THE STAR (VOLUME 4, NO. 4, SEPTEMBER 10, 1982)
ON a grey and damp Saturday morning in 1982 San Francisco played host to the opening ceremony of the Gay International Olympic Games — the first gay Olympiad in history.
When the sun broke through at around 12noon, renowned lesbian author Rita Mae Brown took to the stage.
“We’re here today not to celebrate homosexuality, but to celebrate and affirm individual freedom,” she said.
“No government has the right to say when to love, how to love, or who to love.”
Thousands were also there to witness the opening ceremony and the first Olympic flame, which was held in Kezar Stadium.
* The Star is what the Star Observer was known as in 1982.
The front page of The Star (September 10, 1982) highlighting Australia’s achievements at the 1982 Gay Olympics in San Francisco (Source: Star Observer archives)
Page 14 of the September 10, 1982 edition of The Star. (Source: Star Observer archives)
Australia’s medal tally from the 1982 Gay Olympics on page 15 of the September 10, 1982 edition of The Star. The star of the Australian team, Bob Goldsmith, unfortunately became one of the first people in the country to die from AIDS-related illnesses. The Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, the oldest charity in the Australian gay community, was named in his honour. (Image source: Star Observer archives)
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LAST BUT NOT LEAST: WHEN TASMANIA DECRIMINALISED HOMOSEXUALITY
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**This article was first published in the April edition of the Star Observer, which is available now. Click here to find out where you can grab a copy in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and select regional/coastal areas.
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