and World Conference was hosted by Guadalajara Pride, from October 27-30, 2022, at the Hilton Guadalajara, Mexico. It was the first in-person AGM and World Conference in two years and the first time in InterPride’s history of hosting this annual event in a Latin American country. Robyn Kennedy, who is a Vice President Global Outreach and Partnerships, and I, in my role as Global Advisory Committee rep for Oceania, attended the conference. Guadalajara Pride certainly put on a well-organised and cost-effective conference, though the hotel where it was held was a bit out of the way. There were a number of interesting workshops but the one that really moved me was presented by Anna Sharyhina from Kharkiv Pride in Ukraine. In Anna’s at times emotional presentation, she spoke about the impact of Putin’s invasion on her country. Anna is determined to continue working and travelling to get the story out on what is happening on the ground in Ukraine. Anna talked about the work of Kharkiv Pride and Kyiv Pride in providing aid to their local communities and raising funds to provide blankets, heaters and generators; food for the elderly; medicines; to care for pets left behind and for laptops and phones for their own work. The work of Anna and her team is inspiring and despite their struggles they also managed to organise a Pride celebration in the Metro station where people were sheltering from Russian bombing. In the conference plenaries, we heard presentations from cities vying to hold future WorldPrides and InterPride conferences. In the light of Taiwan’s KH Pride withdrawing after winning the right to stage WorldPride 2025, there was a presentation by the runner-up in that ballot – Capital Pride in Washington DC. There was a vote on whether WorldPride 2025 would go ahead in Washington DC, particularly since there were two proposals to hold WorldPride in 2026. Both Amsterdam and Orlando, Florida made their presentations and, after a 72-hour period where InterPride member organisations around the world were able to vote, Amsterdam was selected for WorldPride in 2026 and Washington DC was approved to hold a WorldPride in 2025. So, the WorldPride every two years policy is out the window, but hopefully the Board will regularise it as a biennial event after 2026. The other important issue discussed was the By-Law changes to put into effect the new structure of InterPride that was decided on at the Mid-Year Meeting in April 2022. After a very thorough strategic planning process, led by Robyn Kennedy, a major change to the current US-centric structure – with six regions in the US, the whole of Asia as one region and one region covering the whole of Oceania – was approved. In the new structure, regional Pride platforms would be the members of InterPride and individuals pride organisations would be members of their regional body. There are existing Pride platforms in the US, Canada, UK and Europe. The European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA) voted strongly at their recent AGM to become a Pride platform member of InterPride. However, a group of US and Canadian delegates pushed to pass most of the By-Law changes but not those relating to the new structure. That decision has been held off for six months. I made a passionate speech urging a vote for equality in representation of areas but to no avail. I even asked one woman why she was objecting to the new structure and got a wish-washy response that she didn’t know enough about it – despite a series of zoom seminars run by Robyn and others. The same US-centric sentiment also seems to have impacted the election for the Co-President position, vacated by the retirement of Linda DeMarcho. A US-based Vice President who has done very little work and who expressed doubts about the strategic planning process was elected over Robyn Kennedy, who as a Vice President contributed a huge amount, including leading the strategic planning and implementation process. So, the struggle for an equitable structure for InterPride will continue. Meanwhile, Oceania Pride Organisers Inc. has been registered and will open for membership early in 2023.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair At the congress of the International Confederation of Trade Unions in Melbourne (17-21 November) there was a meeting of around a hundred delegates on LGBTIQ+ union action with Will Stracke from Victoria, Stuart Applebaum from the American unions, Roberta Turi from the Italian metalworkers' union and speakers from union federations in Canada, Spain, and Brazil. Kwazi Adu-Amanjwah, the head of ITUC in Africa, spoke about campaigning against anti-queer laws in Ghana. ITUC is the largest democratic organisation in the world with 200 million members in over 300 national affiliates in 165 countries. Congress reaffirmed resolutions against discrimination and inequality at work. Equality at work was a theme of the rally when PM Albanese addressed the congress. Sharan Burrow from Australia ended her term as General Secretary. Sharan had pushed the inclusion of LGBTIQ+ equality within the global trade unions, as she had in the ACTU and Australian Education Union. She also brought the weight of the international union movement into the struggle for HIV treatments access. Luca Visentini from UIL Italy was elected as the new General Secretary, and he also is clear about inclusion of LGBTIQ worker rights in the global trade union agenda.   Ken Davis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair In celebration of 45 years since 1978, First Mardi Gras Inc. has assembled a collection of reflections, commentary and reminiscences from 78ers themselves. This 50-page booklet includes original photographs and recollections from veterans of 50 years of struggle. These are voices that range through passion, pain, laughter and joy. They are the voices of those who were there. Publication, copyright First Mardi Gras Inc., is scheduled for February 2023, price $10. All enquiries and pre-publication orders to: info@78ers.org.au.   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary The Victorian Pride Centre, the Australian Queer Archives and the Pride Fund have put together a weekend of activities celebrating 1970’s LGBTIQ+ activism on the weekend 2-4 December to mark the 50th anniversary of Gay Liberation. The 1970s was a transformative decade which saw the formation of activist organisations and social campaigns which paved the way and built the foundations for ongoing activism and campaigning. This will be a unique opportunity for people to come together and reflect on decades of activism, to celebrate many achievements and to look to the future of social justice and equity. The weekend will include the launch of ‘The Making of the Victorian Pride Centre’ book and exhibition on Friday 2 December; ‘Coming Out! Celebrating 50 Years of Gay Liberation’: Then & Now Symposium presented by the Australian Queer Archives and featuring guest speakers, screenings on Saturday 3 December; and the ‘Sunday Sizzle’ social event with music, drinks and a BBQ on Sunday 4 December. Find out more and register for the launch and symposium via the links below. All events will be held at the Victorian Pride Centre, 79–81 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda. Whilst the activities are not confined to those who were involved in the 1970s, Jude Munro has been trying to ensure that people from those days who were involved in for example, Gay Liberation, Radicalesbians / Gay Women’s Group, Gay Teachers and Students Group, Camp Inc., Society 5, National Homosexual Conference, Australian Gay Archives, 78ers (and others you can think of) know about and can join in the weekend. Jude is conscious that people may not wish to have their e-mail addresses shared, as am I, so I am sending this direct to you. But it would be great if you can send your contact details to Jude at jude.munro123@gmail.com. I hope to see you there – it could be a great reunion. Can you please forward this on to others who may be interested or who might know people who they can forward it to.   Weekend Events Book Launch of The Making of the Victorian Pride Centre (invite only) – Friday 2 December, 6pm until 8pm Book written by Dr Judith Buckrich and commissioned by The Pride Fund, accompanied by the launch of a new exhibition (with drinks and nibbles). Please RSVP by Monday 28 November. Register here for the book launch.   ‘Coming Out! Celebrating 50 Years of Gay Liberation’: Then & Now Symposium – Saturday 3 December, 10am to 5.30pm A day of guest speakers, panel discussions, screenings and re-connection to acknowledge 50 years since the beginnings of Gay Liberation in Melbourne – hear from those on the streets in 1972 through to today’s generation on activism and the impact of Gay Lib now. Presented by the Australian Queer Archives, with Gay Lib members and current LGBTIQ+ activists (followed by social drinks). Free but you need to register. Register here for the symposium. (https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=978620&).   ‘Sunday Sizzle’ social event – Sunday 4 December, 1pm to 6pm Festivities with music from the early days of Gay Liberation, a fundraising BBQ, and Gay Stuff Markets. Also including a Rainbow Flag raising ceremony at 1.30pm for activists to come together. (Bookings not required). If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Pride Centre's Communications Coordinator, Max Hayward, via the email at comms@pridecentre.org.au   78er Sue Jackson 78er badges are $5 each and postage is $3.09 (total $8.09). Postage is still $3.09 for up to five badges. To order badges, email your name, postal address and the number of badges required to info@78ers.org.au. Then make your payment by funds transfer. Use your name as the deposit reference. You can also post a cheque. CAMP badges are $3.50 each plus $3.00 packaging and postage. To order, contact Robyn Kennedy at rk.am@bigpond.com. Please include your name, address and number of badges requested. Banking details for direct deposit will be provided.   Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Members The Coming Back Out Salon is a spectacular social event celebrating LGBTIQ+ elders and for the first time, it’s coming to Sydney on 18 February 2023 in time for WorldPride! The Coming Back Out Salon is an afternoon of cultural significance in which the whole LGBTIQ+ community and allies can gather alongside LGBTIQ+ older people to eat, drink, dance, reminisce and dream together into the future. Start Sydney WorldPride by celebrating our older people in a truly inclusive way. An incredible line-up including The Sydney Youth Orchestra, Robyn Archer, Deborah Cheetham, Paul Capsis, Nana Miss Koorie, Tina Del Twist, Nefertiti LaNegra with more to be announced. Tickets: $40 + bf   When: Saturday, 18 February 2023   Where: Sydney Town Hall Dress Code: Fabulous!   Purchase tickets here: Buy The Coming Back Out Salon tickets, NSW 2023 | Moshtix The Coming Back Out Salon is produced and presented by All The Queens Men for Sydney WorldPride in association with ACON and the Love Project. Supported by Australia Council for the Arts, Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government Initiative, Create NSW and City of Sydney. Calendar of Events   Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay – 25-27 November 2022, http://www.haymardigras.com.au/ SGLMG Annual General Meeting – 9am, Saturday 26 November 2022, in-person and online First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Sunday 27 November 2022, by Zoom Coming Out! Celebrating 50 Years of Gay Liberation – a weekend of remembrance, togetherness and celebration of our diverse communities, 2-4 December, Victorian Pride Centre, comms@pridecentre.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. Christmas at Kinselas – 3pm, Sunday 11 December 2022, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. 78ers 45th Anniversary Cocktail Party – 6.30-9.30pm, Thursday 23 February 2023 Sapphire Coast Pride, Bega Valley, www.Facebook.com/groups/sapphirecoastpride For other events, please check: https://australianpridenetwork.com.au/lgbtiq-festivals/new-south-wales/. And remember to check links closer to the advertised dates for confirmation of events.

The Guardian: ‘Men were scattering everywhere’ - inquiry hears of string of violent incidents at Sydney gay beats

Newsletter - October 2022

View this email in your browser October 2022 In this October edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Information on First Mardi Gras Inc. 78ers 45th Anniversary Cocktail Party – 6.30pm, Thursday 23 February 2023 Ken Davis and Diane Minnis on the First Mardi Gras Inc. AGM and Annual Report Karl Zlotkowski on 2023 – Back onto the Streets! Rebbell Barnes on Next Social Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 6 November 2022 Bill Ashton on Christmas at Kinselas – 3pm, Sunday 11 December 2022 Sue Fletcher on Coastal Twist Festival Diane Minnis on Formation of Oceania Pride Organisers Inc. Robyn Kennedy and Robyn Plaister on the Launch of CAMP: Australia’s Pioneer Homosexual Rights Activists Information on the Antenna Documentary Film Festival Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton on How to get your 78ers and CAMP badges Calendar of Events. The next Social Lunch is at 12pm, Sunday 6 November, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris Street Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au and the next First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting is at 4pm, Sunday 27 November 2022, by Zoom.    Diane Minnis An enthusiastic group of members attended the First Mardi Gras Inc. Annual General Meeting, held by Zoom on Saturday 15 October 2022. It was great to have a number of members from outside Sydney taking part again this year. The following Management Committee members were elected at the AGM: Co-Chairs: Diane Minnis and Ken Davis Secretary: Karl Zlotkowski, Treasurer: Richard Thode Committee Members: Robyn Kennedy, Rebbell Barnes, Sue Fletcher and David Abello. Thank you to outgoing Committee members Maree Marsh and Bill Ashton for their contributions. And welcome to new members Sue Fletcher and David Abello.   Diane Minnis and Ken Davis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chairs In the Co-Chairs report, we noted that our social activities were still constrained by Covid through the first half of the financial year.  78ers were able to be a real presence at the 45th Mardi Gras parade, held again in the Sydney Cricket Ground. We held two Salon78 Forums this year on Zoom: Gay Lib Comes Out 1972! Celebrating Rainbow History. We rallied and campaigned against anti-LGBTIQ Bills at a number of in-person and online events. 78ers also took part in the human Progress Flag to launch Sydney WorldPride 2023. Thanks to the photographers who allowed us to use their work. Download the 2022 Annual Report.   Next year’s parade will be back on Oxford Street, and it promises to the biggest celebration for many years. Next year is our 45th anniversary, and we intend to pull out all the stops. The SGLMG 78ers Committee continues to fine-tune arrangements with the Mardi Gras Parade team, always with the aim of ensuring the unique needs of 78ers are met, particularly in terms of accessibility. Next year we hope to see many 78ers who haven’t marched with us for some years, and we intend to make things as easy as we can. Our group will start from Liverpool Street, as we did in 2020. Access arrangements for the marshalling area will be similar to those at the SCG in 2021 and 2022 – we will be ticketed, and there will be priority entry. A dedicated accessible drop-off point will be located on Park Street, with level access across the park to our assembly point on Whitlam Square. The Dykes on Bikes will lead off at 7:15 and we will follow the First Nations group, carrying a new 45th Anniversary banner. The bus will be back for those who want to ride, and those of us on foot will have a forest of placards and flags to wave. Most of our old favourite signs will come out of storage and new signs will continue the theme of 50 Years of Visibility - this year celebrating events in 1973. For added bling, Mardi Gras has agreed to supply us all with sequined hats in a fetching shade of Mardi Gras Pink to match our t-shirts. And there will be a blast of popular music from 1973 when we reach Taylor Square – some of you may want to dance. Suzie Quatro has been mentioned… An email will go out in early December inviting 78ers to register for the parade and (for those still interested in such things) to apply for Party tickets from our allocation, which will be balloted in January. And there’s more: the 78ers will also be crossing the Harbour Bridge as a group behind our 45th Anniversary banner as part of the WorldPride 2023 celebrations. And we will be hosting our own cocktail party on 23 February, at which we will launch our new booklet of reminiscences: Voices from 1978. Watch this newsletter for details.   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Secretary Even with some of our regulars away, a dozen 78ers and partners had a great catch-up at our Social Lunch on Sunday 2 October at Pyrmont’s Terminus Hotel (61 Harris Street). We now meet in a private and airy room, off the courtyard. Our last Social Lunch for 2022 will be on Sunday 6 November, from 12pm. On 11 December we will have Christmas at Kinselas and our first Social Lunch in 2023 will be on Sunday 5 February. Please RSVP through info@78ers.org.au.   Rebbell Barnes 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member We were so impressed with the support we got from Kinselas for our Mardi Gras 44th Anniversary Drinks that we are going back for a Christmas event on Sunday 11 December. This time we will gather from 3pm on the ground floor and wheelchair accessible art deco Chapel Bar. Kinselas is at 383 Bourke St Darlinghurst, right on Taylor Square and close to bus stops. Kinselas will again play background music from the 1970s and 80s for our event. Canapes will be served mid-afternoon, and you can buy drinks at reasonable prices. You can also buy tickets in a raffle that will be drawn on the day and we now have a payment square to make this easier. Let us know if you can attend Christmas at Kinselas, from 3pm on Sunday 11 December 2022 by emailing info@78ers.org.au.   Bill Ashton 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member On hold for two years and billed as a celebration of difference, diversity and dazzle, Coastal Twist LGBTIQA arts and culture festival delivered a week-long Festival on the Central Coast, NSW. Seven days and nights, from 27 September to 3 October of queer activities in Umina Beach, Woy Woy and Ettalong Beach were a delight. Locals and visitors were able to enjoy a festival program that had community and arts at its heart, from beach-volleyball to doggy parades at the Coastal Carnie Day, visual and performing arts and so much more. This year Coastal Twist Festival highlights included: The Love Cabaret The Futurismo Surrealist Dance Party The Rainbow Youth Teens Dance Party Beach Party Picnic: Life’s A Beach Coastie Carnie Fair Day. It was joyful to see the growth in the number of local businesses from Wyong to Terrigal and Woy Woy to Long Jetty, participating through their Be the Change window displays. This innovation increased our queer visibility and gave shop-keepers an opportunity to demonstrate their support for the LGBTIQ community. On the final day more than 9,000 people attended Coastal Carnie at Umina Beach and we were lucky the rain stayed away! Performers strutted their stuff, vocalists sang loud and proud and visual artists exhibited (I hear there were a few red dots on opening night). Local artisans had markets in the retail space, dancing on the grass, drag story time in the family space was a hit and community groups were highly visible. I was lucky to catch up with friends and colleagues I hadn’t seen in many years and I hear I wasn’t the only one. Well done Coastal Twist and thanks to all the volunteers and supporters. If you weren’t there, consider Coastal Twist for your calendar next year.   Sue Fletcher 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member Oceania Pride is an informal gathering of Pride organisers that has been meeting for two years. Some prides, but not all, are members of InterPride and organisations from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific have attended meetings. Oceania Pride meetings have updates on InterPride and presentations by member organisations. This year we had talks by Brisbane Pride, Sydney Queer Irish, on anti-LGBTIQ legislation in Australia and on the InterPride Strategic Plan. We have also had regular updates from Sydney WorldPride on events they are planning for WorldPride 2023. Under InterPride’s new Strategic Plan, Regional Pride Platforms will become the members of InterPride in place of individual organisations in those regions. Given these upcoming changes, financial members of InterPride in the region met in June to start the process of incorporating as a Pride Organisers Platform. A Constitution Working Group was formed, and Oceania Pride Organisers Inc. was registered on 26 September 2022. We will shortly be having a meeting of financial members of InterPride to start the process of inviting Pride organisers from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific to join the new Regional Pride Platform – Oceania Pride Organisers Inc.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair The events of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade on June 24, 1978, are now recognised as an important milestone in the history of the Pride movement in Australia. But there has been much less focus on the years leading up to 1978. A new book, CAMP: Australia’s pioneer homosexual rights activists, by 78ers Robyn Kennedy and Robyn Plaister, commemorates the achievements of the first national gay and lesbian rights organisation, known as CAMP (Campaign Against Moral Persecution).  CAMP was founded in 1970 when sex between consenting male adults was illegal throughout Australia, carrying penalties of imprisonment for up to 14 years (with or without whipping). Lesbians were largely invisible, and their existence treated as an aberration and abhorrence. There was no anti-discrimination legislation, and psychosurgery aimed at ‘curing’ lesbians and gay men, was common practice. The prevailing attitudes of the time portrayed homosexual women and men as perverts, mentally ill and sinners. Unsurprisingly, prior to 1970, lesbians and gay men were reluctant to publicly come out; until then, there was no community where they could live openly and find support.   CAMP’s Role in Driving Social Change Following its establishment in Sydney, CAMP flourished, quickly spreading to other states and university campuses. CAMP was a literal lifesaver, with many of those featured in the book acknowledging that without CAMP, they may never have found a way to live comfortably as themselves. This new book provides an insight into the role of CAMP in driving social change through the lived experiences of individuals who each played a role in achieving the rights we enjoy today. These first-person stories are accompanied by specially commissioned portrait photographs, along with rare archival images. The book also includes the most comprehensive narrative of each branch of CAMP ever compiled, providing an important historical record of the origins of the Pride movement in Australia.   The Launch of the Book The launch of the book was held at the Dixson Room in NSW State Library, Sydney on Thursday 29 September. Ninety people including sponsors ACON, Mardi Gras and Sydney World Pride, some of the interviewees, photographers, editor, layout people and friends were represented. Robyn Kennedy and Robyn Plaister shared the podium to talk about the importance of developing a book like this from a participant’s view rather than an observer’s perspective on history. They also emphasised the importance of telling women’s stories which are often neglected in accounts of our history. This concern about the equal inclusion of women’s stories was reiterated in the talks given by all three sponsors. Interviewees were thanked for their participation especially those that had come from interstate for the launch. Many books were sold and signed by the authors and the audience had time to catch up with people they hadn’t seen for ages and discuss the early 70’s over wine and sandwiches.   How to order CAMP Australia’s Pioneer Homosexual Rights Activists Book The book is available in hardback (288 pages) from September 29, 2022, at $49.95 per copy. For orders contact pridepublish@gmail.com.   Robyn Kennedy and Robyn Plaister    78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member and Member Documentaries premiering at this year's festival (https://antennafestival.org/) which may be of interest to 78ers include: Senses of Cinema (stories of the Sydney Filmmakers Co-op) – 23 October Juanita Nielsen Now – 21 October and 5 November Nelly & Nadine – 22 October. 78er badges are $5 each and postage is $3.09 (total $8.09). Postage is still $3.09 for up to five badges. To order badges, email your name, postal address and the number of badges required to info@78ers.org.au. Then make your payment by funds transfer. You can also post a cheque. CAMP badges are $3.50 each plus $3.00 packaging and postage. To order, contact Robyn Kennedy. Please include your name, address and number of badges requested.   Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Members Calendar of Events Newcastle and Hunter Pride Festival – 7 October to 6 November 2022, Fair Day Saturday 5 November, Gregson Park, Home - Newcastle Pride Antenna Documentary Film Festival – 14-23 October 2022 Home - Antenna Festival ACON’s Parramatta Pride Picnic – 10:30am-7pm Saturday 22 October 2022, River Foreshore Reserve, Parramatta, Parramatta Pride Picnic | Facebook Tamworth Pride Fair Day – 9am-2pm, Saturday 29 October 2022, Bicentennial Park, entry via Kable Avenue Tamworth Pride After Party – 7pm-late, Saturday 29 October 2022, Wests Diggers Club Shepparton Out in the Open Festival – 31 October to 13 November 2022 http://outintheopen.org.au/ First Mardi Gras Inc. Social Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 6 November (first Sunday of each month) Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris Street Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay – 25-27 November 2022, http://www.haymardigras.com.au/ SGLMG. Annual General Meeting – 9am, Saturday 26 November 2022, in-person and online First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Sunday 27 November 2022, by Zoom First Mardi Gras Inc. Christmas at Kinselas – 3pm, Sunday 11 December 2022, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. 78ers 45th Anniversary Cocktail Party – 6.30-9.30pm, Thursday 23 February 2023 Sapphire Coast Pride, Bega Valley, www.Facebook.com/groups/sapphirecoastpride For other events, please check: https://australianpridenetwork.com.au/lgbtiq-festivals/new-south-wales/. And remember to check links closer to the advertised dates for confirmation of events.

Annual Report 2021/2022

The First Mardi Gras Inc. Annual Report for FY 2022 has been released ahead of the upcoming Annual General Meeting. Download and view the report by clicking here.

Newsletter - September 2022

View this email in your browser September 2022 In this September edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Robyn Kennedy on EuroPride 2022 in Belgrade Ken Davis on Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is about social and cultural capital, not capital Helen Gollan on the Broken Heel Festival Bob Harvey on Tamworth Pride Fair Day and After Party – Saturday 29 October Toby Zoates’ review of Sydney Contemporary Art Fair 2022 Robert French with 40 Years On: Gay Rights Lobby Homosexuality: Myths & Realities Robyn Plaister and Diane Minnis with a Tribute to Sue Wills How to get your copy of CAMP: Australia’s Pioneer Homosexual Rights Activists Information on ACON’s LOVE Social Celebration – Tuesday 18 October Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton on How to get your 78ers and CAMP badges Calendar of Events. The First Mardi Gras Inc. Annual General Meeting is at 4pm, Saturday 15 October 2022, by Zoom. And our next Social Lunch is at 12pm, Sunday 2 October, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris Street Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au.   Diane Minnis The European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA), which licenses EuroPride to a different city each year, has hailed Belgrade EuroPride’s success and described it as the most important in the event’s 30 year history. EuroPride Belgrade – hosted by Belgrade Pride – ran from Monday 12 September when the rainbow flag was raised at the Palace of Serbia. More than 120 events took place throughout the week, culminating in the EuroPride March on Saturday 17 September followed by a closing concert. An estimated 7,000 people took part in the EuroPride March. Representatives of more than 50 Pride organisations were represented in the EuroPride March, including leaders of InterPride. The last three weeks have been tumultuous. In late August, Serbia’s President Vučić said that EuroPride was ‘cancelled’. Belgrade Pride and EPOA immediately challenged this, and confirmed it was not cancelled and all events were going ahead. Protests led by the Orthodox church and nationalist groups took place in Belgrade after Vučić’s statement. Then during EuroPride week, police officially banned the route of the march, but not the march itself. A new route could not be applied for because of a time limit. But then, on the day of the EuroPride March, lesbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said she was personally authorising the March and that she could “guarantee the safety of everyone on the streets of Belgrade today”. More than 7,000 police in full riot gear were on the streets with riots taking over much of the city as the March took place peacefully. Sadly, Brnabić’s promise of safety could not be upheld. Several activists were attacked as they left the closing concert, despite a heavy police presence. One participant was attacked at an LGBTI+ venue, and investigations are ongoing. Police report more than 60 arrests related to protests. Kristine Garina, President of the Association, said: “EuroPride in Belgrade will go down in history as a turning point for LGBTI+ equality in Serbia and the wider Western Balkans region. We showed that Pride is not a threat to anyone, and whilst we marched peacefully, it was the far right, nationalists and fundamentalist Christians who battled police. “I congratulate Belgrade Pride and everyone who participated on an outstanding event.” I reflected as I left Belgrade to return to Sydney after an eventful week at EuroPride. I am proud to have walked in the march and proud of the great job done by Belgrade Pride and EPOA against formidable obstacles. Next year Malta will host EuroPride.   Robyn Kennedy 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member The rejection by SGLMG (again) of the NSW Teacher’s Federation in the 2023 parade shows deep rewriting of our history. Social capital is what brings us together as communities, as a society, outside the realms of government, the market and profits. It is about voluntary relationships, engagement and contributions. It may be as simple as random individual acts of kindness, rapport or solidarity, but it can be measured in participation in sports, religious, emergency, service, political, hobby, arts, environmental, disability, health, education, charity, advocacy and other community associations. Mardi Gras exists only because of the volunteer contributions from our communities over 45 years. In recent years the Mardi Gras parades have rewarded big business sponsors with a large presence of advertising floats in the parade, usually with staff who are unpaid, and often not queer. I am not saying SGLMG or Sydney World Pride should not have commercial sponsors, but to be more careful about which governments and companies they associate with, and to let the companies claim rewards for their contributions other than by having advertising in the parade itself. Because there seems to be a minimal ethical scan of the big businesses in the parade in sectors such as finance, communications, transport, and gambling; having a drag queen and a rainbow motif in the parade is a bit like putting lipstick on a pig. In terms of royal commissions, or public inquiries, or mainstream news, you do not have to look far to see some major ethical problems or scandals with some of the big businesses that have been flaunting themselves in the parade recently, at the direct expense of community and civil society groups, both LGBTIQ+ and important historical allies. Paying a consultant to run diversity training for managers does not make up for unethical (and sometimes criminal) conduct towards consumers, staff, shareholders, health, the environment, indigenous peoples, and peoples facing repression overseas. An example from the USA about Amazon is pertinent. The (American gay and lesbian) Human Rights Campaign gave a top rating to Amazon, at a time when they had a history of donating to right-wing Republicans, and doing everything to defeat unionising efforts. Whatever your gender or sexuality, working hard 12-hour shifts with low pay and without job security and not being able to go to the toilet shows the sort of employer Amazon is. However, they had made a big donation to HRC. It is fashionable now in the gay and lesbian elite circles to attribute all gains in LGBTIQ rights to big business, ignoring our own advocacy and mass action, and the role of other forces, in the women’s movement and in the trade unions. It was not Big Pharma that got HIV or Hep C treatment to millions across the world; it was global campaigns by our communities, religious organisations, and trade unions.   Ken Davis, 78er This is my personal opinion and not that of First Mardi Gras Inc. 78ers were warmly welcomed by the Palace Hotel and by the committee at the Broken Heel Festival held in Broken Hill from 8-12 September 2022. I was interviewed by community radio station 2DRY FM who broadcast from the Main Drag in Drag street parade and over the three days of the festival. Joy 94.9 rainbow media broadcast the parade nationally on the Community Radio Network. My ute was there in all her glory for the march, with the 78ers banner across the tray and two kind people carried our new corflute placard out the front. My friend Gayle Mortimer very kindly drove the old girl for me. I was on the back of the ute and was proud to wear our wonderful 78ers t-shirt. The crowd responded extremely well to us. I was chatting to the kids who were there about the unjust laws or lack of them before 1978 and of people going out fighting for changes and peace and harmony. Also, people recognised all 78ers the entire weekend for what every one of you have done. All the events of course were full of music and so much diversity, colour and fun. The best part was meeting so many different people including others who were involed in the events of 1978. All the hugs and handshakes that I received I pass on to all of you. The 78ers banner will be at: Newcastle Pride Fair Day – 5 November (Festival 7 October to 6 November) Tamworth Pride Fair Day – 29 October Rainbow on the Plains, Hay – 25-27 November (where 78ers will march) Shepparton Out in the Open Festival – 31 October to 13 November.  Helen Gollan, Butch now and forever 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member Tamworth Pride Inc. will be holding Pride Fair Day at Bicentennial Park (entry via Kable Avenue) from 9am to 2pm and an After Party at Wests Diggers Club on 29 October, 2022. Our inaugural Tamworth Pride Fair Day was on October 6, 2019 and there have been no events for the past two years due to COVID. There will be numerous stalls for community organisations, including our sponsor ACON. The Tamworth Family Support organisation will be there as will Rosalie House which provides assistance and counselling for alcohol abuse and domestic violence. Fair Day will have wonderful performers from the Tamworth Country Music Festival including: Matt Barratt (People’s Choice for the Buskers Finals 2022), Loren Ryan (Grand Finalist, Toyota Star Maker) and Evelyn Banoffee, a transwoman and busker. Missy Sparkles will be hosting her Puppy Dog Show and Dianne Harris, our Tamworth Pride Inc. President and a proud transwoman, will present the Tamworth Pride Trophy. Fair Day will wind up about 2pm and the After Party starts at 7pm. The theme is Technicolor Dreams and we encourage all to dress up and 78ers attending should wear their 78ers t-shirt. The ticket price is $25 from https://bit.ly/tcdreams. Finally, I would like to encourage 78ers to attend and get ready for a wild night of entertainment, music and groove to the beat! I can offer free accommodation and can also refer you to paid accommodation. Please contact me at bobharvey69@icloud.com.   Bob Harvey 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member The Sydney Contemporary Art Fair 2022 at Carriageworks was a labyrinth of commercial stands with dealers, patrons and rubber-neckers rushing to and fro like a disturbed ant's nest. The emphasis was on making money at all costs as the stands cost a fortune to rent, and all concerned needed to make a living, especially the artists who, in the main, live pauper’s lives. Ninety percent of successful artists come from wealthy families, the rest live in hope and on the smell of an oil paint rag. The products on offer were the usual melange of IKEA inoffensive furniture, i.e. vases of flowers, landscapes and cows under gum trees; abstract expressions i.e. meaningless smears, swirls and blotches of colour; outlandish sculptures; distorted portraits; and last, and the least, artful political statements. My favourite stands were: 1) Northern Territory Koori Traditional 2) Indigenous artist Vincent Namatijira’s satires of the Royal Family touring Australia and his version of "Desert Painting." 3) Damien Minton's stand: TENSE - Political Posters Past/Present where artworks of intersectional concerns were available in classic poster form, including a few of my own creations. The subjects communicated in these posters varied from Queer Marriage Equality to Unionism, Fossil Fuels Critique to Environmental Protection, Women's Rights to Prison Reform, No Deaths in Custody, to No Cuts to Universities etc. I was honoured with a commission to do the backdrop wallpaper for this stand promoting many of these issues, when blown up to double door size it was eye catching and attracted many interested punters. The brilliance of the poster art and its important, urgent social/environmental message was much appreciated and this sharp political presence was a rare but outstanding, and much welcome, phenomenon in this crowded "art for art’s sake" maelstrom. I believe it is the artist’s honourable commitment to depict the precarious human condition in this troubled world of war, climate chaos, political fascism and environmental exploitation. Art is an important means of communication, informing the onlooker as to what is affecting his/her/their life, to the benefit and to the detriment. These posters are mind-blowing, heart-warming, guts stirring. "Knowledge makes a person unfit to be a slave".   Toby Zoates 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member On 10 August 1982, representatives of the Homosexual Law Reform Coalition (HLRC) met for a first formal meeting with Carmel Niland, the head of the Anti-Discrimination Board (ADB). It was to express our support for the Board and its Report on Discrimination and Homosexuality, and to discuss proposed gay community tactics to pressure the parliamentarians to implement the Report. To aid the lobbying process, HLRC assembled a Resource Kit comprising, among other pieces of information, the Gay Rights Lobby (GRL) booklet Homosexuality: Myths & Realities, which had been launched by Don Dunstan in June; a précis of the ADB’s Recommendations, compiled by the Collective of Gay Information magazine; and our own Draft Bill to amend the act. The kit was then distributed to all members of Parliament, to the media, and to the community. In addition to direct lobbying, HLRC also held a rally at Town Hall Square on 26 August. Then, a second rally, and a march to Parliament House, was held on 9 September. On 12 August, the Newcastle Trades Hall Council had voted full support for the Recommendations. The NSW Labour Council had already voted in favour of anti-discrimination protections, and the decriminalisation of gay male sexual behaviour, back on 16 October 1980, on a motion of Council President, Barrie Unsworth, at the request of Craig Johnston and Lex Watson, acting on behalf of their Sydney University academic union. It was on that night that the two of them formed GRL. As yet, I believe, not enough attention has been given to the important work of members the NSW Gay Trade Unions Group, in achieving the above motions. It had formed after the 4th National Homosexual Conference in Sydney in August 1978, with its theme Homosexuals at Work. At the same conference the, now named, Australian Queer Archives was established. The work of activists – like Diane Minnis and John Witte, the Group’s Chair and Secretary, of Stephen Auburn, of Ed Ashmore in the Teacher’s Federation (the first Union to come out in support of gays and lesbians, teachers and students, and to appoint an openly gay official, Bill Leslie), and of many, many others, who become active in their individual trades unions – was crucial. Their success, in having so many unions pass anti-discrimination and homosexual decriminalisation motions, lay behind the support for the various Labour Council motions. Also important was the work of the ALP Gay Group, founded by Max Pearce in 1980 with support from Craig Johnston and others (most of who were active also in GRL). It wrote to all ALP Branches in NSW calling for support, which many of the Branches gave by passing formal motions, thus gaining us wide rank and file Party support. Then, finally, on 20 October, the ALP Parliamentary Caucus formally agreed to fully implement the Recommendations of the ADB Report to include the addition of homosexuality as a category of protection, along with that of physical disability that had been omitted in the original Act. Also, it was proposed that the Equal Opportunity Tribunal would now come under the auspices of the ADB. Premier Wran had won the argument over the opposition of some conservative members of the caucus and of the devoutly Catholic Gerry Gleeson, the head of the Premier’s Department. I have no doubt that lesbian and gay lobbying, in unions and in the ALP, assisted in this. Of course, a question still remained, would the Liberal/National Party opposition support an amendment, and would it be successful in both houses of the Parliament?   Robert French 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member Dr Sue Wills passed away peacefully at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse on 26th August 2022 aged 78. Sue was being treated for pneumonia and lung cancer, which she had battled for several years. Sue was a true pioneer of the Pride and women’s liberation movements. She was the foundation Co-President of the Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP), an archivist and historian. She spent her life in service to a vision of social equality. Sue recounted her involvement in CAMP in a new book CAMP: Australia’s Pioneer Homosexual Rights Activists by Robyn Kennedy and Robyn Plaister, being launched in late September. Sue became involved in CAMP in the early 1970s when CAMP was moving to be more inclusive of women. Sue was elected as a Co-President along with the late Lex Watson, who she worked with in the Department of Government, University of Sydney as a tutor. Sue Wills and Lex Watson became the public face of CAMP, speaking to press, appearing on television and radio, and speaking to groups wherever they were invited. This role was pivotal in creating visibility and acceptance of homosexuality at a time when few men or women could come out or be politically active due to systemic discrimination.  During this period, the Pride movement’s goals went well beyond law reform, into broad social and political change. Sue was one of the first to draw attention to, and campaign against, the abuse of lesbians and gay men by the psychiatric profession, including its use of aggressive aversion therapy techniques. These issues still resonate today. Sue’s appearance with her then-partner Gabrielle Antolovich on the ABC TV Chequerboard program is often overshadowed by the on-air kiss between Peter de Waal and Peter Bonsall-Boone in the program. But Sue and Gabrielle spoke eloquently to large audiences about lesbianism and their lives, shaping early attitudes and inspiring many lesbians. In 1974, Sue, Lex and Gabrielle resigned their positions in CAMP citing sexism and a shift in the group towards welfarism rather than political engagement. Sue had been among those who struggled against sexism in the organisation and the Pride movement, as described in her article The CWA – The other one, a history of the CAMP Women’s Association. After CAMP, Sue turned her attention to the women’s movement and remained active for the rest of her life. Sue completed her doctorate thesis: The Politics of Women’s Liberation in 1981. She held the position of Equal Opportunity Officer at Macquarie University from 1984 and pursued research on sexual violence. Sue, among other activists, was featured in the 2005 film, The Hidden History of Homosexual Australia. In 2009, she was a panellist at the 40th Anniversary of CAMP conference, and in 2010 was honoured by ACON as a Community Hero in their annual Honour Awards. Over the last two decades Sue devoted herself to gathering documents, interviewing, and accessing archives to write The First Ten Years of Sydney Women’s Liberation, a project she commenced with Joyce Stevens AO, who passed away in 2014. Sue was happy to share her experiences with interviewers over the years and spoke at Pride History Group forums in the 2000s. In her last speaking engagement in February 2020, Sue spoke at A Lavender Menace? Australia’s Early Lesbian Movement, a forum by First Mardi Inc. and the Pride History Group. Sue was obviously ailing but the 80-strong audience, mainly women, hung on her every word. Sue was also a 78er – involved in the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and Drop the Charges campaign in June-August 1978. Due to her health, Sue declined to be interviewed for the ABC TV coverage of the 2022 Parade where 78ers carried signs commemorating 50 years since Sue and Lex became CAMP Co-Presidents and the Chequerboard program. But Sue was well enough to come to her door, masked, to have a chat and accept delivery of a 78ers t-shirt to wear while she watched the TV coverage. Sue was extremely generous with her time to advance the cause of homosexual rights and women’s liberation. She was an incredibly dedicated activist, and her friendship and support will be very much missed.   Robyn Plaister and Diane Minnis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member and Co-Chair I feel honoured to have been asked to speak about Sue’s involvement in the Homosexual Movement. I first got to know Sue when I joined CAMP NSW in 1972. Sue and her then partner Gabrielle Antolovich had taken the enormous step in those days of going on television and speaking about homosexuality. Sue and Gaby were interviewed on Chequerboard in 1972, an ABC program that discussed current affairs. Both Sue and Gaby lamented that reflective of the times the program was more interested in filming the two men, Peter Bonsall-Boone and Peter De Waal and the first male to male kiss on TV. Sue insisted that the program had to have equal female content. It was very significant for me as at that time, although I was living in a lesbian relationship, we did not know any other lesbians. I saw that program and decided to join CAMP. Sue was instrumental in my and other women joining CAMP. I am glad that I had told her how important that program was and her bravery in going on it. Sue was involved in CAMP Inc. NSW between 1972 and 1974. She was a PhD student/tutor in the Department of Government at University of Sydney in 1971 and two of her (more senior and secure) colleagues were Dennis Altman who wrote the book Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation in 1971, and Lex Watson. Lex had been her tutor in first year Government and was now senior tutor in charge of first year tutorials and tutors. Dennis, who taught American Politics, was friends with her PhD supervisor Professor Henry Mayer. As Sue has told me: CAMP started at the end of 1970 and by the end of 1971, CAMP Inc. was in the middle of a dispute between the men in the organisation. John Ware was one of the founders and actively involved. Chris Poll, the other co-founder was very little involved by the end of 1971. A group of younger men, who formed a Gay Liberation group operating under the CAMP Inc. umbrella, were challenging John Ware. Lex Watson was heading a group on law reform. A women’s group (headed by Margaret Jones) had become so disaffected by the sexist/chauvinist behaviour of Michael Cass, John Ware’s partner that the group had decided to leave CAMP Inc. and try to form a branch of the Victorian Australasian Lesbian Movement, which modelled itself on the US Daughters of Bilitis. Lex and Dennis approached Sue because CAMP Inc. was about to get a Constitution which required male and female co-presidents and they asked if Sue would address this breakaway women’s group to persuade them to come back to CAMP. The women did return to CAMP and Sue was made Co-President along with Lex Watson. Sue tells of her ongoing friendship with Margaret Jones but that Margaret never let Sue forget that Sue had stolen her women!! As Co-Presidents, Sue and Lex Watson became the public faces for CAMP speaking to the press, appearing on television and radio and speaking to groups whenever they were invited.  Sue also offered her speaking services to Gay Lib when they wanted to have a female speaker to accompany them as very few women were able to come out in public due to discrimination, harassment or fear of losing their job. Sue said some of her strongest memories centred on how much fun they had while they engaged in various activities.  She said it was enjoyable to test your skills at handling hecklers at public meetings. Sue also researched and wrote many articles for CAMP Ink, the newsletter which covered topics on homosexuality and religion, law and psychiatry. Sue was very interested in what was happening in Psychiatry where homosexuality was at that time listed as a Deviance and conversion therapy was occurring for homosexuals at the now infamous Chelmsford Hospital that conducted shock therapy and a form of lobotomy on homosexuals. Sue wanted to expose this treatment and educate psychiatrists. The longest article, she wrote was “Intellectual Poofter Bashers” which was based on a long interview with Associate Professor, Neil McConaghy from UNSW who “offered” aversion therapy to male homosexuals. Sue and John Ware set up another group in CAMP, the Homosexual Guidance Service, to offer advice and referrals for women and men who wanted help to deal with their feelings and those of others toward their homosexuality. They found out that ‘help lines’ such as Life Line telephone help was not only of little help but had telephone counsellors in need of training. Sue attempted to bridge the gap between CAMP and Women’s Liberation as she was involved in women’s liberation as well.   She invited women’s liberationists to come to CAMP women’s group meetings and encouraged CAMP women to become involved in women’s liberation groups. As Sue states: This was at a time when Women’s Liberation, the western world over, was hostile to the public presence of lesbians in the movement. The gradual dominance of CAMP by Phone-a-Friend led to the resignation of Sue and Lex and Gaby from their positions in CAMP. Sue said that in her view CAMP had changed from a political organisation – primarily fighting for change (in law, church, medicine and psychiatry); to an organisation providing comfort as its main goal. Sue also cited sexism as a reason for leaving. When they realised that they could not take the membership with them in terms of politics, they left their positions. Sue talked about her coming out to her family and how they were supportive of her and how her mother adored Gaby and was helpful in trying to help Gaby’s mother adjust. Sue was diligent in her research and collection of materials for the First Ten Years Project and was very good in making sure that material was gathered to cover lesbian groups as well as women’s groups. She approached me to provide important documentation on the first Lesbian Mothers’ Group and also the Lesbian Teachers’ Group. Sue was featured in the 2005 film: The Hidden History of Homosexual Australia. In 2009, she was featured as a panellist at the 40th Anniversary celebrations for Australia’s gay pride and in 2010 was honoured by the AIDS Council of New South Wales (ACON) as a Community Hero in the annual Honour Awards. Robyn Kennedy and myself interviewed Sue for our book about to be launched called CAMP: Australian Pioneer Homosexual Activists and Sue’s is the first story in the book. Both of us regret that we were unable to place it in Sue’s hands before she died. She took a keen interest in our project saying it was a history that needed to be told. She was always helpful to me in suggesting publishers and general advice about the book as we were developing it. Sue was very generous with her time. I also used to see Sue when she came to swim at Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre or in our local shops. Sue was always ready to engage in a lengthy erudite conversation from a political perspective. She will be sorely missed by the 78ers and women from the Women’s Movement. Hers was a life well spent in attempting to right the wrongs of society and I will miss her informative conversations. ACON’s ageing initiative, the LOVE Project, invites you to the inaugural LOVE Social Celebration. Hosted by Verushka Darling, you will enjoy a three-course meal with beer and wines and entertainment. When: 6.30-10.30pm Tuesday 18 October 2022, Upstairs Beresford, 354 Bourke Street, Surry Hills. Theme: Colour My World. Dress: Fabulous with a dash of colour. Tickets: $40pp, Russ Gluyas 9206 2017  https://www.loveproject.org.au/love_social_celebration The LOVE Social Celebration is proudly supported by Dowson Turco Lawyers, City of Sydney and Seniors Rights Service. 78er badges are $5 each and postage is $3.09 (total $8.09). Postage is still $3.09 for up to five badges. To order badges, email your name, postal address and the number of badges required to info@78ers.org.au. Then make your payment by funds transfer. You can also post a cheque. CAMP badges are $3.50 each plus $3.00 packaging and postage. To order, contact Robyn Kennedy. Please include your name, address and number of badges requested. Banking details for direct deposit will be provided.   Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Members Calendar of Events Coastal Twist Arts and Cultural Festival – 27 September to 3 October 2022 https://coastaltwist.org.au/whats-on/events/ First Mardi Gras Inc. Social Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 2 October (first Sunday of each month) Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris Street Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au Newcastle and Hunter Pride Festival – 7 October to 6 November 2022, see website for details Newcastle Pride Festival - Newcastle, NSW | HUNTERhunter First Mardi Gras Inc. Annual General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 15 October 2022, by Zoom ACON’s LOVE Social Celebration – 6.30-10.30pm, Tuesday 18 October 2022, Upstairs Beresford, 354 Bourke St, Surry Hills, tickets $40: https://www.loveproject.org.au/love_social_celebration Tamworth Pride Fair Day – 9am-2pm, Saturday 29 October 2022, Bicentennial Park, entry via Kable Avenue Tamworth Pride After Party – 7pm-late, Saturday 29 October 2022, Wests Diggers Club Shepparton Out in the Open Festival – 31 October to 13 November 2022 http://outintheopen.org.au/ Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay – 25-27 November 2022 http://www.haymardigras.com.au/ Sapphire Coast Pride, Bega Valley www.Facebook.com/groups/sapphirecoastpride For other events, please check: https://australianpridenetwork.com.au/lgbtiq-festivals/new-south-wales/. And remember to check links closer to the advertised dates for confirmation of events.

Star Observer: CAMP - Australia’s Pioneer Homosexual Rights Activists

Newsletter - August 2022

View this email in your browser August 2022 In this August edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: SGLMG 78ers Committee on Registering for the 2023 Mardi Gras Parade Robert French and Diane Minnis on Bus tour with Sydney Pride pioneers! Rebbell Barnes on 78ers 45th Anniversary Cocktail Party Robyn Kennedy on EuroPride 2022 in Belgrade – 12-18 September Krista Schade on Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay – 25-27 November Toby Zoates’ review of Sydney Buries Its Past at the Tin Sheds Diane Minnis on Printed protest: graphic activism from the Australian Queer Archives Diane Minnis’ review of Queer at the National Gallery of Victoria Robert French with 40 Years On: ADB Report on Discrimination and Homosexuality How to get your copy of CAMP Australia’s Pioneer Homosexual Rights Activists Information from NSW Health on Monkeypox Prevention and Treatment How to donate to Appeals for Northern Rivers and Ukraine Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton on Get your 78ers and CAMP badges Calendar of Events. The next First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting is at 4pm, Saturday 10 September 2022, by Zoom. And our next Social Lunch is at 12pm, Sunday 4 September, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris Street Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au.   Diane Minnis First Mardi Gras Inc. has entered an exciting new event in Sydney World Pride’s Pride Amplified program – a fringe festival with events for and by our community during the Sydney World Pride and Mardi Gras Festivals in February and March 2023. We are running bus tours of the route and key sites of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras! The bus tours will be on 23, 24, 27 and 28 February, with two tours a day from 10am-12pm and 1-3pm. Tours will start and finish at Taylor Square, Darlinghurst and will cost $20 or $10 concession. The title of the event is slanted towards overseas visitors to Sydney World Pride who may not know about the first Mardi Gras and its significance. But we expect the tour to have broad appeal to both visitors and locals. Here is some of our promo material. Join the 78ers, the activists who fought back against Police in 1978, for a unique bus adventure touring significant historical sites from the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. The tour will include commentary and talks outside the bus at key sites, following the route of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. You will hear from activists who took part in the parade on 24 June 1978, and the Drop the Charges protest campaign that followed.   Robert French and Diane Minnis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member and Co-Chair First Mardi Gras Inc. organised a very successful 40th Anniversary Cocktail Party in 2018. Many of you would have enjoyed it! Well, we are planning to do that again for the upcoming 45th Anniversary of the first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. While details have not yet been finalised, keep the evening of Thursday 23 February 2023 free! Looking at the Sydney World Pride (SWP) and Mardi Gras Festival Calendar below, Thursday 23 February is the day before the SWP Opening Concert and two days before the Mardi Gras Parade. So get yourself to Sydney in time for our fabulous 45th Anniversary Cocktail Party on Thursday 23 February 2023 and look out for information on how to get your tickets.   Rebbell Barnes 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member It’s time for EuroPride 2022 to take place and I will be there, representing InterPride. After years of fighting for the equality of the LGBTI+ community in the region, Belgrade will host EuroPride from 12-18 September, making it a milestone for the LGBTI+ community in the western Balkans. The capital of Serbia will be the first city in southeast Europe, and the first city outside the European Economic Area, to host a major event for the pan-European LGBTI+ community. Belgrade invites people to join EuroPride in September and show their solidarity with the long-lasting struggle of the LGBTI+ community in the Balkans. If you're coming you need to register here (using password bilbao2019).   Robyn Kennedy 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member The Rainbow on the Plains Festival in Hay is re-launching in 2022, after two years of delays due to Covid. In the past, 78ers have led our parade, and on behalf of the organisers I would like to extend an invitation for your organisation and members to head up our parade once again. This year the festival will be held from Friday November 25 to Sunday November 27. The parade will be held at midday on Saturday. Full festival info can be found on our Facebook and Instagram pages or at www.rainbowontheplains.com.au. There is no entry fee for your organisation, as those who have paved the way for every Pride celebration since 1978.   Krista Schade Rainbow on the Plains Festival Committee Member   If you want to join other 78ers in Hay, contact Helen Gollan on hcg78er@yahoo.com. An exhibition at The Tin Sheds Gallery, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, Sydney University titled Sydney Buries Its Past includes posters from the archives, ephemera, photos, installations, videos and films. The exigencies of contemporary life contribute to the "forgetting" of much history: the ever-changing cityscape with its growth and changing styles of architecture; rapid news cycles’; ever hungry consumer capitalism moving on to the next fashionable product; conservative governments which don't want protests and activism remembered. Neo-liberal capitalism wants all existence to be at the mercy of the market, no community needs or heritage values are to stand in the way of profit. Neoliberalism also insists government is only there to support big business, whose marketplace will take care of everything, jobs, infrastructure, and organisation. Government is not there to safeguard the "people", services are user pays; there is no society, only the individual competing for survival with his family. The housing needs of the lower income class are cruelly sacrificed to the greed for profit along with the destruction of communities. This is the undercurrent of the show at The Tin Sheds Gallery, which insists on remembering Sydney of the 20th Century, its heritage architecture; the community spaces; and the protests to protect them and the rights of the city's citizens. The Tin Sheds gallery itself has replaced the old Tin Sheds workshops where many posters of support and protest were made. And these posters help us to remember the Sheds and those struggles: LGBTQI Rights, Women's Rights, Koori Rights, Prisoners' Rights, Environmental protections, Housing, Shelter and Health needs etc. From the beginning of colonial invasion in 1788, Sydney first buried the Indigenous Australians' country and culture, then continuously built and then buried, built and buried till there is little of heritage value existent, only a skyline of cranes erecting ever taller skyscrapers. An example of heritage destruction would be The Regent Cinema that was on George Street, a cultural space much loved by the Sydney Community, a meeting place, not just of heritage value. It was destroyed and replaced with a ubiquitous apartment tower by a greedy capitalist because there was more money in it. On its footprint is now a shopping arcade called Regent Place as if that will satisfy anyone complaining. Under neoliberalism nothing is safe, the Town Hall, the Queen Victoria Building, the Opera House, over time all is transient when profit is uncaringly sought. Sydney might bury its past but it won't bury our memories nor our ongoing struggles. The 78ers is a case in point. If this old group of activists didn't arrange seminars that educate the public, and attend many protest rallies with banners and flyers, then their actions in 1978 would be forgotten. Ephemera such as posters, flyers, banners, newsletters are important historical documents and should be archived as such. The Show runs from July 14 to August 20, Tuesday to Friday 11am to 5pm, Saturday 12 to 5 pm. Google the program, as film screenings are on offer at night also. The Tin Sheds Gallery 148 City Rd Darlington.   Toby Zoates 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member It was a real pleasure to finally see the inside of the fabulous Victorian Pride Centre on my recent trip to Melbourne. They have an exhibition which has just finished – Printed protest: graphic activism from the Australian Queer Archives. The exhibition featured over 100 posters, banners and placards from the start of gay liberation, through decriminalisation and the AIDS crisis, to marriage equality and trans rights. It was great to see some old faves. No visit to the Pride Centre would be complete without popping in to the Archives office where I found First Mardi Gras Inc. Associate Member Gary Jaynes working on his weekly volunteer day. The office is also the home of the International Gay Solidarity banner from the first Mardi Gras.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair   I was also able to visit the QUEER exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) which closes on 21 August. QUEER is a very eclectic selection from the NGV Collection of artworks by queer artists and featuring queer figures as well as icons and allies of our community. Works include painting, drawing, photography, decorative arts, fashion, video, sculpture, and design. Included in the exhibition are works featuring reportedly queer historical figures, both modern and ancient. I found this aspect of the exhibition jarring and it did not hold together for me. The NGV however state that: QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection includes approximately 400 artworks from antiquity to the present day, making the exhibition the most historically expansive thematic presentation of its kind ever presented by an Australian art institution. It was great to see works by 78ers David McDiarmid and Vivienne Binns included and to see the iconic photo of my Radicalesbian sisters (and also 78ers) Jenny Pausacker and Sue Jackson used as the key image for the exhibition.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair When the then recently elected NSW Premier, Neville Wran, tabled the Anti-Discrimination Bill in Parliament in November 1976, homosexuality had been included as a category of protection under the Act. Unfortunately, the Liberal/National Party majority in the upper house had knocked out this provision but had allowed for the newly created Anti-Discrimination Board (ADB) to ‘carry out investigations and research’ into homosexuality. The government was forced to accept the amendments in order to get the remainder of the Act through the Parliament, the first such enactment in Australia. The Board subsequently hired Denise Thompson to carry out the research, much of it the basis of her 1985 book: Flaws in the Social Fabric: Homosexuals and society in Sydney. By 1982, a Report and Recommendations had been ready for some time but the ADB wisely held up its presentation while the Parliament, between late 1981 and early 1982, was engaged in the fruitless debates, and failure, on the reform of the NSW Crimes Act in relation to gay male sexual behaviour. On 5 July 1982, just over forty years ago, the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board launched its ground breaking and much anticipated Report on Discrimination and Homosexuality. It recommended that homosexuality be a protected category in the field of education, the provision of housing, of employment, and in the provision of goods and services, and it called for changes to the Crimes Act to decriminalise gay male sexual behaviour. Wran, in presenting the Report to the Labor caucus, left no doubt that the Recommendations had his full support, and that he wanted to implement all of them. It, at last, was a positive sign from Wran, especially after the failure of the various homosexual law reform Bills, of which Wran really could’ve been more forceful in support, despite the flaws in the Egan and Unsworth Bills. He took this stance despite the objections of some of the Catholic members of the caucus, and of Gerry Gleeson the powerful, devoutly Catholic, head of the Premier’s Department. Gleeson’s stymying role throughout the whole homosexual law reform campaign has yet to be fully disclosed. Wran is said often to respond to Gleeson and caucus members with the tart reply: “Oh yes, and what does the Cardinal say?”. A public community meeting at the old Sydney Gay Centre on 27 July, called for the full implementation of the ADB Report Recommendations. So, for the next four months, through letters, lobbying and demonstrations, the major push, by Gay Rights Lobby (GRL), Gay Solidarity Group (GSG) and of the other 20 or so community groups that made up the Homosexual Law Reform Coalition (HLRC), was for the inclusion of Homosexuality as a category of protection within the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act. For the moment, lobbying for reform of the NSW Crimes Act was relegated to second place. The sheer physical bulk of the Report (at 652 pages!) was an advantage. It appeared ‘authoritative’; you could slam it down on a parliamentarian’s desk (gently!) knowing full well that the sheer size of it meant that few Parliamentarians had actually read it in full. Most had read only the Executive Summary. But, the question still remained, would the Labor caucus agree to Wran’s wishes to introduce a Bill, and, if so, how would the Opposition vote?   Robert French 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member The situation with monkeypox in NSW is changing rapidly. Many of the cases are in men who have sex with men and have been acquired overseas, but some cases in NSW are likely to have been acquired in Australia. Monkeypox spreads through close skin-to-skin physical contact with someone who has symptoms, such as when you are having sex, or by direct contact with contaminated objects, such as bedding, towels or clothes. Symptoms include: rashes, lesions or sores, particularly in areas that are hard to see such as the genitals, anus or anal area or on the face, arms and legs ulcers, lesions or sores in the mouth fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and/or exhaustion. If you have symptoms, self-isolate and seek medical attention immediately. Call your GP, local sexual health clinic or the NSW Sexual Health Infolink on 1800 451 624. NSW Health Monkeypox Fact Sheet.   NSW Health 78ers Robert Farlow, Christine Devine and their partners have lost everything in the floods. They and other LGBTIQ community members need our support in this extremely challenging time for them.   Tropical Fruits Floods Fundraiser Tropical Fruits are our queer family in the Northern Rivers. We have all seen the terrible impact of the floods. If you want to know more about them and what they do, go to: https://tropicalfruits.org.au/. If you are able to support their fundraiser campaign, go to Tropical Fruits Flood Fundraiser. 78er Barbara Karpinski was ejected by NSW Police from the stands of the SCG during the Mardi Gras Parade – apparently because she was displaying a hand-drawn pro-Ukrainian sign as a protest.   Support Displaced LGBTIQ Ukrainians The Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration needs your help to: Ensure LGBTIQ Ukrainians can access safe longer-term housing options Support partner organisations in neighbouring countries to deliver services to displaced LGBTIQ people.  Donate to LGBTIQ refugees (oramrefugee.org) 78er badges are $5 each and postage is $3.09 (total $8.09). Postage is still $3.09 for up to five badges. To order badges, email your name, postal address and the number of badges required to info@78ers.org.au. Then make your payment by funds transfer. Use your name as the deposit reference. You can also post a cheque. CAMP badges are $3.50 each plus $3.00 packaging and postage. To order, contact Robyn Kennedy at rk.am@bigpond.com. Please include your name, address and number of badges requested. Banking details for direct deposit will be provided.   Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Members Calendar of Events Sydney Buries Its Past Exhibition – 14 July to 20 August, Tuesday to Friday 11am-5pm, Saturday 12- 5 pm, Tin Sheds Gallery 148 City Rd Darlington First Mardi Gras Inc. Social Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 4 September (first Sunday of each month) Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris Street Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au Broken Heel Festival, Broken Hill – 8 to 12 September 2022 https://www.bhfestival.com/home First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 10 September 2022, by Zoom Coastal Twist Arts and Cultural Festival – 27 September to 3 October 2022 https://coastaltwist.org.au/whats-on/events/ Newcastle and Hunter Pride Festival – has been rescheduled to 7 October to 6 November 2022, see website for details Newcastle Pride Festival - Newcastle, NSW | HUNTERhunter ACON Parramatta Pride Picnic – 10:30am-7pm, Saturday 22 October 2022, River Foreshore Reserve Parramatta Pride Picnic | Facebook Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay – 25-27 November 2022 http://www.haymardigras.com.au/ Sapphire Coast Pride, Bega Valley www.Facebook.com/groups/sapphirecoastpride. For other events, please check: https://australianpridenetwork.com.au/lgbtiq-festivals/new-south-wales/. And remember to check links closer to the advertised dates for confirmation of events.

Newsletter - July 2022

View this email in your browser July 2022 In this July edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Barry Charles on Salon78: Celebrating Rainbow History Bill Ashton on 78ers Mardi Gras 44th Anniversary Drinks Robyn Kennedy on CAMP Australia’s Pioneer Homosexual Rights Activists Diane Minnis on the Human Progress Flag for the Mardi Gras 44th anniversary Chips Mackinolty on the Darwin Lunch for Mardi Gras 44th Anniversary Robyn Kennedy on the Establishment of Australian Pride Organisers Association Diane Minnis on forums in Queer Sydney: Powerhouse Late x Vivid Ideas Diane Minnis on CARR’s Fight for LGBTI+ Rights! Demo Statement from InterPride on the Oslo LGBTQIA+ Nightclub Shootings How to donate to Appeals for Northern Rivers and Ukraine Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton on 78ers and CAMP badges Calendar of Events. The next First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting is 4pm, Saturday 30 July 2022, by Zoom. And our next Social Lunch is 12pm, Sunday 7 August, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris Street Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au.   Diane Minnis History! Boring huh? I remember dry dates and momentous events from centuries past. But at least in the last century or so we have moving images to see and voices to hear. And there has been a shift towards oral history (previously mistrusted against documents), being more appreciated. For those of us who have lived through the last 70 years of social revolution and liberation politics, particularly for LGBTIQ+ people, our personal stories and experiences illuminate the changes that have occurred. It is my experience that current generations want to hear these stories and get some sense of what it was like in the 50s, 60s and 70s for our community. But how to communicate this attractively? One of First Mardi Gras Inc.’s contributions to Pride Month 2022 was our Salon78 forum on zoom – Celebrating Rainbow History. A large number tuned in to our on-line event on 25 June 2022 to hear speakers Garry Wotherspoon (author and historian), Rebecca Jennings (author and academic) and Hannah McElhinney (broadcaster and influencer) discuss the history of the queer community and ways of telling our story. Invigorating and exciting were my words to describe the contributions. Very engaging was Hannah, who with a large number of young collaborators from all over the world has created RainbowHistoryClass.com. Specifically directed at the instant gratification generations, it goes out on TikTok. I am of a generation who doesn’t want to sign-up to anymore “new tech” but found the extracts of their presentations really fun and informative. They take a brief incident or colloquial phrase from the past and then quickly (in less than 4 minutes) describe it’s meaning and how it had significance. Engaging and inciting further exploration. So, if you are brave enough to embrace that platform, you will find it entertaining. Garry Wotherspoon has commented: “It's good to talk to a younger generation with interest in our communities' histories, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the media they use gets to a far wider audience than we could (9 million likes on their website) and how they do it taps in very well to how a non-academic audience 'takes in' history. Also, it's interesting to see what they see are the important milestones in LGBTQI+ history and report on (for us, it's just our past). And we are in a symbiotic relationship – the old guard (academics) do the groundwork, and the new guard 'spread the word'. United we stand.” All in all, another excellent event in the Salon78 series. Tune in next time on Zoom!   Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member By 5pm Sunday 26th June 78ers, partners and guests began arriving to celebrate the 44th anniversary of the first Mardi Gras. We had a good roll up with nearly 40 people over the course of the evening. To get the party started Kinsella’s played background music from the 1970s and 80s above the chatter and clinking of glasses in the art deco Chapel Bar. I was assisted on the front table by Maree Marsh as we greeted members and guests, writing out name tags…‘I know you’. Rebbell Barnes and Diane Minnis sold raffle tickets and Treasurer Richard Thode got our new payment square going so everyone could tap their cards to pay. At 5.45pm it was food service with canapés. At the end of service all plates were empty, bon appetite was had by all! Special thanks to Garry Case for handing around the plates. Then it was time for drawing the raffle. Congratulations to those had winning tickets included a cook book and other nice prizes. Ken Davis, First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair spoke about the importance of the anniversary and thanked all who attended and the event organisers. Committee Member Robyn Kennedy then spoke on the shootings in a LGBTQIA+ nightclub in Oslo – deliberately during Pride celebrations. A big thank you to Kinsela’s management and staff for all their support and welcoming us to their venue. Thanks again to all who came to celebrate our 44th Anniversary Drinks at Kinselas, take care, till the next time.     Bill Ashton 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member The Pride movement in Australia began with the founding of CAMP (Campaign Against Moral Persecution) in Sydney in 1970. CAMP’s momentum spread quickly to other Australian states, fuelling the first LGBTQI rights marches and firing up political campaigns for changes to oppressive laws and systems. CAMP: Australia’s pioneer homosexual rights activists brings to life the vital role that CAMP activists played. They inspired and initiated a social movement that continues to this day. Individual members of CAMP from across Australia now tell their own stories and highlight their lived experiences. They speak of the life-changing support their community offered, at a time when lesbians and gay men were despised by much of society. They recall the excitement of protest and change. They pay tribute to individuals who drove those changes. Beautifully presented hard back illustrated with 35 commissioned portrait photographs and rare archival images Publish date: August 2022 $49.95 per copy plus postage Limited print run Pre-order your copy now from pridepublish@gmail.com.   Robyn Kennedy 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member To mark the 44th anniversary of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Sydney WorldPride organised a human Progress Flag on the steps of the Opera House. On Friday 24 June – a cold and windy day – 1,111 people joined together in the flag to welcome the world to Sydney for WorldPride 2023. A number of people travelled from regional areas and interstate to attend. I was honoured to be asked to speak as a 78er at the event and here is what I said: I pay my respects to the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and to their elders, past present and emerging. Today we mark the 44th anniversary of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on Saturday 24 June 1978. Let’s recognise that LGBTIQ+ activism in Australia didn’t start in 1978…. it started with the first activist organisations in 1969/70. But the difference between police harassment and arrests in early 70s demonstrations and the first Mardi Gras was the scale and brutality of arrests. And the massive campaign that followed. Let us remember: 53 people arrested on 24 June 1978 – some badly bashed Over three months of the Drop the Charges campaign – 178 activists were arrested On Monday 26th June, the Sydney Morning Herald published the names, addresses and occupations of those arrested – on page 3 – with devastating consequences. Let us also remember…the huge upsurge of activism that followed: May 1979 – the NSW Summary Offences Act was repealed 30 June 1979 – 3,000 people at the second Mardi Gras, with no arrests! 1982 amendment to the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act to include homosexuality 1984 homosexual law reform in NSW. Let’s remember the 44 years of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade – a beacon to LGBTIQ people everywhere – and why it is so important to continue….and who would have thought that we’d still be here!   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair It's a date I've quietly and privately marked for decades by myself: a few tears and a few laughs. Silent in many ways since the Mardi Gras in Sydney moved to February/March for warmer weather rather than that cold, cold night 44 years ago. And relatively cold nights, too, remembering that violent night while working out bush, from central Arnhem Land to desert country. Memories so far away in time and place, sleeping on a swag under the stars, so far from the lights of Oxford Street and The Cross. Not sure why I called for a lunch this year to revive memories. 44 years on. So much has changed for the better, but a long way to go, as we acknowledged on that day, as has been in the streets of unlikely places like Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs and so many other regional centres around the country in recent times. But still a long way to go. And then of course, what we saw in Oslo and the USA so close to that 44th anniversary. In any case, I retold to some of my Darwin friends the events of that night and the following days and months. Everyone who came recognised the importance of those days 44 years ago, and thanked the 78ers! A major tribute to my parents, Judy and John. In 1966 when we were in London at the time, they introduced me to a gay bloke who went through law with Dad at Melbourne Uni. Mum and Dad made it really clear to me and my sister that Peter was gay – not that it was called that then, but that it was just fine. (To be honest, I was more interested in the Picasso print Pete had on the wall of his solicitor's office!) Then, in the aftermath of 1978 – something I only discovered in recent times – that a bunch of people arrested that night and afterwards visited them for legal and personal support and advice, a cuppa coffee or a wine. At least one of them still suffering from physical injuries. Let alone the emotional injuries that were being endured. They were amazing parents. Never mentioned it to me. Just something they did. It was not mere tolerance, but solidarity. Like mum writing notes to school authorising me to take a day off to attend pro-abortion demonstrations in the city – not to mention anti-Vietnam war demos!   78er Chips Mackinolty Oceania Pride was established two years ago with the intention of bringing together Pride organisers and allies in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. The vast geography of the region, covering seven time zones and crossing the international date line, has posed significant difficulties in finding meeting times that are suitable. The definition of our region was adopted from InterPride as the founding base of the group was InterPride members. In its new Strategic Plan, InterPride has discontinued previous regional definitions and all countries are now free to define their own groupings which may be geographic or linked by culture or language. Acknowledging the constraints of meeting as Oceania, Pride, organisers in Australia are proposing to incorporate as an association open to Pride organisers across Australia. Being incorporated will allow: representation of Australian Pride organisers on the InterPride Board us to seek funding to support regional conferences and Pride events advocate more effectively for the rights of LGBTQI+ communities across the Oceania region. We will continue to support the struggle for decriminalisation of homosexuality in the Pacific Islands as well as the broader rights of our communities. It is noted that from 2023 InterPride will be funding a Pride Development Officer to build Pride in the Pacific Islands and our new group will aim to support that project as much as possible.    Robyn Kennedy 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member On 16 June a number of 78ers attended, spoke and performed at Queer Sydney: Powerhouse Late x Vivid Ideas. The evening was curated by Johnny Allen, C Moore Hardy and Dino Dimitriadis and presented by Vivid Ideas and Powerhouse. The evening was billed as “our celebration of Sydney’s LGBTQIA+ history and explore the lineage from the original Mardi Gras 78ers to now, before ending the night with a little ‘Disco Conversion Therapy’ and a big ol' party.” It was great that Vivid Sydney Festival Director Gill Minervini has included this celebration of so many facets of Sydney’s vibrant LGBTQIA+ history in the festival and her history as Mardi Gras Creative Director showed through! There were films, photos, a history of radical music and a fashion parade featuring 78er Fabian Lo Schiavo amongst others. But my focus was on two of the forums on offer. From Camp to Gay to Queer a Continuum or a Disconnection? – Panel discussion with Dennis Altman, C Moore Hardy and Dino Dimitriadis, moderated by Shirleene Robinson. Dennis Altman opened from Camp perspective and his forceful first point was against the misconception that LGBTIQ+ activist started with the first Mardi Gras. Dennis spoke about the early 1970s perception that drastic change was needed, though there wasn’t a single vision of the future. He said: “We have achieved more than any of us believed possible.” And Dennis concluded with “It is not the liberation of one group without the liberation of all.” Photographer C Moore Hardy, representing what was then called the gay world, spoke about her mission to photograph lesbians at their venues and events. C Moore spoke passionately about the need for lesbian visibility and noted that today, many events are transient and offered or advertised online rather than regular events at venues. Dino Dimitriadis, a thirty-something theatre director, multidisciplinary creative producer and curator, spoke from the queer end of the continuum. Dino is keen to have different voices from the queer community and to “put intersectionality front and centre”. In his productions Dino tries to include lesbians, trans men and non-binary people as well as gay men and trans women, to fully represent our community. And in the Q&A session, Dino made the point that “visibility is activism” as is allyship Qtopia Sydney – An introduction to Qtopia Sydney, a permanent queer museum and space opening on Oxford Street in 2023, which will celebrate Sydney’s queer history and acknowledge the impact of AIDS. Panel discussion with Patron Michael Kirby, Chair David Polson, and guests Shane Sturgiss and Katherine Wolfgramme, moderated by Jeremy Fernandez. Perched on very uncomfortable stools, we heard the speakers led through a series of questions by moderator Jeremy Fernandez. But given the recent announcement that the City of Sydney had given $300,000 to Qtopia, we were really there to find out what the museum was all about. Chair David Polson was diagnosed with HIV early in that pandemic and took part in 20 years of HIV drug trials under Professor David Cooper. When Cooper died, Polson was inspired to create an AIDS museum. Patron Michael Kirby advocated for an Oppression and Persecution section to be added to educate the general community. Trans advocate Katherine Wolfgramme is also keen to educate the broader community and is a Qtopia Advisory Panel Member. Shane Sturgiss, CEO of BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation, spoke about the non-acceptance of young Indigenous LGBTIQ+ people in post-invasion culture and their poor mental health. He supports museums like Qtopia as a positive for his community. One glaring omission was any mention of lesbians. Even in the HIV context, many lesbians supported gay men through Ankali and other services, nursed at St Vincent’s and took part in AIDS demonstrations. There were no questions from the audience allowed at this forum….but Polson and Qtopia CEO Greg Fisher spoke to the SGLMG 78ers Committee meeting on 22 June.  We asked about the omission of lesbians in the discussion and the lack of lesbian representation on their Board and Advisory Panel. The answer was that they are always expanding their Board and Advisory Panel with “bi, lesbian and straight people”. And it seems Qtopia has heard the message and now invited some lesbians to join their Board.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair On Saturday 25 June Community Action for Rainbow Rights (CARR) held the Fight for LGBTI+ Rights! Demo. A couple of hundred people attended as well as half a dozen 78ers carrying our banner. We heard speeches on the steps of Town Hall from a Greens Councillor, CARR members and it was great hearing from two representatives from School Strike for Climate. We then marched through city streets, Pitt Street Mall  and back to the Town Hall. As this was the day after the 44th Anniversary of the first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, a 78ers speaker was called for and I volunteered. As well as mentioning the impact the first Mardi Gras on those involved and the upsurge of activism that followed, I spoke about LGBTIQ+ legislative reforms in Australia. I noted that only our public activism, alliances with unions and other social justice movements, and Labor in power have produced LGBTIQ+ reforms and cited a list of examples. Though marriage equality did come during a Liberal/National government, the voluntary postal plebiscite inflicted much damage on our community. The score of reforms would be Labor: 100+ vs. Lib/Nat: 1 (grudgingly). The part of my speech, about Labor's role in legislative reforms, was criticised by one of the CARR speakers. We don’t expect reforms to be handed to us on a platter by Labor governments, without public mobilisation. Successful mass action means bringing together people with different political allegiances, around clear demands that enable unity. ALP or Greens or Independent or socialist supporters should feel a welcome part of queer rights actions. And just to follow up the events of 1978: Darlinghurst Police were well known as a law unto themselves at the time. In May 1979, the NSW Summary Offences Act, which gave Police very wide powers to harass and arrest people, was repealed after our massive Drop the Charges campaign. In 1982, grass roots action, along with research and lobbying, led to an amendment to the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act, making it unlawful to discriminate against a person on the ground of homosexuality In 1984, following a long campaign by activists, Premier Wran presented a Private Members Bill to amend the Crimes Act in NSW to decriminalise sexual acts between consenting adult males. Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair InterPride is deeply saddened by the vicious attack on fellow LGBTQIA+ members in Oslo, Norway. At least two people were murdered, and 21 others were injured in an incident at the famous LGBTQIA+ club known as “London Pub” at 1:15 AM local time (Oslo) on Saturday, 25 June. Investigators have confirmed that this was a hate crime. Members of InterPride around the world feel disbelief and profound grief. Unfortunately, attacks motivated by hatred have become frighteningly frequent during Pride season, including at Pride events. InterPride is also heartbroken to hear that Oslo Pride was forced to cancel its Pride celebrations because of this tragedy. These celebrations were to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Norway decriminalizing homosexuality. Coming together for Pride is vital for the global LGBTQIA+ community to celebrate our identities and fight for our rights. Millions of LGBTQIA+ community members worldwide are facing violence. We have a shared responsibility to stand by and support one another and work together to make the world a safe place to be our authentic selves. InterPride stands united in solidarity with Oslo Pride and the global LGBTQIA+ community during this challenging time. Our hearts go out to the families and friends who have lost loved ones through this act of hatred. We will continue to fight for the right to be seen and heard and for equality worldwide.   InterPride Statement 78ers Robert Farlow, Christine Devine and their partners have lost everything in the floods. They and other LGBTIQ community members need our support in this extremely challenging time for them.   Tropical Fruits Floods Fundraiser Tropical Fruits are our queer family in the Northern Rivers. We have all seen the terrible impact of the floods. If you want to know more about them and what they do, go to: https://tropicalfruits.org.au/. If you are able to support their fundraiser campaign, go to Tropical Fruits Flood Fundraiser. Donate $5.00 – the price of a coffee, or maybe you could add a zero! 78er Barbara Karpinski was ejected by NSW Police from the stands of the SCG during the Mardi Gras Parade, apparently because she was displaying a hand-drawn pro-Ukrainian sign.   Support Displaced LGBTIQ Ukrainians Since Russia launched its devastating invasion of Ukraine, over two million Ukrainians have fled the country. The Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration needs your help to: Ensure LGBTIQ Ukrainians can access safe longer-term housing options Support partner organisations in neighbouring countries to deliver services to displaced LGBTIQ people. Donate to LGBTIQ refugees (oramrefugee.org) 78er badges are $5 each and postage is $3.09 (total $8.09). If you want to order more than one badge, the postage is still $3.09 for up to five badges. To order badges, email your name, postal address and the number of badges required to info@78ers.org.au. Then make your payment by funds transfer. Please use your name as the reference for your deposit. Alternatively, you can post a cheque. CAMP badges are $3.50 each plus $3.00 packaging and postage. To order and obtain pricing for multiple badges, contact Robyn Kennedy at rk.am@bigpond.com. Please include your name, address and number of badges requested. Banking details for direct deposit will be provided. Calendar of Events Bendigo Queer Film Festival – 15-17 July 2022 Home - Bendigo Queer Film Festival First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 30 July 2022, by Zoom First Mardi Gras Inc. Social Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 7 August, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris Street Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au Broken Heel Festival, Broken Hill – 8 to 12 September 2022 https://www.bhfestival.com/home Coastal Twist Arts and Cultural Festival – 27 September to 3 October 2022 https://coastaltwist.org.au/whats-on/events/ Newcastle and Hunter Pride Festival – has been rescheduled to 7 October to 6 November 2022, see website for details Newcastle Pride Festival - Newcastle, NSW | HUNTERhunter ACON Parramatta Pride Picnic – 10:30am-7pm, Saturday 22 October 2022, River Foreshore Reserve Parramatta Pride Picnic | Facebook Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay – 25-27 November 2022 http://www.haymardigras.com.au/ Sapphire Coast Pride, Bega Valley www.Facebook.com/groups/sapphirecoastpride. For other events, please check: https://australianpridenetwork.com.au/lgbtiq-festivals/new-south-wales/. And remember to check links closer to the advertised dates for confirmation of events.

We, The City: Queer, Deadbeat, Outsider - Toby Zoates

This week on We, The City Blue speaks with Toby Zoates.

Toby is a queer punk artist who works in the mediums of painting, animation, film, comics, writing and cartooning. Toby is an original 78’er, he was part of the group of protestors who formed the first Mardi Gras march in 1978 in Sydney. Toby and I discuss his most recent novel, Punk Outsider, which chronicles how Sydney has changed from the late 70s til now..

Listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click here to listen on PodBean. Access the transcript of the episode by clicking here.

Queer Thinking Podcast: My First Mardi Gras

Guests:

• Sallie Colchin (78er)

• Carol Muller (member of the transgender community)

• Sarah Levett (member of the First Nations community)

Episode description:

Everyone remembers their first Mardi Gras. Whether you went to the Parade with your parents when you were young, when you first came out, watched it on TV or maybe you marched at the first Mardi Gras in 1978. However you were introduced to the Parade, it’s a pretty special moment. On this episode of Queer Thinking, we’re chatting to three different people with very different experiences of their first Mardi Gras.

Listen to the episode here.

Newsletter - June 2022

View this email in your browser June 2022 In this June edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: How to join the Human Progress Flag for the 24 June Mardi Gras anniversary Barry Charles on the Unveiling of Rise: The Bondi Memorial Diane Minnis on speakers for Salon78: Celebrating Rainbow History – Saturday 25 June Bill Ashton on 78ers Mardi Gras Anniversary Drinks – Sunday 26 June Barry Charles on Renewing your First Mardi Gras Inc. Membership Barbara Karpinski on her Ejection by Police from the SCG Ken Davis on Vale Moss Cass CARR Fight for LGBTI+ Rights! Demo – Saturday 25 June Pride in Protest Queer Liberation Conference – 25-26 June How to donate to Appeals for Northern Rivers and Ukraine Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton on Get your 78ers and CAMP badges Calendar of Events. Our Salon78: Celebrating Rainbow History is at 5.30pm, Saturday 25 June 2022, by Zoom. And the 78ers 44th Anniversary Drinks is at 5pm, Sunday 26 June 2022, Kinselas, Taylor Square. RSVP for both events: info@78ers.org.au Diane Minnis Friday 24 June marks the 44th anniversary of the first-ever Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Next year, Sydney will become the first city in the southern hemisphere to host WorldPride. To officially call LGBTQIA+ people of the world to Sydney, on 24 June we will unite to form a Human Progress Flag. All participants will be given a very special coloured Sydney WorldPride t-shirt for the photo, which you can keep. Come dressed in black so that you can put the coloured t-shirt on top. If you can join us, please RSVP using the code COMMUNITY here on Moshtix: https://moshtix.com.au/v2/event/welcome-the-world-to-sydney/140740   Human Progress Flag – Welcoming the World to Sydney – Opera House Steps 11am to 1pm, Friday 24 June 2022 Wet weather plan will be confirmed via email if necessary   Let me know if you have any questions – and I can be contacted by text on the day at 0414 823 930.   Matt Akersten Pride and Diversity Officer, Sydney World Pride At 10.30am, Saturday 4 June 2022, a crowd of around 500 assembled on the cliff tops at Marks Park, Tamarama for the dedication of the memorial to the murders of gay men and anti-gay violence in the 70s, 80 and 90s. There and elsewhere. A joint project of the ACON Outreach program and Waverley Council; the memorial beautifully references the cliffs and instead of falling away the metaphor is of steps rising above the hate, negligence and indifference we faced and many in our LGBTIQ+ family still face daily. This article is both political and personal. I, myself have survived more than one gay bashing. The rocks and fisherman’s path to Tamarama from South Bondi was well known as a gay beat. It had been since the 1950s. I frequented it many times from 1971-1975. Even then it had a reputation of great danger as the Surf Club held dances and young straight alcohol fueled men were close by. Still it was very busy for a gay meeting spot and so had a great attraction. The threat of bashings was something we lived with in order meet our brothers and connect with our tribe. The danger and the violence grew worse into the 80s and Marks Park was difficult to get to and away from without a car. So, I moved to the growing gay club scene around Oxford Street. At the ceremony on June 4th there were moving contributions from journalist Greg Callahan who spoke of the efforts of our community to see that those who died were remembered and that these things never happen in any form again. Here are some extracts from his remarks.   “People have asked me, why the late 1980s? Why did the violence ramp up so dramatically then? A combination of factors. The HIV/AIDS epidemic had increased the stigma against gay men in particular, ably assisted by the Grim Reaper fear campaign on television. The other factor – paradoxically – was the rise of Sydney as an international gay mecca: with the Mardi Gras now attracting 400,000 or more spectators, with Oxford Street now the Golden Gay Mile, lined by vibrant bars, cafes and saunas, the LGBTQ community had a public profile like never before. The bashers and the killers knew where to come. “One of the trademarks of a gay hate crime is its relentless, cold-blooded cruelty. If a robbery happens during an attack, it’s almost an afterthought. It’s the brand of hate stemming from prejudice and ignorance, and it can spread, cancer like, among those susceptible to its message. A message of hate that turned young men into killers. “We remember: “Good men. Young gay men with their lives all ahead of them. “Men like John Russell, whose coming out story pretty much paralleled that of the blossoming of Oxford Street from the early 1980s. “Men like Ross Warren, a weather man with WIN TV in Wollongong, who was looking forward to a long career in television. And men like Kritchikorn Rattanajurathaporn, a Thai man who had only been in Australia for about four months. “And then there was Gilles Mattaini, a French national who disappeared somewhere along the pathway below in September 1985. “And they all died here for one reason. They died because they were gay.”   There was also a forthright contribution from Councillor Paula Masselos, Mayor of Waverley. The council has driven the project to design and build the memorial over several years. Here are some of her words:   “Although it has taken quite some time, we are here today to say there is not room in society for such truly hateful attitudes and actions. A history of violence that is no longer, or ever was, acceptable. “Rise is our public monument dedicated to the recognition of the recent history of gay and transphobic hate crimes that occurred in Bondi and along the east coast of Australia. “It was delivered in partnership and heart by Waverley Council, ACON and UAP design studio, with involvement, enthusiasm and support from community members including  the families and friends of the victims survivors of gay hate crimes film and documentary makers artists, project managers, landscape architects former police detectives and investigative journalists and private detectives. “Designed by John Nicholson and UAP, Rise responds beautifully to the project’s guiding principles of remembrance, diversity, inclusion, justice and acceptance. “Each of its six sculpted stone layers represents one of the six bands in the pride flag. “The memorial’s compositional arrangement was informed by the layers of the nearby cliffs that descend towards the ocean but re-imagined as a staircase flipped to ascend towards the horizon; the act of climbing inverting the act of falling, a pathway away from a history of violence. “For individuals who lost loved ones to these crimes and were deprived of both justice and recognition there is deep pain that remains. “Rise: The Bondi Memorial serves as a place of quiet reflection where we can recognize this devastating history together as a community whilst marking the forward-moving social progress made through ongoing changing attitudes."   I recommend a visit for all who are able.   Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member As part of our Sydney Pride Festival commemorations this year, First Mardi Gras Inc. is presenting an online Salon78 forum – Celebrating Rainbow History. In this Salon78 forum we will have presentations by Hannah McElhinney and Rudy Rigg from Rainbow History Class, which produces short fun Tik Tok clips on our history. Check out: Home | RainbowHistoryClass. Authors Rebecca Jennings and 78er Garry Wotherspoon will talk about more traditional written representations of our history – based on documents and oral resources. Garry’s publications include Being Different: Nine Gay Men Remember and Gay Sydney: A History. Some of the books Rebecca has written are Unnamed Desires: A Sydney lesbian history and Out and About: Sydney's Lesbian Social Scene 1960s - 1980s (with 78er Sandra MacKay). We will discuss the best ways of preserving our communities’ history and getting it across to younger generations. To register for this online event at 5.30pm on Saturday 25 June, email info@78ers.org.au to receive the Zoom link.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Join us for our Drinks to celebrate the 44th Anniversary of the first Mardi Gras from 5pm on Sunday 26 June. All 78ers, partners and supporters are welcome. We are trying a new venue – Kinselas at Taylor Square (383 Bourke Street). It ticks all the boxes, being on the ground floor, easy to access and open to the street for fresh air. First Mardi Gras Inc. will be providing finger food and bar prices are very reasonable (Beer $7.70 schooner, Wine $8 glass). We will also conduct a raffle on the night. If you want to stay on, Bistro meals are good value. Kinselas have been lovely to deal with and are looking forward to hosting 78ers for this anniversary event. Let us know if you can come along to Kinselas at 5pm on Sunday 26 June, email info@78ers.org.au. Bill Ashton 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member   The Sydney Pride Festival 2022 – Be Brave, Be Strong, Be You was launched at the Stonewall Hotel on Thursday 2nd June. Sydney Pride Festival will run until 30th June. This year's festival is about empowering each other. Check out the other events in this at Sydney Pride Festival – Sydney Pride Festival 2022. As the years pass we find that the efforts of those who protested and lobbied for gay and lesbian rights in 1978 are more and more appreciated by LGBTIQ community. 78ers are in wide demand for speaking engagements, recalling the challenges of coming out in earlier years. First Mardi Gras Inc. plays a prominent role on the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras elected 78ers Committee. We hold events during the year for our members including social lunches and our Salon78 Forums to discuss past and current issues related to our community. First Mardi Gras Inc. is active in representing our views on current social freedom struggles including opposing proposed anti-LGBTIQ+ legislation. We ask you to join or maintain your involvement in First Mardi Gras Inc. and renew your pride in our history and what we seniors in the LGBTIQ community can still contribute. Associate Membership is encouraged for members of your family, partners, friends or carers. The membership forms are available at: www.78ers.org.au/membership.   Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member Membership Fees: $10 one year’s Membership $17 two year’s Membership $25 three year’s Membership $5 a year Concession Membership $12 three year’s Concession Membership Direct Deposit:  Email for bank details Please use your name as the reference for direct deposits and email your membership form or confirmation that you have renewed to info@78ers.org.au, or post to PO Box 1029 Glebe NSW 2037. There was an honest error in an article in the May newsletter under the by-line of Sue Fletcher, regarding a meeting between Barbara Karpinski and NSW Police. In editing the article, I included a point that the 13 May meeting with Police “had been cancelled as Barbara was taking legal action.” We now understand that this information is incorrect and the meeting was cancelled as Barbara attended with legal support people. I would like to apologise for this error.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair   Barbara Karpinski has replied to the May Newsletter, on June 6. “I would like to correct the facts of the earlier newsletter edition published on 31st May. The police did not cancel the meeting of May 9 at the police headquarters in Surry Hills because I was taking “legal action.” The meeting was cancelled because the Mardi Gras CEO needed to change the date. The cancellation of the 13 May meeting was nothing to do with me taking ‘legal action’ as there has not been any legal action. Given that my ejection was very traumatic I brought legal support people and had informed police of this in writing the week before. I attended the scheduled 9 May meeting with NSW Police and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. I had confirmed my attendance by email with Assistant Commissioner Talbot on 4 May. When I arrived with our legal team from Dowson Turco Lawyers, we were informed that the meeting was cancelled due to Albert Kruger’s need to reschedule. There was a complete breakdown of communication. I arrived at the Surry Hills police HQ at 11.15 am to attend the scheduled 9 May meeting with NSW police and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras as I had confirmed my attendance by email with Assistant Commissioner Talbot on 4 May. 78er Peter Murphy also arrived at the same time and I appreciated he had come as he was quite unwell with the flu at the time. There were no other 78ers present. Police informed us that Mardi Gras CEO, Albert Kruger had asked for a reschedule. I had not been notified of the change of dates as Mardi Gras CEO had requested a change of dates to May 13. When Peter and I, and my legal support people arrived, there was some confusion, as there was another meeting on at 12.30 with gay and lesbian community liaison representatives, but the 11.15 meeting to discuss my ejection with Mardi Gras representatives and myself and 78ers had been cancelled. The last-minute cancellation and lack of notification was a schemozzle. The police were apologetic and kindly bought us cups of coffee, green tea, and offered us sandwiches. I was anxious as I am still dealing with the traumatic impact of the accidental ejection, but I came in good faith, hoping for a candid solution-focussed meeting. I had hoped to understand the ‘nuts and bolts’ of how the ‘mistake’ happened to prevent future problems for others. I was disappointed the meeting was cancelled and there was not consultation. Assistant Commissioner Gelina Talbot, who was there to attend the next meeting, spoke to me briefly in the interim between our arrival and the next meeting. Assistant Commissioner Talbot apologised personally for the events of 5 March and said a ‘mistake’ was made and there had been an internal police investigation. The cancellation of the 13 May meeting was nothing to do with me taking ‘legal action’ as there has not been any legal action. I am keeping all my options open and currently focussing on prioritising my physical and mental health that has been impacted. I still think the LGBTIQ public have a right to know the full facts and hope the details will be made public. I have written to Albert Kruger, as a follow up to the cancelled May 9 meeting, and received an automated message. I just want to add that like many 78ers I suffer from living a lifetime with lived experience of trauma due to the experiences of 1978. It is especially important to me that all interactions with police happen with a trauma-informed framework and that the police and community develop awareness of preventing retraumatisation for 78ers when we interact with the police. All 78ers have a unique way of dealing with this trauma and would love the police and the community to develop better awareness and understanding and improve their policies. I want to set a good example to the new generation in terms of looking after my own mental health. I am hoping we can find a way forward to prevent future police mistakes, noting that although the police did not physically injure me on March 5, the fear, trauma, memories of the past will always be with me, and those flashbacks resurfaced. Given all our traumatic history with the police as a 78er, as many of us have, I have found it challenging and I thank everyone for the supportive communications. I would like to send my good vibes to other 78ers who also feel the trauma of those memories, and like me, must deal with that, in our golden years. I am enthusiastic about creating good mental health outcomes for all GLBTIQA + community and thank everyone for their messages of support. On 5 March, Mardi Gras, it was day nine of the war in Ukraine. Now 20 percent of Ukraine is controlled by Russia. Despite the ejection, I would do the same again; protest war and for freedom, as apathy is not an option. It is all too redolent of the advance of Nazism in Europe. I stand by my right to protest in democratic Australia, and my heart goes out to the Ukrainian population, now displaced and at war. In Russia, protesters are arrested in red square for anti-war posters and even blank signs. I am still in shock in being ordered to leave here and that a person reported my anti-war posters for being “offensive” and the police just ejected me without question. I am looking forward to a future update of full transparency, openness and accountability by Mardi Gras and the NSW police. I hope out of this situation, the police and Mardi gras can improve their policies on safety, cultural understanding, and disability awareness and develop trauma informed protocols. I recently had a birthday, my 21st of course, and made cupcakes with Ukrainian flags. I am currently eating them and to date the police have not confiscated them. Unfortunately, the police have never returned my protest posters with handmade Ukrainian flags.”   78er Barbara Karpinski Dr Moses (Moss) Henry Cass was a socialist and pioneering Minister for the Environment, and later Media, in the Whitlam Labor government from 1972-75. Before he entered federal politics, Moss was a medical doctor and researcher, built Australia’s first heart-lung machine, helped develop open-heart surgery in London and championed abortion law reform. In 1964, Moss helped found the Trade Union Clinic and Research Centre in Melbourne’s west, funded by the meatworkers. As Minister for the Environment, Moss introduced powerful environmental protection legislation and opposed uranium mining. In October 1973, Moss seconded former Liberal prime minister John Gorton's federal parliament resolution in favour of homosexual law reform, which was successful. Although it had no legal effect, this was an important statement. It wasn’t until more than a decade later that we achieved homosexual law reform in NSW.   Ken Davis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Protesting has pushed back the Religious Discrimination Bill, but we need to go on the offensive to end religious exemptions permitting schools and hospitals to fire LGBTI staff. Community Action for Rainbow Rights A left wing queer rights conference at UTS to organise for a better material future for LGBTQI people. The Saturday sessions will happen after the CARR protest. Workshop submissions: https://forms.gle/1WSPKJ91GAibbJBY9. Pride in Protest 78ers Robert Farlow, Christine Devine and their partners have lost everything in the floods. They and other LGBTIQ community members need our support in this extremely challenging time for them.   Tropical Fruits Floods Fundraiser Tropical Fruits are our queer family in the Northern Rivers. We have all seen the terrible impact of the floods. If you want to know more about them and what they do, go to: https://tropicalfruits.org.au/. If you are able to support their fundraiser campaign, go to Tropical Fruits Flood Fundraiser. Donate $5.00 – the price of a coffee, or maybe you could add a zero! The Mardi Gras Workshop made their own statement about the horror of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with their waterproof wrapping of 78ers placards and banners.   Support Displaced LGBTIQ Ukrainians Since Russia launched its devastating invasion of Ukraine, over two million Ukrainians have fled the country. The Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration needs your help to: Ensure LGBTIQ Ukrainians can access safe longer-term housing options Support partner organisations in neighbouring countries to deliver services to displaced LGBTIQ people. Donate to LGBTIQ refugees (oramrefugee.org) 78er badges are $5 each and postage is $3.09 (total $8.09). If you want to order more than one badge, the postage is still $3.09 for up to five badges. To order badges, email your name, postal address and the number of badges required to info@78ers.org.au. Then make your payment by funds transfer. Please use your name as the reference for your deposit. Alternatively, you can post a cheque. CAMP badges are $3.50 each plus $3.00 packaging and postage. To order and obtain pricing for multiple badges, contact Robyn Kennedy at rk.am@bigpond.com. Please include your name, address and number of badges requested. Banking details for direct deposit will be provided. Calendar of Events Sydney Pride Festival 2022 – 2-30 June 2022 Sydney Pride Festival Southern HiBearnation – 11-19 June 2022 VicBears - VicBears Incorporated Sunshine Coast Mardi Gras – Saturday 18 June 2022 info@sunshinecoastmardigras.com.au  Sydney World Pride Human Progress Flag – 11am Friday 24 June, Opera House steps https://moshtix.com.au/v2/event/welcome-the-world-to-sydney/140740 Fight for LGBTI+ Rights demo, Campaign for Rainbow Rights – 1pm Saturday 25 June 2022, Town Hall Provocations: A Queer Liberation Conference, Pride in Protest – Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 June 2022, UTS First Mardi Gras Inc. Salon78: Celebrating Rainbow History – 5.30pm, Saturday 25 June 2022, by Zoom, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au Brisbane Pride Queens’ Ball – 6.30pm Saturday 25 June 2022, Brisbane City Hall hello@brisbanepride.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. 44th Anniversary Drinks – 5pm, Sunday 26 June 2022, Kinselas, Taylor Square, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. Social Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 3 July, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris Street Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au Bendigo Queer Film Festival – 15-17 July 2022 Home - Bendigo Queer Film Festival First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 30 July 2022, by Zoom Broken Heel Festival, Broken Hill – 8 to 12 September 2022 https://www.bhfestival.com/home Coastal Twist Arts and Cultural Festival – 27 September to 3 October 2022 https://coastaltwist.org.au/whats-on/events/ Newcastle and Hunter Pride Festival – has been rescheduled to 7 October to 6 November 2022, see website for details Newcastle Pride Festival - Newcastle, NSW | HUNTERhunter ACON Parramatta Pride Picnic – 10:30am-7pm, Saturday 22 October 2022, River Foreshore Reserve Parramatta Pride Picnic | Facebook Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay – 25-27 November 2022 http://www.haymardigras.com.au/ Sapphire Coast Pride, Bega Valley www.Facebook.com/groups/sapphirecoastpride. For other events, please check: https://australianpridenetwork.com.au/lgbtiq-festivals/new-south-wales/. And remember to check links closer to the advertised dates for confirmation of events.

Star Observer: Sydney’s Legendary Gay Veteran ‘Troughman’ Streams Onto ABC Iview’s ‘You Can’t Ask That’

ABC You Can't Ask That: Gay Men

Watch the ABC ‘You Can’t Ask That’ episode on Gay Men, featuring 78er Barry Charles on ABC iview by clicking here

Watch the extra’s clip of Barry Charles talking about Troughman on ABC iview by clicking here:

Click here to read the Star Observer article about the episode: Sydney’s Legendary Gay Veteran ‘Troughman’ Streams Onto ABC Iview’s ‘You Can’t Ask That’.

Video: 78ers panel discussion experiences as consumers in Sydney Local Health District (NSW Health)

LGBTIQ+ communities have shared their insights about how healthcare professionals can better support them, during a Patient and Family Experience Symposium hosted by Sydney Local Health District as part of Innovation Week 2022.

The District is home to one of Australia's biggest LGBTIQ+ communities.

Among other speakers, a trio of 78ers — Shane Brown OAM (he/him), Meredith Knight (she/her) and Peter Murphy (he/him) — who participated in the first Sydney Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras on 24 June 1978 — shared their healthcare experiences and hopes for the future.

Click here to view the full video of the Patient and Family Experience Symposium (Part 2 — afternoon session)

Newsletter - May 2022

View this email in your browser May 2022 In this May edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Diane Minnis on Salon78: Celebrating Rainbow History – Saturday 25 June Bill Ashton on 78ers Mardi Gras Anniversary Drinks – Sunday 26 June Diane Minnis on Our plans for the 45th Anniversary Mardi Gras Sue Fletcher on Police over-reach or just the same old tactics? Paul van Reyk on the Sydney Memorial for Kendall Lovett Rebbell Barnes on our Social Lunch – Sunday 5 June Information on ACON's Taking Control: LGBTQ+ Toolkit for Palliative Care and End of Life Decisions – 1.30-4.30pm,  Wednesday 15 June, Glebe Town Hall Information on CARR’s Fight for LGBTI+ Rights! Demo – Saturday 25 June Information on the Queer Liberation Conference – 25-26 June Information on Varuna’s LGBTQIA + online program for writers 65 + How to donate to Appeals for Northern Rivers and Ukraine Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton on How to get your 78ers and CAMP badges Calendar of Events. The next First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting on Saturday 4 June (4pm by Zoom) will continue discussing plans for the 45th Anniversary Mardi Gras season in 2023. Our next Social Lunch is at 12pm on Sunday 5 June at The Terminus Hotel in Pyrmont. Diane Minnis As part of our Sydney Pride Festival commemorations this year, First Mardi Gras Inc. is presenting an online Salon78 forum – Celebrating Rainbow History. In this forum we will have presentations from Rainbow History Class, which produces short fun Tik Tok clips on our history. Some 78ers have been interviewed and have provided information for these vignettes. Other speakers will look at more traditional written representations of our history – based on documents and oral resources. We will discuss the best ways of preserving our communities’ history and getting it across to younger generations. Check out: Home | RainbowHistoryClass – The LGBTIQA+ history you don't get in school. To register for this online event at 5.30pm on Saturday 25 June, email info@78ers.org.au to receive the Zoom link.   Diane Minnis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Join us for our Drinks to celebrate the 44th Anniversary of the first Mardi Gras from 5pm on Sunday 26 June. All 78ers, partners and supporters are welcome. We are trying a new venue – Kinselas at Taylor Square (383 Bourke Street). It ticks all the boxes, being on the ground floor, easy to access and open to the street for fresh air. First Mardi Gras Inc. will be providing finger food and bar prices are very reasonable (Beer $7.70 schooner, Wine $8 glass). We will also conduct a raffle on the night. If you want to stay on, Bistro meals are good value. Kinselas have been lovely to deal with and are looking forward to hosting 78ers for this anniversary event. Let us know if you can come along to Kinselas at 5pm on Sunday 26 June, email info@78ers.org.au.   The Sydney Pride Festival 2022 – Be Brave, Be Strong, Be You launches at the Stonewall Hotel on the Thursday 2nd June. Sydney Pride Festival will run until 30th June. This year's festival is about empowering each other. Check out the other events in this at Sydney Pride Festival – Sydney Pride Festival 2022.   Bill Ashton 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member In 2017, our newly formed First Mardi Gras Inc. bought 78ers together to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Mardi Gras in 2018. We swung into action, raised funds and produced some outstanding events including a Trivia Night, The First Mardi Gras: Was the Pain Worth the Gain? An afternoon with 78ers forum, 40 years of Queer Art: Rebellion and Subversion exhibition, and a Cocktail Party. Red Raw put on a 78ers Tribute Night and Queerstories hosted a night featuring stories from 78ers. We also ran Seeking all 78ers Campaign to locate 78ers we had lost touch with and crowd funded to bring low-income 78ers to Sydney for the 40th Anniversary Mardi Gras. Donations, some sponsorship and fundraising supported these events and SGLMG supported our fund to bring low-income 78ers to Sydney and made a contribution to Cocktail Party costs.   45th Anniversary Plans So what are we looking to do for the 45th Anniversary Mardi Gras season in 2023? Are we older, tireder and more geographically dispersed than we were five years ago? Or can we gather our resources, draw together and produce exceptional events to celebrate 78ers, the 45th Anniversary of the first Mardi Gras and Sydney World Pride! At our last General Meeting on 7 May we started discussing plans for our events for the 45th Anniversary. Some of the ideas that came up were: A celebratory Cocktail Party for 78ers – especially those travelling to Sydney for the 45th Anniversary Mardi Gras. We would seek funding from Sydney World Pride and Mardi Gras. At the 78ers Committee meeting on 25 May, one of the Mardi Gras Co-Chairs suggested an event where 78ers welcome pioneers of overseas prides and photos of early pride events could be shown. A Queerstories event History Walk and Bus tours of the first Mardi Gras, with income from ticket sales supporting other events That 78ers be represented at all the major Mardi Gras and Sydney World Pride events Members of the 20th Anniversary 78er’s Festival Events Group and a few others are working on reprinting It was a Riot! The group is also working on a new book of 78ers experiences and aim to launch the books and sell them during the Mardi Gras Festival and Sydney World Pride. There was discussion of an exhibition of our community’s political history with photos, videos and sound recordings. Though it was noted that the State Library of NSW is mounting a major exhibition to coincide with the 45th Anniversary. The meeting also noted that we should have speakers and present workshops at the Human Rights Conference that is part of Sydney World Pride. At this stage, we will be focussing on the Cocktail Party for 78ers, History Walk and Bus tours and the publication and reprint of the books. But we need you to help get these events up and running! We will be putting around a survey to all 78ers soon, so you can contribute your ideas, feedback and volunteer for Working Groups. You can also get back to us on info@78ers.org.au.     Diane Minnis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair In Australia, we have a culture of Police presence at demonstrations and at major events – including the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. In the past two years we have seen policing at the Black Lives (BLM) matter demonstration in Sydney that employed the same tactics used against us in 1978. Those tactics are: Funnel demonstrators Corral demonstrators Reduce the ability for demonstrators to leave Tell demonstrators to disperse Block all avenues of departure and Arrest everyone because they didn’t follow the police directive to leave (because they couldn’t!!). This is a police tactic that has been in use for 50+ years. We see hints of these tactics at other demonstrations in NSW. When raised with NSW Police, they wouldn’t discuss the BLM demonstration, as it was viewed as tactics and NSW Police don’t discuss tactics. At recent LGBTIQ demonstrations in Sydney we have seen a strong police presence and they have used helicopters circling above. The helicopters create not only noise, but put demonstrators on edge. Why are there helicopters, there are plenty of police on the ground. Does it seem like over-reach or excessive policing?   Update on Police ejecting Parade Viewers We have patiently waited months for a response from NSW Police regarding the removal of Barbara Karpinski and others in the 78ers SCG seating during the Parade. There is still no information from the Police on this. We were to have a meeting on13 May with NSW Police – with Diane Minnis, Peter Murphy and I representing 78ers and Albert Kruger from SGLMG. At the NSWPF LGBTIQA+ Stakeholder Forum on 9 May, which Diane, Peter and I attended, Assistant Commissioner Galina Talbot announced the meeting had been cancelled as Barbara was taking legal action. Information about the other people ejected from the 78ers seating area had been sent to Police a month earlier. When Diane asked about the ejection of this group, Assistant Commissioner Talbot said she had no knowledge of the incident.   Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras At the SGLMG 78ers Committee meeting on 25 May, the Mardi Gras Co-Chairs told us they were meeting with Police but could not discuss Barbara’s ejection from the SCG. We urged them to ask about the other people ejected from the 78ers seating area and under what authority Police acted.   Some questions for NSW Police Some questions for NSW Police that remain unanswered: Does every police officer working at Mardi Gras Parade attend the briefing meeting? Does the briefing include a message of a light touch for the Parade? Do they ensure queer-friendly police or police that have completed the Gay and Lesbian Liaison course are working at our events? Why wasn’t the removal of participants documented by NSW Police? What happens when Police Officers fail to document their actions? This article has more questions than answers. What is happening in your state? Do you think Covid restrictions may have contributed to over-reach by police and if so what can we do about it? How do we get NSW Police to pull back on their heavy-handed police tactics at our queer events? Sadly, I feel that as much as NSW Police have increased their community engagement, they are still deaf to our needs. Like many others I will stay in the room and try to be heard and engage with them, but I am not feeling confident we will be listened to; and the disconnect with community engagement will be trumped by tactics.   Sue Fletcher 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member A simple ceremony was held on Sunday 15th May to celebrate the life of Kendall Lovett at the AIDS memorial and groves in Sydney Park, St Peters. The weather held good, a warm autumn day in Sydney. As friends and comrades gathered each wrote some heartfelt words in a book for his partner Mannie De Saxe. Mother Inferior first sanctified the AIDS memorial cairn with the fumes of frankincense. Mannie had placed photographs of Kendall and himself around the cairn, and the Kendall Bear that Ken's sister knitted for him was perched on top. Mother began the ceremony with renditions on the accordion of Bella Ciao, The Internationale, the Red Flag and, inexplicably, How Much Is That Doggie in the Window. Then Paul van Reyk read a biography of Kendall. Mannie spoke about his coming out at an advanced age, his first meetings with Ken, and their 30 year relationship as both loving partners and comrades in LGBTIQ advocacy, and about their 37 years of tree planting with the group they set up – the Sydney Park AIDS Memorial (SPAIDS). Friends and comrades of Kendall shared their memories of Ken and of his and Mannie's perfect match. Paul then read out a letter of appreciation and sympathy from Clover Moore, and an email from Betty Hounslow who sent her thoughts and sympathy from New York. All then joined in singing a version of Mother Inferior's hymn for Saint Kendall the Constant with words beautifully re-written for the occasion of gathering in the AIDS grove. Mannie, accompanied by Paul, Jo and Rob, then scattered Kendall's ashes among the trees planted during the first and second SPAIDS plantings. As he was leaving, Mannie placed a stone on the top of the cairn – a Jewish traditional act of remembrance and respect. Paul, Ken Davis and Rob Lake are putting together the readings and photographs from the event to deposit with the Australian Queer Archives which holds also an oral history from Kendall. The photos will also be made into photobook for Mannie. If you have photos you would like to share in these ways, please send them as attachments to Paul at pvanreyk@gmail.com. Paul van Reyk Our next Social Lunch is at 12pm on Sunday 5 June, at the Terminus Hotel in Pyrmont. The Terminus is accessible via the Light Rail and by bus from Town Hall. Street parking is also available. RSVP: info@78es.org.au.   Rebbell Barnes 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member We will be talking about the unique issues and concerns LGBTQ+ people face with palliative care and death planning. Free Event – REGISTER HERE, Wednesday 15 June 2022, 1.30-4.30pm, Glebe Town Hall, 160 St Johns Road, Glebe. Russ: 02 9206 2017, rgluyas@acon.org.au.  Protesting has pushed back the Religious Discrimination Bill, but we need to go on the offensive to end religious exemptions permitting schools and hospitals to fire LGBTI staff. Community Action for Rainbow Rights A left wing queer rights conference at UTS to organise for a better material future for LGBTQI people. The Saturday sessions will happen after the CARR protest. Workshop submissions: https://forms.gle/1WSPKJ91GAibbJBY9. Pride in Protest In partnership with Queerstories, we will run a two-week online writing program for LGBTQIA+ writers 65+. Apply by 7 June 2022 for program: 18-29 July 2022. https://www.varuna.com.au/online-programs. Varuna, the National Writers’ House 78ers Robert Farlow, Christine Devine and their partners have lost everything in the floods. They and other LGBTIQ community members need our support in this extremely challenging time for them.   Tropical Fruits Floods Fundraiser Tropical Fruits are our queer family in the Northern Rivers. We have all seen the terrible impact of the floods. If you want to know more about them and what they do, go to: https://tropicalfruits.org.au/. If you are able to support their fundraiser campaign, go to Tropical Fruits Flood Fundraiser. Donate $5.00 – the price of a coffee, or maybe you could add a zero! The Mardi Gras Workshop made their own statement about the horror of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with their waterproof wrapping of 78ers placards and banners.   Support Displaced LGBTIQ Ukrainians Since Russia launched its devastating invasion of Ukraine, over two million Ukrainians have fled the country. The Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration needs your help to: Ensure LGBTIQ Ukrainians can access safe longer-term housing options Support partner organisations in neighbouring countries to deliver services to displaced LGBTIQ people. Donate to LGBTIQ refugees (oramrefugee.org) 78er badges are $5 each and postage is $3.09 (total $8.09). If you want to order more than one badge, the postage is still $3.09 for up to five badges. To order badges, email your name, postal address and the number of badges required to info@78ers.org.au. Then make your payment by funds transfer. Alternatively, you can post a cheque. CAMP badges are $3.50 each plus $3.00 packaging and postage. To order and obtain pricing for multiple badges, contact Robyn Kennedy at rk.am@bigpond.com. Please include your name, address and number of badges requested. Banking details for direct deposit will be provided. Calendar of Events Sydney Pride Festival 2022 – 2-30 June 2022 Sydney Pride Festival Gold Coast Pride Beach Parade and Fair Day – Saturday 4 June 2022 HOME | GCRainbowcommunities First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 4 June 2022, by Zoom First Mardi Gras Inc. Social Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 5 June, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris Street Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au ACON's Taking Control: LGBTQ+ Toolkit for Palliative Care and End of Life Decisions – 1.30-4.30pm,  Wednesday 15 June, Glebe Town Hall rgluyas@acon.org.au.  Sunshine Coast Mardi Gras – Saturday 18 June 2022 info@sunshinecoastmardigras.com.au Ticketing from $10-45 Fight for LGBTI+ Rights demo, Campaign for Rainbow Rights – 1pm Saturday 25 June 2022, Town Hall Provocations: A Queer Liberation Conference, Pride in Protest – Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 June 2022, UTS First Mardi Gras Inc. Salon78: Celebrating Rainbow History – Saturday 25 June 2022, by Zoom, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. 44th Anniversary Drinks – 5pm, Sunday 26 June 2022, Kinselas, Taylor Square, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au Broken Heel Festival, Broken Hill – 8 to 12 September 2022. https://www.bhfestival.com/home Coastal Twist Arts and Cultural Festival – 27 September to 3 October 2022 https://coastaltwist.org.au/whats-on/events/ Newcastle and Hunter Pride Festival – has been rescheduled to 7 October to 6 November 2022, see website for details Newcastle Pride Festival - Newcastle, NSW | HUNTERhunter Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay – 25-27 November 2022, http://www.haymardigras.com.au/ Sapphire Coast Pride, Bega Valley, www.Facebook.com/groups/sapphirecoastpride   For other events, please check: https://australianpridenetwork.com.au/lgbtiq-festivals/new-south-wales/. And remember to check links closer to the advertised dates for confirmation of events.

IDAHOBIT 2022 - Queer Thinking Live by SGLM

78er Gail Hewison joins Queer Thinking Live, by Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras on IDAHOBIT 2022. Watch below or click here to watch on YouTube

We were proud to join forces with Sydney WorldPride, Meta and Olay Australia by Procter & Gamble to celebrate #IDAHOBIT2022 (May 17, 20022) with a virtual roundtable to honour the progress we’ve made and the work that still needs to be done in the fight for equality.

A special panel of LGBTQIA+ community members shared their experiences, stories, and advice, including Matika Little, Luka Gracie, Gael Hewison and Adrian Murdoch. The live event was hosted by the incredible and fearless Maria Thattil.

SBS: Commission of inquiry into LGBTIQ+ hate crimes in NSW formally launched