Two thousand and great for the GLBT community
It was a year which started with indignation, as the community decried an out-of-touch police force who failed to come to the aid of bashing victims Craig Gee and Shane Brennen, but out of that movement came a surge of energy which carried on through a year of major change.
Not all of that change was positive, however, with the community swaying between the highs of equality and the lows of a year which left the Oxford St scene ravaged and the folks of the inner west all but searching for a pulse on their once-lively nightlife.
The one thing that remained constant through this period was people’s determination to be vocal and to agitate for change.
From the tragedy that was Craig and Shane came a changing of the guard at Surry Hills Police, ushering in a new era of GLBT relations. It was an early victory, celebrated as Craig and Shane triumphantly marched past a roaring crowd at what was undoubtedly the biggest party of the year -” the 30th Mardi Gras parade.
2008 was a veritable renaissance period for Mardi Gras, as the formerly dwindling festival sprang to life once more, attracting crowd numbers akin to those seen in the mid-nineties.
It was a powerful bargaining tool for the organisation which later managed to petition the NSW Government for funding. Not perceived as a triumph by some, who saw such state involvement as an official end to Mardi Gras’ heritage as an outlet for community protest, it was still counted as a win for many who cheered on the achievement of true recognition, 30 years after its inception.
It was also at the parade that the community got a taste of the next big issue to galvanise the GLBT public -” religion.
The 100 Reverends who marched in support of gay and lesbian Christians sparked a debate that continued through to July, when the Pope, along with a million pilgrims, descended upon Sydney for World Youth Day.
There was barely a Sydneysider who didn’t suffer some form of inconvenience as a result of all the transport-hogging, Kumbaya-singing pilgrims. But it was the GLBT community who really took the opportunity for protest, against the Catholic Church’s stance on gays and lesbians and its position on contraception.
And so Community Action Against Homophobia planned to distribute condoms to pilgrims as they arrived at Randwick Racecourse, sparking alarm amongst police and politicians who promptly enforced laws to stop any such action, or anything in fact, which could be deemed as irritating the sensibilities of the pilgrims. Little did they know that such a push would lead CAAH to shove right back, right up to the Supreme Court where they managed to have the laws overturned.
Such upstart activities were soon forgotten as the GLBT community found a new golden poster boy, who achieved in that most conservative of Australian arenas -” sport. Matthew Mitcham not only managed to win a record-breaking gold medal at the Beijing Olympics this year, but the hearts of the community who at every turn did its part to offer support and applaud his decision to become the first out and proud Australian Olympian.
Going by images, the picture of Mitcham holding his medal and grinning could only possibly be outdone by the almost ubiquitous image of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby’s hot pink 58’08 logo, which will forever be burned into the retinas of all who read this paper as the image which summed up exactly how far we had to go in January and how much we achieved in just 12 short months.
If there was a gold medal for political expediency it would have to go to Kevin Rudd’s Government, who managed, in one term, to follow through on their election promises to the GLBT community and push through the equality reforms.
2008 will undoubtably go down in the history books as the year when the GLBT community was financially and legally elevated from the status of second-class citizens. The fight for marriage equality and super reform may continue, but there is still no denying that this was a year of unequivocal success.
For Sydneysiders though, the joy surrounding these successes was literally sobered in December with the introduction of statewide lock-outs on a number of clubs including the majority of Oxford St’s few remaining GLBT-specific venues. Though the effectiveness of such a scheme is yet to be seen, for those worried about having an overly bland Christmas and New Year’s, you know what to ask Santa for.
If Surry Hills Police command was a business providing a service to the marketplace they would have been out of business within 6 months! How long are we as a community going to put up with this??? And for heaven’s sake withdraw their invitation to march in our Gay and lesbian Mardi Gras Parade,
by allowing them to participate all we are doing is enabling
them!
Elliot, agree about the whistles- I still have mine from the anti-violence rally on my key chain and it’s the first thing I’d reach for in a mugging or gay bashing.
I kinda agree with you Elliot, I mean I wonder how many straights just attend the Mardi Gras for the sole purpose of a laugh ?
Too Right Elliott, open your arms to let straight people in and thats what you end up with. Oh wow! Last weekend we all dressed up and went Bar Hopping on Oxford Street! Wow! those Gays sure know how to Party!!
I just want to add :
Milk had a great technique where he asked all gay people to wear whistles and to blow the whistles whenever they where attacked – we should have our own community policing system like that where we run to the sound of whistles and pound the fkers (attackers) heads in – why not? they get away with attacking us…
I totally agree Chris, I think no one helps us because we have opened our doors to the mainstream too much, we always are there with open arms, we are only accepted on a social scale, I feel society only accepts the gay community or the gay concept when they :
a) Celebrate their hen’s nights in our clubs
b) Use our original subculture idea’s in fashion
c) Come into our clubs for an ego trip(being around gay people/places is cool ya know??)
d) Announce they are all for gays and lesbians to appear noble and fair in various social settings.
But the reality is, they wont stand up for our rights, they wont treat us equal or with respect, they wont help us – Being fore gay rights and equality is just something the majority of straight society only like to “talk” and “think” about.
Yes, we all have straight friends and we do have mainstream organisations who claim to be helpful to us, but are they really there for us to the extent of wanting to get involved within our lives and problems to help to the full extent (the majority of them)?, after all, homophobic biggtry is part of the australian culture…
Marital status discrimination under Commonwealth law is still there that says “a opposite sex couple” in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.
This article begins with talk of the community outrage that resulted from the police inaction around the bashing of Craig Gee and Shane Brennan.The offenders are still free and roaming the streets despite the cctv photos of the thugs and all the resources of the NSW police force…what a joke!
There may be a new commander at Surry Hills Police Center but the culture is still the same. I was vilified (on the basis of my homosexuality ) while having an ealy morning coffee on Oxford St recently , I called the Surry Hills Police who arrived just seconds after I was assaulted , I pointed out the offender to the police…they let the guy make his escape without challenging him .
Last weekend my best friend was verballed harrassed (anti gay slurs) by a group of visiting thugs while walking down Oxford St , they then attacked and assaulted three young women walking by ..my friend ran across Oxford Street to report this to police who were within sight. Their response
was ..go to the police center and make a report ! Meanwhile the offenders made their escape , laughing and unchallenged.
Enough is enough..there should be New York style zero tolerance policing on Oxford Street. The police should do their job and we as a community should rise up and get fucking angry….Harvey Milk would be ashamed of us !
This article forgot to mention co-parenting rights introduced by the NSW Government – this gives certainty and security to thousands of children with same-sex parents.
Unfortunately, for many older gay men and lesbians on pensions 2008 was not an ‘unequivocal’ success. Sure it may have been a partial success in that many inequities in various discriminatory laws were righted, but changes to pension arrangements will further impoverish many of us who lived through years of fear and persecution because of our sexuality.
For me and many of my sisters and brothers celebration is premature. Our struggle continues.
2000 and great – if you are not an old gay pensioner that is, especially if you are not an old lesbian pensioner. Do they not deserve a gr8 new year as well as the rest of us.
Evidently not.
Not worth a mention in a whole article about change and some negative impacts.
If you think we are disposable due to being old and therefore tedious and droll, think again, across the world old people, especially GLBTI ones, are on the march and will NOT be stopped until justice is done. No matter what gay celebrities refuse to speak out.
A community divided can never move forward.