Vale Betty Hounslow

First Mardi Gras Inc. are devastated to advise of the passing of Betty Hounslow on 27 July. Betty had an underlying health condition that took an unexpected turn in recent weeks. Our deepest condolences to Betty's partner Kate Harrison, and to Betty’s sister Mary Hounslow, who were with her when she died, and to her family and many friends and comrades. Betty was an absolute icon and made an outstanding contribution in so many progressive groups, including the Queensland Anti-Freeway Movement; the Queensland Solidarity Group, Sydney; the New Left Party; Socialist Lesbians, later Socialist Lesbians and Male Homosexuals; and the Gay Liberation Quire. Betty was the founder of the the Gay and Lesbian Immigration Task Force and assisted in the development of the AIDS Council of NSW between 1985-1990. Betty was the Chair of the domestic violence service RDVSA for a period, and until recently she was the Chair of the Asylum Seekers Centre and a Board member of Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA. She was also an elected Vice President of the Australian Council for International Development. A 78er, Betty was actively involved in the protests after the 1978 Mardi Gras arrests, and played a significant role in the organisation of the 1981 Mardi Gras Parade. She was an inaugural Management Committee member of First Mardi Gras Inc. and an elected member of the Mardi Gras 78ers Committee.  Only a month ago, Betty spoke at our launch of Voices from 1978, having contributed her memories of 1978 to the book. Betty was a Sister of Mercy for a short time in Queensland in the early 70s. She was later officially canonised by Mother Inferior of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, as Saint Betty Therese of the Holy Face (of Jesus), for her work on gay and lesbian immigration.  After coming to Sydney from Queensland, Betty worked in a variety of roles including roles at Marrickville Legal Centre and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, as the CEO at ACOSS, and in senior positions at the Fred Hollows Foundation. She also spent a period in Cambodia in the early 1990s working for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia on human rights issues. Betty was awarded the Justice Medal in 2003 for outstanding achievement in improving access to justice in NSW, particularly for socially and economically disadvantaged people, and she was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2013. Betty was a force of nature in all her activist and professional endeavours and will be greatly missed.

SMH: The gay Christian ‘nun’ and satirist who became a queer legend

ABC NEWS: Remembering Fabian LoSchiavo - Australian nun, social activist, religious leader

Newsletter - May 2023

View this email in your browser May 2023 In this May edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Ken Davis on Vale Fabian LoSchiavo Meredith Knight on Vale Linda Bowman Karl Zlotkowski on 78ers Salute Union Pride Diane Minnis on Trans Day of Visibility Demo Pete De Waal on Phone-A-Friend 50th Anniversary Greg Reading on Pride (R)Evolution Exhibition Diane Minnis on Liberate! Exhibition Robert French on 40 Years On – 'Scandalous Conduct' Party after Club 80 Raid 2 Photo from May 78ers Lunch How to buy Badges and Books Calendar of Events.  The next 78ers Lunch is on at 12pm, Sunday 4 June 2023, Terminus Hotel, Pyrmont, downstairs room, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au and the next First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting at 4pm, Saturday 17 June 2023.   Diane Minnis Events to mark the 45th Anniversary of the first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras  City of Sydney Liberate! Exhibition Talk – 1-3pm, Saturday 24 June 2023, Customs House, Circular Quay,  FREE: https://whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/events Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Celebrating our Sapphire Anniversary – 6.30pm Saturday 24 June 2023, Carriageworks, SGLMG members only, respond to the ballot invitation sent to members in early May. If you don’t get a ticket, contact: info@78ers.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. 78ers 45th Anniversary Drinks – 3pm, Sunday 25 June 2023, Kinselas, FREE RSVP: info@78ers.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. Book Launch: Voices from 1978 – 6pm, Tuesday 27 June 2023, State Library, FREE, Booking essential: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/voices-from-1978-book-launch-tickets-638942884367 State Library Pride (R)Evolution Exhibition – runs until Sunday 9 July 2023   Pride Month events are held from 1-31 June 2023 – see Sydney Pride Festival. Malabar and Salina, the Eora and Dharawal lands, and the world are much less interesting places after the unexpected death of Fabian LoSchiavo on 11 May at his home by the sea. Fabian, and his various Christian personas, through his multiple contributions to queer culture and so many communities, became a very widely loved national treasure. Fabian grew up in Eastwood, in a family of Irish and southern Italian heritage, near the Catholic church of St Anthony, and the Vincentian fathers and the Daughters of Charity at Marsfield. Fabian went to Catholic schools in Eastwood and Bathurst. He had a vocation, and spent a year with the Vincentians in Campbelltown after leaving school, then another two in the Vincentian novitiate in Perth. Then he wanted to join an Order of Canons Regular, the Premonstratensians, and went to seminary in St Norbert’s Abbey in Green Bay Wisconsin. In addition to theology, Fabian studied Latin, classical Greek, Hebrew, Italian and French. Facing contradictions about his sexuality, and horrified by post Second Vatican Council modernisations in the abbey, he left and looked for alternatives in the USA, coming back to Australia to live with his sister Victoria and Michael Kheighery in Newtown in 1972. He went into Caritas in Darlinghurst for mental health interventions, and went to Dr Neil McConaghy for aversion therapy, which failed to cure his homosexuality. Fabian went to study at UNSW, focussing on archives, and started to get involved in gay groups in 1973. He remained religious, and joined the Anglican church – not the mainstream ultra-protestant Sydney Diocese, but a progressive congregation in the Anglo-Catholic tradition in Stanmore. Fabian worked casually in gay bars in Kings Cross, and put personal ads in the then-radical and queer-friendly Nation Review. His advert saying “quaerite et invenietis” – “seek and ye shall find” attracted interest from gay men who shared his fascination with traditional religious vestments. After his graduation from UNSW, Fabian worked for many decades with the NSW State Archives, until his retirement in 2012, when they relocated from the Rocks to Kingswood. Fabian was active in his union, PSA, in family history, and performed satirically as an archivist for state government celebrations. In the mid-seventies, Fabian was live-in caretaker at the Inner City Education Centre in Stanmore, a radical professional development centre associated with the NSW Teachers’ Federation; he later moved to an apartment nearby in Stanmore. He had become involved in St Luke’s Enmore, and he stayed active in that parish until his death. Fabian was extremely socially and politically conservative in the early 1970s, but became involved in gay community and activism. In 1978 he was sewing flags and banners for protests and conferences, and he came to the morning march on 24 June 1978 with a sign saying “Gay, Free and C of E”. He became active in Gay Solidarity Group. Not long after, with Prue Borthwick and others, Fabian established AngGays, the fourth lesbian and gay religious group in Sydney (after Acceptance, MCC and Chutzpah). After the first Mardi Gras in 1978, lesbian, gay and trans activism accelerated. Fabian not only had a complex vocation as a monk/nun, but was also a creative and satirical performer. In 1981 Fabian was a founder of the Gay Liberation Quire and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (as Sr Mary Volupta, later as Mother Inferior, or Mother Abyss) and later was a vocalist with the country gospel band, Eve and the Forbidden Fruits. Fabian’s public religious personas multiplied. Mother had avatars including: Monsignor Porcamadonna, the Papal Nuncio to Sydney gay and lesbian community, playing “Volare” on accordion, the Pentecostal Rev Oral Riches (or Richards, in honour of American Oral Roberts, the main proponent of the Prosperity Gospel), Greek Orthodox Patriarch Sfichtokolos, Dean Sheraton Hilton, (a Sydney Anglican Diocese Festival of Light and real estate maven) and Father Terence Patrick Francis Zavier O’Flynn, a one armed Catholic priest from Nyngan, fond of gambling and alcohol). All were anarchic satirical cultural weapons in the struggle against heterosexism, hypocrisy, sexism, racism, war, and capitalism. Fabian was tireless in performing, not just for gay men and lesbians, but also for peace, international solidarity, left and union events, for sex workers, drug users and archivists. Mother Inferior led many notorious politico-cultural interventions by the Sisters. He would come to Preterm and other abortion clinics to chat up (and scare away) the Catholic brothers trying to stop women accessing services. Gay Solidarity and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence organised a demonstration of 400 at Ryde Civic Centre outside a prayer rally by American Moral Majority leader, Jerry Falwell, aborting his plans to expand to Australia. Monsignor Porcamadonna and Mother officiated at exorcisms and raffles and dog shows at the three week Gay Rights Embassy outside premier Neville Wran’s home in Woollahra in 1983. Outside the election launch of Jim Cameron, an upper house candidate for Fred Nile’s Call to Australia in 1984, Rev Oral Riches led a Pentecostal Revival meeting at Willoughby, with the gift or tongues, and three evangelical Blood Hymns. On 4 April 1984, Sr Mary Third Secret of Fatima, and Cardinal Cozijn saved relics of different “species” from the demolished toilet, or “Wedding Chapel” in Green Park. Mother and the Sisters elevated the stainless steel urinal to an altar of worship in the Mardi Gras parade, and began a series of Reliquary exhibitions, in the Bookshop Darlinghurst and in the National Homosexual Conferences. A ferry ride to Manly inspired the Sisters to begin “Animal Gaol” walks at Taronga, and in 1990, Mother Inferior, with Cardinal Robert French, began history walks in inner Sydney. For Mardi Gras one year, Mother Inferior ran a tour of the Malabar sewage works, a “fire temple” visible across the water from Mother’s convent at Malabar. He wrote special hymns about treating sewage, without ever using any direct words. Fabian would often write and produce on an old typewriter, new witty lyrics to hymn songs, and would lead the congregation singing with his accordion, for example the ever popular versions of the Lourdes Hymn, “Ave Mardi Gras”. Led by Mother Inferior, half a dozen gay male nuns narrowly escaped death outside the Sydney Film Festival in 1985. SPI was protesting the film by Jean-Luc Godard, “Hail Mary” for the blasphemous portrayal of the Blessed Virgin as a Swiss heterosexual petrol pump attendant. As nuns chanted “The Queen of Heaven Don’t Pump Gas!”, 4,000 Lebanese Phalangists arrived, violently threatening the nuns, the film festival and the arrival of Gough and Margaret Whitlam. The petition demanding that all censorship powers be handed over to SPI as the only reliable guardians of public morals went strangely unanswered. Relations with police were not always warm. In 1986 during the visit of conservative Pope John Paul II, the Sisters turned out for several motorcades, the Pope sometimes assuming from afar they were Eastern Rite priests. Mother Inferior and Sister Mary, Mary Quite Contrary were arrested at Sydney University for the slogan: “Anti-Woman, Anti-Gay, Fascist Pope Go Away!”. On the evening in 1986 when Darlinghurst police were vacating the police station where the first Mardi Gras arrestees in June 1978 had been held, and sometimes beaten, the Sisters held a ceremony at the front door with a pig’s head on a silver platter, reminiscent of Salome and John the Baptist. This was not indicative of Fabian’s usual style. In 1989 the Sisters carried a vast papier mache head of Fred Nile on a platter in the Mardi Gras parade, and later helped mobilise thousands to welcome Fred Nile’s “Cleansing March” on Oxford Street. Written by Phil Stevenson, the anthem, “Thank You Lord for Gay Liberation” was transformed by the ecstatic preaching of Rev Oral, testifying to the “Four Square Gospel of Socialism, Feminism, Gay Liberation and Ethnic Pride”. Rev Oral with his hand in the air, like former PM Scott Morrison, would end the song with shouts of “I am Coming, Lord, I am Coming!”. Mother Inferior pioneered the Sisters providing pastoral care within and beyond the lesbian and gay communities, with multifaith ceremonies for naming children, relationship and house blessings, and memorial services. In 1983, at the start of the AIDS crisis in Sydney, Sr Third Secret brought a small safe sex publication from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in San Francisco, which was one of the first AIDS prevention materials distributed in Australia. Mother Inferior and the Sisters continued to play a role in safe sex education, for gay men, drug users and sex workers, though Mother used decent language, talking only of “relations” not sex, and “organs”, and “feeling comfortable with one another”, as he had been with Sr Missionary Position, Sr Boom Boom, Sr Vicious Power Hungry Bitch, Sr Florence Nightmare, Sr Freeda Peoples, Sr Kay Sera, and Sadie Sadie the Rabbi Lady, when Mother visited the San Francisco Mother House. In 1991 at the tenth anniversary celebration of the foundation of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Order suffered a Schism, with Mother refusing go to the monthly collective decision-making nuncheons. One group thoroughly horrified Fabian, SPIRM (Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Reform Movement) implemented the Second Vatican Council reforms, and adopted vestigial veils, mission brown pleated skirts, beige blouses and cream cardigans, abjuring all natural fabrics. Another group, the Big Sisters of Universal Joy, wearing white Cistercian habits, were more pagan, and focussed on pastoral care in response to the AIDS crisis. Fabian paraded in Mardi Gras almost every year, in various comedic guises, usually clerical, and contributed to a range of gay groups, such as GayWaves radio, and Inside Out prisoners support network with Kendall Lovett. In 1985 “Encounters”, an ABC religion department TV program, featured Fabian’s life story, and the contradictions of being a homosexual Christian. Fabian moved to Malabar after the death of his aunt in the mid-1980s and started to transform the rooms, garden, sheds, attic and catacombs into a somewhat unascetic multifaith chapel and library, with surrounding fishponds, fruit trees and shrines. Fabian went through a process with the Catholic church to get restitution for the sexual abuse he faced while young, by priests. Fabian visited his ancestral home in Salina, near Sicily, in the late 1980s, making friends in that community, and two decades ago began a legal case to ensure his part of the family could still access the houses in the harbour of Santa Marina. During several visits to Rome, apart from seeking out incorrupt relics of saints hidden in obscure parts of basilicas and churches, Fabian played accordion for socialist events, and became a member of the far-left Partito della Rifundazione Comunista. Fabian also enjoyed travel to Malaysia and Vietnam. After retiring, engaged with his local community in Malabar, Fabian stayed active in deploying his religious personas for politics, satire, humour and pastoral duties. He always went to mass at his church, St Luke’s in Enmore, for many years teaching Sunday school. He began to teach ethics in primary schools, assisted in a klezmer band with Alex Kaufmann, and he kept sewing and riding his bike. He had a small boat to take onto the water in Long Bay. In recent years he had reversed his aversion to dogs, and became a very loving dog minder, dog companion and dog walker. Through international Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence connections, Fabian made friends with a bishop of the Holy Celtic Church, based in Switzerland, and took ordination as a priest in Apostolic Succession (via the Old Catholic Church in Netherlands), as Rev Dom Fabian. So he achieved his two vocations, as an abbess, and as a priest. Fabian was always close to his family, in recent years his sisters and brothers and their children. His bravery, creativity, warm-heartedness and sense of humour will be long celebrated. His contributions to queer culture and liberation, and to global social justice, are immense. He has helped create and enliven our communities in Sydney and beyond. His gentle satirical presence and performances have played a vast role in winning queer dignity, acceptance, equality and freedom.   Ken Davis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair William Bougham’s videos of Fabian:  https://www.facebook.com/william.brougham/videos/273987291770710   Linda was born in the USA in 1946 and migrated to Australia in 1973. She was an academic; a Russian historian in the Economic History Department at the University of Sydney. Also at the School of History at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Linda was a much loved member of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir. Linda died peacefully from Alzheimer’s disease in April 2023. She is survived by her long-time partner, Dr Lyn Fong and their two adorable doggies. The photo below of Linda and Lyn was taken at the 2022 Mardi Gras, 78ers contingent, which was Linda’s last as she was too ill to participate in 2023.   78er Meredith Knight Each year, one month after the close of the Mardi Gras season, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras hosts a community awards night to celebrate achievements and contributions to the festival events. Awards are distributed to individuals and groups involved in Fair Day, the Parade, and for Individual Excellence and Lifetime Achievement. Each year there are awards for Volunteer of the Year, Best Costume, Best Individual or Small Group, Most Fabulous Parade Entry and this year, for the second time, an award for the parade entry that best connects with The Spirit of 1978. This award has been introduced by the SGLMG 78ers Committee to remind the Mardi Gras community of our movement’s origins in the politics of the 1970s. This year’s awards were held at the UNSW Roundhouse (scene of past triumphs for some of us…), suitably disco’d for the occasion and crowded with the great and good of Mardi Gras (and a few others). Alongside the SGLMG board and staff there were mobs of volunteers and organisers from Parade groups and Fair Day stalls, all hoeing into the free food. And then, as the awards were announced (like Oscars) I was called up to present the Spirit of 1978 Award on behalf of the SGLMG 78ers Committee. I reminded the crowd that the events of 24 June 1978 were part of an international Day of Solidarity in protest against moves to discriminate against gays in their work. In light of this, on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of 1978 the Committee had decided to award the Spirit of 1978 award to the parade group organised by Union Pride. It’s also worth noting that 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the first union Pink Ban in 1973, called by the BLF at Macquarie University to protest the expulsion of Jeremy Fisher from his university college. Union Pride plan to commemorate this anniversary during this year’s Pride Month. The Spirit lives on.   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary On 2 April, Pride in Protest organised a Trans Day of Visibility rally and march in Newtown. Over two thousand people took part, many in response to recent aggressive Christian Lives Matter demonstrations in Newtown, Oxford Street and the city. We thought it was important that 78ers show our solidarity, so we took the big solid 30th anniversary 78ers banner. It was certainly useful cover when the rain came pelting down during the speeches. Though we all were soaked as we marched up King Street. Unions had a strong presence, with members of the United Workers Union, Australian Services Union, and National Tertiary Education Union in attendance. Dykes on Bikes made a powerful impact leading the march. First Mardi Gras Inc. moved our first Sunday lunch to a brunch in Newtown and most 78ers attending came up to join the rally and some marched. Thanks to 78er Virginia Iliv for her video: 2023 Trans rally and march at Newtown NSW - YouTube.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Peter de Waal wrote this on 13 April 2023, the day of the 50th anniversary celebration of Australia’s first telephone helpline for gay men and lesbians – Phone-A-Friend. “Today is a remarkable and memorable day for me personally and the rainbow community. “At 6pm today Australia’s first gender-specific telephone help line – Phone-A-Friend – was launched on so called black Friday 13 April 1973. And I am so proud and delighted that it was launched and begun in our – Bon and my – Balmain house’s front room. The same house where I still live but alas without Bon. Over the years its name changed to Twenty10/Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service and nationally QLife. “Over its 50-year existence it has been a quiet achiever and remarkable emotional backbone of the rainbow community. It was there ready and waiting with a sympathetic non-judgemental ear. During many rainbow communal and individual crisis, to name just a few: 1980-90s devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic; Sydney’s gay-hate crime epochs; Post traumatic 1978 first Mardi Gras; Australia’s marriage equality campaign. The list is too long to mention here. “The phone service saved many lives. And during the last half century it has supported, counselled, assisted, enriched, and empowered, our multi-faceted rainbow community, in many and varied ways. “But it’s only been possible with the multitude of past, present, and hopefully future volunteers. Who generously give and work towards a common rainbow goal of equality, inclusion, belonging, rainbow love is love. And that only the best is good enough for each and every one of us. “A press release was issued on behalf of CAMP – Campaign Against Moral Persecution, which is Australia’s 1970 foundation stone of today’s rainbow community. Phone-A-Friend is CAMP’s enduring entity of which I was a foundation member. “Tonight, when I’ll be at a celebration to mark the phone service’s golden jubilee I’ll be the oh so proud with pride in my heart ‘birthday boy’ of the year.”   Peter de Waal 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member Recently, I visited the Pride (R)Evolution exhibition at the State Library of NSW. The exhibition traverses a broad gamut of our LGBQTI+ history in Sydney, from the early days to the present. I was pleased to see that Gaywaves got a guernsey, with an installation suggestive of someone listening to our program in their bedroom. Our presence is no doubt thanks to the efforts of one of our most devoted listeners, Bill West. Bill meticulously recorded the show off air every week, recording 145 tapes between 1980 and 1990. When he died, these precious tapes, totalling 147 hours, were donated to the State Library of NSW. On one occasion, when we decided to give our radio serial ‘Gays of Our Lives’ a second run, we discovered that we had lost one of the original tapes. Thanks to Bill, we were able to obtain a copy of the lost episode from him, so we were able to replay the serial. Daniel Rogers, who put the installation together, writes: “I listened to the Gaywaves tapes like they were a radio program. I had them on in my car, in the kitchen, playing from another room. I felt like I was in a different time... the early tapes ring of a certain love, the unprofessionalism of the news reads, the familiarity between the hosts... thinking of listening to this program, alone, in my room, imagining a kind of queer life, I wanted to be there so badly.” Disappointingly, the program excerpt playing on the day I attended, consisted of none of the highlights promised in the transcripts provided by the link, but instead a not particularly interesting reading of a few lines from a short story. The exhibition runs until Sunday 9th July. Catch it before then.   Greg Reading 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member It was great to pop in recently to the City of Sydney’s Liberate! Exhibition at Customs House, Circular Quay. The exhibition is curated by Jacqui North and continues until 2 July. Liberate! features the work of eight queer photographers, including C.Moore Hardy and 78er Sallie Colechin. The photographs were on rotating display on six large screens – covering themes of Fighting For Our Lives, Party With Us!, Community Made + Queering Spaces, Transcend, First Nations and Protest. This makes for engaging presentations and you can sit or stand and watch each screen as the images scroll through. There are explanatory panels and quotes, including from Ken Davis and I in the Protest section, and these round out the stories told by the images. However, there is a gap in the Protest section, with no photos of the first Mardi Gras. There is an obvious lead in with caption to Sallie’s photo of the morning march (shown above in the Protest section sign) which lists the women “holding the banner in what became known as the first Mardi Gas”. But this could also be interpreted as the morning march being the Mardi Gras – an all too common mistake made by the media. Jacqui North is coordinating a panel discussion on Saturday 24 June at Customs House, focussing on the photography of history making moments across 45 years with four photographers including Sallie. This is FREE and will probably be from 1-3pm but check whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/events. Get down and see the exhibition before it closes on 2 July!   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Having botched their first attempt the Vice Squad together with cops from Darlinghurst Police Station raided Club 80 for a second time on 26 February 1983. This time they came prepared with still and video cameras to document the raid and gather further 'evidence'. An additional 11 men were charged. The charges included an obscure 'common law' offence of 'Scandalous Conduct' (that on 11 February had also been added to those charged on the first raid). The police raid had one positive, and ironic, effect – they now managed to unite a disparate community of bar queens, the leather crowd, activists and those who to this point had been indifferent. And again, the community responded quickly. A meeting called for Sunday 27 February was attended by over 500 people. The following motion was proposed: "This meeting called on Neville Wran, National President of the ALP to state immediately his firm intention to repeal all anti-gay laws in NSW in the immediate future." So far so good, then anger overcame rationality. The Chair of Sydney Mardi Gras, Brian McGahen, I think to garner some personal gain knowing he was to stand as an Independent against Labor for the Sydney City Council at the next election, had added the following, in relation to the forth coming Federal election: "Should such an undertaking not be given by next Friday, we call upon all gay people in Australia not to vote for ALP candidates and instead for other candidates with pro-gay policies." It passed, and was to totally wreck the momentum that we had built up in response to the raids. The media, instead of continuing the focus on police action, now changed the story to 'Gay Rights Lobby (GRL) calls on the community to vote against Labor at the Federal election’. Federal politics had nothing to do with what had been happening in NSW. In addition, it meant calling for the defeat of Max Pearce, the first openly gay candidate to be endorsed by a political party in Australia, who was standing for Labor in the Federal electorate of Wentworth. In an attempt to alter the narrative, I issued a press release stating GRL "was an impartial body set up to lobby for homosexual rights and it did not urge people to vote for or against any party" (SMH 1/3/1983). While this was picked up by some media, we never regained the momentum. Brian tried to back-track by exempting Max Pearce from the ban, but it was all too late. I, and other activists, never quite forgave Brian for this mess. The anger generated in the room, however, did have one direct result. At the end of the meeting, it was decided to march on Darlinghurst Police Station. So, on a balmy summer's afternoon, a mob of 300 angry queens moved from the Gay Centre in Surry Hills to Taylor Square. It was only when we reached Bourke Street that I spied a police car with the occupant radioing back to the Station the message that we were coming. Reaching Taylor Square, we just ignored the traffic lights and stopped the traffic as we marched across. At the Station, there was pandemonium. Cops were running around hurriedly closing windows. The front door was firmly shut. It was the only time in all the years of activism that I witnessed the cops being wrong footed. The rally was noisy. There were speeches by John Schwarkopf, the Secretary of the Homosexual Law Reform Coalition, by Michael Glynn, the editor of the Sydney Star, and myself as GRL Co-Convenor. I held a letter for the Police Commissioner that we had hurriedly written. When the front door was partially opened and a Police Sargent came out, I moved forward. "What's all this about?" he asked, as if he didn't know. Then he paused. I saw concern come across his face. "Whoa!" he said. I stopped and looked around to see that the whole crowd had moved forward with me. I quietly asked everyone to move back a bit, which they did. I then turned (and I confess somewhat smugly) said to the cop, "See that's how's it's down. With civility." I then stated that our community was sick and tired of being harassed by the police, especially from that Station, and handed over the letter to the Commissioner. The crowd then broke up peacefully, though some quickly reassembled for a group photo for the Sydney Star. Over coming days, there was a demonstration outside Parliament House where people chained themselves to the railings. Delegations visited Parliament House to lobby politicians. Wran, however undermined this lobbying process when he 'ruled out any further attempts to decriminalise homosexuality this year ..." (SMH 1 March 1983) On 4 March, we held a rather rowdy ‘Scandalous Conduct' party at Club 80, to which we invited the police. They, of course, never came. There was music, and raffles. My former Co-Convenor at GRL, Barry Charles, won six cans of Crisco. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence held an exorcism of the building and Mother Inferior (Fabian LoSchiavo) blessed the crowd with amyl nitrate for holy water! Importantly, over $4,000 was raised, which became the seed funding for the Lambda Legal Defence Fund in support of the Club 80 detainees. Then, on 2 April, the Vice-Squad, based on the evidence collected at the second raid, successfully had Justice Lusher declare Club 80 'a disorderly house' and it was closed down. But that was not the end of police activity. There was another Club 80 premises established in Little Oxford Street, and this too was raided on 27 August and closed down. While the community responded with an impromptu march down and up Oxford Street, at which the police showed surprising restraint, it was to be two other actions that proved to be most important in furthering the cause – the establishment of the Gay Embassy outside the Premier's home, and the signing of Statutory Declarations by people and the confronting of the Vice Squad daring them to arrest us. These had a direct impact on the outcome of the homosexual law reform campaign in NSW.   Robert French 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member There was a great roll up at the 78ers Lunch on the first Sunday in May at The Terminus Hotel, Pyrmont. We book the downstairs room off the courtyard each month and enjoy a relaxing meal together. The next lunch will be on Sunday 4 June. RSVP: info@78ers.org.au Photo: Diane Minnis. 78er badges and our new Always an Ally 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 to the PO Box. Voices from 1978 The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, is a 104 page, A5 book. You can get your copy for $15 plus $5 postage from Orders — First Mardi Gras (78ers.org.au) or buy it from The Bookshop Darlinghurst for $19.99. The Bookshop also does overseas orders, but best to email info@thebookshop.com.au for a postage quote. Calendar of Events First Mardi Gras Inc. 78ers Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 4 June 2023, Terminus Hotel, Pyrmont, downstairs room, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 17 June 2023 by Zoom City of Sydney Liberate! Exhibition Talk – 1-3pm, Saturday 24 June 2023, Customs House, Circular Quay, FREE: https://whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/events Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Celebrating our Sapphire Anniversary – 6.30pm Saturday 24 June 2023, Carriageworks, SGLMG members only invited First Mardi Gras Inc. 78ers 45th Anniversary Drinks – 3pm, Sunday 25 June 2023, Kinselas, FREE RSVP: info@78ers.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. Book Launch: Voices from 1978 – 6pm, Tuesday 27 June 2023, State Library, FREE, Booking essential: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/voices-from-1978-book-launch-tickets-638942884367 First Mardi Gras Inc. 78ers Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 2 July 2023, Terminus Hotel, Pyrmont, downstairs room, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au Broken Heel Festival, Broken Hill – 7-11 September 2023 Broken Heel Festival (bhfestival.com) 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: Legendary Activist And Community Icon Fabian LoSchiavo Has Died

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.

Newsletter - December 2021

View this email in your browser December 2021 In this December, end of year round up edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Karl Zlotkowski and Diane Minnis on 78ers in the 2022 Mardi Gras Parade Ken Davis on Mardi Gras Daytime Protest, 5 March 2022 Karl Zlotkowski on Protest the Religious Discrimination Bill Robyn Kennedy on InterPride General Meeting and World Conference Diane Minnis on Christmas at the Colombian – with lots of photos Photos from the Launch of Toby Zoates’ book: Punk Outsider Lance Day’s Tribute to Peter Binning on his passing Rosie Pentreath on her new OUTcast Podcast Rebbell Barnes and Bill Ashton on How to get your 78ers and CAMP badges Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis In the next few weeks, the Mardi Gras 78ers Committee will send out emails with a survey to register to march in the 2022 Parade. You can also volunteer for the 78ers tent at Fair Day and request a 78ers t-shirt if you don’t already have one. 78ers who are Lifetime Members of Mardi Gras will receive this email from SGLMG and First Mardi Gars Inc. will also broadcast this email to all 78ers on our list. You may get it twice…but we want to make sure that the information gets to all 78ers for whom we have contact details. In recent weeks there have been problems with some 78er members of Mardi Gras not receiving offers of tickets in the stands at the SCG. We have been making representations to Mardi Gras to have email addresses corrected and emails resent. If you still do not have one of these seating offers, and you are a Mardi Gras member, let us know at info@78ers.org.au.   However, there will be seats in the stands for all who march in the Parade in addition to those you have booked. Members of the elected Mardi Gras 78ers Committee are: Sue Fletcher, Helen Gollan, Penny Gulliver, Diane Minnis, Richard Riley and Karl Zlotkowski.   Karl Zlotkowski and Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary and Co-Chair Last year I took part in the Pride in Protest (PiP) organised daytime “Take Over Oxford Street March” on the day of the Mardi Gras Parade. This was a bit like 24 June 1978, with a militant daytime street march, and a larger night-time parade. This year, some 78ers are attending the open planning meetings for a daytime protest rally on the day of the Mardi Gras Parade – Saturday 4 March 2022. The meetings are attended by PiP members, people from Community Action for Rainbow Rights (CARR), young independent activists as well as a few of us veterans of LGBTIQ struggles. The key demand of the rally is opposing the Religious Freedom Bill along with demands around transgender rights, queer refugees, police, decriminalising sex work and Black Lives Matter. A number of 78ers will march in this daytime protest rally, others will join the Mardi Gras Parade and some of us will do both. This seems to be the way things are going around the world – with unofficial protests alongside large official Pride celebrations.   Ken Davis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair   On 5 December 2021, 78ers once again joined a rally to protest against the Federal Government’s Religious Freedom Bill. This Bill was introduced late in the last sitting of the year, and has now been referred to an Inquiry. Some of the more contentious elements have been removed (including the so-called “Folau Clause”) but even in its current form it remains a threat to all secular minorities. It has rightly been described as a Religious Discrimination Bill, and would effectively give licence to bigots to discriminate, if their prejudice is grounded in “faith”.  It also threatens to over-ride State anti-discrimination legislation, setting back the gains of decades of struggle. Community Action for Rainbow Rights (CARR) organised the rally against the Bill and two rallies earlier in the year, with another scheduled for the new year. On 5 December a crowd of several hundred assembled in Taylor Square, including a staunch band of 78ers with the “78ers - Still Out and Proud” banner. I spoke first, on behalf of the 78ers, with the aim of linking the current struggle against discrimination with the struggles of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Other speakers – Federal Greens Senator Dr Mehreen Faruqi, Lydia Shelly from the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, CARR’s April Holcombe and Drag Race Down Under star Etcetera Etcetera – rallied the crowd before the noisy march down Oxford Street to Hyde Park, led by CARR and the 78ers. A full video of the rally can be found here: https://fb.watch/9JweueANTT/. The text of my speech follows. It should be clear that my intention was to underline the place of our group within the community and its history, and our intention to continue the struggle we began 50 years ago.   “I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, and their elders, past and present. I also acknowledge the elders of my own community – our community – some of whom are here today. These people have struggled against discrimination and bigotry for over 50 years.  nd that bigotry and discrimination stemmed from the views of ‘people of faith’, who use their religion as both a shield and a sword. In 1978 these people gathered here, in this place, to start a peaceful protest down Oxford Street. That “Mardi Gras’ ended up with a riot in the Cross, police violence and mass arrests. Those arrested were brought here, to that police station, and some were bashed in the cells. And those who did the bashing probably went to church the next day. It wasn’t right then, and it isn’t right now. In 1978 these people were aware of the activities of Anita Bryant, a right wing Christian who led a campaign to roll back anti-discrimination provisions in the employment of teachers in Miami. Her slogan was “Save our Children”. Her campaign succeeded. Her motivation was her profound religious belief. In 1978 a similar initiative in California (the “Briggs Initiative”) failed, after a sustained campaign of resistance by gay groups in the USA. And one of those rallies in San Francisco was the first time the rainbow flag was ever flown. The Sydney rallies in June 1978 were part of an International Day of Solidarity with those same protests in California. The first Mardi Gras was part of a global campaign to resist the right to discriminate on the grounds of religious belief. It wasn’t right then, and it isn’t right now. These people led the struggle that created our community in the 1970’s, but that struggle against bigotry was not over. In the 1980’s these people struggled against the wave of vilification and abuse directed at our community by ‘people of faith’. HIV/AIDS was not our fault. It was not a punishment sent from God. But ‘people of faith’ believed that it was, and believed they had a right to say so. It wasn’t right then, and it isn’t right now. In 1989 the Reverend Fred Nile led a march of so-called Christians up this street to ‘cleanse’ our community. And these people met him just over there, at the head of the street. Our own Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence stood by to bless his ragged crowd and all was good will until someone started chanting “Bring on the lions!” We shouldn’t have done that, but it’s hard not to give a bit back when you’re insulted and vilified by self-appointed guardians of public decency who hide their bigotry behind a shield of faith. It wasn’t right then, and it isn’t right now. Then in the 1990’s we marched down this street, all carrying whistles, to protest against a wave of homophobic violence against our community, and the lack of police action to deal with it. We had to organise our own security patrols. That violence was carried out by people who’d grown up believing that our community was fair game. Homophobic violence, like discrimination in education, employment, health care and aged care all stems from a belief that some people are entitled to different rights from other people, simply because they believe. The supporters of this bill want a law to allow them to do unto others what they would not want done to them, simply because that fits with their ‘ethos’. These people, the elders of our community, have struggled against this idea all their lives.  And they will continue to fight, with you. It wasn’t right then, and it isn’t right now. Kill this bill!”    Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary InterPride’s 2021 General Meeting and World Conference was held November 6-8 and November 11-14, 2021. The annual event was again held online due to COVID, with members of First Mardi Gras Inc. participating in a number of sessions. This year’s workshops included a focus on the impact of colonisation. Workshops included Decolonising sexual identities, Resurgence of 2Spirit/Indigenous LGBTQIA in Canada and Pushing back against colonial era anti-LGBTQIA policies and laws in Global South. Auntie Esther Montgomery from the First Nations LGBTQIA Elders Coalition was a speaker in the Global South workshop. Robyn Kennedy was a speaker on the panel, Intergenerational Pride: Youth and Seniors. Together with Co-President Julian Sanjivan, Robyn also presented during the second Plenary session on the outcomes of the stakeholder engagement project. The project, conducted over 12 months, aims to inform the development of a new Strategic Plan for InterPride. A joint networking meeting was held between members in Oceania and Asia. This provided an opportunity to share information on activities and issues across both regions. A key feature of the General Meeting and World Conference was presentations by bidding cities for WorldPride 2025. Bidding cities were Kaohsiung Pride (Taiwan) and Capital Pride (Washington, USA). After completion of the voting process, WorldPride 2025 was awarded to Kaohsiung Pride. WorldPride 2025 will be the first to be held in Asia.   Robyn Kennedy 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member Christmas at the Colombian was our first opportunity in 21 months to get together as a larger group. The first floor bar of the Colombian Hotel has been revamped and we enjoyed drinks, finger food and catching up face to face. We also enjoyed singing some of the early 1980s Gay Liberation Quire songs led by David Abello on guitar. The raffle that First Mardi Gras Inc. has run during the year was drawn by SGLMG Board member Giovanni Campolo-Arcidiaco and FMG Inc. Associate Members Alice Anderson and William Brougham. The winners were: Giovanni Campolo-Arcidiaco, Betty Hounslow and Leonard Watson. Thanks to Rebbell Barnes for leading the organising effort for Christmas at the Colombian and to Bill Ashton for supplying a number of fun lucky door prizes.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair My friend, 78er Peter Binning has passed away aged 76, only eight weeks after being diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. Peter was a warm and generous friend. He had a presence about him and put on the best parties! Peter was born in Poland towards the end of World War II and smuggled out as a baby to England. He was adopted at three months of age by an English couple who later migrated with Peter to New Zealand. Peter had a very colourful life travelling the world as an opera singer and in recent years sang in opera dinner cruises on Sydney Harbour. Eight years ago, Peter lost his partner Declan. His well-attended funeral at Marrickville Town Hall was a tribute to his life in opera. Peter loved a good time and was a fun person to know. He will be sadly missed by all his many friends.   Lance Day 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member If you’re looking a new queer podcast, I launched @OUTcast Podcast recently. It’s a bit like Desert Island Discs, but all the guests telling their life stories are queer – and there’s less music! Season 1 features fascinating and empowering interviews and coming out stories from the most inspiring LGBTQ+ people from all over the world, including a transgender vicar, Nigerian refugee fleeing conversion therapy, a queer sex worker, and a leader in the British Royal Air Force. Check us out at: https://outcast-podcast.zencast.website/   Rosie Pentreath First Mardi Gras Inc. Volunteer during the 40th Anniversary year 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 to PO Box 1029 Glebe NSW 2037. 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 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Extraordinary General Meeting – Thursday 23 December 2021 Coastal Twist Arts and Cultural Festival – 19-23 January 2022 https://coastaltwist.org.au/whats-on/events/ First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 22 January 2022, by Zoom Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Annual General Meeting – Saturday 29 January 2022 First Mardi Gras Inc. Pre Mardi Gras Lunch – 12pm, Sunday 6 February 2022, Terminus Hotel, Pyrmont (Covid permitting), RSVP: info@78ers.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. Salon78: Fiftieth Anniversary of Sydney Gay Liberation – 3pm, Saturday 19 February 2022, Colombian Hotel (Covid permitting) and Zoom, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Fair Day – 10am-9pm, Sunday 20 February 2022 Mardi Gras Daytime Protest – 1pm, Saturday 5 March 2022, Oxford Street Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade – Saturday 5 March 2022, Sydney Cricket Ground Broken Heel Festival, Broken Hill – 24-28 March 2022 and 8-12 September 2022. https://www.bhfestival.com/festival-tickets Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras – 12 March 2022 (https://waggamardigras.com/ Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay – March 2022 (dates to be confirmed), http://www.haymardigras.com.au/ Newcastle and Hunter Pride Festival – has been rescheduled to October 2022, see website for details https://newcastlepride.com.au/ Please check links closer to the advertised dates for confirmation of events.

Newsletter - September 2021

View this email in your browser September 2021 In this September edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Details of the First Mardi Gras Inc. AGM on 9 October 2021 Virginia Mansel Lees with a Call for Interviewees for a video on Forty Years Since the Decriminalisation of Homosexuality in Victoria Karl Zlotkowski on Campaigning against Anti-LGBTIQ Bills Robyn Kennedy on New CAMP Badges Available! Rebbell Barnes on how to get your 78ers Badge and Raffle tickets Diane Minnis with a Tribute to Kaye Shumack on her passing Invitation you to an online discussion about God Save The Queen, the new book by Dennis Altman Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis First Mardi Gras Inc. members at the 2020 AGM. Screenshot montage: Sallie Colechin. The Annual General Meeting of First Mardi Gras Inc. will be held at 4pm on Saturday 9 October 2021 – by Zoom. All Members and Associate Members should have now received the meeting notice, associated documents and Zoom link. At the AGM, you’ll hear reports about what FMG Inc. has been doing over the past year. Even more importantly, you’ll have the chance to ask questions and put forward your ideas about what our community association should focus on in the future. And it will be a great opportunity to catch up with other members! If you are interested in working with us on our Committee or in a Working Group, please give one of us a call: Diane 0411 213 019, Ken 0417 398 167.   Diane Minnis and Ken Davis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chairs Hume Phoenix Inc. is an LGBTIQ organisation that spans both sides of the border between Victoria and New South Wales. In the last round of Midsumma funding there was a call-out for activities that would celebrate the Forty years of Decriminalisation of Homosexuality in Victoria. We applied and were successful in this round of funding. The main activity that we are undertaking will be the interviewing of gay men and Drag Queens who lived through both eras of the legislation. The interviews will be made into a video that will then be launched on the 26 November 2021 in Beechworth. There will be a ceremony locally where the hall will be decorated with memorabilia from our communities that highlight the struggle to achieve recognition. Interviews will be undertaken by Virginia Mansel Lees, and the videographer will edit the interviews into a video. All materials will then be lodged with the Australian Queer Archives that are now located at the Victorian Pride Centre. Because this is Victorian government grant money, you need to have lived at least part of your life during this time in Victoria in order to be part of the video project. If you are interested in being interviewed and/or would like more information, please make contact with Virginia: Email: vmansellees@yahoo.com.au, or Mobile: 0438282146. I look forward to speaking with you and being able to share this project and the associated events that Hume Phoenix Inc. has been funded for.   Virginia Mansel Lees First Mardi Gras Inc. Associate Member 78ers will by now have heard that Mark Latham’s Parental Rights Bill has moved one step closer to a vote in the NSW Parliament, possibly after sittings resume in October. But worse, the recommendations of the parliamentary committee (chaired by Latham himself) have gone even further than the original One Nation draft legislation.   Update from Equality Australia One Nation’s proposed bill threatens to harm trans and gender diverse students by denying their existence and preventing teachers and counsellors from supporting them. It would allow parents to withdraw their child from a class or program which tells them LGBTIQ+ people are just like everyone else. The committee’s report – supported by all the committee members except for Labor’s Anthony D’Adam and the Greens’ David Shoebridge – goes even further than One Nation’s harmful bill. It includes proposals that are likely unlawful, and a direct attack on the safety of trans and gender diverse young people, lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer students, and teachers who support them. It recommends a number of regressive and discriminatory policy changes, including: Prohibiting students from confidentially coming out as transgender to their teachers or school counsellors Banning trans students from participating in high school sports teams that align with their gender Requiring trans children to undergo full medical transition to be able to use toilets, change rooms or accommodation where they feel safe requiring parental consent for any discussion of matters concerning gender or sexuality. We already know that almost one in every two trans and gender diverse young people will attempt to take their own life, and many are subject to bullying and unfair treatment at school. If these policies were implemented, they would make schools even less safe and place trans students’ lives at risk. Every student in NSW should have the opportunity to reach their potential, to learn with their peers, and feel a sense of belonging in their school. That’s why we must come together to call on the State Government to stand up to One Nation and disregard the recommendations of this report, and on our Parliament to join together to vote this harmful bill down. Equality Australia is encouraging us to join a letter writing campaign to resist this legislation.   Click to write an email: equalityaustralia.org.au/ignoranceineducationbill/   Support from Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 78ers should be particularly pleased that our Mardi Gras organisation is actively supporting this campaign. SGLMG now have a Memorandum of Understanding with Equality Australia, and have confirmed their willingness to work closely with other community groups to support campaigns of this kind. This time that support took the form of a formal email from the CEO of Mardi Gras, Albert Kruger, urging all members to sign up to the Equality Australia letter writing campaign. Albert, and the Mardi Gras Board, should be commended for this unequivocal position. This is the Mardi Gras we want to see – taking a lead on issues impacting our community.   Community Action for Rainbow Rights online forum Sydney’s Community Action for Rainbow Rights, together with Melbourne-based Rainbow Rebellion, are holding their next event in their campaign against the Federal so-called "Religious Discrimination" bill. They assert that the Liberal government in Australia is back on the warpath against LGBTI rights. Our historic victory for marriage equality in 2017 showed we have the majority on our side. But since then, the conservative right has been determined to turn back the tide of progress. Here are the details of the online forum: Online forum: The global fight for LGBTI rights: No right-wing backlash! Saturday 16 October 2021 at 1pm (2) [FORUM] The global fight for LGBTI rights: No right-wing backlash! | Facebook   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member The Pride movement in Australia started well before 1978. In 1970 the national network known as CAMP (Campaign Against Moral Persecution) was founded in Sydney. The momentum of CAMP quickly spread to other States, fuelling the first LGBTQI rights marches and political campaigns for changes to oppressive laws and systems. Over fifty years later, 78ers and original members of CAMP NSW, Robyn Kennedy and Robyn Plaister, are compiling a book of newly commissioned professional portrait photographs of CAMP members across Australia, together with their personal stories of the impact CAMP had on their lives. As part of fundraising and promotional efforts for the upcoming book, exact replicas of the original CAMP badge have been produced. Badges are available for $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.   Robyn Kennedy 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member First Mardi Gras Inc. has produced a new batch of 78er badges. They cost $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 your 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. At left, Mannie De Saxe wearing our new 78ers badges that Michael Fenaughty sent him as a lockdown gift. With lockdown, we have opened up raffle ticket sales so that you can order by email. First make your payment, using the bank details in the 78ers badge article above, and then email your name and number of tickets. We will then email you a photo of your ticket numbers and your name on the ticket stubs. The raffle will be drawn just prior to the 2022 Mardi Gras Parade.   Rebbell Barnes 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member 78er Dr Kaye Shumack has recently passed away. Kaye was a visual artist, academic and an activist who was part of the original Elsie Women’s Refuge Collective. In a Sydney Morning Herald tribute, Kaye was remembered as: ‘A much loved sister, cousin, aunt, partner-in-life, friend and colleague. Artist, Scholar, Educator, Change Maker, who cherished our natural world.’ We remember Kaye as an activist for women’s and lesbian and gay causes and a fighter for social justice. She was quiet and serious and also funny and down to earth. After working at Elsie Women’s Refuge, Kaye went on to a distinguished academic career. With a background in photography, visual communication design and media production; Kaye’s research explored relationships between people, space and place through uses of mapping methodologies and visualisations. Kaye became a Professor and Director of Learning and Teaching, and the Director of International in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts, at Western Sydney University. In 2015, she received a University Award for Teaching Excellence. Kaye regularly exhibited her artwork and was featured in the Queerography Group Show at the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in February-March 1994 and many other shows over the years. Kaye’s drawing practice explored traces and motifs from the urban landscapes of Sydney’s public spaces. Kaye came along to a couple of 78ers meetings in 2016 and 2017 and joined the exuberant 78er contingent in the 40th Anniversary Parade. Afterwards she sent a message: “Congrats on such a successful night for the organisers! Saw people there haven't seen for many years.” Kaye was not able to join the 2019 Parade but was happy to receive her 78ers t-shirt. After her retirement from Western Sydney University, Kaye joined the National Art School MFA 1 drawing cohort in 2020. It was in mid-2020 Kaye found that she had advanced cancer and took time off to manage treatment and pain. In a tribute to Kaye, the National Art School wrote: “We’re thankful for the opportunity to know Kaye and pleased that thanks to her generosity, she will be remembered through the Kaye Shumack Sunflower Drawing Prize, an annual award of $3,000 for an MFA Drawing graduate whose work contributes to broadening awareness of social issues.” As 78ers, we remember Kaye as an activist committed to social justice, involved in the tumultuous events of 1978 and as someone who wanted to continue celebrate our communities’ achievements.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair  Scribe Publications and Readings invite you to a discussion about:   GOD SAVE THE QUEEN the strange persistence of monarchies by 78er Dennis Altman in conversation with Judith Brett   12.30pm Thursday 30 September, Online via Zoom RSVP: joshua@scribepub.com.au/ 03 9388 8780 Calendar of Events First Mardi Gras Inc. Annual General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 9 October 2021, by Zoom The global fight for LGBTI rights: No right-wing backlash! online forum – 1pm, Saturday 16 October 2021, Rainbow Rebellion and Community Action for Rainbow Rights (2) [FORUM] The global fight for LGBTI rights: No right-wing backlash! | Facebook OUT in the OPEN Festival, Shepparton – 28 October to 7 November 2021 http://outintheopen org.au/ Fruitopia Fair Day, Lismore – Sunday 14 November 2021 https://tropicalfruits.org.au/events/fruitopia-fairday Broken Heel Festival, Broken Hill – 2-6 December 2021 https://www.bhfestival.com/festival-tickets Coastal Twist Arts and Cultural Festival – 19-25 January 2022 https://coastaltwist.org.au/whats-on/events/ Queer Arts Festival: Queer & Visible, Wollongong – 2022 (dates to be confirmed),https://www.facebook.com/wollongongqueerartsfest/ Rainbow on the Plains Festival, Hay – March 2022 (dates to be confirmed), http://www.haymardigras.com.au/ Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras – March 2022 (date to be confirmed), https://waggamardigras.com/ Newcastle and Hunter Pride Festival – has been rescheduled to October 2022, see website for details https://newcastlepride.com.au/ Please check links closer to the advertised dates for confirmation of events.

Newsletter - October 2020

View this email in your browser October 2020 In this October edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: FMG Inc. statement on the 78ers trademark issue: “78ers” belongs to all 78ers Karl Zlotkowski on our next Salon78 forum: Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978 Robyn Kennedy on Where did the name “78ers” come from? Barry Charles’ account of the InterPride AGM and Conference Our statement on the arrests and fines at the Community Action for Rainbow Rights 10 October Rally against the Anti-Trans One Nation Bill Our tribute to Kendall Lovett on his passing A link to Sydney Arts Students Society's diverse sexuality and genders literary magazine 1978, with Foreword by Diane Minnis and Ken Davis Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis In late 2017 a small group trademarked the term “78ers SEVENTYEIGHTERS”.  This was done without consultation with the wider 78er community and they are trying to limit who can use the term 78ers. Recently, a representative of the Original 78ers Collective Inc. (which incorporated in late 2017, with no connection to First Mardi Gras Inc.) has asked Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to pay them a licence fee for using the term 78ers. Our legal advice is that the term 78ers describes a group of people, not a product or service, and that claiming an exclusive trademark on a descriptor for a group of people is not legally enforceable. In addition, registering a name as a trademark where the name is already in use, even if not trademarked, can constitute misleading or deceptive conduct. In this case, the ACCC can issue fines as well as force a change to the trademarked term. Later in this newsletter, Robyn Kennedy details how the name 78ers has been in use for over 20 years. This matter was extensively discussed at out recent AGM.   On 19 September 2020, at the Annual General Meeting of First Mardi Gras Inc., the following motion was carried unanimously: “That this meeting of First Mardi Gras Inc. believes that the term 78ers cannot be appropriated or licensed for exclusive use by any one group, since it belongs to all 78ers.” Following our AGM, Co-Chairs Diane Minnis and Ken Davis met with SGLMG CEO, Albert Kruger, and Board member Louis Hudson. We understand that a person said to be representing the Original 78ers Collective is asserting that SGLMG needs their permission to use the term 78ers, including for SGLMG‘s elected advisory 78ers Committee. SGLMG has previously been “granted” a licence by this group to use the term 78ers for the 2018 season. Albert Kruger told us that no royalties had been paid on that occasion. In light of the unenforceability of the trademark and extensive prior usage of 78ers, we urged Mardi Gras to strenuously reject the demand for a licence payment or any restriction on their use of the term 78ers. The claim by some members of the Original 78ers Collective Inc. to claim exclusive ownership of the term 78ers lacks any merit and is unethical. This represents an insult to all of us that fought so hard for our identity. We encourage all 78ers to use 78ers as frequently and appropriately as they wish.     By Diane Minnis and Ken Davis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chairs Salon78 goes Zoom! Our series of forums on issues of interest to 78ers and our friends returns in November 2020. This time we will be hosting the event by Zoom, which means that for the first time the audience of Salon78 will extend beyond Sydney to the rest of Australia, and the world. Our theme is Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978. Our speakers will bring recollections of the people and events that created the Australian LGBTIQ movement, and developed a community consciousness that took to the streets in the 70’s. Our aim is to show that without these pioneers, there would be no Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Melbourne Midsumma. Given the scale of this topic, we have divided the forum into two sessions:   Part 1 – 3pm, Sunday 29 November 2020 Part 2 – 3pm, Sunday 6 December 2020 The event will be free, but we will be asking for registration via Eventbrite, Facebook or to info@78ers.org.au. Keep an eye out for updates in the next two weeks! By Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member In 1997, around 30 people who had participated in the events of 1978 began meeting to plan commemorative activities for the 20th Anniversary of the first Mardi Gras Parade in 1998. Fairly early on the group decided that they needed a name and the term “78ers” came into being. The name 78ers appeared on meeting minutes, newsletters and correspondence including an application to Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras for funding. The 78ers formed various sub-committees which produced a website, an exhibition, and the publication It Was a Riot. This booklet documented the background leading up to the first Mardi Gras Parade, what took place on the night of the Parade as well as the subsequent protest rallies and marches. The publication included numerous photos including many that were previously unpublished. The 78ers Festival Events Group aimed to ensure that It Was a Riot remained accessible in perpetuity by depositing copies with the National Library of Australia. Copyright of the publication by the 78ers Festival Events Group is recognised in Library’s citation, with copyright held until 2068. This recognition clearly establishes pre-existing use of the name 78ers which, along with numerous other examples, demonstrates that any attempt to claim ownership of the name is invalid.   By Robyn Kennedy 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member Above: It was a Riot! InterPride AGM and Conference 2020 The AGM and Conference of InterPride, the international association of Pride organisers, was held on 1-11 October, 2020. First Mardi Gras Inc. is a member organisation and the AGM sessions were attended by Barry Charles, Robyn Kennedy and Helen Gollan. Of course, this year the conference was held online. InterPride membership has changed dramatically in the last 5 years. Membership has more than doubled to 374 groups in 2020 and regions outside North America now account for 49% of members compared to 29% in 2015. In 2020, however Board positions have largely continued to be based in North America. The organisation therefore needs to go through a structural and cultural change. A Strategic Planning Task Force co-chaired by our own Robyn Kennedy presented ideas, involving re-balancing of regions and greater outreach to developing Pride groups. These proposals were responded to on the last day. There were a number of sessions held over the 11 days, covering topics such as Seniors, People with Special Needs, Health promotion at LGBTIQ Festivals and Combating Racism. These sessions were recorded and information on the list and videos is provided below. Highlights of the final General Sessions were the: discussion on proposed changes outlined by the Strategic Planning Task Force a stunning presentation from Copenhagen on their plans for World Pride in August 2021 election of Board members, with Robyn Kennedy elected Vice-President - Global Outreach and Partnerships, and plans for future World Pride events. There was controversy over the last of these items. Since last year’s vote for Sydney in 2023, the Board of InterPride decided to award a WorldPride to Montreal for 2024. There was significant criticism of this decision given that the vote to award Montreal a WorldPride title was influenced by participation of Board members with a material conflict of interest and that the Standing Rules require a vote of the membership to award WorldPride. Before the AGM finished it was decided to take the decision back to the whole membership. Another idea presented for discussion was that WorldPride be held every year instead of every two years. In 2019 a number of us went to New York where it coincided with the 50 year anniversary of Stonewall. The next WorldPride is in Copenhagen in 2021 and then Sydney in 2023 at Mardi Gras time. There were some objections to the idea of annual WorldPrides given that that 2 year gaps ensured that smaller cities could develop viable bids and attract visitors. If WorldPride were to be held annually the financial risk to hosting cities may increase.   InterPride AGM Workshops Around 25 workshops covering diverse topics were conducted during the InterPride AGM held in early October. Recordings and slide sets are available for most of these workshops with topics including: Pride and Prejudice - Are LGBTQIA+ Elders the Forgotten Population (Workshop Recording) Speakers: Sherri Rase Combating Racism within the Queer community (Workshop Recording) Speakers: Richard Bell Living Proudly, Living Longer: Incorporating LGBTQ Health Promotion at Pride Events (Workshop Recording)Speakers: Adrian Shanker Solidarity at Stake - How Your Pride Can Change the World (Workshop Recording) Speakers: Stein Runar Østigaard, Antonio Mihajlov, Mina Skouen, Valentina Volunteer Empowerment: Building A Powerful Volunteer-Led Organization (Workshop Recording) Speakers: Melanie Mijares, Bob Leyh Organizing Pride Events in a Conservative Society (Workshop Recording) Speakers: Rahul Upadhyay Criminalization of same-sex relations: covid-19 and its impact on access to justice for LGBT persons in Uganda (Workshop Recording) Speakers: Adrian Jjuuko 2Spirit/Indigenous LGBTQ+ Resurgence in the 21st Century (Workshop Recording)  Speakers: Albert McLeod If you would like a copy of the workshop recording and presentation for any of these workshops and/or a full list of topics presented please contact Robyn Kennedy at robyn.kennedy@interpride.org.   By Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary Help Pay Protestor's Fines Community Action for Rainbow Rights organised a rally and march on 10 October 2020 against the anti-trans One Nation Bill in the NSW Parliament. If passed, the bill will increase discrimination against many, and in particular, increase repression of gender diverse children in schools. First Mardi Gras Inc., together with other organisations, endorsed the rally and opposed the court ruling against this protest. NSW allows many much larger gatherings of people at sporting events, without the masks, distancing, and preventive measures the rally organisers put in place. So why should political protests be subject to different rules? On the Saturday, hundreds of people took part in the rally in Taylor Square and marched down Oxford Street. The police arrested two participants and heavily fined eleven people. This shows a proclivity to discriminatory authoritarianism that predates the Coronavirus pandemic. The police actions compound the thrust of the One Nation Bill, which is designed to curtail social and political freedoms. Community Action for Rainbow Rights has now set up a Go Fund Me campaign to help pay the fines at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/73xau-community-action-for-rainbow-rights-fighting-fund?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet. Vale Kendall Lovett 6.10.1922 – 21.10.2020 A life of activism for social justice Mannie De Saxe (L) and Kendall Lovett (R). Photo David Urquhart, ALGA First Mardi Gras Inc. is sad to report that a few weeks after turning 98, 78er Kendall Lovett has passed away. Ken is survived by his partner of 27 years, Mannie De Saxe. Ken was a tireless activist and campaigner for LGBTIQ, refugee and human rights. Most demos we went to from the late 70s onwards had Ken’s placards, banners, slogan vests or people-shaped placards – all in his distinctive calligraphy. Ken was a lovely supportive colleague in the Gay Solidarity Group (GSG), which organised the first Mardi Gras and coordinated the massive Drop the Charges campaign that followed. Ken joined GSG after the first Mardi Gras in 1978, and was arrested in the August demonstration in Taylor Square. Often during Mardi Gras parades and demonstrations, Kendall was waiting on alert with bail money ready. Ken stayed active in GSG, later renamed Lesbian and Gay Solidarity into the 2000s, after he and Mannie moved to Melbourne. Ken had been active in Gay Liberation after he returned to Sydney from the UK in the late 1960s, where he was part of the move for homosexual law reform. He took part in the 1972 demonstration outside St Clement’s Anglican Church at Mosman after they had dismissed Peter Bonsall-Boone from staff. Kendall’s main political activism prior to GSG in 1978 was in a resident action group saving Woolloomooloo from developers, with the support of the Builders’ Labourers Federation Green Bans in the early 1970s. Ken was very active at the time of the nationalist bicentenary in 1988, helping organise a big queer contingent in the First Nations mobilisation, around the slogan “200 years of oppression and bad taste.” He was involved in Enola Gay, the peace and antinuclear activist group, and founded “Inside Out” a network supporting gay and lesbian prisoners. Ken was one of the people in GSG who was very involved with international solidarity. He sustained a long correspondence with anti-Apartheid gay activist Simon Nkoli when he was in prison in South Africa on treason charges.   In the early 1980s Ken and GSG were active in organising around inclusion of homosexuality in the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act, in demanding removal of the anti-buggery law and in responding to the rise of the Christian Right. Just prior to American Jerry Falwell’s visit in 1982, Kendall and Leigh Raymond registered the name, Moral Majority, and used it to campaign against Fred Nile and Falwell.  Ken also supported the Gaywaves radio program on 2SER FM over many years. He provided a weekly news bulletin – GRINS (Gay Radio Information News Service) – sometimes as a collective effort, but mainly as a one-man band, week in and week out.  This was circulated to other lesbian and gay media across the country. Ken was a key member of the Sydney collective of Gay Community News (1980-82) and the organising body for the Sixth National Conference of Lesbians and Homosexual Men in Sydney (1980). He was also a correspondent to gay newspapers overseas and the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA). In October 1982 Ken and GSG supported Roberta Perkins and the Australian Transsexual Association (ATA), in staging the first transgender protest in Australia, in Manly. The protest was held to challenge a judgement against two transwomen, who a Magistrate had ruled were men. In response the NSW Attorney-General said that ‘Attorneys-General of the six states had committed to new legislation to recognise the validity of sex changes’. In 1985 the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence canonised him, in recognition of his extensive gay activism, as St Kendall the Constant. Kendall formed a relationship with Mannie De Saxe, a revolutionary socialist and Jewish anti-Zionist activist from South Africa, after they met in GSG. Both of them remained active in lesbian and gay, and other social justice, causes. They volunteered to help people with AIDS, and founded SPAIDS, which planted a memorial grove of trees in Sydney Park.    After retiring from his job at Choice magazine, Ken moved to Newcastle. Twenty years ago, Ken and Mannie moved to live together in Melbourne and in recent years had practical home support from other activists and friends. Ken and Mannie have been very engaged in the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives. They have made big contributions to the struggle to improve services for older lesbian, transgender and gay people. Ken and Mannie were featured in the “2 of Us” in Good Weekend magazine on 10 March 2007.But they were very angry in 2009 when Social Security, as part of a path to marriage equality, decided they were a couple and cut their pensions, even though they had been independent tax payers. Ken and his long-term support for LGBTIQ and other social change struggles will be sadly missed. Our condolences to Mannie and to Ken’s many friends.   By Diane Minnis and Ken Davis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chairs Kendall Lovett (L) and Mannie De Saxe (R) holding the Lesbian and Gay Solidarity banner at an 'Out of Iraq' rally for peace, Melbourne, 2005. Photo John Story, ALGA 1 9 7 8 – 2020 – Sydney Arts Students Society's (SASS) diverse sexuality and genders literary magazine 1978 was published on Aug 29, 2020. 1978 includes a Foreword by Diane Minnis and Ken Davis. We were pretty chuffed that SASS were encouraged by our struggles in 1978 to name their literary magazine after the events of that momentous year. Click here to see 1978. Calendar of Events   General Meeting of First Mardi Gras Inc. – 4pm, Saturday 21 November by Zoom Opening of Coming out in the 70s: Early Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia Exhibition at the State Library – Saturday 28 November Salon78 forum: Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978, Part 1 – 3pm, Sunday 29 November by Zoom Annual General Meeting of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (including changes to their Constitution) – 11am, Saturday 5 December by Zoom Salon78 forum: Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978, Part 2 – 3pm, Sunday 6 December by Zoom

QNews: Vale Mardi Gras 78er Sandi Banks

Newsletter - April 2019

View this email in your browser Vale Ron Austin Sadly, long-time LGBTI activist and 78er Ron Austin passed away on the morning of 13 April 2019. Ron was an early member of CAMP Inc., especially of the Political Action Committee.  Ron recognised the need to involve non-political LGBTI people in the campaign for equality. He didn’t think a standard morning demonstration would do it - so he suggested that we have an evening street party which became the first Mardi Gras. Ron was later an active and wise voice in the Pride History Group. Ron celebrated his 90th birthday on 10 March 2019 with family and friends. Robert French, John Witte and other activists joined the celebration along with Josh Quong Tart, who played Ron in the ABCTV film, RIOT!   John Witte, Ron Austin and Robert French at Ron’s 90th birthday party 10 March 2019 Robert French said: "Despite his years, Ron was bright and chirpy, and expressed thanks for all the good wishes sent to him." Robyn Kennedy, who served on the CAMP Executive Committee with Ron said: "Ron was widely read in feminist literature and would often quote feminist writers. He dressed flamboyantly when he felt like it and had a lovely sense of humour. Ron was a gentle, kind man." A memorial service and wake, a rainbow day, for Ron is being held on 24 April 2019 at Camperdown Commons (31A Mallet Street, Camperdown), starting at 11am to 2pm.  Please contact Garry Long for catering purposes if you plan on attending - 0458 602 355  All images of Ron by Robert French Hay Mardi Gras 30 March First Mardi Gras Inc. members Helen Gollan and Diane Minnis traveled to Hay to participate in the second Hay Mardi Gras along with Helen’s partner, Virginia Mansell Lees.   We were honoured to march right behind the Indigenous Elders who led the parade. There was a great rollup of around 200 colourful parade participants, both marching and on floats. Left side of banner: Helen Gollan, Centre: Virginia Mansell Lees, Right side of banner: Diane Minnis with helpers from Hay and Leeton. Peter de Waal – Lifetime Achievement Award Long-term LGBTIQ activist and 78er Peter de Waal won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras awards on 28 March 2019. Lifelong gay activists Peter De Waal and his late partner Peter Bonsall-Boone have been regular attendees and strong supporters of Mardi Gras over many decades. Now in his ‘80s, his voice was as strong as ever during the 40th anniversary last year and continues fearlessly now.  Peter used his speech to highlight the plight of LGBTIQ people overseas and especially refugees from countries where our community is under threat. Congratulations Peter! Photo: William Brougham Robyn Kennedy (left) and Diane Minnis (right) congratulating Peter de Waal on his award. Photo: Anne Morphett. Next First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – Saturday 25 May, 2 - 4pm at East Sydney Arts and Community Centre, corner Burton and Palmer Streets Darlinghurst. Social Dinner Tuesday 23 April 2019 We had a good night at our first Social Dinner in March and our next dinner will be at the Paddington RSL, 226 Oxford St Paddington, at 6.30pm on Tuesday 23 April. To join us, contact Rebbell Barnes on rebbellabarnes@gmail.com Spanish Film Festival – 2-for-1 Tickets To celebrate LGBTQ stories on the big screen, the Spanish Film Festival has provided us with five ‘2-for-1’ tickets to give away to their LGBTQ films. These include the amazing Gypsy love story: Carmen y Lola, the thrilling Argentinian film: The Quietude and the super realistic Guatemalan feature: Tremors. The festival kicks off this week in Sydney and then travels to Melbourne, Byron Bay, Perth and other capitals. For more information on screening dates check out: www.spanishfilmfestival.com Three ‘2-for-1’ tickets are available for the Sydney screenings and two for sessions in other locations. If you are interested in seeing these films at the Spanish Film Festival and will use these ‘2-for-1’ tickets, please email info@78ers.org.au with your name and address.

ABC News: Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 78er Ron Austin dies aged 90

Star Observer: Marriage equality activist Peter Bonsall-Boone passes away