Newsletter - June 2021

View this email in your browser June 2021 In this June edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Karl Zlotkowski on the next Salon78: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? Barry Charles on the 5 June demo: Defend LGBTIQ rights in NSW: No right to discriminate! Diane Minnis on the Copenhagen WorldPride 2021 webinar Barry Charles on the Ageism in the LGBTIQ community forum Karl Zlotkowski on Charles Sturt University Zoom with 78ers Diane Minnis on the NSW ALP Rank and File Women’s Conference Ken Davis’ tribute: Vale Danny Abood Fiona Hulme’s review of Witches & Faggots, Dykes & Poofters Details of the next Social Lunch on Sunday 4 July Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis The Salon78 forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? Community vs Commercial Scene will be held on Saturday 26 June 2021 – close to the anniversaries of the first three Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parades and the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969. This Salon78 follows on from our forums in late 2020: Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978, where the emerging commercial gay and lesbian scene was noted. After the third successful Mardi Gras parade in June 1980, it was decided to move the Parade to summer, instead having it in June – the Stonewall uprising anniversary. The then Mardi Gras Committee held community consultations and activists were fairly evenly split between the move to summer or the Parade staying in June. Discussion included the impact of the commercial gay and lesbian scene on the Parade. Then, forty years ago in 1981, the parade was shifted to February, with the name changed to the Sydney Gay Mardi Gras. This year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first summer Mardi Gras in 1981. At this Salon78 forum, we will hear from Susan Ardill and David Abello on the tumultuous community debates about the move to summer. Murray McLachlan will then speak about the changes to Mardi Gras that grew out of this major shift. We had planned for this Salon78 forum to be an in-person event at the Colombian with a Zoom link so people outside Sydney could participate. But with the new Covid restrictions announced on 23 June, including 4 square metres per person, the venue will not accommodate our usual crowd. Register on Eventbrite and we will send you a Zoom link on Saturday morning. After the forum, stay online for a chat.   Salon78: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? Community vs Commercial Scene When: 3pm, Saturday 26 June 2021 Register: to get the Zoom link at: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/copy-of-why-did-mardi-gras-move-to-summer-tickets-159924110319   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member On Saturday 5 June 2021 Community Action for Rainbow Reform (CARR) organised another rally; this time outside Sydney Town Hall, in their continuing campaign against the proposed Religious Freedoms legislation and the Education (Parental Rights) Bill currently being assessed by the NSW Parliament. Members of First Mardi Gras Inc. attended with the famous 78ers banner (from the Mardi Gras 30th Anniversary) to support this campaign. CARR gathered spokespeople from various organisations including First Mardi Gras Inc. to speak and show support. I spoke and then we heard from David Bernie from the Council for Civil Liberties explaining the legislative background and effect of proposed changes. He particularly focused on the Education Bill which threatens teachers and social workers with dismissal if they even mention gender fluidity or provide support to transgender youth.  Rev Josephine Inkpin from Pitt St Uniting Church emphasised that not all people of faith are in favour of the proposed bills. The actions proposed by the Bills were the antithesis of true spiritual teachings. Respect and support for transgender people is growing in many churches and Josephine spoke to the need for more support and care; not restrictions or abuse from right wing politicians and power-hungry religious leaders. Penny Sharpe MLC, representing the ALP, nailed the point that schools can often and should be the safest space and time for a young person dealing with emerging sexuality and gender issues whereas their home environment may be unaccepting and threatening. Teddy Cook spoke passionately for the transgender experience and the need to build a coalition of LGBTIQ forces to fight back on this legislation. Also speaking and later marching behind the leading banner to Queens Square beside Jo Inkpin and myself was Jenny Leong, Greens MP. Under the guise of religious rights, the forces of division, scapegoating and hate are marshalling in a rear-guard effort to turn back fifty years of LGBTIQ, Women’s, and Black rights advances. We must recognise that if they succeed against our transgender youth; they will eventually come against us all.   Next demonstration: Saturday, 14 August 2021, 1pm Stop the "Religious Freedom" bills: No right to discriminate! Town Hall, Sydney Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary Having attended WorldPride New York in 2019, I was looking forward to going to Copenhagen in August this year to take part in WorldPride 2021. But Covid and the fact that, shamefully, just over 4% of Australians have been fully vaccinated, has put paid to that. WorldPride organisers have worked closely with the Danish and Swedish governments to modify all events to make them Covid-safe. Scandinavian and other European countries have a much higher vaccination rate than we do. WorldPride, which includes a Human Rights Forum and Arts and Culture events, will be for the first time held together with the EuroGames. Events will be spread around Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmo, half an hour away by train in Sweden. Covid induced changes to the WorldPride events: mean they now have more venues and more events includes replacing the WorldPride Parades with smaller walking marches involves moving concerts to indoor venues whilst live-streaming to a ticketed viewing event in a park. These changes will allow organisers to deliver safe events for all visitors and staff in August. The recently-announced European Union COVID19 passport enables anyone with an EU-approved vaccination to enter the Schengen Zone from late June. More than 50 events will be available to watch online: Six events including the Human Rights Conference will have an interactive livestream enabling active participation from anywhere in the world for registered delegates. A new track of six webinars focusing on different human rights topics will take place in June and July. Organisers are providing a one year VPN licence for up to 5,000 activists globally to enable them to participate. Full details of WorldPride digital plans are at https://copenhagen2021.com/digital. Check out the full webinar presentation at: https://copenhagen2021.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Prides-Webinar.pdf. And further information at: WorldPride & EuroGames | Copenhagen 2021.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair On 19 May 2021 ACON, under the umbrella of the LOVE Project, conducted a forum on the topic Eliminating LGBTIQ Ageism. As background, the LOVE Project is the outreach program directed at the older LGBTIQ community conducted by ACON and at the end of this piece, I will list some of the events and services provided along with the link to their site. The Ageism forum was held over a lunch at Glebe Town Hall and attended by a large crowd. There were six speakers representing the diversity of the community. Jessica-Su Tang, Tom Hatfield, Gail Hewison, C. Moore Hardy, Suman Lahiry and Roy Starkey. Contributions were mainly about living well and active as an aged LGBTIQ person. The most useful contribution came from Roy Starkey, who has a long history of community activism in the areas of care coordination and training in ageing, mental health and sexuality. He urged those seeking an aged care package to include their LGBTIQ identity in the Special Needs category in order to maximise the available benefits and ensure appropriate attention is given. The session was not really about the political/social issue of Ageism. This was disappointing from my perspective as I believe we should respond politically to the current crises in aged care generally and the almost complete lack of response to LGBTIQ discrimination in the report of the Royal Commission on Aged Care (see my report in our April Newsletter). Worldwide failures in providing a safe and accepting environment for LGBTIQ people in aged care stem from lack of respect and dismissal of older queers by our social and political institutions. Addressing ageism as a human rights issue particularly for LGBTIQ people will take concerted efforts to change the way all societies think about the objects of aged care. As well as adequate and appropriate health and accommodation which we know from the Royal Commission is woefully lacking, we must ensure the last years of our lives are re-affirming of past struggles and successes, and that we can go on sharing our wonderful experience and knowledge of living open and free. “The LOVE Project, ACON’s ageing initiative, aims to empower lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) seniors to lead healthy, active and more social lives.” These are some of the services available: Healthy ageing information Events and activities Sharing stories and experiences Make new friends Finding LGBTQ welcoming services Community Visitor Scheme The LOVE Project HIV & Ageing HIV Counselling LGBTIQ Counselling and Support Substance Support Counselling Care Coordination Silver Rainbow LGBTI Aged Care Awareness Training Legal Advice Historical Violence Project  For details see: www.loveproject.org.au, www.acon.org.au/what-we-are-here-for/ageing/.   Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary Last month three 78ers –  Barry Charles, Fiona Hulme and Karl Zlotkowski – took part in an on-ine forum convened by Dr Clifford Lewis of the Charles Sturt University Allies Network. A large audience of students and academics heard recollections of the events of 1978, and considered the relevance of the 78er experience to today, particularly in academic institutions. Particular emphasis was placed on the role of educational institutions in creating an environment of inclusion and tolerance, particularly in situations where students have to deal with identity issues in isolated situations. This is of special importance to Charles Sturt University, given that its campuses are based in regional areas and many of its students can be confronted by homophobia in small communities. Feedback on the event was very positive, and hopefully more events can be scheduled in the future to build on the experience. A recording and transcript can be found here: https://charlessturt.zoom.us/rec/share/0zGJe3cIPFkpLjQGRcQmHlMpWKIFye_w7feVNaokxqZGs8aSTMuUslfnULFJQVsB._OF4uB5nAznww3tk.   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member On the weekend of 29-30 May 2021 the NSW ALP Rank and File Women’s Conference 2021 was held at at the NSW Teachers Federation. The well-attended conference aimed to create a space for Labor women to debate and advance policy on issues that matter to women and to demonstrate grassroots democracy in action. I was asked to speak in a workshop and was joined by Penny Sharpe MLC to present Only Activism and Labor in Power have Produced LGBTIQ+ Reforms. I addressed NSW and Federal reforms in the 70s, 80s and early 90s as well as early LGBTIQ+ activism, and  Penny covered more recent Labor reforms in NSW and the struggles for a pro-marriage equality policy within the ALP. What follows are extracts from both presentations.   Labor reforms in the 70s, 80s and early 90s What was evident from the early 70s is the alliances that LGBTIQ+ activists formed – with the women’s, student and trade union movements, the ALP and progressive groups like the Council for Civil Liberties. These alliances and coalitions were key to winning the gains that we made. With the upsurge of activism following the first Mardi Gras, these alliances became even more important. Gay rights became a broader political and civil rights issue. We were campaigning for our democratic right to protest, and we were campaigning against police powers – a big issue in NSW. The Gay Trade Union Group was formed at the 4th National Homosexual Conference in 1978 and soon began putting up motions in unions and ALP branches on lesbian and gay rights issues – particularly homosexual law reform. Of course law reform efforts had been underway since the before formation of the ACT Homosexual Law Reform Society in June 1969. And in October 1973, under the Whitlam Labor government, the ALP’s Moss Cass and Bill Hayden, with former Liberal PM John Gorton, successfully passed a federal parliamentary resolution in favour of homosexual law reform. In May 1979, the NSW Labor government repealed the Summary Offences Act, which was the legal framework that Police used to arrest 78ers. It was also used against Indigenous people, sex workers, witchcraft, demonstrations, displays of same sex affection and enabled entrapment in beats. After the repeal of the Act, NSW residents could just inform the Police they were having a demonstration and the Police could lodge any reasonable objection within a short time frame. By 1982, grass roots action, along with research and lobbying, led to an amendment to the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act. This made it unlawful to discriminate against anyone on the ground of perceived homosexuality in areas such as employment, education, provision of goods and services, accommodation and registered clubs. At the time, very few jurisdictions, interstate or overseas, had such laws. Labor had wanted to include homosexuality as a ground in the initial legislation in 1977, but had been unsuccessful. The weaknesses in the anti-discrimination laws were the exemptions granted to religious employers and service providers. In 1996, the Carr Labor government made it unlawful to discriminate and vilify on the basis of homosexuality, transgender status, HIV/AIDS status and race. The Gay Rights Lobby was formed in 1980 and its actions forced decriminalisation in 1984 and the establishment of the first Police/Gay Liaison Committee that year. This led to the introduction of NSW Police Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officers. In 1984, the Wran Labor government amended the NSW Crimes Act to decriminalise sexual acts between consenting men over 18 in private, after many attempts by ALP politicians including Fred Miller (Bligh) and George Petersen (Kiama) in the preceding years. But it wasn’t until 2003 that the age of consent for homosexual sex was equalised and NSW was the second last state in Australia to enact this reform. Following on from the reforms in NSW, citizens with non-Australian same gender partners were inspired to demand equality in immigration. In 1983 the Gay and Lesbian Immigration Task Force was established, a model of grassroots activism, one of the most ethnically diverse lesbian and gay groups up to that time. Remarkably, in 1985 the Federal Labor Immigration Minister agreed on a pathway for validation of same gender partnerships, later creating a flexible immigration category of “interdependence”. Australia was one of the first countries to recognise same gender partner immigration and persecution on grounds of sexuality or gender identification as grounds for asylum.  By 1984, HIV had become a painful issue in Australia. Strong activism, by gay men and sex workers, prepared the ground for Labor Health Minister Neal Blewett to craft a bipartisan approach of partnership between affected communities, government and medicos. This enabled Australia to have one of the most pragmatic, effective responses to the pandemic. In 1988 Labor’s Paul O’Grady was elected and became the first openly gay member of the New South Wales Parliament and strong advocate for reforms. A role later performed by Penny Sharpe (elected 2005) and Helen Westwood (elected 2007). Since the late 1970s, under pressure from activists and unions, Labor Federal governments had been rolling back discrimination against lesbian and gay public servants, for example in DFAT overseas posts recognising same gender partnerships. In 1993, the Keating Labor government removed the ban on lesbians and gays in the military.   More recent Labor reforms Legislative reforms have only occurred because of all the work done by activist groups. People put themselves on the line for the greater good and we have all benefitted from this. All of the kids who are able to be out in school are products of this history and this needs to be understood. Labor has delivered every single piece of LGBTIQ+ reform in NSW: In 1999 the Carr Labor government took steps to fix the issues that arose from the death and destruction of the AIDS epidemic. People were thrown out of their houses, not allowed to visit their partner in hospital because they weren’t recognised as partners and not allowed to go to their funeral. A series of reforms removed discrimination against same sex couples in all those areas. Equal age of consent legislation was very hard-fought but Labor got that through in 2003. One of the reforms that was very dear to me, and I came into parliament in 2005, was that I not recognised on my child's birth certificate as I was not their birth mother. Labor Premier Morris Iemma put forward legislation in 2008 that means that both parents in a same sex defacto relationship could be recognised on their child's birth certificate. I am now recognised on the birth certificates of my kids. Also in 2008, under Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people was removed from every piece of legislation which defined relationships as being between a man and woman. In 2010, NSW Labor introduced the Relationship Register. This enabled partners to prove their relationship in order to get the benefits of the Federal legislation. I was very involved in 2010 with adoption law reform. Prior to having our own kids, we were foster carers and we had no way to adopt these children no matter how much we loved them. In 2010 I worked with Clover Moore to co-sponsor a bill to allow same sex couples to be eligible to adopt children. Labor Premier Kristina Kenneally provided important support and suggested that Labor have a conscience vote as she knew that there would not be full consensus on adoption. There was a genuine attempt to work across the parties but the bill only passed by two votes – though Labor provided 90% of the votes. In 2011 Labor Education Minister Verity Firth introduced Proud Schools to deal with bullying of LGBTIQ+ young people in our schools. It was a precursor to Safe Schools which was an important Labor achievement. Since Labor lost government in NSW in 2011, LGBTIQ+ reform has been slow, with a few exceptions: In 2012 the Legislative Council passed a motion in support of marriage equality In 2014 the gay panic defence was removed In 2016, I was part of a NSW Cross-Party Committee organised a Parliamentary apology for the arrests and police violence at the first Mardi Gras and related protests.   The marriage equality campaign In 2004, John Howard announced his bill to make it illegal for same sex couples to marry. Unfortunately, Labor supported this and I, like many other members, was mortified and then put our energies into the campaign for marriage equality. I worked with many other ALP members, Rainbow Labor and community organisations to get the numbers at the next National ALP Conference to commit to marriage equality. In 2011, the policy change was approved at National Conference and marriage equality became a serious issue. Until you had a mainstream party who went to an election saying that they are going to fix this, marriage equality wasn’t taken seriously. In 2015, Penny Wong led the charge to have a binding vote on marriage equality as Labor policy. But in 2017 it was the Liberal government that used a voluntary postal plebiscite to vote on marriage equality. The prolonged process of the plebiscite had very serious impacts on many LGBTIQ+ people. Luckily, Australians were ready and backed marriage equality very strongly.   Anti-trans discrimination Current anti-discrimination legislation in NSW needs to be changed to include trans and gender diverse reforms and deal with exemptions in the law. Conversion therapy needs to be banned as kids are still being sent to dodgy therapies that try to pray away the gay and that do untold harm. But the sad reality is that we have to defend what we have already won. One Nation’s Mark Latham is trying to use trans folk in our community as the battering ram for his culture wars and we have to stand up against this. We currently are up against the Religious Exemption Bill and the Parental Responsibility Bill. Fred Nile is being replaced by Lyle Shelton who has already flagged that he will introduce a bill to stop trans kids accessing medical treatment. We have big work to do just defending our gains and we should get to it!   Conference motions At the conference, motions were passed on LGBTIQ+ issues and included to: Ban conversion practices on the basis of sexuality and gender identity Assert that transphobia has no place in Labor Stand in support of intersex Australians against non-consensual surgeries Support gender marker self-identification Oppose the Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020 Oppose the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill 2020. 78er Mary O’Sullivan spoke strongly when she moved the motion to oppose Latham’s Religious Freedoms and Equality Bill. No right to discrimination!   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Danny grew up in country NSW and came to Sydney when he was a teenager to develop a career as a fashion designer. In the early 70s he became key persona in the radical drag performance group, Sylvia and the Synthetics, along with Doris Fish, Jasper and Jacqueline Hyde. He made a unique impact on queer culture from the 70s onwards in Sydney, New York and California. Danny did not say he was a gay liberation protester, but his public and cultural interventions were revolutionary in terms of aesthetics, gender and sexuality. Danny passed on 23 May and there was a moving funeral with family and old friends at Matraville on 28 May. https://www.sydneyfunerals.com/danny-abood  Johnny Allen and others organised a fabulous celebration of Danny’s life at Kinsela’s on Sunday 20 June 2021. Downstairs was a beautiful installation of Danny’s pictures, posters, frocks, tsatskas and music. 78ers such as Toby Zoates, Jaqueline Hyde and Fabian LoSchiavo contributed. Danny’s cousin Paula Abood, Johnny Allen and photographer Julie Sundberg gave moving tributes. Hussain Kahil sang three songs by Lebanese diva Sabah.  Danny’s life and his memorial are poignant moments in the cultural, subcultural and queer history of this city.   Ken Davis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair On Saturday 22 May there was a free screening of Digby Duncan’s film Witches and Faggots, Dykes and Poofters in the State Library of NSW auditorium. The film was introduced by Margot Riley, curator of the State Library’s exhibition Coming out in the 70's. Amazingly, I had not seen Witches, Faggots, Dykes and Poofters, which was released in 1980. It had footage of both the daytime march on 24 June 1978 and the “big event” – the night-time Mardi Gras. I watched the film with mixed emotions, which I am sure it is for many of us. Scanning the screen for ourselves or friends, enjoying the nostalgia, but haunted by the violence and the cycle of protest and actions that the first Mardi Gras generated. This film is not perfect but reflects the difficulties of film making at the time. I am grateful that it has been preserved for generations. Thank you, Digby Duncan. And thank you to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia for restoring the film in a digital format. Following the screening, Margot led a guided tour of the exhibition. I’m not sure if there is a word for the euphoric warm fuzziness of the exhibition, but with clothes like protest T-shirts, posters, and fabulous costumes  the nostalgia wave was very heady indeed. In her introduction to the film, Margot had mentioned the much larger exhibition that the State Library is working on to coincide with WorldPride 2023 in Sydney. This exhibition will have a section on the women’s music scene. I hope to be able to work with the library to complete my film made in 1984 on Stray Dags, which includes live concert footage and interviews with each band member.   Fiona Hulme 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. member We enjoyed our June lunch at the easily accessible Terminus Hotel and plan to hold the next three lunches there – on the first Sundays of July, August and September. Join us for our July social lunch on Sunday 4 July, 2021 at 1pm in the Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris St Pyrmont. RSVP to: info@78ers.org.au. There is a light rail stop with lift access in John Street Square and the 389 bus runs from Park St near Town Hall and stops across the road from the hotel. At the 6 June Social Lunch. Clockwise from left: Maree Marsh, Bob Harvey, Bary Charles, Toby Zoates, Robyn Kennedy, Rebbell Barnes, Wanda Kluke, Diane Minnis, Robert Coleman, Ken Davis, Anne Morphett. Photo taken on Diane Minnis’ phone. Calendar of Events Salon78 Forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? – 3pm Saturday 26 June 2021, register to get the Zoom link at: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/copy-of-why-did-mardi-gras-move-to-summer-tickets-159924110319 Social Lunch – 1pm, Sunday 4 July, 2021, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris St Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au  First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 24 July 2021, by Zoom Social Lunch – 1pm, Sunday 1 August, 2021, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris St Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au  This Is Me Festival from Newcastle Pride – 5 August to 5 September 2021, 2021 Events - Newcastle Pride Stop the "Religious Freedom" bills: No right to discriminate! Demonstration – 1pm, Saturday, 14 August 2021, Town Hall, Sydney WorldPride Copenhagen – 14-21 August 2021, check out online events at: https://copenhagen2021.com/digital Social Lunch – 1pm, Sunday 5 September, 2021, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris St Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au  Broken Heel Festival – 9-13 September 2021, GET TICKETS HERE — Broken Heel Festival (bhfestival.com) Queer Arts Festival: Queer & Visible (Wollongong) – September 2021 (dates to be confirmed), https://www.facebook.com/wollongongqueerartsfest/ Fruitopia Fairday (Lismore) – September 2021 (date to be confirmed) https://tropicalfruits.org.au/events/fruitopia-fairday Coastal Twist Arts and Culture Festival (Central Coast) – 1-4 October 2021 https://coastaltwist.org.au/whats-on/events/ OUTintheOPEN Festival from Goulburn Valley Pride Inc. – 28 October-7 November 2021 Goulburn Valley Pride Inc. (gvpride.org) (see helpful Links for YOU on left of screen) Parramatta Pride Picnic – November 2021 (date to be confirmed), https://www.facebook.com/events/2317409255253273/ Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras – March 2022 (date to be confirmed), https://waggamardigras.com/ Rainbow on the Plains Festival (Hay) – March 2022 (dates to be confirmed), http://www.haymardigras.com.au/

ABC News: Mardi Gras legacy the beginning of one woman's journey bringing LGBTIQ Pride to regional NSW

Star Observer: A Unique Project Aims To Document Early Pride Activists

Newsletter - May 2021

View this email in your browser May 2021 In this May edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Karl Zlotkowski on Anti-Trans Bills: Anita Bryant vs Mark Latham? Details of the 5 June demo: Defend LGBTIQ rights in NSW: No right to discriminate! Barry Charles on US Anti-Trans Laws Diane Minnis on the Salon78 Forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? Deb Healey on Oceania Pride Robyn Kennedy on CAMP Goes Gold! Anne Morphett’s pictures of the 78ers Dog Park Picnic Details of the next Social Lunch on 6 June Information on our ongoing 2021 Raffle Tributes to Murdered Tongan Activist Poli Kefu From the Bay Area Reporter: Queers and Allies Rally in San Francisco against Anti-Asian Hate From Bloomberg: Same-Sex Parenthood Draws Unexpected Support in Hungary Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis We all know that Mardi Gras is many things to many people. These differing views derive from their own individual experience. For many people the celebration is the most important thing, and often that reduces down to an excuse for dressing up and dancing (and comparing the colour of each other’s drugs). But those of us who’ve been around since the beginning, know that Mardi Gras celebrates not just the pride of individuals, but the collective pride of our LGBTIQ community. And we know that each year our community celebrates the way we rallied together during the winter of 1978. The Riot and the subsequent Drop the Charges campaign would never have happened if the Police hadn’t over-stepped the mark.  But they did, and as a result the birth of Mardi Gras on 24 June is usually seen as the community’s reaction to police violence and the arbitrary abuse of police authority. But the Riot is only part of the picture. June 24 was an International Day of Solidarity with a street rally in the morning, a forum in the afternoon and a festival (the 'Mardi Gras’) at night. And up front that day were a number of human rights issues that activists had been campaigning on for years – legal reform, police harassment, discrimination in employment and housing, and in education. Most of us knew about Anita Bryant and her campaign against gay teachers in Florida schools (waged under the toxic slogan ‘Save our Children’). There were similar anti-gay campaigns elsewhere in the USA at the time, including the Briggs Initiative in California, and American activists were fighting these on many fronts. They called on LGBTIQ communities around the world to rally in support, and Sydney did so on 24 June 1978. Forty three years later, we in Sydney are confronted by a piece of populist legislation in NSW put forward by Mark Latham under the guise of Parental Rights in education. This Bill seeks to penalise trans students, their teachers and mentors, rolling back freedoms from discrimination in ways that echo Anita Bryant all those years ago. Indeed her kind are at it again in the USA today, with multiple anti-trans initiatives in the works in many states. This attack on trans rights recalls the struggles we all faced in the 70s. Even though our community in 1978 had not yet acquired the ’T’, the butterfly – a trans symbol – was there on the iconic poster advertising the program for 24 June. Our struggle then, was theirs as well. Next month, the 78ers will rally once again on 5 June and march in solidarity and opposition to all attempts discriminate against our community. Join us!   Defend LGBTIQ rights in NSW: No right to discriminate! demo – 1pm, Saturday 5 June 2021, Town Hall, Sydney   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member From: Anti-transgender legislation in 2021: A record-breaking year - CNNPolitics We are currently in a fight over the Anti-Trans Latham Bill in NSW and soon to be introduced Federal legislation also by One Nation (see item above). It is important to understand that these are part of a worldwide attack on LGBTIQ people by the conservative right especially in the USA. This report is based on an analysis by Priya Krishnakumar for CNN.   Record-breaking year for anti-transgender legislation that would affect minors No less than 33 states have introduced more than 117 anti-trans bills in the USA in 2021. “The majority of bills would affect transgender youth; a group that researchers and medical professionals warn is already susceptible to high rates of suicide and depression.” The American Civil Liberties Union said this would "send a terrible and heartbreaking message" to transgender youth across the country. The majority of these bills are in Red (Republican) States in the mid-west and south. I believe it is essential to realise that these are not grassroots/religious institution driven initiatives. They appear to be a part of Conservative politicians’ campaigns to recruit voters by exploiting the ignorance and homophobia of rural and poorly educated Americans borne out of them having little or no interaction with trans people. This reminds me of the earliest days of the gay rights movement. In the 50s and 60s the conservative politicians and media could peddle lies about gays and lesbians because the general community had very few visible homosexuals in their neighbourhoods to identify with. After 50 years of Gay rights advancement and visibility, most people (except some isolated and religious communities) have some personal acquaintance in work/family with lesbians and gays. Where we have decriminalised homosexual acts and introduced non-discrimination laws and achieved marriage equality, the sky has not fallen in and we have achieved wider acceptance. But Transgender people are a small and less visible minority and can still be misrepresented and attacked.   Bans on participation in same-gender youth sport Most of the current legislation is in this area. Thirty-one states in the U.S. have introduced bills that ban transgender athletes from participating in sports consistent with their gender identities. "I think that these exclusionary responses are a solution in search of a problem," said Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, interim director of GLSEN, an LGBTQ youth advocacy organisation. "There is no categorical dominance by trans athletes," she said. The politicians introducing these bills, when asked, could cite no substantial instances where this had been a problem worthy of legislation.   Gender-affirming health care for minors This is a much more serious issue. Health providers across the world have been gradually and quietly and un-controversially helping Trans youth meet the challenges of reaching puberty and providing appropriate psychological guidance and health care. “One bill in Alabama would make it a felony to give appropriate gender-identity health care to a youth”. Doctors who provide this care believe that “the treatment they provide to gender nonconforming or transgender youth can often be lifesaving”.    Just like Latham! Other U.S. states have introduced anti-trans bills that target education. “A bill in Arkansas says that schools must refer to students only by the sex, as listed on students' original birth certificates. ”Tennessee's legislature is currently debating legislation which would allow parents to opt their children out of curriculums that discuss LGBTIQ issues.”   The take-out We are being asked to support efforts to fight the One Nation bills. Remember the oppressors always go after the most vulnerable and already marginalised group first. Any successful attack on the T in our LGBTIQ community opens us to an eventual attack on the whole.   Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary The Salon78 forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? Community vs Commercial Scene, originally scheduled during the busy Mardi Gras season, will now be held on Saturday 26 June 2021. This will be close to the anniversaries of the first three Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parades and the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969. This year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first summer Mardi Gras in 1981. At this Salon78 forum, we will hear from Susan Ardill and David Abello on the tumultuous community debates about the move to summer. Murray McLaughlin will then speak about the changes to Mardi Gras that grew out of this major shift. For the first time in 15 months, we will have an in-person event and we will Zoom the forum so others can participate. Join us upstairs at the Colombian and stay for a social drink after the forum and toast the anniversaries of the original Mardi Gras and Stonewall.   Salon78: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? Community vs Commercial Scene When: 3pm, Saturday 26 June 2021 Where: Upstairs at the Colombian Hotel, corner Oxford and Crown Streets, lift available RSVP: For in-person or Zoom attendance info@78ers.org.au.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Oceania Pride is an informal gathering of Pride organisers and related LGBTQI organisations that has been meeting monthly since July 2020. Many attendees are members of InterPride, the global association for Pride organisers, but InterPride membership is not a requirement of participation. The group includes participation from across Australia, New Zealand and an increasing number of Pacific Island nations. The meetings of InterPride Oceania always give updates on the global organisation and what is happening around the world, but the highlights of every meeting are the presentations by member groups and updates on their regional issues. In March 2021 we heard from the Samoa Fa’afafine Association and at the April meeting we had presentations from Goulburn Valley Pride and Trans Pride Australia.   Samoa Fa’afafine Association The Samoa Fa’afafine Association presentation from Alex Su’a detailed SFAs participation in and instigation of many initiatives in Samoa. In November 2020, SFA held a sports day, themed Play Safe and Live More. In December 2020 they ran a 5 day event, Fa’afafine Week, to empower and inspire their community. It began on 1 December, with an opening ceremony and commemorated World AIDS Day with a candlelight service. Activities included a forum with presentations and speakers from civil society and government about relevant services; distribution of foodstuffs and goodies to club members, particularly those affected by COVID19 through unemployment, redundancies etc. A celebratory ball was the gala event. Surrounding Fa’afafine Week was 16 Days of Activism for Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, from 25 November to 10 December 2020. The Fa’afafine population are very vulnerable to violence and rejection, often from within their own families. In December 2020, SFA received a vehicle through the United Nations Development Program to assist in outreach work and enable them to reach rural and regional Fa’afafine communities.   Goulburn Valley Pride The Goulburn Valley Pride presentation was by Damien Stevens-Todd and Deb Chumley. Centred in Shepparton, Vic, Goulburn Valley Pride has been going for 16 years. The Shepparton area has had continuing support groups for LGBTQI+ since 1996 when the Diversity Group was established by now Commissioner Ro Allen – Victoria’s first Gender and Sexuality Commissioner. Goulburn Valley Pride has 300 financial members, and is run by volunteers and its activities are focused on peer support and advocacy. They average two social events per month and have a monthly article published in the Weekend Life section of Shepparton News. In November 2021 they are putting on their 10th OUTintheOPEN Festival, which will run for 11 days. The main event is Carnival Day in the Queens Gardens on 6 November featuring food, theatre, forums, drag and lots of family fun. The Festival has proven to be very successful in boosting tourism for the city of Shepparton, with more than 500 visitors. The volunteer group which runs Goulburn Valley Pride faces many challenges, including fatigue and lack of resources. But they continue with their advocacy and activism – fighting for recognition of equal rights, helping overcome the challenges faced by the LGBTQI+ community. Currently they are directing energies towards an LGBTQI+ liaison and advisory group within Greater Shepparton City Council and embedding inclusive practice and policy, and provision of services.   TransPride Australia The presentation from TransPride Australia was delivered by AJ Brown. TransPride Australia advocates for and promotes visibility of trans and gender diverse rights through events, education and advisory roles. They provide community connection through online spaces and public events. An important role is provision of support for family, friends and colleagues of trans and gender diverse people to become strong allies. TransPride Australia holds regular social and educational and community events; the major ones being around Trans Day of Visibility and Mardi Gras. Trans Day of Visibility aims to promote living a life of acceptance for who you are for all. They also hold Trans Stories Sharing and workshops.   Whilst each Pride organisation is for a different group of people, there is a common thread of purpose which unites them, and indeed all of the Pride organisations in our diverse region. We all seek acceptance and inclusion, safety and good health outcomes, meeting housing and health needs and support and understanding for all in the community.   Deb Healey 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. member The Pride movement in Australia started well before the first Mardi Gras in 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. Fifty years later, some of the original members of CAMP NSW 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 at the time. Our book is called Pioneers of Protest and Change in recognition of the vital role played by CAMP activists in beginning a social movement that continues to this day. Thanks to ACON, we have been able to meet costs related to photography and interview transcriptions but we need to raise additional funds to cover the cost of book design and production. We hope you agree that the contribution of the people who started the Pride movement in Australia is worth commemorating. We would really appreciate your help in bringing this unique project to fruition. Everyone who donates $100 or more will get a special mention in the book! Donate $150 or more for a special mention and a free signed copy of the book! gofundme.com/f/help-commemorate-the-camp-pioneers All donations gratefully accepted!   Robyn Kennedy 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member Join us for our June social lunch on Sunday 6 June, 2021 at 1pm upstairs in the Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris St Pyrmont. RSVP to: info@78ers.org.au. There is a light rail stop with lift access in John Street Square and the 389 bus runs from Park St near Town Hall and stops across the road from the hotel. As we move out of Covid-enforced online events and onto in-person gatherings, the First Mardi Gras Inc. fundraising team are running a raffle with tickets being sold throughout the year. We started selling tickets at the 78ers Dog Park Picnic on 2 May and will sell them at gatherings and events during the rest of 2021. The raffle will be drawn at the First Mardi Gras Inc. Annual General Meeting late this year. Thanks to prize donors: Rebbell Barnes, Garry Case, Wanda Kluke and Mazz Image. Tribute from ILGA Oceania The Tonga Leiti’s Association, President Poli Kefu has died at the hands of murderer/s in the Kingdom of Tonga. Poli Kefu played a pivotal role in coordinating the Tongan Hub for our recent Human Rights and Law Reform Virtual Symposium held in February 2021 in Suva, Fiji. Poli was a humble gentle inspiring leader who displayed a proactive interaction with ILGA Oceania on its various projects and conferences. We extend our sincere and respectful condolences to the family of Poli Kefu, the members of the Tonga Leiti Association, and all Poli’s colleagues and friends. The Co-Chairs of ILGA Oceania, Vanessa Lee-Ah Mat and Ken Moala, with the ILGA Oceania Board, call upon the Government of the Kingdom of Tonga and the Tongan Police Authorities to identify the perpetrator/s of this heinous crime and bring the person/s to justice. Throughout Oceania, members of ILGA Oceania still face violence and discrimination because of our sexual orientation, gender identity and expression or intersex status. For the majority, these issues are linked to broader issues of gender equality, autonomy over our bodies and lives, sexual reproductive health and rights. We will miss you Poli for your pro-active, strong activism, your commitment and dedication to LGBTI issues and movement throughout the Kingdom of Tonga, the Pacific Islands and Oceania. ILGA Oceania will continue to stand up for human rights and social justice as we stand in solidarity against violence in all its form.   Tribute from Oceania Pride Oceania Pride grieves with our friends and colleagues in Tonga at the news of the murder of Poli Kefu, President of the Tonga Leiti Association. Tonga is one of eight countries in Oceania that still criminalise homosexuality.This crime reminds us that small island nations are not immune to the extremes of LGBTIQ hate that destroys families and communities. At the Mid-Year Meeting of InterPride on 9 May, Robyn Kennedy, InterPride Vice President Global Outreach and Partnerships, led a moment’s silence to pay our respects to Poli Kefu. We also paid our respects to the victims of recent homophobic murders in South Africa.   Tribute from Pride Cook Islands Pride Cook Islands acknowledges the beautiful life and light of Poli Kefu. A gentle soul who has been taken from this world too soon. We stand in solidarity with our friends, the Tonga Leiti’s Association, as they farewell their inspirational President. We share our love and prayers with the community in Tonga. Carrying homemade signs with phrases like "Queers against Asian hate," hundreds of people marched in the Castro in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in a show of solidarity following violent acts in the Bay Area and beyond. The crowd gathered first in Harvey Milk Plaza for a rally to denounce such incidents, which many are labeling hate crimes. They include multiple incidents of AAPIs being beaten in the Bay Area, and the recent shootings in the Atlanta region that left eight people dead, including six Asian women. The March 21 rally, organized by GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific Alliance with support from several other organizations, was an expression of the pain and fear the AAPI community is experiencing, as well as a show of unity between the LGBTQ+ and AAPI communities. One of the most emotional speeches of the day was from Eugene Clifton Cha, a gay Korean man who shared his fear and disbelief upon hearing about the attacks in the Atlanta area last week. He encouraged everyone to take the time to mourn, check in with others, and take care of themselves, but also to allow themselves to be moved to action. "As much as this is a horrific and unthinkable tragedy against our communities, and one we must grieve, mourn, and remember, we can't let a crisis go to waste," he said. "And at some point our pain must turn to resolve, to action, to change." Other attendees commented on the intersection of communities of color. "It's been a year of tumultuous change for everybody, and in 2020, we all came together for Black lives, and we're still here for Black lives," said Martin Muñoz, a gay Latinx man. "But with all the Asian hate and hate crimes that have happened, from March at the beginning of the pandemic, throughout the history of San Francisco, I mean it's due time that we're here for Asian lives." Over the last year as the pandemic swept across the globe, former President Donald Trump and some of his supporters have repeatedly used racist phrases such as "kung flu" or "China virus" to describe the coronavirus and are accused of fanning anti-Asian sentiment. As the Los Angeles Times noted in a recent column, "California history bristles with violent attacks on Chinese individuals, including an outbreak of lynchings of Chinese residents in Los Angeles in 1871, and on Chinese neighborhoods in San Francisco and Los Angeles." Several speakers drew parallels between today's climate of violence and hate, and other times in history when Asian people were victimized or scapegoated, such as the World War II-era Japanese internment camps and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) drew another parallel. "I am not a member of the AAPI community, but I am a Jew and I am a gay man. And I know what happens when society refuses to take responsibility for a pandemic, and decides to blame and scapegoat marginalized communities for supposedly causing pandemics to happen," he said. "We know, as queer people, what happens when we get blamed and scapegoated for a pandemic," Wiener added. "That's what happened, and this was ground zero around HIV/AIDS, and the scapegoating and the attacks on our community that caused so many members of our community to die and so much violence to happen. So we need to stop that in its tracks."   March After about two hours in the Castro, the group took to the streets and marched down Market Street toward Civic Center, carrying handmade signs such as "We are not silent." After the march made its way to Civic Center, the tone shifted to a more intimate feel, as the crowd diminished in size and several people sat down in the plaza for another set of speakers. Cecilia Chung, a trans woman who works at the Transgender Law Center and is a San Francisco health commissioner, gave the crowd a brief history lesson on civil rights leader Kiyoshi Kuromiya. "He was born in the internment camp, he was an assistant for Dr. Martin Luther King, he was a delegate to the Black Panther convention, he also was one of the ACT UP movement leaders, and he founded organizations to advocate and fight for resources for people living with HIV," she said. "But how many of you have heard of him?" she asked. No one responded. "Because why? Because our education in this country is fucked up." Yuan Wang, a community organizer at API Equality Northern California, reminded those in attendance to stay involved in local organizations beyond just the day's rally and march. "Share your resources, your skills, and your time. We need you to find your role," she said.   Tyler Breisacher Bay Area Reporter Same-Sex Parenthood Draws Unexpected Support in Hungary Government moves against the LGBTQ community are meant to fire up voters in the run-up to elections next year, but they aren’t resonating with the majority of Hungarians. Firms from Ikea to a Michelin star restaurant have signed up for a campaign in defense of same-sex parenthood in Hungary, bringing unexpected resistance to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown. The Family Is Family campaign has enlisted 140 companies so far, up from 40 in February, in response to steps by Orban to effectively ban adoption for same-sex partners and enshrine in the constitution the idea that marriage is possible only between a man and a woman. The ranks include international giants such as Levi Strauss & Co. and WarnerMedia’s HBO, as well as small- to mid-sized local businesses. The drive’s popularity is surprising even its organizers in a country where companies have long been wary of taking a stand against Orban. Hungary’s premier since 2010, Orban has sought to consolidate his hold over courts and civil society, and is embroiled in clashes with European Union leaders alarmed by his authoritarian turn. “A lot of people are afraid, and many told me not to support this campaign,” said Hubert Hlatky-Schlichter, who owns Babel, a Michelin star restaurant in Budapest. He lives with his male partner and one day hopes to raise a child. “I’m not scared of any government sanctions, but honestly that would just make the campaign resonate more. This isn’t about politics, it’s about human rights.”   Zoltan Simon Bloomberg Calendar of Events Coming Out in the 70s: Early Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia Exhibition at the State Library – Saturday 28 November 2020 to 30 May 2021 Defend LGBTIQ rights in NSW: No right to discriminate! demo – 1pm, Saturday 5 June 2021, Town Hall, Sydney June Social Lunch – 1pm, Sunday 6 June, 2021, upstairs Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris St Pyrmont, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 12 June 2021, by Zoom Out 'n' Proud Festival on Sunshine Coast – 19 June 2021 https://www.outnproud.com.au/ Salon78 Forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? – 3pm Saturday 26 June 2021, Upstairs Colombian Hotel, RSVP: info@78ers.org.au WorldPride Copenhagen – 14-21 August 2021 (subject to Covid and travel restrictions), bookings opened in April  This Is Me Festival from Newcastle Pride – 5 August to 5 September 2021, 2021 Events - Newcastle Pride Broken Heel Festival – 9-13 September 2021, GET TICKETS HERE — Broken Heel Festival (bhfestival.com) Queer Arts Festival: Queer & Visible (Wollongong) – September 2021 (dates to be confirmed), https://www.facebook.com/wollongongqueerartsfest/ Fruitopia Fairday (Lismore) – September 2021 (date to be confirmed) https://tropicalfruits.org.au/events/fruitopia-fairday Coastal Twist Arts and Culture Festival (Central Coast) – 1-4 October 2021 https://coastaltwist.org.au/whats-on/events/ OUTintheOPEN Festival from Goulburn Valley Pride Inc. – 28 October-7 November 2021 Goulburn Valley Pride Inc. (gvpride.org) (see helpful Links for YOU on left of screen) Parramatta Pride Picnic – November 2021 (date to be confirmed), https://www.facebook.com/events/2317409255253273/ Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras – March 2022 (date to be confirmed), https://waggamardigras.com/ Rainbow on the Plains Festival (Hay) – March 2022 (dates to be confirmed), http://www.haymardigras.com.au/

ACON LOVE Project: Then and Now - Eliminating LGBTQ Ageism, telling our own stories

ACON’s LOVE Project, invites you to share experiences of ageing from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community. Speakers include Jessica-Su Tang, Tom Hatfield, Gail Hewison, Suman Lahiry, CMoore Hardy and Roy Starkey.

Let’s expose ridiculous stereotypes about older people and join in eliminating LGBTQ ageism by telling our own stories. Broaden your thinking, feel the joy and be enlightened by older LGBTQ people who embrace living with resilience, strength, compassion and fun.

Hosted by Bernie Hobbs, popular judge from ABC TV's The New Inventors, and a favourite with audiences for her weekly science spots on ABC Radio. Bernie has that rare combination of a sharp intellect, quick with and warmth.

Supported by the City of Sydney.

Watch the video below, or click here to view directly on YouTube.

Click here for ACON’s LOVE Project Website.

Newsletter - April 2021

View this email in your browser April 2021 In this April edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: 78ers on the 2021 Mardi Gras Parade plus links to videos of 78ers marching and the full Parade Sallie Colechin’s report on the Kill the Bill Demonstration on 17 April Karl Zlotkowski and Sue Fletcher on the SGLMG 78ers Committee’s Campaign against the Anti-Trans Bills Britt Kissun, Barry Charles and Karl Zlotkowski on the 78ers Pawfect Dog Picnic on Sunday 2 May Barry Charles and Richard Thode on the Inaugural David Cooper Lecture with Dr Anthony Fauci Garry Wotherspoon and Sandra Gobbo on 78ers Speaking at the Department of Communities and Justice Barry Charles on the LGBTIQ+ Health Forum discussing Royal Commission on Aged Care Sue Fletcher on the NSW Police LGBTIQ Community Stakeholder Meeting Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis The 78ers in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade 2021 from William Brougham’s video. Here are the thoughts of some 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Members on the 2021 Mardi Gras Parade at the SCG. Rebbell Barnes: The Parade was really well organised and safe and exciting. The crowd could see us better. It was good to sit down at the end and be able to see and hear the singers. But I like it being on Oxford Street too. Maree Marsh: This year was fantastic but a one-off because of Covid instead of being out on the streets where we should be. It was great to have our community so much in evidence in the audience. Mardi Gras looked after us well and the 78ers signage around the ground was wonderful! Robert French: Walking into the SCG was a spine-tingling experience. The signage and lighting were stunning and overwhelming. A number of people I know came to the fence to interact with me and I got very positive comments on the Fifty Years of Visibility signs that we carried. In the 1980s, then Gay Mardi Gras President Murray McLaughlin suggested we should hold the event in an arena like the SCG. Maybe march from Taylor Square. It’s time to look at that idea again. Robyn Kennedy: Marching into the ground was a fantastic and overwhelming experience. Maybe we should be thinking in future years of a day-time political rally on the streets and a night-time Parade at the SCG. I really enjoyed the Parade at the SCG but let’s not lose the street experience. Helen Gollan: I agree with other comments about the Parade. On Oxford Street there are not nearly as many gays and lesbians as were in the SCG stands. Our goal, must be to engage with the young LGBTIQ people in the stands. It was great to see the ring of pink writing thanking 78ers around the stadium. Hope we can have a full stadium next time if we have to. Sallie Colechin: I really liked the smaller Parade in the stadium. The feeling walking onto the ground was amazing and there was less impact of sponsor floats than I expected. It was great that we had our Fifty Years of Visibility placards, but they were too heavy for many 78ers to carry. l agree with others who suggested we should march from Taylor Square into the SCG. First Mardi Gras Inc. Associate Member Garry Case commented: Even though the numbers of Parade participants were smaller this year, it felt like a larger event and was very well-organised and safe. The atmosphere was exciting all night. View from the 78ers contingent in the Mardi Gras Parade 2021 from Donald McPherson’s video. Many thanks to the following photographers and videographers who have given First Mardi Gras Inc. permission to use their 2021 Mardi Gras Parade photos and videos in our newsletters and Annual Report: William Brougham, Geoff Friend, Sallie Colechin, Steve McLaren, Jim Anderson, Jane Becker, Markham Lane, Donald McPherson, Ann-Marie Calilhanna, Dan Gosse and Anne Morphett. Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade 2021 from William Brougham’s video.   The first of the ‘Kill the Bills’ rallies, organised by the Community Action for Rainbow Rights (CARR), was held on Saturday 17 April. This was a very important stand-to-action against both of the Bills that Mark Latham’s One Nation has been trying to push through the NSW Parliament. The current Bill is the Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020. AND we need to be on guard for the second one in NSW – an Amendment to the Religious Freedoms and Equality Bill 2020. This second Bill echoes the divisive and dehumanising Bill currently before the Federal government – the Religious Discrimination Bill. The first NSW one regarding students and teachers takes us back to the Briggs initiative in California in 1978 – one of the reasons we organised the Gay Solidarity Day on 24 June 1978. A couple of weeks ago we gathered at Taylor Square and heard from several speakers, before marching down Oxford Street to NSW Parliament House. There were roughly 500 people and there was a good strong vibe in the crowd, as well as mixed age ranges. The weird and very disappointing thing was that there were a lot of police present for such a peaceful gathering! There were at least 20 on foot, with a couple on horses, and a few on pushbikes. Overkill one would have thought, when there are many other tasks the police could have been attending to at that time on a Saturday in Darlinghurst and the city. The co-convenor of CARR – April Holcombe - emceed for the rally’s speakers, and introduced 78er Mark Gillespie as well as a Christian woman who sang us a hymn. Mark gave an impassioned speech about what we did in 1978 and how relevant this kind of action is now. David Shoebridge was there for the Greens, as Jenny Leong had a prior engagement out of town; with Labor’s Penny Sharp sending her apologies and support. David has been proactive along with Jenny Leong, Penny Sharpe and Alex Greenwich in strongly speaking against both the One Nation Bills. The rally had a serious, enthusiastic and focused vibe. The rally started at 1pm and by 1.40pm we were heading down Oxford St towards Hyde Park – chanting all the way, reminiscent of 43 years ago. This time though the police were all being very polite and cordial in stopping the traffic, allowing us time to walk down to Parliament House. The 78ers that were there fanned across the road carrying our white 78ers banner directly behind the CARR front banner, which led the rally. Myself, Diane Minnis, Dave Urquhart, Sue Fletcher, Toby Zoates, Diane Fieldes, Karl Zlotkowski, David Abello, Garry Wotherspoon, Barry Charles, Mark Gillespie, John Hughes and Joe Philippa were the 78ers at the event. At Parliament House Sam Guerra presented his box of 112,000 signed petitions challenging the Latham ‘Education’ Bill. There is another rally planned for 5 June (11am at Sydney Town Hall) as it is possible both these Bills could be supported by the religious zealots and the far right in NSW.  Two valuable links: https://protectusall.com.au https://www.facebook.com/sydneyCAAH.   Sallie Colechin 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member The 78ers Committee of SGLMG has called upon the Mardi Gras Board to issue a public statement in opposition to Mark Latham’s Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020 in the NSW Parliament. A campaign in support of the legislation is well underway, and this campaign must be countered with widespread and concerted action by the LGBTQI community. The 78ers Committee believes that SGLMG is best placed to provide leadership on this issue, and stands ready to support the SGLMG Board in doing so. The 78ers Committee drafted a statement saying that the proposed legislation directly attacks LGBTIQ people and would harm trans and gender diverse students by denying their existence and preventing teachers and counsellors from supporting them.   Latham Bill, Political Strategy and Sponsor Relationships The proposed statement in opposition to Mark Latham’s Parental Rights Bill is currently on hold pending further strategy discussions between Mardi Gras and Equality Australia, in which the 78ers Committee are playing a leading role. The Mardi Gras Board had responded positively to the draft statement. Equality Australia would like the 78ers Committee to work with them to prepare media articles so we are campaign-ready should the need arise. These articles of commentary and personal experiences would highlight the parallels between our 1978 experience and the current situation. Advice from Equality Australia was that the Latham Bill would likely fail, and that high-profile opposition should be avoided at this time, in order to deny his supporters the opportunity to wage a 'culture war' with the LGBTQI community. There are several pieces of legislation at both the NSW and Federal level.   78ers Meeting with Mardi Gras Board Two 78er Committee representatives, Karl Zlotkowski and Sue Fletcher, met with the Board on 31 March to discuss the statement and future strategy. The board had responded favourably to the 78er offer of active support for political campaigns.  The 78ers Committee offer to support Mardi Gras in strategic discussions with corporate sponsors was also supported in principle. It was noted that Mardi Gras’ developing partnership with WorldPride 2023 would need to be taken into account. Our message to the Board was that the 78ers Committee want to see sponsors support the community, when we are under political attack such as through the Mark Lathan Anti-Trans Bill. We provided examples of the different forms this support could take including: financial, multi-platform advertising and political lobbying. Mardi Gras gave a commitment to provide the 78ers Committee with an update by the end of April.   Karl Zlotkowski and Sue Fletcher 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member and Member Come along to our Pawfect Dog Picnic, bring your dog, your partner or yourself and catch up with old friends and other 78ers. Location: Hawthorne Dog Park, near Café Bones. Date: 1-4pm, Sunday, 2 May 2021. Featuring: A Dog Show: Dress up your best friend and be judged on your good taste. Photos with Celebrity Dalmatians Tassie, Jax and Ralf: Thanks to Steve Wiggins. $5 donation to First Mardi Gras Inc. Picnic Games: Friendly contests between 78ers and other attendees. We recommend masks and will provide hand sanitiser and latex gloves where needed for the games.  What is there and what to bring: Ample shade trees and grassed area. Doggy facilities include drinking stations and the park is gated and fenced to allow your companions, human or animal, to run free. Bring your picnic lunch or Café Bones serves a variety of snacks, light meals, coffees and other drinks. There is some seating, but you could bring a picnic chair or an umbrella if it is hot. The area is wheelchair accessible from Hawthorne Light Rail.   How to get there: The Hawthorne Dog Park is located near Hawthorne Canal, between Darley Road, Leichhardt and Hawthorne Parade, Haberfield. Access the area from City West Link. Parking is available in Canal Road. It is adjacent to the Hawthorne Light Rail Stop – 25 mins from Central.   Britt Kissun, Barry Charles and Karl Zlotkowski 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member and Committee Members On 14 April 2021, The Kirby Institute at UNSW held the Inaugural David Cooper Memorial Lecture. Given the current COVID situation it was conducted by video link and recorded for later viewing. Associate Professor David Cooper was a pioneer in HIV research and treatment since the early 80s. He was recognized all over the world for his expertise. As well as carrying out ground breaking research, he treated patients at St Vincent’s Hospital Immunology Clinic in Sydney. David passed away in January 2018 and colleagues at the Kirby Institute, with strong support from his family, have initiated this annual lecture series. The inaugural lecture was in the form of a Q&A with Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to the U.S. President; a position Dr Fauci has held for every US President since Ronald Reagan. To have Fauci as speaker was a great tribute to the work of Dr Cooper and recognized their long association as friends and fellow clinicians going back before the advent of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s. He spoke about the way the research around immunology stemming from the treatment of HIV has informed and contributed to the fast development of vaccines for COVID-19. The programme included moving tributes to David Cooper by Neal Blewitt, former ALP Federal Health Minister and former Coalition Senator Peter Baume, who together orchestrated the bi-partisan national response to HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. Here is a link to the broadcast: Inaugural David Cooper Lecture | Dr Anthony S. Fauci | UNSW Sydney (centreforideas.com).   Barry Charles and Richard Thode 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary and Treasurer On the afternoon of Thursday 15 April, two 78ers, Sandra Gobbo and Garry Wotherspoon, took part in a webinar for the NSW Department of Communities and Justice Pride Digital Drop-In Group.   Sandra and Garry joined the webinar to share with the group their experiences of that first Mardi Gras on Saturday 24 June 1978, the night that ended in so much violence. They were also able to answer questions from those who were taking part in the webinar. It was apparently a great success, if some of the responses are any indication. Here are some comments from the audience: sensational listening to Garry and Sandra. Cheers. love and gratitude Garry and Sandra - thank you for your grit and forging a path for so many of us to live our truth. Thank you Sandra and Garry you are very inspiring. Yay such a win!!! Well done to everyone involved. Thanks so much Sandra and Gary, inspiring. Thanks Sandra and Gary! It was a great pleasure to listen to you speak about your experiences and views. Thank you both for what has evidently been a life-time of work to move the community at large towards greater inclusivity and equity. Thank you Sandra and Garry for your continued leadership for our community. Thank you Sandra and Garry for leading the way. In 1978 you were, and in 2021 you still are, absolutely inspirational. Thank you Sandra and Garry!! Thank you so much, what a joy to hear about your experiences! At the webinar, the host, Michael, announced that the Department had just released a new gender transition policy and guide. It’s great to know that such progress is being made, helped along by a new generation of young activists in a government department.   Garry Wotherspoon and Sandra Gobbo 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Members First Mardi Gras Inc. regularly receives speaking requests. If you would like to join our Speakers Panel and volunteer for in person and/or online speaking events, email us at info@78ers.org.au. We also occasionally have requests to photograph 78ers. Four 78ers recently took part in a photoshoot for the Aged Care and Disability Commission. On 24 March, a web forum was held by LGBTIQ+ Health to discuss the impact on queer communities of the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aged Care. Speakers were: Chair of the Aged Care Sector Diversity Subgroup Committee: Samantha Edmonds Federal Department of Health Dementia Support Planning: Robert Day Aged and Community Services Australia: CEO Patricia Sparrow Royal Commission Advisory Group: Transgender Senior Kathy Mansfield Older Persons Advocacy Network: CEO Craig Gear Council for the Ageing: Deputy CEO Corey Irlim. The first thing to note is that even though the Commission Advisory Group included a Transgender advocate, there was no specific mention of LGBTIQ+ people in the final report. Instead we are considered included in Recommendations 21(d) and 30 “designing for diversity and individuality”. Diversity in this context includes Indigenous Australians, people with disability in all their individual differences, ethnic and religious minorities, and our communities. To say this is disappointing would be understating my reaction. Even then, Clause 30 only focused on “training and cultural awareness” of diversity. Even the spokesperson for Aged and Community Services Association (which represents the non-profit aged care facilities) said they need detailed day to day guidelines on policies and actions for aged care workers. And that we also need legislation that requires aged care providers to accept their responsibility to provide recognition and tailor care to people of diverse communities. But then added the usual rider: “We don’t want to be over-regulated”! We surely have enough information now to know that Aged Care in this country (and from my discussions during InterPride, around the world) is totally dysfunctional. See this week’s report on “non-profits” siphoning off funds to controlling religious organisations. The same thing happens with Employment “Service Providers” no doubt with the NDIS. Other issues brought up in the forum, but insufficiently addressed in the Royal Commission Report itself were: There are no collated data collections on LGBTIQ+ persons and their experiences in Aged Care – so monitoring any change will be difficult. The voices of those vulnerable should be heard – not elites. More personal stories should be collected. The Report is not constructed from a human rights based approach. These issues relate to all minorities. Indigenous Australians were better responded to in the report but only marginally. The take-out is that aged care providers should be made to explain their efforts to change the current situation. This is not in the report. We will have to demand that diverse identity culture be recognized and supported. Just non-discrimination is not enough. When asked if the Federal Department of Health will include diversity advocates in their planning for legislative change, the spokesperson waffled and said no framework for the future has been established. Our community will have to campaign to force the ‘diversity’ mention in the Royal Commission Report is converted to practical outcomes and legislation. It is sad that the generation that spent a great part of their lives fighting for Queer rights have now to fight the same battles for visibility and acceptance and respect in old age.   Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary The NSW Police Force (NSWPF) holds LGBTIQ Community Stakeholder meetings each quarter. The meeting is to provide an opportunity for LGBTIQ community and NSW Police Force updates. They work well as an exchange of information. Assistant Commissioner Galina Talbot is the host. The most recent meeting was on Wednesday 21 April at the Sydney Police Centre in Goulburn Street, Surry Hills. There was discussion about the Anti-Trans Bill and the recommendation from Equality Australia to not take any overt action at this time. Follow up questions for NSWPF included an update on the ‘egging attacks the night of Mardi Gras’. At this time the cars in question have not been identified, but NSWPF will be calling out for more information to assist them identify the perpetrators. Questions were also asked regarding access to Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officers (GLLOs) in regional areas and outer Sydney. This initiative from NSWPF is helpful for our community, but as long as we can have access to the GLLOs when required. AC Talbot advised that they have a large intake of Officers undertaking GLLO training this year and they have restructured the course to include online components making it more accessible to regional officers. This was further discussed when the Officers from Western NSW gave their report on what they were doing in Wilcannia (a long way from the inner-city LGBTIQ communities). The meeting was well attended with representatives from a range of community organisations and NSW Police Force areas. Four 78ers – Sue Fletcher, Diane Minnis, Peter Murphy and Wanda Kluke – who worked with the NSW Police Force on an anti-homophobia video attend these consultations.   LGBTIQ attendee organisations: Sydney World Pride, Inner City Legal Centre, City of Sydney, Pride in Diversity, Alex Greenwich’s Office, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Inner West Council, ACON, Twenty10, Pride in Justice, Pride in NSW, Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Penny Sharpe’s office, NSW Trans and Gender Diverse Criminal Justice Advisory Council, Rainbow Families, GLLO Advisory Committee. NSWPF attendees: AC Talbot (Chair), A/Commander Crime Prevention Command, Western Region Sponsor, Sexuality, Gender Diversity & Intersex, Specialist Command Region Sponsor, South Western Sydney Region Sponsor, Central Metropolitan Region Sponsor, A/Manager PDT, Aboriginal Coordination Team, GLLO Advisory Committee, Wellington ACLO & GLLO, Orana Mid Western PD, Senior Policy and Projects Officer, Sexuality, Gender Diversity & Intersex.   Sue Fletcher 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member Calendar of Events 78ers Pawfect Dog Picnic – 1-4pm, Saturday 2 May 2021, Hawthorne Dog Park near Café Bones Coming out in the 70s: Early Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia Exhibition at the State Library – Saturday 28 November 2020 to 16 May 2021 Eliminating LGBTQ Ageism, telling our own stories – 10.30am, Wednesday 19 May 2021, Redfern Town Hall, 73 Pitt Street, register: loveproject.org.au or rgluyas@acon.org.au First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday in late May 2021, TBC Salon78 Forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? – late June 2021 TBC WorldPride Copenhagen – 14-21 August 2021 (subject to Covid and travel restrictions), bookings opened in April  This Is Me Festival from Newcastle Pride – 5 August to 5 September 2021 2021 Events - Newcastle Pride Broken Heel Festival – 9-13 September 2021 GET TICKETS HERE — Broken Heel Festival (bhfestival.com).

Newsletter - March 2021

View this email in your browser March 2021 In this March edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have three articles on the 2021 Mardi Gras Parade, with one also covering the Pride in Protest march. These articles, like others in our newsletter, contain personal opinions and observations. They do not necessarily reflect the position of First Mardi Gras Inc. This newsletter includes: Diane Minnis on Marching into the SCG – Parade 2021 Ken Davis on Two Parades for 44th Mardi Gras Karl Zlotkowski on Parade Placards – Fifty Years of Visibility Peter de Waal on Recognising the 50th Anniversary of CAMP Inc. Bob Harvey’s report on Tamworth Mardi Gras Celebrations Alex Greenwich, MP for Sydney: Community Recognition Statement  – The 78ers Karl Zlotkowski on Campaigning against Latham’s Anti-Trans Bill Barry Charles on plans for WorldPride Copenhagen 2021 Diana King’s review of Why Did She Have to Tell the World? SUPERNOVA Movie Giveaway – In cinemas April 15 Vale Rob Hayward 4.12.38 to 15.2.21 How to apply for an ACON IDAHOBIT Community Grant Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis Marching into the SCG on 6 March 2021 was an amazing buzz. The atmosphere was electric! It was certainly different to parading up Oxford Street, but so special celebrating an unbroken line of 44 Mardi Gras Parades. The day began at 7.30am for a group of 20 of us: mainly 78ers with a few partners and friends. We assembled on Wentworth Avenue in the city to be filmed as part of a Parade opening sequence. There were six Dykes on Bikes, a First Nations bus and a 78ers bus. The footage was shown at the SCG in the lead up to the Parade entering the arena – where large vehicles were not allowed. When we marched in to the SCG, the 78ers contingent was greeted by an excited crowd who stood and clapped and cheered as we reached each section. Electronic signs all around the ground flashed in pink and black “Forever Grateful to Our 78ers – the first Mardi Gras”. Many of us were very touched by this. There were 51 78ers, partners and friends in our contingent and seven of the group rode on a buggy. We carried placards celebrating Fifty Years of LGBTIQ+ Visibility, highlighting key events and people from 1969, 1970 and 1971.     Fifty Years of Visibility The SGLMG 78ers Committee had prepared a detailed media brief on Fifty Years of LGBTIQ+ Visibility. The brief included key messages on the first Australian activist LGBTIQ+ organisations founded 1969-70 – Australasian Lesbian Movement (ALM), ACT Homosexual Law Reform Society (HLRS) and Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP Inc.). Also covered were key members of ALM and CAMP Inc. who “came out” on TV and in the press in 1970. We were thrilled to hear our key messages of Fifty Years of LGBTIQ+ Visibility read out by 78er Julie McCrossin as we marched around the SCG. Each contingent was invited to accompany our entry into the stadium with appropriate music. We chose parts of Glad to be Gay by the Tom Robinson Band (in homage to June 1978) and a much loved classic anthem of 1970….You Don't Own Me! by Dusty Springfield.   The Parade After marching around the ground we went to seating reserved for 78ers. Some 78ers had gone straight to their seats in the stands and did not march. We had a terrific view of the rest of the Parade which was meticulously organised with the COVID-safe, smaller than usual contingents marching out of two entrances, then around the ground and up a central path past the TV cameras. We appreciated the pink triangle shaped stages on which the various artists performed. The use of electronic signage and lighting around the ground, and the entertainment that followed the Parade – even though the sound was at times sub-par. Community floats were numerous and colourful, with Rainbow Families making a big splash, and there were workers groups and political parties featured. There was not much humour and satire aside from Ethel Yarwood’s contingent which covered corruption and pork barrelling in NSW. (Though I think it is racist and sexist to satirise Gladys Berejiklian’s name as bin chicken.) The sponsor floats were toned down this year as they could not use vehicles and most used pushables and flags or placards. One sponsor, law firm MinterEllison, even had clever political commentary. Their contingent dressed as the late US Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and carried letters spelling out “All Rise” – a term used in courts and a reference to the Mardi Gras theme of “Rise”. (Though in the week after the Parade they sacked their female CEO for objecting to the firm representing Christian Porter.) SGLMG, please consider the actions and ethics of sponsors for our great event and the continuation of the Mardi Gras Parade and Festival into the future.   What Next? Speaking of the future, a number of 78ers have commented positively on the event at the SCG: a great view of the Parade; the comfort of seating; access to toilets, food and drink; and the lighting and electronic signage available in a stadium. However, a lot of 78ers are keen to get back to the streets where our Mardi Gras began – to be out there with people able to see our Parade and our message – unfiltered by TV coverage, editing and production. Some, though, are keen on a hybrid event – part street march with a finish in the SCG and marchers going to the seating afterwards. Former SGMG President Murray McLaughlin suggested this in the 1990s and was roundly condemned. But maybe it’s time to revisit a combined street and stadium Parade!   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair The sixth of March 2021 was a bit like 24 June 1978, with a militant daytime street march, and a larger night-time parade, but a lot has changed over four decades. And the Coronavirus has made a deep impact.   Pride in Protest (PiP) March Pride in Protest (PiP) organised a “Take Over Oxford Street March” with intersectional demands around transgender rights, queer refugees, police, decriminalising sex work and drug use, Black Lives Matter, opposition to One Nation MLC Mark Latham’s Parental Rights Bill and to the federal “religious freedom” Bill. They claimed a crowd of 3,000 in “a mardi gras with no cops, no corporations, no conservatives”. In the week before the rally, organisers had taken police to court to overturn a ban on this gathering of more than 500. NSW MPs Jo Haylen (Labor), Alex Greenwich (Independent), and Jenny Leong (Greens), wrote support letters. On Friday, NSW Health granted an exemption for the Saturday rally. The march was opposed by SGLMG and the advisory elected committee of 78ers. The crowd was mainly young, many in fancy dress and most in masks. The police presence was strong, and police were very restrictive, with Taylor Square partially closed. There was a moving acknowledgement of Country by Aunty Rhoda. Charlie Murphy, one of the two PiP activists elected to the SGLMG board, chaired. There were passionate speeches by Jenny Leong MP for Newtown from the Greens; by indigenous sex worker, Rosa, from Scarlett Alliance; by queer refugee activist, Phineas Hartson; by April Holcombe of Community Action for Rainbow Rights and by 78er, Mark Gillespie, who said: ”Those of us who were active politically in the 60s and 70s, like me, we had an energy and we knew where it came from. I remember that night where we broke through the cordon of police, and we called out ‘off to the cross’, I remember what was fuelling us was – and I think it’s fuelling you today – is this desire for justice.” The young crowd had a lot of energy, and the march swelled taking all lanes on both sides of Oxford Street, bigger than the original 1978 Mardi Gras. There was a significant Greens presence, including Senator Janet Rice. There was a large presence of non-binary and transgender people, and sex workers, with red umbrellas. Leichardt Uniting Church led militant chants and enlivened the parade with a drum band. Apart from rainbows, there were union and anarchist flags, and banners for socialist groups. The crowd stayed in Whitlam Square, but then ended the event with music in Hyde Park (just as we were supposed to on 24 June 1978).   Mardi Gras Parade The evening Parade around the Cricket Ground was a big success, a testimony to the extraordinary work of SGLMG staff and committee and thousands of volunteers in making the best out of a terrible situation, in which the usual “business model” of the festival, fair day, parade and party had to be completely rethought under direction of the state government in relation to Covid-19 restrictions. It was incredibly exciting walking into a stadium, with a loud queer and friendly 30,000 strong audience, quite ethnically diverse. We fifty or so 78ers had an exceptionally energetic response, right after the First Nations lead group. There was good recognition of the signs making visibility of 50 years of gay/lesbian liberation, and to the banners from 1978, “Out of the Bars and Into the Streets”, and “Stop Police Attacks on Gays, Women and Blacks”, particularly from people of colour in the stands. The First Nations lead group had placards about deaths in custody, and this was a theme in the daytime march. In the days around the Mardi Gras, three more Aboriginal people died in custody. The Cricket Ground Parade had fewer groups/floats (129), and there were fewer people in each, compared to recent years in the Parade up Oxford Street. Overall there was much less satire and humour, less politics, less sex, less gay and lesbian community. It was a success in terms of tolerance and acceptance, but with little subversion or transgression. A highlight was the Maori Haka, but there were fewer ethnic/international groups: Brazil, China, Asian Marching Boys and Trikone (South Asia). But there was nothing explicitly about racism or refugees, nothing about queers and Bolsonaro, Hong Kong, Duterte, Modi, or current democratic rebellions in Maynmar and Thailand. For the Cricket Ground and television audience, the sexual tribes were attenuated: there were bisexual pride, asexuals and transpride groups, but the bears and pups were very tame, and unlike most Mardi Gras Parades since 1978 no leather or BDSM groups, and actually nothing much specially lesbian. There were few regional groups other than Shellharbour and Newcastle, although there were many sports groups. Workers groups were strong: nurses, doctors, vets, ambos, transport, marine rescue, state emergency services, rural fire, public broadcasters, sex workers and lifesavers. Unions too: Union Pride, NSW Teacher’s Fed and the Nurses and Midwives Union, but no topical demands about workers’ rights or maintaining the public sector. Relative to the past, there was an absence of gay/lesbian social groups, venues and small businesses. There was a dominating presence of rainbow families and IVF services. There were queer deaf, people with disabilities, youth and mature gays, and mental health services. For the first time there were queer homeless and neurodiverse groups. There were three university groups, from Sydney, Western Sydney and UNSW. There were some political demands in the Greens, Extinction Rebellion, Amnesty, and Human Rights Watch groups. Less so with the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Rainbow Labor (with Plibersek and Albanese) and the Clover Moore-Alex Greenwich group. Right towards the end were the Liberals, with Dave Sharma. The only political satire was about corruption and pork barrelling, by Ethel Yarwood, which was marginalised in the official commentary and visual coverage. This year the LGBTIQ+ religious communities were largely absent, but there were significant Jewish and Mormon groups. Whatever happened to Muslims, Uniting Church, MCC, Acceptance, Quakers and Raelians? The NSW Police, Australian Federal Police and Department of Defence got good applause from most of the audience. Highlighting the fact that a large minority of SGLMG voting members oppose police in the Parade, activists from the satirical group, Department of Homo Affairs, dressed as cricket umpires, were arrested trying to intercept the police contingent on entry to the stadium. The ACON contingent only promoted PREP, as if that was the only HIV or gay health issue, or the only appropriate option for most people. There was a dominating presence of big business advertising contingents, mostly larger than the community groups, with a dozen floats and accompanying electronic display ads. In general participants are unpaid employees, many of whom are young straight women. MinterEllison law firm, soon to be famous for the first sacking relating to the Christian Porter allegations, Woolworths, TikTok, Stan, L’Oreal (who in gay/lesbian communities uses L’Oreal?), ANZ, Salesforce, Vodaphone, Star Casino, Koala Furniture, W Hotels (associated with the Mormon-provenance Marriott chain), ads for Oral B toothpaste, Pantene shampoo, and Olay creams. It seems that if a company throws around a bit of rainbow imagery, all ethical issues about how they treat workers, customers, suppliers or the environment are suspended. The question is, what exactly did they pay for the advertising that dilutes the parade, and leverages the volunteer work of thousands? The two 44th Mardi Gras Parades possibly point to a dualist future in coming years, with an open political march, and a tightly managed, controlled, ticketed, televised and increasingly “family friendly” stadium event negotiated with state government and sponsors. While many enjoyed the comfort and spectacle of the Cricket Ground, many are hoping 2022 brings back a vibrant street parade. Perhaps there is an ongoing complementarity between a protest and a night-time parade, as there was originally in 1978, when the Gay Solidarity Group organised both. Ken Davis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair This year the Mardi Gras 78ers Committee agreed on a long term plan for the 78ers Parade contingent, starting in 2021 and leading up to the 50th Anniversary in 2028. Our placards in the 2021 parade celebrated events from 1969, 1970 and 1971, with the theme Fifty Years of Visibility. We plan to continue this theme in coming years, celebrating events of 1972 in the 2022 parade, 1973 in the 2023 parade, and so on up to the Big One in 2028. This approach gives us a planned, coherent theme that highlights key events and people in the history of the LGBTQI movement in Australia. This year, the placards were painted by our own volunteers in the Mardi Gras Workshop. The simple black on white messages were linked to a commentary read out by Julie McCrossin as we entered the Cricket Ground – the effect was electric. We had some problems. We allowed over 40 parade items, including placards, but on the day our numbers fell short and some had to be left behind in the marshalling area. Luckily, everything was recovered. We also learnt a few things about the impact of ageing on our members. The placards we have used in the past are now too heavy for many to carry for a sustained period of time. Next year they will be replaced with light-weight corflute. The impact of ageing is something the 78ers Committee constantly emphasises to Mardi Gras – it is important that we enable as many as possible to march in coming years, whatever their restrictions. We must remain Visible. And we WERE visible in 2021.   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s CAMP Inc. 50th Anniversary Minute Requested and wished for – CAMP Inc 50th anniversary recognition – became reality on 22 February 2121! Below is a small segment of Sydney’s Lord Mayor’s detailed City of Sydney Council minute. “CAMP’s early advocacy encouraged vital community discussion that was the necessary precursor to important legal and social reforms. CAMP’s work, later taken up by other activists and community groups, ultimately led to anti-discrimination and anti-vilification legislation, homosexual law reform, the legal recognition of same sex relationships, legislation to allow same sex couples to adopt children and in 2017, marriage equality.” On 6 October 1971 around 80 members of CAMP gathered outside the then Liberal Party offices in Ash Street, Sydney where the preselection meeting was being held. It was the first gay rights demonstration in Australia. To commemorate this significant historical event: First Australian ‘en mass’ lesbian/homosexual public coming out First time a group of lesbians and homosexuals were photographed in public Women-lesbians demonstrated about and supported a male specific issue i.e. homosexual law reform. I feel proud having initiated this recognition in Sydney, for the LGBTQI+ community. Knowing that a plaque in recognition of our actions will be installed in Ash Street, Sydney! NSW Parliamentary Friends of LGBTQI+ Community and World Pride 2023 On 21 October 2020 I received a “Congratulations to CAMP Inc. – 50th anniversary” statement from the NSW Parliamentary Friends of LGBTQI+ Community and World Pride 2023. In part it said: “As Sydney’s first dedicated gay and lesbian political organisation, the contribution CAMP Inc has made, regarding LGBTQI+ rights and freedoms, in this state has been immense …” See the complete statement below.   Peter de Waal 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member Unfortunately, I was unable to participate in this year parade at the SCG where I was looking forward in joining my fellow 78ers. To my surprise, another opportunity presented itself. Tamworth was to hold its very first Mardi Gras celebration on the same day as the SCG parade, with support from Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Local LGBTIQ + activist and community leader, Jody Ekert organised this at the Forum 6 cinema, Tamworth. We had live-streaming of the SGLMG parade, local drag queen Blake Riley (performances and host), gay trivia and bingo and speakers including yours truly speaking as a 78er. The following is an account of the events of the day.   A Motley Crew Between 4pm and 5.30pm, a motley crew of drag queens, transgenders, gay males, lesbians, bisexuals and members of the wider community turned up outside Jody Ekert's guesthouse, The Rex for a photo opportunity. We posed in front of the Armidale Fire and Rescue truck, strategically decked in bedazzling rainbow colors and the Mardi Gras theme, "Rise". Around 5.30 the fire truck departed for the cinema in Peel St (the Main Street) with yours truly, Blake, Jody and some of the fire rescue volunteers. It was the ideal escort, like a single float for this Tamworth Mardi Gras celebration. Being in high spirits we all shared a Tik Tok moment. Others who were at The Rex gathering followed the truck and walked in unity to the Centre Point Mall. They displayed their pride by carrying pride flags and banners. Upon arriving at the mall more photos were taken. We entered the mall with a mixed sense of exhilaration and anticipation, unsure of the reception we would receive.   Seize the Moment Our fears were allayed as the small number of onlookers were amused and showed no displeasure at the sight of a huge, formidable drag queen in a pink and purple wig, Jody in sequined rainbow overalls and myself in my 78er t shirt and gold shorts and gold matching waistcoat, all hand in hand. Other participants were also dressed for the occasion. Professional photographers were there to seize the moment where the Tamworth LGBTIQ + community was on display and the local Channel 9 and ABC television cameras were in attendance. Blake was interviewed by Channel 9. The reception area of the cinema was decked out with balloons and a Pride/Mardi Gras Archway. Around 6pm, 70 ticket holders were seated in the theatre and proceedings began. First, we had an indigenous Welcome to Country. Then, I was introduced by Jody and presented the first part of my talk as a 78er. I enthusiastically explained the term (78ers) and mentioned that I became aware of my sexual orientation at age 16, coming out to my parents at 19.   Mardi Gras and Me I briefly mentioned my participation in and/or attendance at Mardi Gras parades from 1978 to 1999. Then, after a working stint in China from 1999 to 2018, I was able to participate in the 40th anniversary of Mardi Gras in 2018. It was an overwhelming experience for me to march with 78ers, for the first time since the 1998 20th anniversary. I had to overcome the challenge of flying from Beijing to participate, given I was diagnosed with bladder cancer and had a tumor removed. I returned to China in mid March, more tumors were found and, following chemotherapy, I was able to inform the audience with jubilation that I am now in remission.   The First Mardi Gras I then gave my personal reflections on June 24, 1978, the first Mardi Gras Parade. I mentioned the morning march from Town Hall, the gay rights forum at Paddington Town Hall and most importantly how Ron Austin (CAMP) proposed the idea of “street party for our community“ and Margaret McMann dubbed it Mardi Gras. Following on I presented a passionate and vivid description of my recollections of what happened after our 10pm assembly at Taylor Square: Lance Gowland driving the truck (first ever float); encouraging people to come out of the bars; police confiscating the truck and PA system at Hyde Park; the subsequent march up William St where we grew in momentum from 500 to 2000 marchers and the mayhem at Kings Cross with 53 arrests. Those of us not arrested went to Darlinghurst Police Station in the early hours of the morning, chanting “set them free” and organising bail. I emphatically stated that the first Mardi Gras parade was one of the defining moments of my life and a pivotal moment for the LGBTIQ movement in Australia.   The Parade, and After Our Drag Queen host, Blake, then welcomed everyone and gave a performance. We then crossed for a 30 minute live-stream of the parade from SCG. When the 78ers appeared in the parade I stood up and roused the audience to cheer. After the live-stream we commenced a fun gay trivia session and handed out gay bingo sheets. We returned for more live-streaming of the Parade for another 30 minutes or so. Again we returned to more performances from Blake and more gay trivia. We returned to the live-stream again and then we had three speakers: from ACON; Tamworth Pride President, Dianne Harris, (a transgender woman) and then I delivered the second part of my talk as a 78er. I outlined the aftermath of the first Mardi Gras: repeal of the Summary Offences Act in May, 1979; amendment of the Anti Discrimination Act (1982) and the amendment of the Crimes Act (1984), decriminalising sexual acts between male consenting adults under the Wran Government. This was really a momentous change. I then asked everyone what happened in 2017 and the enthusiastic response was the overwhelming vote for same sex marriage and I stated we got Tamworth’s support! Finally in my talk I focused on my future aspirations in my role as a 78er, that is to promote the legacy of the 78ers, by showing moral support for LGBTIQ + youth in the way of school and university visits. I would hope to instill in these young people a sense of confidence and courage to stand up for their rights and be comfortable with an LGBTIQ + identity. We ended the evening at the cinema on a lighter note, with the answers to the gay trivia quiz and prizes for winners of trivia and gay bingo. Some of us, all decked out in our gay splendor, later had drinks at a trendy cocktail bar, The Press. The following morning, around 12 of us attended a breakfast at Ruby’s café. Two local newspaper articles have been published in the Northern Daily Leader. The second piece on 12 March presented a profile of myself. Both articles adopted a very positive tone. Tamworth Pride are planning to hold a Fair Day in October. Overall, this was our second Tamworth LGBTIQ+ community event, the first being a Pride Fair Day In October 2019 and hence it was another milestone for the Tamworth LGBTIQ community!   Bob Harvey 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member Community Recognition Statement – The 78ers On 17 February 2021, Alex Greenwich MP, Independent Member for Sydney, moved a Community Recognition Statement for The 78ers in the NSW Legislative Assembly. In his statement Alex says: “ I want to acknowledge the amazing legacy of the 78ers. This year marks the 43rd anniversary of those who gathered in Taylor Square Darlinghurst, in defiance of discrimination, abuse and unfair laws.” We thank Alex and his full statement is shown below. The 78ers Committee of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has called upon the SGLMG Board to issue a public statement in opposition to The Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020. This Bill, introduced into the NSW Parliament by One Nation MP Mark Latham, attacks the rights of trans and gender diverse students in NSW schools. The Bill also penalises teachers and school counsellors for supporting marginalised students or teaching that LGBTQI people should be treated with equality and respect. It is scheduled for public hearings on 20-21 April 2021. An orchestrated campaign is underway in support of the Bill, and calls have already been made for the LGBTQI community to express its opposition through public statements and private action. The 78ers Committee has suggested that Mardi Gras should provide leadership for the community, possibly in conjunction with Equality Australia and other groups. The Committee has also urged the Mardi Gras Board to call upon corporate sponsors to support a statement, and has offered to join in any discussions aimed at securing that support. The Board will consider this at its next meeting on 31 March. In the meantime, First Mardi Gras Inc. has begun preparing its own contributions towards a campaign. To obtain more information on this regressive Bill, you can visit the Equality Australia website at https://equalityaustralia.org.au/onenationbill/.   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member The latest update on preparations for World Pride Copenhagen 2021 was presented on Zoom on March 13th. The organisers have a fantastic programme planned and in their words are “increasingly confident they can provide a full public event”. However, they continue: “We know that the global pandemic continues to cause uncertainty for many people, and our planning continues to cover all possibilities. We’re pleased that our partners, funders and sponsors have confidence that we’re taking the right approach, and you can read more on our planning on the website (https://copenhagen2021.com/covid19/)”. There is a great schedule of events: The opening ceremony is Friday, 13 August 2021. Followed by a parade on the 14th and concerts that weekend in both Copenhagen and nearby Malmo, Sweden. The Human Rights Conference kicks off after an official opening at UN City on Monday 16 August, and runs from 17-19 August. A global inter-parliamentary plenary assembly will occur on Friday, 20 August with more than 150 parliamentarians from around the world already registered to attend. One focus will be on LGBTIQ immigration and refugees. The Democracy Festival 17th-20th August (open to the public) has the theme “Global Equality by 2030”. Alongside World Pride are the EuroGames. Twenty nine sports are catered for, scattered over many arenas in Malmo and Copenhagen. This includes a Sports Leaders Conference. The Arts and Culture programme is impressive. Featuring Youth Pride, Rainbow Children and a “Fluid Festival” with emphasis on safe spaces for women and non-binary persons. World Pride Park in Malmo will have three stages for performance and lecture spaces. The closing ceremony takes place after another parade on Saturday 21 August when there will be a handover to Sydney 2023. It remains to be seen just how large our physical presence can be given the current travel restrictions and COVID. The Copenhagen Team are now producing a monthly update. Go to https://copenhagen2021.com/newsletter to subscribe. Further details are on the following links: “You can to tune in to the #YouAreIncluded Podcast (https://copenhagen2021.com/podcast/) . If you’ve missed an episode, you can go back and listen to discussions about WorldPride, EuroGames, culture, human rights, and love. You can subscribe and rate the podcast too.”   Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary “This will be our last time of coming out”, says Phyllis, at the beginning of this significant documentary by Abbie Pobjoy and Bonny Scott about a lesbian partnership and the times through which it endured and flourished. More than their personal story though, this documentary illuminates the quintessential lesbian love challenge for those coming of age in the 70’s. More than the story of one couple, Phyllis’ and Francesca’s lifetime together illustrates the depth and undeniability of same sex attraction. It belies the claims of unnaturalness, or of being profane in some way. It demonstrates that love, no matter its orientation, must win out. It’s an important documentary for the straight and religious world to see. And an encouraging one for the community. Love is love may be a catch cry, but it is undeniably true. Phyllis’ opening statement, said with some relief I thought, speaks bucket loads to the experience of every same sex attracted person. We come out over and over again, week after week, year after year. And her father’s words, “Why Did She Have To Tell The World”, illuminates the rejection and vilification that accompanies choosing to live your true self in an unaccepting world. For Phyllis and Francesca, who came out so publically and courageously, the impact on their lives, though largely unexposed, has been, as you would expect, significant. Francesca began this process of coming out personally, with her original interview for the TV program, the Bailey File in May 1970, in which she invited lesbians to contact her for support. Serendipitously, Phyllis was watching. The cautious, but open manner in which they came out together, on The Today Tonight Show with Bill Peach in October 1970, knowing the likely consequences, opened up Australia to the discussion. The Australian Lesbian Movement, a small group, given a voice in that show, blossomed, and lesbians could, at last, find each other. Attitudes then were more derisive and even more dangerous than today. We are reminded of this when a child of six or seven, shockingly, spouts hate speech when street interviewed. Phyllis and Francesca threw down the gauntlet to conservatism and asked for a place in society alongside everyone else. The producers can be proud of this film. They do not interject themselves, except to make the point of inter-generational crossover – which is entirely appropriate. The production itself is excellent. The pacing of the interviewing and intercutting with historic footage creates a moving narrative. This film opens with Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement of the holding of the despicable plebiscite, it’s fitting that, with another public appearance, at the Australian LGBTI awards accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award, the closing parenthesis to their public story is placed. “Life has been a struggle,” Phyllis says, “not because we couldn’t cope with being ourselves, we couldn’t get people to accept us.” Isn’t this at the root of all human conflict?   Diana King (DQ) 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member   Why Did She Have To Tell The World? screened at the Mardi Gras Film Festival on 3 March, at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival on 13 March and on ABC TV on 14 March 2021. SUPERNOVA Movie Giveaway – In cinemas April 15 Supanova Synopsis It is deep Autumn and Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci), partners of twenty years, are on holiday. They are travelling across England in their old campervan visiting friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with young-onset dementia two years ago their lives have had to change. Jobs have been given up and plans put on hold. Their time together is now the most important thing they have. As the trip progresses however, their individual ideas for their future begin to collide. Secrets are uncovered, private plans unravel and their love for each other is tested like never before. Ultimately, they must confront the question of what it means to love one another in the face of Tusker’s irreparable illness. To win one of five double passes to SUPERNOVA, email info@78ers.org.au and include your postal address. 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. member Rob Hayward has passed away. Rob was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour after collapsing at home in Bondi Junction in May last year. He had chemotherapy and radiation to stem its growth. Rob was relatively well up until late December when he was admitted to St Vincent’s where he passed in February this year. Rob is survived by his partner of 16 years, Sam Savva, also a 78er. Sam said that Rob was a gentle soul, emotional, giving and easy going. He recalled that even when Rob was very ill in hospital he was able to instantly come up with a crossword answer. Rob and Sam registered as a de facto couple. Rob was raised in Austinmer but moved to Sydney to begin his studies at UNSW. He then taught English and History at High Schools in Dover Heights and Canterbury. As well as his involvement in the first Mardi Gras, Rob was active in anti-Vietnam war and other protests. Rob was also a keen environmentalist and picked up plastic and other recyclables wherever he went. Rob was farewelled with a Requiem Mass at Christ Church St Laurence on 23 February. The choir, which was Rob’s passion, sang beautifully to music he chose for his service. Rob volunteered at the church, guiding visitors during the week. Rob’s ashes will soon be spread in the flower garden at Christ Church St Laurence.   78ers Sam Savva with Diane Minnis ACON IDAHOBIT Community Grants LGBTQ+ groups and individuals are invited to apply for a small grant of up to $1,000 to host an IDAHOBIT activity 'Celebrating LGBTQ+ Diversity' in priority settings in NSW.  Applications close Tues 6 April. For more info or to register see: https://www.aconhealth.org.au/idahobit_community_grants. Calendar of Events Coming out in the 70s: Early Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia Exhibition at the State Library – Saturday 28 November 2020 to 16 May 2021 First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 17 April 2021 by Zoom 78ers Pawfect Dog Picnic – April 2021 TBC, Hawthorne Dog Park near Café Bones Salon78 Forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? – late June 2021 TBC, by Zoom WorldPride Copenhagen – 14-21 August 2021 (subject to Covid and travel restrictions),  bookings open in April   This Is Me Festival from Newcastle Pride – 5 August to 5 September 2021 2021 Events - Newcastle Pride Broken Heel Festival – 9-13 September 2021 GET TICKETS HERE — Broken Heel Festival (bhfestival.com).

The Guardian: 'Rainbows are everywhere but no one’s really around': Sydney's Mardi Gras in Covid times

FBI Community Radio

78ers chat with Nic and Nick from Proud at Woolies

Leading up to Mardi Gras 2021, 78ers Robyn Plaister and Pete Clare dropped into the (virtual) studio to chat with Nic and Nick from Proud at Woolies on their podcast LGBTQ+ about what it was like being in the first Mardi Gras in 1978.

Have a listen below!

Do you know when and why Mardi Gras first started? In this episode we talk to Robyn Plaister and Pete Clare, two 78er's who participated in Sydney's First Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1978, as they get behind the question, 'What was it like being...

The Proud network exists to create a supportive environment across Woolworths Group for the team who identify as LGBTQ+ or who are supporting allies of the community. Proud is made up of over 2,500 individuals and growing, who believe in diversity, acceptance and equality in the workplace.

Check out the other episode in the Proud at Woolies LGBTQ+ podcast here

Fifty Years of Visibility!

Key Messages

In the 2021 Mardi Gras Parade, the 78ers contingent (those in the first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and related protests in 1978) will celebrate Fifty Years of LGBTIQ+ Visibility by highlighting key events from 1969, 1970 and 1971.

 Download this article as a PDF by clicking here!

The first Australian activist LGBTIQ+ organisations were founded in:

•        1969 – Australasian Lesbian Movement (ALM)

•        June 1969 – ACT Homosexual Law Reform Society 

•        July 1970 – Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP Inc.).

Key members of ALM and CAMP Inc. “came out” and were interviewed on TV and in the press in 1970. They included John Ware, Michael Cass and Christabel Poll of CAMP Inc. and the ALM’s Phyllis Papps and Francesca Curtis.

 The first AGM of CAMP Inc. was chaired by Dr Ian Black on 9 January 1971.

 The first gay demonstration in Australia was on 8 October 1971. 

 2021 is the 40th Anniversary of the first Summer Mardi Gras.

 Phyllis Papps and Francesca Curtis of ALM are the subjects of a documentary Why Did She Have To Tell The World?, screening during the Mardi Gras Film Festival on 3 March 2021 and on ABC TV on Sunday March 14 at 8pm AEDT.

LGBTQI+ Visibility – 1969 to 1971

Australia's first "coming out" in the media was the television appearance of the Australasian Lesbian Movement’s Francesca Curtis on Channel 9's Melbourne-based current affairs program, The Bailey File, in May 1970. 

The Australasian Lesbian Movement (ALM) (initially named the Daughters of Bilitis after the US group, was formed in Melbourne in 1969. At first ALM was a closed lesbian support group but they had spokeswomen who commented on issues related to lesbians.

In July 1970, following the reports of the first Gay Pride March in New York, John Ware and

Christabel Poll invited a few people to discuss forming a group of “learned ‘homosexuals to counter discriminatory stereotypes in the media”. They decided to form Sydney’s Campaign Against Moral Persecution, or CAMP Inc., the first openly homosexual support and activist organisation in Australia. 

After letters were sent to various newspapers advising of the formation of CAMP Inc., John Ware was interviewed in The Australian on 10 September 1970.

On Saturday 19 September 1970, an article, Couples, appeared in the magazine section of The Australian. In the article, Janet Hawley interviewed John Ware, his partner Michael Cass and Christabel Poll. This was followed by an interview with John Ware and Michael Cass on ABC-TV’s This Day Tonight two days later.

Then, on 6 October 1970, ALM’s Phyllis Papps and Francesca Curtis were interviewed on

ABC-TV This Day Tonight. This interview, and Francesca’s earlier appearance on The Bailey File, was based on how the women came to terms with being a lesbian and the public image of lesbians. This is now the subject of the documentary Why Did She Have To Tell The World?, screening during the Mardi Gras 2021 Film Festival on 3 March and on ABC TV on Sunday March 14 at 8.00pm AEDT. 

However, it was John and Christabel's appearance in Couples that led to the establishment of a series of CAMP groups across Australia and the impetus for a broader homosexual rights movement.

Rather than being just the anniversary of one organisation, however, the article is now viewed as the symbolic start of the gay and lesbian movement, and the beginning of fifty years of LGBTQ visibility and achievement across Australia.

Before this, there were really no publicly self-declared homosexuals or homosexual organisations, though there were, necessarily closeted, social groups. Within twelve months, there were CAMP groups in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, and eventually in Canberra (all in a loose federation). Campus groups, independent of CAMP, were established at Sydney

University and the University of NSW; and a Gay Liberation sub-group that had formed within CAMP broke away in January 1972 to form Sydney Gay Liberation. Similar Gay Liberation groups then formed in other capitals.

It is not just that these were brave people for the time but that these events mark the beginnings of LGBTQ visibility in Australia. And with the following fifty years of achievement, they are worthy of commemoration.

In the Parade this year, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 78ers Committee will celebrate Fifty Years of LGBTIQ+ Visibility and is highlighting key events from 1969, 1970 and 1971. In 2022, the 78ers Committee will celebrate key events from 1972 in the Parade.

This year is also the 40th Anniversary of the first Summer Mardi Gras, in February 1981. The first three Mardi Gras Parades were held in late June on the Stonewall uprising anniversary.          

Timeline – 1969 to 1971

•        1969 – Daughters of Bilitis, soon re-named the Australasian Lesbian Movement (ALM), formed in Melbourne.

•        June 1969 – ACT Homosexual Law Reform Society formed.

•        May 1970 – first "coming out" in the media, Francesca Curtis of ALM on Channel 9's Melbourne-based current affairs program, The Bailey File.

•        July 1970 – following the reports of the first Gay Pride March in New York, John Ware and Christabel Poll invite a small group to discuss forming a group of “learned

‘homosexuals to counter discriminatory stereotypes in the media” – Campaign Against Moral Persecution, or CAMP Inc.

•        September 1970 – letter sent to various newspapers advising the formation of CAMP Inc., only Nation and the Brisbane Courier Mail print it. 

•        10 September 1970 – John Ware interviewed in The Australian about CAMP Inc.

•        19 September 1970 – John Ware, his partner Michael Cass and Christabel Poll of CAMP Inc. interviewed in Couples article in magazine section of The Australian. 

•        21 September 1970 – John Ware and Michael Cass, of CAMP Inc., interviewed on ABC-TV’s This Day Tonight.

•        6 October 1970 – Phyllis Papps and Francesca Curtis of ALM interviewed on ABCTV This Day Tonight.

•        21 November 1970 – John Ware and Christabel Poll invite a selected group to a BBQ and they decide that CAMP Inc. will be a larger group than originally planned.

•        December 1970 – first issue of the magazine CAMP Ink published.

•        9 January 1971 – first AGM of CAMP Inc. held in the Anglican Church hall in Balmain, chaired by Dr Ian Black.

•        21 February 1971 – Society 5 (CAMP Vic) forms in Melbourne and within months, CAMP groups form in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra. CAMP Inc. becomes CAMP NSW.

•        22 March 1971 – Dr Ian Black interviewed on Anne Deveson’s Newsmakers program on 2GB.

•        April 1971 – first general meeting of CAMPus CAMP at Sydney University.

•        May 1971 – formation of CAMPus CAMP at UNSW.

•        July 1971 – Gay Liberation group forms within CAMP NSW.

•        8 October 1971 – 70 attend the CAMP NSW called first gay demonstration in Australia outside the NSW Liberal Party headquarters, against the pre-selection challenge by Jim Cameron to sitting Federal Attorney-General Tom Hughes, who had proposed homosexual law reform.

•        20 October 1971 – Sydney University and UNSW CAMPus CAMPs hold Sex-Lib forums. 

Placard Slogans – 2021

50 years of VISIBILITY – the 78ers contingent in the Mardi Gras Parade will use this placard in 2021 and each year as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the 1972 events in 2022, of the 1973 events in 2023 and so on.

1969 ALM Melbourne – the Australasian Lesbian Movement was formed in Melbourne.

1969  HLRS Canberra – the Homosexual Law Reform Society was formed in Canberra.

1970  CAMP Inc. Sydney – the Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP Inc.) was formed in June 1970 in Sydney.     

1970 John Ware Christabel Poll CAMP Inc. – CAMP Inc. was formed by John Ware and Christabel Poll in June 1970. Christabel and John, with his partner Michael Cass, were interviewed in Couples article in magazine section of The Australian on 19 September 1970. John and Michael were then interviewed on ABC TV on 21 September.

1970 Phyllis Papps  Francesca Curtis ALM – in May 1970 Francesca Curtis was the first to come out in the media. Phyllis and Francesca were also interviewed on ABC TV on 6 October 1970. They were prominent members of ALM.

1970       CAMP Ink Magazine – in December 1970 the first issue of the magazine CAMP Ink was published.

1971       CAMP All States – 21 February 1971 – Society 5 (CAMP Vic) forms in Melbourne and within months, CAMP groups form in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra. CAMP Inc. becomes CAMP NSW.

1971 FIRST GAY PROTEST IN AUSTRALIA – 8 October 1971 – 70 attend the CAMP NSW called first gay demonstration in Australia outside the NSW Liberal Party headquarters, against the pre-selection challenge by Jim Cameron to sitting Federal Attorney-General Tom Hughes, who had proposed homosexual law reform.

CAMP and Gay Liberation symbols

Stop Police Attacks on Women, Gays and Blacks – Fabric banner with a variant of our most commonly chanted slogan. 78ers almost always chant: Stop Police Attacks on Gays, Women and Blacks.

Out of the Bars and onto the Streets – Fabric banner with our other common chant of the 1970s.

78ers and the first Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras History

The original 1978 Mardi Gras marchers

Timeline (mardigras.org.au)

Who are the 78ers? — First mardi gras

What happened at the first Mardi Gras? — First mardi gras (78ers.org.au)

Download a PDF of this article by clicking here

Red Bull Podcast - If These Walls Could Talk: “Out of the bars, into the streets”: The story of Sydney’s first Mardi Gras

Newsletter - February 2021

View this email in your browser February 2021 In this February edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, w e have: Karl Zlotkowski on 2021 Parade – Out Front and Visible! Diane Minnis on arrangements for Parade 2021 – Saturday 6 March Information on a mask offer from House of Priscilla Barry Charles on First Mardi Gras Membership Robert French on his LGBTQ History Walks A report on the City of Sydney Rainbow Flag Raising Ceremony Richard Riley on the Meet the 78ers forum with the SGLMG 78ers Committee Karl Zlotkowski on the NAS Skin Deep Exhibition Robyn Kennedy on Oceania InterPride Report on our Social Lunch Britt Kissun, Barry Charles and Karl Zlotkowski on our postponed 78ers Pawfect Dog Picnic New date for our Salon78 Forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? Ticket give away for GIRLS CAN’T SURF | In Cinemas March 11 Bruce Carter’s memorial of early Mardi Gras poster designer Chris Jones Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis An unexpectedly large contingent of 78ers, partners and friends will lead this year’s Parade at the Sydney Cricket Ground, after the First Nations float. Our theme this year is Fifty Years of Visibility, and we will be carrying placards celebrating events from 1969, 1970 and 1971. Over the past two weeks, 78ers and the Mardi Gras Workshop team have prepped, painted, traced, printed, wired, blinged and sequinned a small thicket of signs. The last cheeky touches are being applied as we go to press. Huge thanks to our 78er volunteers Kell Boston, Lance Day, Diane Minnis, Karl Zlotkowski and professional sign-writer Karen Askew, and our friend Anne Morphett. Thanks too to Liz Carter and the Mardi Gras Workshop team – they go out of their way to help us, and working with them is a joy. This year we will be managing our Parade items more carefully on the night. Too many of our 78er props have been lost or borrowed over the years, and we should start preserving them as part of a historical collection. So this year, when we hand out a fabulous sign for you to carry, we will ask for it back at the end of the parade :-) Happy Mardi Gras! 78ers are Everywhere! Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member Celebrating Fifty Years of Visibility In the 2021 Mardi Gras Parade, the 78ers contingent will carry placards celebrating Fifty Years of LGBTIQ+ Visibility, highlighting key events and people from 1969, 1970 and 1971. The first Australian activist LGBTIQ+ organisations were founded in 1969 – Australasian Lesbian Movement (ALM) and ACT Homosexual Law Reform Society and 1970 – Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP Inc.). Key members of ALM and CAMP Inc. “came out” and were interviewed on TV and in the press in 1970. They included John Ware, Michael Cass and Christabel Poll of CAMP Inc. and the ALM’s Phyllis Papps and Francesca Curtis. The first issue of CAMP Ink magazine was published in 1970, and by the end of 1971 CAMP groups (under various names) were established in all states. Dr Ian Black chaired the first AGM of CAMP Inc. on 9 January 1971 and the first gay demonstration in Australia was on 8 October 1971. In all these 50th Anniversary milestones, it is also worth noting that 2021 is the 40th Anniversary of the first Summer Mardi Gras. This year we have also been invited to accompany our entry into the stadium with appropriate music. We have chosen parts of (in homage to June 1978) Glad to be Gay, as well as another much loved classic that is today considered one of the anthems of 1970….You Don't Own Me!   What to Expect Since this year’s Parade will be held at the SCG (to comply with COVID health regulations), there are quite a few changes to our arrangements. This year all contingents have smaller numbers, although the 78ers will actually be the largest group in the Parade. 78er numbers have already reached our maximum and registration has now closed for our group. All 78ers who have registered to march will receive an email early next week with their Eventbrite ticket to gain access to the Marshalling Area. This is to ensure Covid compliance and the ticket can be printed or stored on a mobile device as an eticket. Six 78ers have volunteered to act as marshals for our group – Sallie Colechin, Helen Gollan, Robyn Kennedy, Maree Marsh, Diane Minnis and Karl Zlotkowski. We will be wearing pink armbands. Marchers will need to wear a mask (unless you have an exemption and the documentation to prove it), bring photo ID, your Eventbrite ticket and your seating ticket. Detailed assembly information will go out next week. We will be able to remove our masks after we enter the arena, but we must still maintain social distancing. 78ers who have applied for seating ticket/s should have received their Ticketek ticket email on Friday 26 February. If you have noted in the Parade registration survey that you do not have seating tickets, you will be emailed next week with a code to apply on Ticketek. If you have ordered a t-shirt and are marching, you can collect it in the 78ers Marshalling Area. If you have ordered a t-shirt and are watching on TV or going straight to seating, it has been posted to you. Some 78ers are collecting t-shirts from the Mardi Gras office. Please note that this year the Parade will be starting at 6pm and NOT 7.15pm as we do in Oxford Street. The SGLMG 78ers Committee asked for a late assembly time for us and this is 5.30pm. There will be some seats for us to sit on while we wait. The gates to the Marshalling Area close at 6pm. After we march, we go straight to our seats and there are places to purchase drinks/food in the SCG. In common with all other Parade participants, our members will be asked to comply with common-sense guidelines for behaviour. Drunken or abusive behaviour is never acceptable.  This will be a different experience, marching around the SCG and not up Oxford Street, but I’m sure it will feel pretty special celebrating an unbroken line of 44 Mardi Gras Parades!   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair House of Priscilla is offering a 20% discount to 78ers on its range of stylish face masks – elegant or blingy, it’s up to you! This offer applies to their standard stock items or special one-off items using your choice of fabric to match your Mardi Gras outfit. Turnaround is very quick – if you order soon they can have something for you in time for Mardi Gras. Use this link to tour their offering of stock items and place an order. https://houseofpriscilla.com.au/364-fashion-masks. If you’d like something special, phone them straight away to discuss possibilities or visit their studio at Level 1, 47 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010 (Phone: 02 9286 3023). To obtain the 20% discount, use the promo code 78MG2021! If you order at the last minute and cannot collect it yourself before you march with us in the Parade (or don’t trust the post to reach you in time) we may be able to collect and deliver to you on the night. Tell House of Priscilla that this is what you want to do and email us at info@78ers.org.au.   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member We’re not Just Queer in March! Whether we identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex or Queer. Whether we sometimes call ourselves a Poof or a Dyke. We know that we are not just around in February and March. Our lives and loves and struggles and triumphs are year round and year on year. 78ers, their partners, carers, friends and supporters know that what matters is that our community goes on growing and supporting each other. That the now and future stands on where we have come from and the pioneers of the past. Just as Mardi Gras means much more than the street parade and a ticket to a party. So First Mardi Gras Inc. is more than a once year community group. As well as assisting 78ers to have access to the annual parade, members of First Mardi Gras Inc. work throughout the year to represent our interests/concerns to Mardi Gras. We hold regular general meetings. See this newsletter for details. We respond to calls from many different organisations to provide speakers to explain our history and experience. Through our Salon78 forums we discuss and inform the community on the history and politics of LGBTIQ Rights in Australia.   We Need You If you are receiving or sharing this newsletter, please consider becoming more involved. Become a member and supporter of our community. Become a financial member of First Mardi Gras Inc.   Barry Charles 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary It was a privilege, on Friday 26 February, to lead an LGBTIQ History Walk for Vision Impaired People. It was organised by Guide Dogs NSW with the Pride History Group. Much to my pleasure, two participants brought their hounds! On the morning of Saturday 27 February I led the 10th annual ACON Spark Youth Group History Walk. We visited the Hyde Park Barracks and the Coming Out in the 70s exhibition at the State Library. Then in the afternoon, I led the second walk for Guide Dogs NSW – with not only more hounds but drag queens as well! But, I'm knackered, my legs ache, so I intend to stay home, with a closed door, for the next couple of days. Robert French 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member 78ers Lance Day, Diane Minnis and Karl Zlotkowski attended the City of Sydney’s annual Rainbow Flag Raising Ceremony. They managed to insert themselves, representing 78ers of course, into the official photo with Lord Mayor Clover Moore, state MP for Sydney Alex Greenwich (both in front of the flag), Mardi Gras representatives and Councillors. Diane Minnis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair On Sunday 21 February, the SGLMG 78ers Committee held this Zoom webinar as part of this year’s Mardi Gras Festival. This was in place of our usual tent at Fair Day where many people come to ask about the events of 1978. Sadly Fair Day was not held this year due to Covid 19 restrictions. The Webinar was a great way for 78ers to continue our commitment to remember the significance of the first Mardi Gras and to keep alive the history of that event. We also acknowledge the community’s responses to the police arrests and bashings on the night, as well as three other events later that year. Louis Hudson, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Board member, opened the webinar with an acknowledgment of country and welcomed the audience of 50 and the panellists Diane Minnis, Sallie Colechin, Penny Gulliver, Karl Zlotkowski and Richard Riley. Former SGLMG Board Member Brandon Bear moderated the webinar and explained that is was being recorded for later use and that people could use the chat function to ask questions. Matt Akersten from Mardi Gras developed the webinar presentation from photos and written material provided to him by panellists.   Events of 24 June 1978 Diane Minnis gave the background to the ‘day of International Gay Solidarity’ on June 24 1978. Diane described how a letter from activists in San Francisco to Ken Davis and Annie Talve asked that Sydney organise a day to coincide with that planned in San Francisco. The result was a dance on 23 June, a morning march from Sydney Town Hall, a public meeting at Paddington Town hall and the Festival, or Mardi Gras, that night in Taylor Square. All this was organised in a short time frame by the Gay Solidarity Group, a coalition of groups including Camp Inc. Diane shared her experience of the night time Mardi Gras describing the chaos that arose and her emotion at witnessing the impact on friends of the rough actions of the police. Sallie Colechin, using her own wonderful photos and others, described the events of the day. A thousand people marched down George Street in the morning in memory of the Stonewall riots in New York City in June 1969. After the march people went to Paddington Town Hall for a forum with politicians, lawyers and community leaders to discuss current laws and the essential reforms needed. In the evening 500 people gathered outside in Taylor Square to march with a permit to Hyde Park where speakers were also permitted. One truck led the then way with Glad to be Gay and Ode to a Gym Teacher blaring out as people from bars joined the festive parade. Sallie described the police mood changing with the march being rushed down the street and police then stopping the truck at Hyde Park. In response the crowd called “to the Cross”. There, Sal described it as bedlam with police without their identifying numbered badges roughly slamming people against vehicles, screaming, metal garbage bins banging as people were arrested and others tried to stop this happening. Penny Gulliver then gave an account of her night in the riot. She related desperate scenes of trying to prevent arrests with police grasping a friend’s upper body with Penny pulling her back by the legs. Penny also told how later TV coverage outside the Police Station outed her to her teaching employer and to her students. Her contract to teach self-defence was not renewed.   Drop the Charges Rally – 15 July 1978 Karl Zlotkowski spoke about the Drop the Charges rally on the morning of 15 July 1978 which ended up outside Darlinghurst Police Station.. There people chanted “Stop police attacks on gays women and blacks” and “Drop the charges”. Karl spoke of the “kettling” process of the police blocking exits and closing in to arrest marchers. Two thousand people marched that day and 14 were arrested.   Drop the Charges Rally – 27 August 1978 Richard Riley gave his account of the march on 27 August 1978 from the 4th National Homosexual Conference at Paddington Town Hall to Hyde Park. Three hundred people marched, mostly on the footpath, and chanted. Police cordoned off streets as we headed down Oxford Street and were met by an arc of police lines across Taylor Square. This was both to block marcher’s access to the Festival of Light rally in Hyde Park and to repeat the kettling practice Karl spoke of. Police declared the march illegal and ordered people to disperse but immediately moved in to arrest 104 of the 300 marchers. Some people got through to Hyde Park but many were arrested there while they tried to disrupt the Fred Nile Festival of Light rally. Those not arrested made their way back to Paddo Town Hall and organised the listing of who was arrested, where they were taken and bail money was raised on the spot.   The Aftermath After these accounts of the four events of 1978 that came to define the 78ers, Sallie spoke about the 20th anniversary of the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. This was planned by people active in the 1978 events and people began calling themselves 78ers from the time of the planning meetings. These people also produced the “It was a RIOT!” booklet. Arising from this anniversary some 78ers appeared in an ABC documentary “Dancing in the Dark” and an exhibition was also organised. Diane appended the talks with an update of the success of having many of the charges ultimately being dropped in the following year and Summary Offences Act being repealed. Following the panellists’ presentations there was time to answer some of the questions the audience had put up in chat. Questions and discussions were had on the role of the police in the Mardi Gras, what could be done to keep younger people informed about the events of 1978, and other discussion points. There was also generous feedback on the chat line that we appreciated. A recording of the webinar was made and it is hoped this can be made available on the Mardi Gras website in the future.   Richard Riley 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member There is still time to view the Skin Deep photo exhibition at the Cell Block Theatre, inside the National Art School, opposite the infamous Darlinghurst Police Station on Forbes Street.   The showing of photographs by celebrated Sydney fashion photographer Waded, continues until Sunday 7 March. The images are vast, towering colour prints of tattooed models, including our own 78ers Britt Kissun and Geoff Ostling. They hang in a remarkable, echoing cathedral space of shadowed sandstone. Riveting.   Karl Zlotkowski 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member The first meeting for 2021 of Oceania Pride was held on Monday 22 February 2021. The meeting was well attended by Pride organisers from across Australia including new members from First Nations organisations. Pride organisers from New Zealand and Fiji also attended.  The representative from Rainbow Pride Foundation Fiji (Isikeli Vouvalu) gave an excellent presentation about the extensive work being done by the organisation to address homophobia, discrimination, sexual health, barriers to employment and developing sustainable income sources for the LGBTQI community. The group is continuing to reach out to Pride organisations in the Pacific Islands to encourage participation in the network.   Robyn Kennedy 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member Social Lunch Our Social Lunch on Saturday 13 February, at the Terminus Hotel in Pyrmont, ended up being on a well-ventilated balcony instead of outdoors. About a dozen 78ers and partners braved the rain to attend and enjoyed a relaxed, pre-Mardi Gras social gathering. Photo: Garry Case. Our 78ers Pawfect Dog Picnic to be held on Saturday, 20 February, was postponed due to forecast rain. Event organisers, along with Steve Wiggins and his Dalmatians, went down to Hawthorne Dog Park, near Café Bones in case anyone did show up. Plans are afoot to reschedule the 78ers Pawfect Dog Picnic to April.    Britt Kissun, Barry Charles and Karl Zlotkowski 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member, Secretary and Committee Member The Salon78 forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? Community vs Commercial Scene has been rescheduled to a less busy time of the year. The forum was due to take place on Zoom on Sunday 28 February 2021. It will now be held in late June 2021 – close to the anniversary of the first three Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parades and the Stonewall riot in New York in 1969. Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair GIRLS CAN’T SURF | In Cinemas March 11 | Ticket Giveaway This powerful and inspiring story is about a group of renegade surfers who challenged the male-dominated professional surfing world for the shared goal of equality and change. Directed by multiple award winner Christopher Nelius and featuring interviews with surfing greats Jodie Cooper, Pauline Menczer, Pam Burridge, Wendy Botha, Layne Beachley and more, GIRLS CAN’T SURF is a wild ride of clashing personalities, sexism, adventure and heartbreak, with each woman fighting against the odds to make their dreams of competing a reality. If you haven’t yet seen the trailer, check it out here. For a free double pass, email info@78ers.org.au – first in gets the pass! Australian poet, artist, editor and activist Chris Jones passed away in July 2013 and was survived by family, and friends, many of whom were unaware of his passing until very recently. Chris came to Sydney from Narrabri NSW in the early '70s to study photography and graphics, and soon became active in militant left politics through his membership of the Socialist Workers Party, coming out as gay and joining the Gay Solidarity Group. Committed to workers' rights, by 1979 Chris was a labourer in the sinter plant of the Wollongong Steelworks, and was well known on the factory floor for being the first out gay man to be a rank-and-file union rep for the Federated Ironworkers Association. Friends remember him coming home to scrub the red dust from his body after a shift at the steelworks before heading to the infamous front bar of the Wollongong Hotel, which served as the town's de-facto gay bar, sometimes in drag. In the '70s '80s and '90s, Chris's commitment to social justice as a gay socialist, and his photographic and graphics skills created some of the most recognisable radical images of the time. These include seminal works, like the poster for the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1978. One of his most notable pieces was the poster protesting charges at the 1982 police raid of Sydney gay sex venue Club 80. He regularly designed banners, flyers, t-shirts and badges for demonstrations and campaigns, including photographing the historic Jobs for Women campaign against Australian Iron and Steel at the Wollongong Steelworks. In his 30s, Chris did a BA Communications in Writing and Textual Theory at the University of Technology, Sydney. He helped form the Pink Ink writing collective there and co-edited Pink Ink: an anthology of lesbian and gay writers (1991, Wicked Women Publications). His poetry was published in Cargo (BlackWattle Press), Poetry Australia and Between U&S 2 (1988, UTS Writers Collective), and was read on Gaywaves, QueerTV Channel 31, and at Writers in the Park at Glebe's Harold Park Hotel. Launching his verse novel, The Times of Zenia Gold, at the Flinders Hotel in November 1992 for BlackWattle Press, the late Dorothy Porter, a mentor and admirer, described the work as "full frontal gay ghetto poetry". This quality was definitely on display in his best-known poem from that volume, the internationally anthologised 'I Am In Love With The Boy On The Magazine Cover'. Chris went on to work as editor of the newsletter of the New South Wales Users and AIDS Association, and under his direction it developed into the widely circulated magazine, NUAA News (later Users News). NUAA News was lauded as a particularly successful peer-education tool that both improved health awareness around HIV and Hep C issues and campaigned for the human rights of drug users. Estranged from friends in later years, Chris went back to seclusion in his Narrabri home and was last reported living on a boat at Soldiers Point. A friend, comrade, mentor, artist and poet, Chris Jones was well loved and widely admired for his gentle nature, fierce politics, fiery poetry and love for the LGBTIQ and the socialist movements. Oh and smack. Chris was a militant drug user, an aficionado of heroin, and remained from reports, every bit the radical outsider and boundary rider until his sadly unreported passing.   Bruce Carter Calendar of Events Coming out in the 70s: Early Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia Exhibition at the State Library – Saturday 28 November 2020 to 16 May 2021 Skin Deep Exhibition – until Sunday 7 March 2021, National Art School Why Did She Have To Tell The World? with ALM’s Phyllis Papps and Francesca Curtis – Mardi Gras 2021 Film Festival on 3 March, ABC TV on Sunday March 14 at 8pm AEDT Mardi Gras Parade – Saturday 6 March 2021, Sydney Cricket Ground First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 17 April 2021 by Zoom 78ers Pawfect Dog Picnic – April 2021 TBC, Hawthorne Dog Park near Café Bones Salon78 Forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? – late June 2021 TBC, by Zoom.

Meet the 78ers (via Zoom, in lieu of Fair Day 2021)

In 2021, Fair Day was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Louis Hudson and Brandon Bear from Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras had a virtual chat with some of the 78ers who shared their story. Watch below or click here to view on YouTube

Hear from our pioneers. Learn more about the origins of Mardi Gras, the arrests on the night of 24 June 1978, and what happened next, from those who were there.

The original 1978 Mardi Gras marchers shared their stories via Zoom, recorded on Sunday 21 February as part of the 2021 Mardi Gras festival (it would've been the date of Fair Day, which was cancelled in 2021 due to COVID restrictions).

Featuring 78ers Diane Minnis, Sallie Colechin, Penny Gulliver, Karl Zlotkowski and Richard Riley. Hosted by Louis Hudson and Brandon Bear.

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Download 'It Was a Riot', the book by clicking here.

Visit the Mardi Gras 1978-2021 interactive timeline by clicking here

NSW Parliament (Legislative Assembly) Hansard: Community Recognition Notices - The 78ers

Newsletter - January 2021

View this email in your browser January 2021 In this January edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: A reminder of First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 3pm, Saturday 30 January by Zoom Sallie Colechin on arrangements for Parade 2021 – Saturday 6 March Barry Charles on First Mardi Gras Inc. Membership Details of our outdoor Social Lunch – 12pm, Saturday 13 February Britt Kissun, Barry Charles and Karl Zlotkowski on our 78ers Pawfect Dog Picnic – 11am-3pm, Saturday 20 February A link to register for the Meet the 78ers forum with the SGLMG 78ers Committee – 4pm, Sunday 21 February, by Zoom Diane Minnis on our Salon78 Forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? – 4pm, Sunday 28 February, by Zoom Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis The SGLMG 78er Committee continues to meet regularly and we are excited about the continuing announcements from SGLMG regarding our COVID-safe parade for 2021 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. SGLMG continues to be on top of all the current COVID standards to ensure safety for our community during our celebrations. It’s up to all of us to ensure we follow ALL guidelines consistently. You should by now have received two emails from the SGLMG 78er Committee about registering for the Parade as well as ordering a t-shirt if you don’t already have one – like those shown in the photo above. Please click the link in the email to register ASAP, if you haven’t already. Note that t-shirt orders close at the end of January. It’ll be great to experience the parade in a different way, and it ensures our presence is still visible after 43 years of our ‘Mardi Gras’. We will proudly walk in the parade around the ground, behind our First Nations People, before moving off into our allocated seating area in a stand. If you have ordered tickets for viewing, then Ticketek will issue them to you just prior to the day. COVID registration may be required on the day for those not already registered for seating. Please note that this year the Parade will be starting at 6pm and NOT 7.15pm as we do in Oxford Street. We are currently negotiating as late as possible an assembly time for us, and have been assured that there will be 40 chairs for us (in the shade) for the waiting time. There will be places to purchase drinks/food at the Sydney Cricket Ground after we march in the Parade. As discussed previously, our float in the 2021 Parade will celebrate the Fifty Years of Visibility of our community with a strong salute to those pioneers amongst us who stood proudly pre-1978. If you can assist in getting signs ready for the Parade, reply to this email and we will let you know when we plan to work on the signs in the SGLMG Workshop. Our new Committee had a very productive meeting last month, and we continue to stand up for the rights of ALL 78ers. If you have something you want us to discuss at the meeting then please let us know by responding to this email newsletter. If you have not yet registered to march in the Parade this year, check your emails or click this email link: Reminder for 78ers: How to join the 2021 Mardi Gras Parade. Lastly, please stay safe all, physically and mentally, in these trying times. Happy Mardi Gras! Sallie Colechin 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. member It’s Mardi Gras season again! Though there are fewer opportunities to celebrate this year, 78ers will be participating in the Parade and promoting the pioneers of the gay and lesbian rights movement in Australia (50 Years of Visibility). First Mardi Gras Inc. has a dog picnic and social lunch planned (see this newsletter) and we will have more Salon78 Forums on Zoom. We do need funds to pursue these and other events throughout the year. As you are reading this newsletter, please consider renewing or becoming a financial member of First Mardi Gras Inc. to help us maintain our connections and presence in the community. Membership is open to 78ers and Associate Membership to other supporters. Here is a link to our membership forms. Barry Charles 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Secretary Join us for a Social Lunch on Saturday 13 February, 2021 at 12 noon in the outdoor area of the Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris St Pyrmont. RSVP to: info@78ers.org.au. There is a light rail stop with lift access in John Street Square and the 389 bus runs from Park St near Town Hall and stops across the road from the hotel. Can’t get your Fair Day fix this year? Come along to our 78ers Pawfect Dog Picnic! Wear your 78ers t-shirt, bring your dog, your partner and friends or just yourself and catch up with old friends and other 78ers. A small scale outdoor event is possible under current COVID restrictions. Please bring your masks and practice physical distancing.   Location: Hawthorne Dog Park, near Café Bones.   Date: 11am-3pm, Saturday, 20 February 2021.   Featuring: Photos with Celebrity Dalmatians Tassie, Jax and Ralf: Thanks to Steve Wiggins. $5 donation to First Mardi Gras Inc. – cash only. Dog Games: Get your dogs running together and chasing balls or in a size-matched tug-o-war. A Dog Show: Dress up your best friend and be judged on your good taste. Picnic Games: Friendly contests between 78ers and other attendees. We recommend masks and will provide hand sanitiser and latex gloves where needed for the games – Bocce and Throw the Backpack. Raffle: Prizes include books, wine and dog treats. $5 for 3 tickets – cash only. Drawn after the Dog Show.   What is there and what to bring: Ample shade trees and grassed area. Doggy facilities include drinking stations and the park is gated and fenced to allow your companions, human or animal, to run free. Bring your picnic lunch or Café Bones serves a variety of snacks, light meals, coffees and other drinks. There is some seating, but you could bring a picnic chair or an umbrella if it is hot. The area is wheelchair accessible from Hawthorne Light Rail.   How to get there: The Hawthorne Dog Park is located near Hawthorne Canal, between Darley Road, Leichhardt and Hawthorne Parade, Haberfield. Access the area from City West Link. Parking is available in Canal Road. It is adjacent to the Hawthorne Light Rail Stop – 25 mins from Central.   Register: Please register on Eventbrite so we can plan for numbers. Registration is free: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/78ers-picnic-in-the-park-tickets-137227375775   Britt Kissun, Barry Charles and Karl Zlotkowski 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member and Committee Members Sunday, 21 February 2021, 4-5pm AED Register: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/meet-the-78ers-tickets-137368917129 Hear from our pioneers. The original 1978 Mardi Gras marchers share their stories via Zoom as part of the 2021 Mardi Gras Festival. Learn more about the origins of Mardi Gras, the arrests on the night of 24 June 1978, and what happened next, from those who were there. Members of the SGLMG 78ers Committee will talk about their experiences of the first Mardi Gras and the protests that followed. All are welcome to join this event via the Zoom link. This Salon78 follows on from our forums in late 2020: Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978, where the emerging commercial gay and lesbian scene was noted. After the third successful Mardi Gras parade in June 1980, it was decided to move the Parade to summer, instead of having it on the Stonewall uprising anniversary. The then Mardi Gras Committee held community consultations and activists were fairly evenly split between the move to summer and the Parade staying in June. Discussion included the possible impact of the commercial gay and lesbian scene on the Parade. Then, forty years ago in 1981, the parade was shifted to February, with the name changed to the Sydney Gay Mardi Gras. In this Salon78: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? Community vs Commercial Scene, we will explore: arguments for and against the move to summer – was it just about the weather? tensions between activists, bar owners and the wider gay and lesbian scene social and political aspirations of ‘ordinary’ gay men and lesbians on the street gender and class tensions, and the face-off between ‘fun’ and ‘politics' how the move changed the Sydney gay and lesbian scene and led to the evolution of Mardi Gras. Date: 4pm, Sunday 28 February, by Zoom. Register: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/why-did-mardi-gras-move-to-summer-tickets-138720269059.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Calendar of Events Coming out in the 70s: Early Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia Exhibition at the State Library – Saturday 28 November 2020 to 16 May 2021 First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 3pm, Saturday 30 January 2021 by Zoom First Mardi Gras Inc. Social Lunch – 12noon, 13 February 2021, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris St Pyrmont (outdoors) 78ers Pawfect Dog Picnic – 11am-3pm, Saturday 20 February, Hawthorne Dog Park near Café Bones Meet the 78ers with the SGLMG 78ers Committee – 4pm, Sunday 21 February 2021, by Zoom Salon78 Forum: Why did Mardi Gras Move to Summer? – 4pm, Sunday 28 February, by Zoom MG Parade – Saturday 6 March 2021, Sydney Cricket Ground.

Newsletter - December 2020

View this email in your browser December 2020 In this December edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Karl Zlotkowski’s report on our Salon78 forums: Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978 Garry Wotherspoon’s review of the Coming Out in the 70s Exhibition at the State Library Diane Minnis on the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras AGM Ken Davis on the SGLMG Ethics Policy Sallie Colechin's report on the SGLMG 78ers Committee and Parade 2021 A review from Ken Davis of the film Women of Steel Details of the outdoor Social Lunch on Saturday 13 February, 2021 Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis Chair and speakers at Part 1 of Fifty Years of Visibility. Clockwise from top left: Betty Hounslow (Chair), Robert French, Abbie Pobjoy, Dennis Altman, Barry Charles, Gabrielle Antolovich. Photo montage: Sallie Colechin. Over the last two weeks we have held the latest of our forums, with the theme of Fifty Years of Visibility: Pioneers and Connections before 1978. Our aim was to highlight the pioneering activism of the early 1970’s, and how it laid the way for the emergence of Australia’s LGBTIQ communities after the events of 1978. This was an ambitious program. From the first we had to divide one forum into two sessions and even then, as our speakers got into their stride, we knew there was so much more to tell. And we plan to tell it. Already we’re planning more events for next year, exploring themes that surfaced in the formal presentations and the Q&A sessions that followed. Amongst these is the way that class, as opposed to gender, fed the face-off between men and women that often surfaced in the mid 70’s, and had to be worked through before a viable community emerged after 1978. And then there is the intriguing question of conflicts between activists and bar owners (the Sydney 'Syndicate’), as well as scintillating stories of high-jinks on overnight trains between Sydney and Melbourne (the ’Spirit of Progress?’). More please... We included Melbourne this time because the history of activism in Australia is not just a Sydney thing.  Half of our speakers this time were from Melbourne, or based there now, and this forum showed how strong the political and social links between the two cities were back then, even in those pre-digital dinosaur days. In Part 1 of Fifty Years of Visibility on Sunday 29 November, we heard from: Robert French – The historical timeline of early activism: late 1960s to mid 1970s Abbie Pobjoy – Australasian Lesbian Movement from 1969 Gabrielle (Gaby) Antolovich and Barry Charles – Emerging activism: CAMP Inc., Women’s and Gay Liberation Dennis Altman – US influences and the early Sydney scene. In Part 2 of Fifty Years of Visibility on Sunday 6 December, we heard from: Jamie Gardiner – UK experience, HLRC and “Equality for Homosexuals. Now.” Jude Munro – Early Melbourne Gay Liberation Diane Minnis – Early lesbian activism in Melbourne and Sydney Robyn Kennedy – Progression from early activism, CAMP Inc. 1974 onwards Ken Davis – Progression from early activism to the triggers for 1978. We would like to thank our speakers and the keen audiences for these forums on Zoom. Recordings of each part of Fifty Years of Visibility, together with slides, photos and a video clip, will be available on our website, 78ers.org.au, in January. Karl Zlotkowski 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member Chair and speakers at Part 2 of Fifty Years of Visibility. Clockwise from top left: Karl Zlotkowski (Chair), Jamie Gardener, Jude Munro, Ken Davis, Robyn Kennedy, Diane Minnis. Photo montage: Sallie Colechin. From left: ACON’s Justin Koonin with 78er advisors and contributors to the exhibition – Garry Wotherspoon, Robyn Kennedy, Robert French, Diane Minnis, Ken Davis and Pam Stein. Photo: Courtesy of State Library. Most of us 78ers remember the heady times that were the seventies, when we were young and out on the streets, chanting our slogans, confronting those who oppressed us, and doing our bit to make the world a better place - and a safer place for our LGBTI sisters and brothers. So, if you are in the mood for a trip down memory lane, the current exhibition at the State Library, Coming out in the Seventies, is the place to go. The Exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the emergence of the gay and lesbian rights movement in Australia, and, drawing on its extensive collection, the staff at the State Library have put together a most remarkable exhibition, tracing the development of this activism over the decade. There are three sections, Being Seen, Being Heard, and Being Together. The first section, Being Seen, recounts how, when homosexuality was still perceived as a mental illness, a crime, or a sin, in September 1970 The Australian newspaper (so different from the Murdoch trash of today) reported on the formation of a new group aiming to change Australia’s perception of homosexuals. This was CAMP Inc, a political group built around sexual orientation, something new for Australia, and it soon became part of a strong political movement, especially in Sydney. Documents here include a copy of Carl Wittman’s A Gay Manifesto, written in San Francisco in 1969, and copies of the various gay press that appeared here – the first gay magazine CAMP INK; Apollo, Gayzette, and Gay, and publications from the various liberationist groups that soon emerged. Being Heard: Such open talk about homosexuality brought many lesbians and gay men ‘out’, and these activists fought for change, creating one of the most successful reform movements in Australian history. They made the personal ‘political’, marching in solidarity and ‘shocking the straights’ with spontaneous actions known as ‘zaps’. Newsletters, manifestos, flyers and posters spread the word about gay issues. Using humour and catchy slogans, they attracted media attention and gained public support. Graffiti affirmed that ‘Lesbians are lovely’ and ‘Gay is good’. Badges and T-shirts proudly displayed a connection to the cause. Gay and lesbian groups encouraged shared identity and offered safe meeting places. Festivals and conferences created the chance to build new fields of study. Gay Pride Week 1973 was one highpoint for Sydney’s gay rights movement, and then, in June 1978, Sydney activists joined in International Day of Gay Solidarity events around the world – our first Mardi Gras. Demos, ‘zaps’, and marches were only part of the story; there was also partying and fun. And the humour in taking the mickey out of mainstream society’s attitudes shows through in the badges and posters. In Being Together, the focus is on the gay cultural life that blossomed over the Seventies, when artists, filmmakers, photographers and performers developed unique perspectives that sparked radical individual and collective creativity. Sydney’s Feminist Bookshop promoted women’s writing, and lesbian bands made ‘wimmin’s’ music. The Exhibition has brought together a remarkable collection of books, pamphlets, posters, magazines, flyers, and photographs. It is great to see so much of our history on public display – encourage all your friends and family to go and see it. A brief online version is at https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/coming-out/   Garry Wotherspoon   78ers and former First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member These are my personal reflections on the Annual General Meeting of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was held on 5 November 2020 via Zoom. The AGM was notable in three ways: how SGLMG used online platforms, that all resolutions were defeated except for those conferring Lifetime Membership and that procedural motions and amendments were not allowed. At the start of the meeting, 128 members were logged on and this included holders of 449 proxies – making a total of 577 votes in the meeting. Total votes went up to 610 as more members logged in but drifted down to the low 500s in the third hour of the meeting.   SGLMG use of online platforms Members were able to view motions, vote, ask questions and indicate that they wanted to speak via the Vero platform. But Mardi Gras did not allow Zoom video to be displayed of speakers aside from the chair, Michael Woodhouse, and Board members and staff who gave reports or spoke to motions. In addition, speaking for and against motions was limited to two speakers for and two speakers against and no right of reply for the mover of the motion. All speakers to motions were limited to one minute as well. A couple of members were unable to speak when given the opportunity, possibly due to their older versions of Zoom or not realising that they had to use headphones with their particular device. Some members had trouble juggling the Vero window, where you voted and entered comments, and the Zoom window that displayed after you clicked the link on the Vero screen. With a large group using an online meeting platform, there are bound to be a few members who have trouble with the technology. But Mardi Gras’ overtight control of the meeting with no Zoom video being shown except for a few, Board and staff members and chair, wasn’t exactly inclusive.   Special Resolutions – 75% vote to be carried These five Special Resolutions proposed by the Mardi Gras Board were changes to the constitution and were that: updates be made to meet current Corporations Act requirements a 4-month waiting period for new members before they can vote proxies be limited to 20 per member the number of Directors increased to 9, with a Treasurer separately elected the Director’s terms be extended from 2 to 3 years. In an article in the November newsletter, Ken Davis and I indicated that these changes were an improvement on Mardi Gras’ earlier proposals, some of which were undemocratic. However, we said that having a separately elected Treasurer goes against contemporary governance standards for all Boards, including those of not-for-profit community organisations. That all Board members need to have the ability to understand balance sheets and profit and loss statements in order to carry out their duties as Directors. And that SGLMG can employ external finance experts, as they currently do with the Company Secretarial function. Accordingly, we planned to put a procedural motion so that parts of the motion containing the clause that the Treasurer be separately elected could be voted on independently. My proposal of a procedural motion and an amendment were denied by the chair, on the basis that the Vero system could not accommodate this. Three further Special Resolutions, proposed by former Board members, also changes to the constitution, were that: a Director’s term be limited to six years consecutively or three elections proxy votes will not be counted in the election of Directors the wording of the Australian Electoral Commission’s proportional representation voting system be adopted to clarify and simplify the current voting system wording. None of these motions were carried by the 75% margin required and for all except two motions; the vote did not even get to 50%. The failure of their constitutional change motions is a serious setback for Mardi Gras, after the member consultation they did and the modifications they incorporated into their final proposals. There were some progressive elements of these motions including that an EGM being called to elect a new Director after a resignation, rather than an appointment by the Board. One of the resolutions proposed by former Board members to clarify and simplify the current voting system wording would have improved election vote counting for all candidates. People from the Pride in Protest group spoke against several Special Resolutions and they appear to have block voted against them all, even one that would benefit them and other candidates.   Ordinary Resolutions to grant Lifetime Membership – 50% vote to be carried Then first two Ordinary Resolutions were to grant 78er Lifetime Membership to a list of 78ers and Lifetime Membership to Teresa Leggett, a stalwart of Parade organisation for many years. In proposing the 78er Lifetime Membership motion, I said that it’s a great honour to be made a Lifetime Member of SGLMG. And that I was speaking on behalf of the elected 78ers Committee of SGLMG, who are elected by and from 78er Lifetime Members, but liaise on behalf of Mardi Gras with all 78ers. So having an elected Committee is an important issue of democracy, governance and integrity. Given the objections from a small group of 78ers to an elected 78ers Committee, I thought it essential to stress the importance of a democratically elected committee to represent 78ers. This Ordinary Resolution was carried by 565 votes in favour and 2 against. I wonder who the two members who opposed the motion are! The Ordinary Resolution to award Lifetime Membership to Teresa Leggett was also overwhelmingly carried but the vote was not announced.   Ordinary Resolutions from Pride in Protest – 50% vote to be carried And it went downhill from there – with all seven Ordinary Resolutions proposed by Pride in Protest being defeated. In summary, their motions called for: NSW Police to be barred from the Parade sponsorship with Qantas to be terminated as they deport asylum seekers Morrison and Berejiklian to be banned from attending Mardi Gras and the Liberal float be banned from Parade support of the Black Lives Matter movement; and that State and Federal government to release all prisoners on remand, remove monetary bail, defund all private prisons and detention centres, and ultimately abolish all prisons that State and Federal government abolish the sniffer dog program, end the presence of the riot squad at protests and ultimately abolish the police for the release the Memorandum of Understanding in relation to the policing of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival 2018 to the public sponsorship with ANZ and all sponsors with investments in fossil fuels to be terminated a concession, student or unwaged membership tier priced at $10 sponsorship with Star Casino and all sponsors who have a pattern of:  exploiting the COVID-19 economic recession at the expense of workers, or contributing to high rates of gambling addiction be terminated. The Pride in Protest motions received between 169 and 261 votes, but none were carried. The motion to bar NSW Police from the Parade got the most votes and the Black Lives Matter motion, received the least support. This is despite the fact that many of us support the Black Lives Matter movement. But when Pride in Protest includes abolishing all prisons and police in the same motion, this seriously limits wide support. If we could have voted on separate elements of the motion, I’m sure that the motion to support of the Black Lives Matter movement would have been carried. This gets to the crux of the Pride in Protest approach – some may remember the Spartacist League, who was active in the 1970s – they take an absolute position on questions and would rather lose a motion than get part of it through. They also held up the meeting as they handed over to speakers different to the proposers of motions listed on the meeting notice.    Procedural motions and amendments not allowed This is a real issue for democracy in the Annual General Meeting of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras as no notice was given that procedural motions and amendments would not be allowed. In previous years, it was possible to move both procedural motions and amendments to motions. On their social media this year, Mardi Gras made the point that members could not vote on resolutions ahead of the AGM, as amendments to motions were made at the meeting. Yet when I tried to do this, I was told by the chair, that the Vero platform could not accommodate procedural motions or amendments. Surely the Vero voting system could be set up to either vote on a motion as a whole or vote clause by clause. And there must be a way to leave blank sections where amendments could be entered and voted on. If neither of these functions could be included, Mardi Gras needed to make it clear, prior to their AGM, that procedural motions and amendments would not be allowed.   This impasse between the majority of the Mardi Gras directors and Pride in Protest will mean that it will be difficult to amend the SGLMG constitution – even with progressive and helpful changes. Pride in Protest’s approach of proposing similar motions to each Mardi Gras AGM, and their elected Directors repeatedly hammering these issues, will continue to alienate some members. Both of these situations ensure that SGLMG is unable to respond to members and changing circumstances and takes their focus away from a Parade that we want to remain a worldwide beacon for LGBTIQ rights. A more nuanced and open debate on key strategic questions is needed.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Smoking Ceremony, Mardi Gras Parade 2020. Photo: Josephine Ki. SGLMG released its Draft Ethical Charter (sglmg-draft-ourethicalcharter-v2.pdf (mardigras.org.au) on 13 November 2020 for member feedback online or to membership@mardigrasarts.org.au. These are my personal reflections. A comprehensive ethics policy should cover all aspects of internal governance, human resources, due diligence, accountability, information management, communications, financial management and investment, relations with members, community, governments, and sponsors. The focus of this draft charter is on partnership and sponsorship. A key note in the draft is about transparency, for example about agreements with sponsors, so members know exactly what the benefits to the Mardi Gras are, and what our obligations or trade-offs are. Certainly SGLMG needs both private and public sector sponsors, but ultimately the parade in particular relies on the unpaid contributions of thousands of people and community groups, over many decades, and this is the social capital that SGLMG is entrusted to safeguard, and not sell for a pittance. The most obvious and urgent ethical question is about the presence in the parade of big business or government sponsors, which can easily dilute the queer, community and grassroots identity of the parade. This is also a question, though maybe less urgent, about Fair Day. At the SGLMG AGM on 5 December 2020, motions about excluding police, ANZ, Qantas, and Star Casino, were defeated, but they won significant minority support. Last year a resolution against participation by Gilead pharmaceuticals was carried. Opponents of the motions demanded the parade be inclusive, but for thirty years the Mardi Gras committee has chosen which groups to prioritise, include or exclude, as of course it must. Across the world, pride parades are grappling with policies to regulate which government and corporate entities can gain prominence in the displays. The ethics of parade participation is an old question. When the Mardi Gras moved to summer in 1981, the committee decided to exclude from the parade people or floats that are racist or sexist. The Coors beer boycott in USA was the background to the mobilisation in California in 1978 which led to the request for solidarity and the establishment of gay Solidarity Group and the march and late night first Mardi Gras on 24 June 1978. The parade has and always should welcome groups of workers or employees in particular companies, services or industries, or unions, but that is distinct from floats whose purpose is advertising and promotion for big business within the parade. Many sponsor floats may be welcome and not contentious e.g. Opera Australia. Since SGLMG is now a serious company, like mainstream corporate entities, it needs a comprehensive ethical screening policy. A narrow definition about whether companies or government departments are superficially good with LGBTIQ people is not enough to manage risk, since LGBTIQ people may also be indigenous, workers, shareholders, people with HIV, people with disabilities, refugees, or concerned about the climate crisis. It is easy for a company or service to promote its diversity education program while screwing all its workforce. It is easy for a company to market to the gay community, while ripping off all its consumers. Reflecting on popular international consumer and investor boycotts over last two decades, that gained support in Australia, let’s ask questions about ethical and reputational risks about advertising floats in the parade from big businesses: Associated with corruption, crime, child abuse, money laundering or terrorism (anyone remember the Banking Royal Commission?). That are anti-worker, anti-union, or profit from systematic wages theft, child labour or slavery, including in supply chains (how about a 7/11 or an Amazon float?). That commit crimes against indigenous people in Australia or elsewhere, (a Rio Tinto float anyone)? That destroys environment, food security, water access, biodiversity, or accelerate the climate crisis including mining, carbon energy, nuclear, big polluter, over fishing, terminator seeds and deforestation companies (an Adani float anyone? A palm oil company float?). That adversely impact on health: such as tobacco, asbestos, alcohol, gambling, armaments corporations, or profiteering Big Pharma. Associated with regimes that are highly repressive, or maintain illegal occupations (e.g. Poland, Russia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, China, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Israel, Morocco….). That fund the political campaigns of authoritarian anti-worker, anti-environment, sexist, racist, heterosexist and transphobic leaders, like Trump or Duterte or Bolsonaro.  Associated with religious groups that are repressively sexist, heterosexist or transphobic, such as Scientology, Mormons, Wahhabis. Salvation Army, Falun Gong… (an Amway float anyone? Remember Gloria Jean?). Security and transport companies that imprison or deport refugees (a SERCO float anyone?). Media companies that are consistently racist, sexist, heterosexist and transphobic (a Sky news float anyone?). In order to safeguard the value and character of the parade, SGLMG needs a more rigorous and comprehensive ethics policy.   Ken Davis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair The 78er Committee managed to sail smoothly through the last month, with exciting announcements from SGLMG regarding our COVID-19 safe parade for 2021 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. This ensures that the yearly celebration of our lives and the reminder through our history that there are still battles to be won is not interrupted after 43 years. The 78ers have still been given pride of place in the parade around the stadium behind our First Nations People, and allowance for seating afterwards to watch the parade with each 78er being allocated 4 tickets in the stands. The SGLMG AGM saw another member of the Pride in Protest group being elected to the Board. We discussed the proposed Pride in Protest gathering at Taylor Square on the day of the parade at the Sydney Cricket Ground, March 6 2021. The 78ers Committee in no way supports this action, as we see it as divisive. We aim to ensure that our ongoing communication with the SGLMG Board remains transparent and cordial. Our float in the 2021 Parade will celebrate the Fifty years of Visibility of our community with a strong salute to those pioneers amongst us who stood proudly pre-1978. Also, excitingly at our last meeting, we welcomed newly elected members to our committee – Penny Gulliver, Richard Riley and Karl Zlotkowski. They join Sallie Colechin, Diane Minnis and Helen Gollan who were elected last year for two years. We warmly thank Rae Giffen (one year), Lance Mumby (two years), and Kate Rowe (three years) for their input and participation in the committee over the last year. We have certainly harnessed our use of Zoom for Committee meetings and it is proving a valuable communication tool, especially for those of us in rural areas. Stay safe all.   Sallie Colechin 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member On 19 November 2020 in Warrawong, I attended the hometown premiere of Women of Steel which features 78ers Louise Casson and Diana Covell. Other 78ers such as Mystery Carnage helped make the film. The story is the struggle from 1980 for women to get jobs in the steelworks, winning battles against one of Australia's biggest firms AIS/BHP. This was biggest class action victory for the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act. Check out the film’s website for further screenings. Women of Steel (2020) | Australian film (womenofsteelfilm.com).   Ken Davis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Join us for a social lunch on Saturday 13 February, 2021 at 12 noon in the outdoor area of the Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris St Pyrmont. RSVP to: info@78ers.org.au. There is a light rail stop with lift access in John Street Square and the 389 bus runs from Park St near Town Hall and stops across the road from the hotel. Calendar of Events Coming out in the 70s: Early Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia Exhibition at the State Library – Saturday 28 November 2020 to 16 May 2021 Parade registration for 78ers email – mid-December 2020 First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 30 January 2021 by Zoom First Mardi Gras Inc. Social Lunch – 12noon, Saturday 13 February 2021, Terminus Hotel, 61 Harris St Pyrmont (outdoors) MG Fair Day (not yet approved by NSW Health) – Sunday 21 February 2021 MG Parade and Party – Saturday 6 March 2021 (Party not yet approved).

ABC RADIO: Coming out Gay and Lesbian in the 1970s

Newsletter - November 2020

View this email in your browser November 2020 In this November edition of the First Mardi Gras Inc. Newsletter, we have: Registration information for our Salon78 forums: Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978 Robert French and Robyn Kennedy’s update on the Coming Out in the 70s Exhibition at the State Library Diane Minnis on Mardi Gras 2021 at the SCG Ken Davis and Diane Minnis on the SGLMG AGM and Constitution Changes Robyn Kennedy’s report on InterPride and Oceania InterPride Calendar of Events. Diane Minnis Our Salon78 forums: Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978 will be held by Zoom over two sessions on Sunday 29 November and Sunday 6 December. Our speakers will bring their 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. In Part 1 on Sunday 29 November, we will hear from: Robert French – The historical timeline of early activism: late 1960s to mid 1970s Abbie Pobjoy – Australasian Lesbian Movement from 1969 Gabrielle (Gaby) Antolovich and Barry Charles – Emerging activism: CAMP Inc., Women’s and Gay Liberation Dennis Altman – US influences and the early Sydney scene. In Part 2 on Sunday 6 December, we will hear from: Jamie Gardiner – UK experience, HLRC and “Equality for Homosexuals. Now.” Jude Munro – Early Melbourne Gay Liberation Diane Minnis – Early lesbian activism in Melbourne and Sydney Robyn Kennedy – Progression from early activism, CAMP Inc. 1974 onwards Ken Davis – Progression from early activism to the triggers for 1978. At the end of each session, we will take questions from the audience but these will be written questions through the Zoom chat function. The events are free, but we will be asking for registration via Eventbrite, Facebook or to info@78ers.org.au. Here are the Eventbrite registration links to the forum’s two sessions:   Part 1 – 3-4.30pm, Sunday 29 November 2020: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/salon78-fifty-years-of-visibility-part-1-tickets-127944354007 Part 2 – 3-4.30pm, Sunday 6 November 2020: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/salon78-fifty-years-of-visibility-part-2-tickets-129399584641   Karl Zlotkowski, Barry Charles and Diane Minnis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Members In an important celebration of Fifty Years of Visibility, the State Library’s exhibition Coming Out in the 70’s exhibition is about to open. It is divided into three sections – Being Seen, Being Heard and Being Together. The event will be held in the Library’s Paintings Gallery and opens on Saturday 28 November 2020, running to Sunday 16 May 2021. 78ers Robert French, Garry Wotherspoon and Robyn Kennedy have been members of the Advisory Committee for the exhibition. Robyn says: “The State Library has collected an enormous amount of gay and lesbian material from the 1970s including posters, photographs, personal papers, oral history and ephemera such as badges. It’s a fantastic record of our stories.” Robert explains “As this year marks the beginnings of 50 years of visibility of the LGBTQ community in Australia, the State Library of NSW is commemorating this significant anniversary with an exhibition, Coming Out in the ‘70s. The exhibition specifically looks at the forgotten years, the early years of activism before the 1978 Mardi Gras and the formation of such groups CAMP Inc, Gay Liberation and Radicalesbians. It tells the story of those vibrant, sometimes raucous, times and the beginnings of the march from Liberation to Equality.” The State Library is promoting the exhibition as follows: “Gay and lesbian life went public in the 1970s. Speaking up and standing out, gay men and women took to the streets proudly demanding to be seen, heard and accepted. This exhibition tells their story. Drawing from the library’s little-known collections of gay and lesbian posters, photographs, personal papers, oral history and ephemera, it pays tribute to the people and events that drove this profound social change, offering rich and compelling context for continuing debates and issues around LGBTQI+ experience and life today.”   OPEN: 28 November 2020 to 16 May 2021 ADMISSION: FREE NOTE: There is a maximum of 13 people allowed into the gallery at any one time – based on current NSW health guidelines. If you would like to get together with a group of 78ers, partners and friends for a guided tour, let us know at info@78ers.org.au and we will organise it with the State Library.   Robert French and Robyn Kennedy   78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Member and Committee Member On Sunday 8 November, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras launched its 2021 season at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Yvonne Weldon, from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, gave the Welcome to Country flanked by colourful representatives of regular Parade groups. Mardi Gras CEO, Albert Kruger then announced that a scaled-down 2021 Parade would circle the SCG on 6 March 2021, with marchers later joining the seated audience. This will allow NSW Health Covid-safe procedures to be followed. There will be no big floats as trucks and buses cannot fit through the entrances to the ground. Golf buggies will be able to carry less able participants, including as many as possible of the 78ers contingent who usually travel on the bus. Other speakers included Lord Mayor Clover Moore and NSW MP for Sydney Alex Greenwich. Greens Party MP for Newtown, Jenny Leong, was also in attendance. I would have liked to seen Penny Sharpe representing Labor at the event, as she has played a key role in law reforms benefiting the NSW LGBTIQ community. At the launch, there was colourful electronic signage around the ground and we were told that SBS will have lots of cameras to cover the Parade for the live broadcast. The next day, all Mardi Gras members, including 78er Lifetime Members, were sent an email with a code to access seating tickets. 78er members are allowed 4 free tickets. General member tickets are $20, with 4 tickets for $50. On 11 November, the Mardi Gras elected 78ers Committee met and I raised the issue of 78ers who aren’t Mardi Gras members and their access to free tickets. Mardi Gras staff assured us that there would be plenty of seating tickets for 78er non-Mardi Gras members. Parade production staff also attended the meeting and explained the assembly and access processes. If you are marching, you will need to have a seat ticket. All 78er contingent members will need to sign in for Covid tracing and wear masks when assembling and when seated. The Parade route is about the same length as our usual march up Oxford Street to the 78ers seating, but it is flat rather than uphill. Mardi Gras will allow up to 80 people in our 78ers group. The 78ers Committee will send out a Parade registration form to all 78ers in mid-December 2020. The Covid pandemic is preventing us marching along the Parade’s historic Oxford Street route. However, this smaller and less publicly accessible event ensures that we will still have 43 unbroken years of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.   Diane Minnis 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Above: Yvonne Weldon giving the Welcome to Country. Below: Parade participants at the Launch. Photos Diane Minnis In our August 2020 Newsletter, we reported on the Mardi Gras consultations on their proposed Constitution changes. There were concerns about some of the proposed amendments including: New members having to wait for 6 months before being granted voting rights The number of Board members being increased to 10 (currently 8) with the 2 extra members appointed by the Board through an EOI process. This isn’t democratic and would allow Board members who are not re-elected to then be appointed. The Board appointment of a Treasurer if elected members do not have those skills, bringing the proposed number of non-elected Board members to 3. In this article the writers comment on the final proposed Constitution changes put forward by the SGLMG Board as well as changes and motions proposed by others. First Mardi Gras Inc. urges all 78ers to review the proposals themselves and participate in voting at the upcoming Mardi Gras AGM, to be held online on 5 December 2020.   Special Resolutions Proposed by the Board (require 75% of the vote to pass) A repeated suggestion in the Constitution consultations was a 3-month waiting period before new members can vote – a common provision in the rules of unions and political parties. In the notice paper for the SGLMG AGM, Mardi Gras has now settled on 4-month waiting period, which is better than 6 months. Appointing extra Board members rather than electing them is now off the table. There is a proposal for the number of Directors to be increased to 9, with a tenth Director; a Treasurer, to be separately elected. We believe that increasing the number of Directors is much needed, given the workload of the Board and the organisation. However, having a separately elected Treasurer goes against contemporary governance standards for all Boards, including those of not-for-profit community organisations. All Board members need to have the ability to understand balance sheets and profit and loss statements in order to carry out their duties as Directors. SGLMG can employ external finance experts to support the Board, as they currently do with the Company Secretarial function. There is also a proposal to extend the Director’s terms from 2 to 3 years. Again, this is a sensible change, given the breadth of their roles.   Special Resolutions Proposed by Former Board Members (require 75% of the vote to pass) There are three proposed changes from former Board members: To prohibit proxy votes being used to vote for Directors – we do not support this. To limit terms so that a Director may not seek re-election if they have served consecutive terms greater than six years or have been elected at three elections – this seems reasonable. To update the wording in the Constitution to reflect that used in the Australian Electoral Commission’s proportional representation voting system – this is a much needed clarification of the current wording and does not change the way votes are counted. These special resolutions must be passed by at least 75% of the votes cast by members present at the AGM or there by proxy.   Ordinary Resolutions (require 50% of the vote to pass) A series of Ordinary Resolutions, that require 50% of the vote to pass, have also been proposed. The first of these is to vote for a list of 78ers to be granted Lifetime Membership of Mardi Gras. One of the roles of the elected 78ers Committee is to check that applicants for 78er Lifetime Membership are actually 78ers. The remaining 8 motions are from Pride in Protest supporters. Half of these motions relate to terminating current Mardi Gras corporate sponsorship arrangements. At last year’s AGM, Diane Minnis successfully moved a procedural motion to allow each part of a Pride in Protest motion to be voted on separately. The motion called on SGLMG to terminate a list of their then major corporate sponsors – one of which, Gilead, profiteers from the HIV and Hep C drugs they manufacture. The motion to terminate Gilead sponsorship was carried but the other sponsorship motions were not carried. Mardi Gras needs sponsors but these corporations and government agencies need to behave ethically to the LGBTIQ community and be ethical in general. Groups of workers or volunteers from particular services or industries have always been a welcome feature of the Parade. Another Pride in Protest motion repeats their demand to bar the NSW and Federal Police from having contingents in the Parade, in part in solidarity with international and Australian anti-racism campaigns. Some 78ers will support this but many of us have mixed feelings, as the most of the Police who march are the GLLOs and others who fight against homophobia inside the Police Force.   SGLMG Directors' Election Elections for SGLMG Directors are open now, with electronic voting invitations sent to members by email. Four candidates are to be elected by preferential voting from 12 nominations. SGLMG needs a dedicated board of Directors that is diverse, representative, competent, talented and accountable. We urge all 78ers to vote.   SGLMG 78ers Committee Election Nominations for three positions for a two-year term on the SGLMG 78ers Committee have now closed and results will be known this week. The 78ers elected will join Sallie Colechin, Diane Minnis and Helen Gollan who were elected last year for two years. It is important that democratic processes are used to elect members of the 78ers Committee, as the Committee liaises between Mardi Gras and all 78ers.   Ken Davis and Diane Minnis 78ers and First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chairs I have been elected to the Board of InterPride as Vice President Global Outreach and Partnerships (VPGOP). There are four VPGOP on the Board, each with responsibility for five of InterPride’s 20 regions. My responsibility is for growing and supporting Pride and Global Advisory Council members in Oceania (which includes Australia), Asia, the Middle East and two regions in Europe. As a member of the Board, I have a greater role in influencing the policies and directions of InterPride. Recently, I gained the support of the Board to introduce a new system for scheduling meeting times, which have historically disadvantaged our region and Asia. Under a new approach to more inclusive practices, the new schedule will ensure that late night and early morning meetings are equitably distributed across time zones. As a result of my election to the Board, I was required to stand down as a Global Advisory Council member for Region 20. Elections were recently held for a replacement representative. First Mardi Gras Inc. Co-Chair Diane Minnis was elected to the position. Diane will join Russell Weston, Co-Chair of First Nations Rainbow, as Regions 20’s representatives on the Global Advisory Council.   By Robyn Kennedy 78er and First Mardi Gras Inc. Committee Member Calendar of Events Coming out in the 70s: Early Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia Exhibition at the State Library – Saturday 28 November 2020 to 16 May 2021 Salon78 forum: Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978, Part 1 – 3pm, Sunday 29 November 2020 by Zoom Annual General Meeting of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (including changes to their Constitution) – 11am, Saturday 5 December 2020 by Zoom Salon78 forum: Fifty Years of Visibility – Pioneers and Connections before 1978, Part 2 – 3pm, Sunday 6 December2020 by Zoom Parade registration for 78ers email – mid-December 2020 First Mardi Gras Inc. General Meeting – 4pm, Saturday 30 January by Zoom MG Fair Day (not yet approved by NSW Health) – Sunday 21 February 2021 MG Parade and Party – Saturday 6 March 2021 (Party not yet approved).

Star Observer: First Mardi Gras Inc Celebrates 50 Years of LGBTQI Activism