‘It’s part of who I am’: the gay Liberal MPs for whom the polil is more than personal | Coaln | The Guardian

Contents:

• ‘IT’S PART OF WHO I AM’: THE GAY LIBERAL MPS FOR WHOM THE POLIL IS MORE THAN PERSONAL
• JAGUARS NFL ACH OUT AS GAY US SPORTS FIRST

‘IT’S PART OF WHO I AM’: THE GAY LIBERAL MPS FOR WHOM THE POLIL IS MORE THAN PERSONAL

The leathery-lookg ducements are havg a limed effect on the whimperg ball of curls, a signer dog bred for the subject we’re about to discs – g out as a gay man at 64 – nerv would be unrstandable, pecially after four s of a picture-perfect, very public heterosexual marriage and a reer voted to nservative polics. “I have always been gay, not bisexual; that’s not a term I intify wh, ” says Yabsley, who is now 65.

Yet for many men of Yabsley’s generatn, homosexualy was still illegal durg their teens and 20s. Gay sex remaed a crime Tasmania up until 1994, when Pl Keatg’s feral Labor ernment passed the Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act 1994, uniformly crimalisg nsensual gay sex throughout nservative polil circl Atralia, there is still only a handful of men who openly intify as acceptance has grown as Yabsley has aged, but gay and lbian people public life, let alone the nservative bastns of bs and polics, are still relatively rare.

JAGUARS NFL ACH OUT AS GAY US SPORTS FIRST

The first outwardly gay polician eher feral or state parliament was former senator and Greens lear Bob Brown, a GP who clared his illegal, same-sex relatnship a newspaper terview 1976, years before enterg Tasmania’s state parliament half a century later, nservative polil circl Atralia, there is still only a handful of men who openly intify as gay, the most high-profile beg North Sydney feral Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman, feral Liberal member for Brisbane Trevor Evans and former Human Rights Commissner and Liberal member for Goldste, Tim Wilson. “In that era, to be gay meant that you uldn’t have that...

He talks enthiastilly about visg Sydney’s gay bars, chuckl about gog to men-only parti lled Thick ‘N’ Juicy and speaks wh utter nvictn about a new relatnship wh a man 20 years his junr, wh whom he says he’s “madly love” but who he’s termed to protect om public g out, Yabsley has experienced homophobia first-hand, beg asked to leave a homewar shop by a secury guard who saw the uple “nocently” kissg. When I unter that “out” gay people have experienced such discrimatn for most of their liv, his tone softens. “I have never thought of myself as a poster-boy for gay law reform, but I certaly want to do my b to achieve equaly.

Here ner Sydney’s Darlghurst – jt a few hundred metr om where the annual Sydney Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras has been held sce 1978 on Oxford Street’s once-feted “Goln Mile” – rabow flags rate neighbourg balni. Homosexualy, while not only illegal at the time, was well and tly “monised” his fay.