Pride & Progress: Celebrating Unsung Heroes of Australia's Queer Community

Join us on a journey that reaches back in time to the pivotal Stonewall Riots, and travels forward through Australia's unique queer history. We guarantee this episode is a treasure trove of lesser-known facts, key moments, and individuals who have championed the rights of the LG BTI QA Plus community. We'll share with you how the ripple effects of Stonewall have echoed across the globe, and how local heroes have shaped Victorian history for the better. 

We'll indulge in untold stories of brave activists, like Rodney Croom, who pushed for the decriminalization of homosexuality in Tasmania, and others like Ro Alan , Alex Greenwich, and Ali Hogg whose efforts have shaped the present and future of our community. Hear our personal connections to these remarkable individuals, and how their tireless work has influenced us. We promise an inspiring journey of resilience, courage and unyielding dedication that redefines the very essence of activism.

But it's not all serious history and activism. We'll also joyfully celebrate those unsung heroes who have added color and vibrancy to Australia's queer culture. Their names may not be in every history book, but their contributions are felt every day. By the end of this episode, you'll have a newfound appreciation for these tireless advocates who have shaped our community and continue to pave the way for a more inclusive future. 

So join us, as we take pride in our past, honor our present, and look forward to a future where everyone is celebrated for who they are.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

you're listening to and explore your ability in production. I'd like to begin by knowledging the traditional owners and the custodians of the land on which this podcast is recorded on today the eight clangs of the Yorda Yorda Nation. I also pay my respects to the Elders, past and present. Hi, my name is Chris Stevens Todd, and you're listening to Out Loud exploring LG BTI, qa Plus Topics and Stories. On this week's episode, we're going to be talking about history and activism, because without them, we wouldn't be where we are today. There's been many people in our past that have stood up and fought for the rights that we have and we continue to live with, even though in many areas and some places, there's still so much work to go. Let's take a look back at how we got to where we are right now. One pivotal moment in queer history is the Stonewall riots in 1969. It sparked the modern LG BTI QA Plus rights movement, taking place during the 28th till the 3rd of July in 1969 at the Stonewall Inn. The goals were gay liberation and LG BTI rights in the United States, with rioting in the streets and protests. The Stonewall riots, also known as the Stonewall Uprising and Stonewall Rebellion, were a series of protests by members of the gay community in response to the police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28th 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, the neighborhood of the lower Manhattan in New York City. The riots were widely considered the watershed event that transformed the gay liberation movement and the 12th century fight for LG BTI rights in the United States. As one of the common for gay American bars at the time, the Stonewall Inn was owned by an Italian American mafia. While police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn. On June 28th, tensions between New York police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests and the next evening and again several nights later. Within weeks, the village residents organized into activist groups demanding the right to live openly regarding their sexual orientation and without fear of being arrested. The new activist organization concentrated on confrontational tactics and within months, three newspapers were established to promote the rights of gay men, lesbians and bisexual people. A year after the uprising, to mark the anniversary on June 28th in 1970, first gay parade marches took place in Chicago, los Angeles, new York and San Fran. Within a few years, gay rights organizations were founded across the US and the world. Today, lg, bti, qa plus.

Speaker 1: 3:06

Pride events are held annually worldwide in June in honor of the Stonewall riots. So if you ever wondered why Pride Month is June, that is why that is. When the Stonewall riots took place in America, I always kind of thought it was because June is the summer month in America and that's why because they were picking nice weather. But I'm doing a little bit of research and that is the reason why and that's why looking back at our history is really important. In Australia Pride Month mostly is January, february, march. It kind of covers them three months period of events. You know, in Melbourne we have mid-summer, which then leads into Chillout in Dowsford, and the long weekend of March and obviously we have Sydney Manigraha, which falls in the early dates of March, and I think sometimes the end of February Manigraha falls on as well.

Speaker 1: 4:00

But let's take a look at some of the queer history that happened within our own country, australia. So the invasion of Australia brought many new laws into effect, including the Anti-Homosexual Buggery Act 1533 from England. The act criminalized sexual intercourse between men as well as with animals, as they were both seen in the same light. The maximum penalty of death remained in Australia until Victoria was the last state to repel it in 1949. Can you believe that that if you were caught in Australia up into 1949, in Victoria, that you could be killed for having sex with another man, which is seen as the same act as having sex with an animal? So it just shows, thankfully, that we've come a long way in Australia from that. But the fact that, yeah, it was lost a law in Victoria in 1949, like to me in the great scheme, 1949 is not that long ago. But I guess in Australia's history, where it's not that old, so 1969, the 1960s, was a time for social change around the world.

Speaker 1: 5:16

The famous Stonewall Inn, as we spoke about before the uprising of the 28th of June in 1969 in New York, displayed a sentiment that was felt across the waters. Enough was enough. There was a collective bravery of a group of queer people, such a prominent activist, sylvia Rimmie and Marsha Johnson, to name a few. Many were inspired to defend themselves and stand up for their rights. In 1969 also saw the creation of two significant organisations within Australia the Daughters of Billities. Later the Australian lesbian movement was created in the USA in 1955 and later moved to Australia to show their support for women and homosexuals in 1969. The homosexual law reform society was also formed this year. While these people were not homosexual, they found the laws unjust and took action to have them changed. It was further proof that society views were starting to change and it shows, even back then, that it's really important that our allies helped us fight alongside to make change, because we can't do it by ourselves. We know that we do need our allies to come on board and help us fight for that movement. They did that back then as well.

Speaker 1: 6:25

Let's take a look at 1972 the murder of South Australian gay academic George Duncan by police officer Sparks. That called for reform within his state. On the 26th of July in 1972, liberal Party member Marie Hill introduced the bill to legislative council that decriminalised acts between consenting males over the age of 21. Over three years later, in 1975, south Australia became the first state to decriminalise homosexuality. There you go South Australia was the progressive state back then, and that happened because of the murder of a gay man. And then, yeah, victoria was the last state to to end it.

Speaker 1: 7:04

1975 also saw the first nation homosexual conference in Melbourne University, supported by the Australian Union of Students as many as 600 self-identified Australians came together to discuss lesbian women and gay men's liberation. Now, this is the crucial part in Australian queer history. Nine years after Stonewall, a small group of LGBTI QA plus people formed the gay society group and created day of events in Sydney to raise awareness and promote political activism. However, the memory of the Stonewall uprising wasn't the only reason for such passion in Australia's LGBTI QA plus community. It was the act of protest against the visit of homophobic national festival of light campaigner Marie Whitehouse, and to promote the fourth national homosexual conference, which was held in August in Sydney of that year. South Australia had only decriminalised homosexuality three years ago and the Australian capital territory followed due to criminalising it in 1976. These were the only two states where it was legal to be homosexual.

Speaker 1: 8:17

This march was an act of courage for all participants and would be the birth of the famous Sydney gay and lesbian Mardi Gras, which is still popular to this day. So the Sydney gay and Mardi Gras started out as a protest to fight for our rights and you probably know in here, when you watch Mardi Gras to this day, the 1978ers, the 78ers reference and they're the first people to march at any Mardi Gras, and it's these people that started it all as to why we have this celebration, what we do here now. So referencing and celebrating the 1978ers is such an important part it's, you know, life and sad that each year there's less and less 1978ers a part of the march. It'll be a really sad day that once we get to a point in our history and timeframes that we won't have them to march with us anymore. At 10 pm, the activists marched down Oxford Street and towards the city and they were greeted by police officers who blocked the access to Hyde Park. As the activists changed their paths to Kings Cross, the police moved in. 53 people were arrested. The names and occupations of the arrestees were published in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Speaker 1: 9:36

This event shook Australia, with the supporters becoming more vocal. With their help, the charges were dropped. The laws concerning strict marches and parades were liberalized. So there you go, you know. You went to Mardi Gras in 1978. You marched, you got arrested, you were named and your occupation listed. So there was no hiding everyone. It was there for everyone to read and, thankfully, with the help of the supporters, the charges were dropped.

Speaker 1: 10:03

In 1994, homosexuality was decriminalized across Australia within the Human Rights the Sexual Conduct Act in 1994. However, tasmania kept its own laws until 1997. Even with this, there were significant changes that needed to be made for Australia to be more inclusive environment. So that's right, tasmania was the last state to change because, yeah, it was still illegal until 1997 to have sex with another man. So I think I said earlier in the episode that was Victoria, but no, in fact it was Tasmania, and Rony Kroom, who is a pivotal person in our history, is a Tasmanian who fought and has campaigned for so much change and a good friend. So we need to acknowledge. The sex discrimination act in 1984 was amended in 2013 to introduce the new protections from discrimination, including sexual orientation, gender identity and heterosexual status.

Speaker 1: 11:05

Now the next big one. Now, this is a movement that I was very much a part of and it's because I grew up and I spoke about it in my coming out episode where I wanted to get married and I had met my now husband. I asked him to marry me. We actually planned to propose to each other on the exact same night as each other, without each other knowing. I brought him a ring, he brought me a ring and we were away, and I think we might have been in Melbourne. I actually don't ever remember now where we were and just remember that, like I pulled the ring out and or he pulled the ring out I don't even know now, it's such a long time ago, it's 2009 but I just know that we had both planned it and so from that moment on, we had an engagement party in December 2009 and we did a pretty big engagement party because we knew we weren't going to get married anytime soon because it was illegal in Australia. And then, from that moment on, any possibility and chance that I got to fight, go to parliament, speak to an MP, be on the front page or in the papers talking about marriage equality. I was there, I was fighting for it funny enough, which I didn't talk about this in my coming out actually my coming out was the front page of the Sunday age. So that was the start of for me, my activism and me fighting for our right.

Speaker 1: 12:28

And yeah, so I was a, you know, many times on the papers, in the, in the river, in herald, in a chukar and the ship news, and I remember there was one. You know I was talking about a chukar and how chukar in Victoria is a pretty white, religious kind of town and there was people who were queer, who owned businesses. It was the chukas secret shame that these people felt they couldn't be out and couldn't live the life that they wanted to because they thought people wouldn't shop at their business. Newspaper came out and it's kind of my picture and I'm in this black background and all you can see is my face. There next to my face is like white heading on the black background saying a chukar's secret shame, and if you didn't read the article, it applies in from the heading and the picture that I'm a chukar's secret shame. So it was a funny kind of bit that I rang out the the journalist. I'm like, oh my god, like what the? And he's like I know it looks bad, but I think it really hits and it was a great article. So hopefully people read it.

Speaker 1: 13:41

But yeah, it took until 9th of December 2017 for same-sex marriage to become legal across Australia with the introduction of the plebiscite now the plebiscite. I just do not know why we had to go through this. It was such a damaging process to our community and months of you know the yes campaign and no campaign putting things out there. You know the no campaign was very much run by religious groups and other groups as well, and it was just really damaging information. Thank god, majority of Australia saw through it and voted yes. This led to over 6,548 same-sex marriages being registered in 2018. My one was one of them. I was married on the 14th of April and it was like two days shy of our 10 year anniversary, so I am very proud to be a part of that statistic of being married in 2018.

Speaker 1: 14:44

It has been a long journey for LGBTI QA plus rights within Australia. While there are currently freedoms that wouldn't have been imaginable a hundred years ago, many of us still face discrimination, uncertain about who we are and what the future holds for us. Regardless, we'll continue to fight together to create a brighter future, and that we will. A lot of people, unfortunately, were like we've got marriage equality, my work is done, and I was probably a little naive and a little bit like that too, back then, because I had fought for so long for this one thing that I wanted to get married and that I should have the same right as my brothers and sisters and my friends and my co-workers and, you know, everyone else in this country and and to get married. That happened and I was like I think I just need a break and I remember posting. You know you won't see me on the papers moving forward because you know we have this and as time went on, I realized that you know there's some other things out there still. You know there's still trans rights that are being fought such an important area that we need to step up and help our trans brothers and sisters in. So, you know, got back on the horse fighting for these rights. I just want to know.

Speaker 1: 15:57

Edge, I got a lot of that information from out for Australia a history of pride in Australia and it was written by a guest user, so I can't credit the person that put all that information together, unfortunately. I just checked into Google queer activists Australia and I'm so proud to read this list and to see many people who I consider good friends of mine. On this list you have Ro Allen, who is an Australian LGBTI advocate and has been since 2021. Well, this information is slightly wrong because they've been an advocate well before then and I've known Ro for at least 15 years, who was doing amazing work well before that. In 2021, they might have become the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner. In 2015, ro Allen was the first person appointed to the position of Commissioner for the LGBTIQA plus communities, formerly the Victorian Gender and Sexuality Commissioner in the state of Victoria, who was then succeeded by Todd Forando, who has just stepped down and we don't yet have a new Commissioner named in that spot yet and both Todd and Ro Allen in their roles have done amazing jobs work within the LGBTI communities in Victoria.

Speaker 1: 17:16

I met Ro when Ro was the Chief Executive Officer at United Care Australia here in Sheppernan, overseeing the services in the Gorman Valley In 2014 I think it was. Actually I took part and so did Ro and their partner, kay. With me and my husband and another couple. We took part in a public commitment so many rolling for equal rights for gay people in Sheppernan 2014, prior to the legalisation of same sex marriage in Australia in 2017. We had a sacred union together as well not with each other, ro and Kay, me and Daniel in the United Church in Brunswick and Melbourne. You know that was a really special, pivotal moment too for the United Church that we had this public sacred union, which it was a funny thing because the next day I stayed a mile away that night and we celebrated, and the next day I went and got a coffee Someone's looking at me strange and it's because I was in the newspaper from the Sunday age once again came and took our photo and we were in the paper.

Speaker 1: 18:24

Bob Brown is another important person that we need to mention, I think, when we're looking at activists within Australia. Known as Bob Brown, but named Robert Brown, is an Australian former politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a senator and parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the strength senate on the Tasmanian Greens ticket, joining and sitting with Greens West Australia and Green Senator D Margaretster formed the first group of Australian Green Senators following the 1996 federal election, and Bob Brown was an openly gay leader within an Australian political party and probably, yeah, he was the first and right up until he retired in June 2012, where Adam Bant took over and became the leader of the Greens party and continued on some of the great work that Bob Brown started with the Australian Greens.

Speaker 1: 19:21

A name I mentioned earlier Rodney Kroom, from Tasmania. He worked in campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in Tasmania and was the founder of the Australian marriage equality and currently serves as the spokesperson for the Tasmanian gay and lesbian rights group and a spokesperson for the LGBT advocacy group just dot equal. Kroom was the founding president of long term board, member of the Tasmanian LGBT support organisation, working it out as well as serving on various other similar organisations, and had been the leading role in the establishing challenging homophobia education in Tasmanian state schools, the Tasmanian police. Rodney also fronted the successful campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in Tasmania, which, until the first of May 1997, was a criminal offence punishable by up to 25 years in jail. The campaign saw Tasmanian activists take their case to the United Nations, the federal government and the high court. In 1997, the case of Kroom first Tasmania. Kroom applied to the high court of Australia for a ruling as whether the Tasmanian laws were inconsistent with the Federal Human Rights Act. The Tasmanian government repealed the relevant criminal code provisions after failing in its attempt to have the matter struck out. In 2009, kroom was named one of 25 most influential gay Australians and readers of the website samesamecomau.

Speaker 1: 20:47

I've met Rodney a number of times and I've known him as well, probably for the last 15 years. Most of these key members who have been pivotal in our history I met through my husband, who knew all these people beforehand. You know for me, my husband, damien Stevens, who now, as Damien Stevens Todd is also a key person who has been a driving force behind change in the Golden Valley and the Shepardin region as well, being one of the original members of the Golden Valley Pride and just constantly working in spaces to help improve LGBTI people within regional Victoria and currently doing amazing work still with Golden Valley Pride. Alex Greenwich is another person who is now an Australian Polish tradition. He's a member of the New South Wales government, he's an independent and he represents the seat of Sydney since 2012, when he won the Sydney by-election. I actually met Alex because of his work with Australian marriage equality, because he was the coach here and, I think, still is the coach here at the Strand Marriage Quality and was one of the key leaders of this success campaign yes campaign for the Strand Marriage Law Postal Survey in 2017. So I've met Alex a handful times just due to the work that I was doing around marriage equality as well a number of events and marriage equality fundraising stuff that we all attended.

Speaker 1: 22:17

Another key activist that I know, ali Hogg, who was born in 1980, is an Australian activist based in Melbourne. She's known for her campaigning for same-sex marriage and gay rights. A convener of equal love in Victoria, same-samecomau, once again reported that Hogg was voted the country's most influential LGBTI Australian in 2011 and the sixth most influential Malburian by the age for activism that year. It was actually Ali's equal love rallies that were put on, which was part of my coming out, because that was the event that I attended. I went there not knowing what to expect. It was kind of my first major rally that I was going to. I dressed up in a suit with my husband, damien, and we went down and somehow we ended up at the very front and that's when we were stopped and that photo was taken by the Sunday Age and plastered on the very front page of the article. If you go onto my Instagram, there'll be a photo on my feed of that image of what was on the Sunday Age and that is what basically was my coming out. Everyone else that I hadn't come out to, and it was on the wind news as well. My grandparents got a bit of a shock watching the news that night, but once again, it all links back to Ali Hogg and their work with equal love rallies. That they did, and their last ever equal love rally put on was in 2017 at the front of the Victoria State Library in Melbourne. Speakers included Sarah and Jack Tomlans, as well as Jason and Adrian Twyzon McSheen, and Jason was my celebrant and married me and my husband, good friend of ours, both couples who sparked the controversial amendment to the marriage act in 2004 by attempting to get their Canadian marriages recognised in Australia. So that's how it all came back, how it all came together and with the equal love rallies. So if it wasn't for Ali and the determination that Ali had, my coming out would have been a very different story.

Speaker 1: 24:31

And another person I have to mention is Daniel Whithouse, who, originally from Geelong, now in Melbourne, is the author of Beyond that's I Gay and Beyond Priscilla One Gay man, one Gay Truck, one Big Idea. And I will take my little bit of fame. If you read Beyond Priscilla, you'll actually see my name in the book for when Daniel was talking about his time here in Shepparton. So, and it's spelled the same way as my name C-R-I-S. So if anyone tries to say that it's not me, I can say it is. But no, it talks about me and Damien in the book. So grab a copy of both books, but definitely Beyond Priscilla to have a read of that. But I'm just going to read out a little bit around Daniel and what is listed on speaking out website when you're booking, inquiring about booking Daniel. So Daniel has spent a quarter of a century challenging homophobia and working on LGBTI QA plus inclusion one cuppa at a time. If you know Daniel Whithouse, he loves his cuppers in rural schools communities. He has also worked with Kids Help Line, vic Help, the Victorian Equal Rights Opportunity, the Human Rights Commission and no to Violence and National Men's Family Violence Organization.

Speaker 1: 25:50

There's plenty, plenty, plenty more work that Daniel was done and so, please, I urge you all to look up the names of the people I spoke about.

Speaker 1: 25:59

I wanted to highlight people who people might not know a lot about because often, you know, it's the celebrities.

Speaker 1: 26:07

When I was looked at the list of the people that popped up in Google, there were, you know, your many celebrities who like Magna, but I really wanted to highlight the people on that list that people might not know, who I have had the privilege of meeting and knowing that they have really contributed more than just saying some words that they may get picked up. They've lived, breathed and taken part in so much change and you know, please look up each and everything, one of them people to learn more about what they've done and how they've shaped Australian queer culture to what it is now to live the life that we have, especially in Victoria. If you're from Victoria, we wouldn't be here without some of them key people. So I say thank you, thank you for your time, thank you for your help and thank you for serving your queer people. That's all that we have for this week's episode. I hope you learned something and if not, I hope it was a good refresher of queer history and activism.