A vlent slice of Sydney's history was dredged up this week when police charged a man over the 1988 gay hate murr of Stt Johnson. Here are four siar killgs that rema unsolved.
Contents:
- THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS
- TAG: GAY BEATS
- ‘MEN WERE STTERG EVERYWHERE’: QUIRY HEARS OF STRG OF VLENT CINTS AT SYDNEY GAY BEATS
- REVIEW OF LIVG OUT LOUD: A HISTORY OF GAY AND LBIAN ACTIVISM ATRALIA, SYDNEY, BY GRAHAM WILLETT
- NSW POLICE: HUNTG GAY MEN AT BEATS
- BONDI RISE MEMORIAL HONOURS VICTIMS OF SYDNEY GAY HATE CRIM DURG 1970S TO 1990S
- FOUR OTHER GAY-HATE CRIM BEG VTIGATED BY NSW POLICE AFTER STT JOHNSON MURR CHARGE
- GAY BEAT TO TRIBUTE: BONDI'S MARKS PARK TO GET HATE CRIME MEMORIAL
THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS
Posts about gay beats wrten by queerstorian * history of gay beats in sydney *
They were om the Gay Ex-Servic Associatn, and they rried a wreath dited to ‘all brothers and sisters who died durg the wars’—but they would never get to lay at the shre. “I don’t know where all the gays and poofters have e om, ” he was later famoly quoted as sayg, “I don’t remember a sgle one om World War Two. “There were thoands of ex-servicemen who were mp, I thk I went through 300 of them myself, ” he told the magaze, a py of which is prerved by the Atralian Lbian and Gay Archiv.
“The irony, of urse, was that they end up an all-male environment wh limed opportuny for female pany – the potential for homo-sex had never been greater, ” Smaal says. “It was amazg the number of gay people the POW mp, ” the Atralian serviceman told Outrage, “well not so much gay as bisexual – bee they uldn’t get a woman they’d have a man. There are multiple s of veterans beg arrted for homosexualy offenc after the war, tellg thori they were pursug sir disvered the armed forc.
TAG: GAY BEATS
If you were a gay man Sydney durg the 1970s to 1990s, there was a chance you uld get beaten up or killed, Garry Wotherspoon says. A memorial to the victims now stands on the eastern suburbs se where many of the acts of vlence took place. * history of gay beats in sydney *
“I do not believe I have ever loved a woman more eply than my mate, ” said one Atralian WWII veteran, who went on to assert the relatnship wasn't homosexual.
Ackerley, an openly gay Brish war hero om World War One, wrote an acclaimed play tled The Prisoners of War upon his return to England. The gay Jewish doctor – who was later exiled by the Nazis – wrote of how German soldiers would risk severe reprimand to sneak off to the lols’ ho occupied France to have sex. Ford wr that female homosexualy was ls acknowledged pole society than male homosexualy - many recs had never heard of the term ‘lbian’.
Rearch by Smaal and his lleague, renowned Atralian LGBT+ historian Graham Willett, found that the US reported to Atralia that they had disvered a large number of servicemen New Guea havg gay sex – and that Atralians were volved.
‘MEN WERE STTERG EVERYWHERE’: QUIRY HEARS OF STRG OF VLENT CINTS AT SYDNEY GAY BEATS
* history of gay beats in sydney *
“Homosexualy today is fed as beg attracted to your own sex, back then was largely fed by genr s – mascule or feme, 'bch' or 'butch', ” Smaal says.
“It was difficult and plex enterprise – and there’s a temptatn to jt bury their head the sand, ignore and hope homosexualy go away, ” Smaal says. The Gay Ex-Servic Associatn was followed by 'G-force' 1996 and then by DEFGLIS 2002 – the Defence Gay, Lbian, Bisexual, Transgenr and Intersex Informatn Service. The Sydney Cliff murrs were a strg of murrs om the 80’s through the 90’s agast gay men the of Sydney, Atralia which may have had as many as 90 victims — primarily Marks Park at the top of the Bondi Beach cliffs, which was a popular cisg spot for gay men, but also some other areas that were popular “gay beats”.
Acrdg to retired High Court jtice Michael Kirby, the police viewed gay men as low level crimals (even though sodomy was crimalized there 1984) and thought that homosexuals should pretty much expect to be hurt or killed. And, no, wasn’t a serial killer on the loose or anythg nearly that dramatic — was groups of vlent, homophonic teenagers who knew that crim agast gay men would never be taken serly by the police. Homici tective Steve McCann secretly rerd nversatns the boys had wh each other and other mat — they bragged about killg gay men at the cliffs at Bondi Beach.
REVIEW OF LIVG OUT LOUD: A HISTORY OF GAY AND LBIAN ACTIVISM ATRALIA, SYDNEY, BY GRAHAM WILLETT
He turned to lawyer, and official liaison between the New South Wal police and the gay muny, Sue Thompson for help but even so there was only so much they uld do.
NSW POLICE: HUNTG GAY MEN AT BEATS
As a rult of this, the New South Wal police began Operatn Parrabell, a review of 88 vtigatns to var aths of gay men — tryg to terme if the crim should be classified as hate crim. The Operatn Parrabell task force for unsolved homicis accepted eight of those as potential anti-gay hate crim that need to be vtigated. Men at a popular Sydney gay beat had to stter when a r reered towards them “like was on a kangaroo shoot”, an quiry has r’s headlights and an apparent spotlight were blazg as the r drove at men at Rhcutters Bay Park Sydney’s east the 1990s.
“It was a by Saturday night and men were stterg everywhere, nng like the dickens, ” Barry Charl said on 72-year-old longtime gay rights activist was givg evince at the New South Wal Special Commissn of Inquiry to LGBTIQ hate is vtigatg historil hate crim agast the queer muny, particularly a wave of gay hate homicis and other crim Sydney durg the Aids epimic of the 1980s. “While as a young man om Punchbowl ( Sydney’s wt) I had no ia how to fd a gay bar, beats were somethg I uld fd, ” he equented them between 1969 and 1998, visg at least 40 different on around sex was mostly anonymo and wordls, as the majory wanted to get over and done wh as quickly as possible.
“Hangg around for longer than necsary was dangero, bee you knew you uld be apprehend, or were danger of vlence and some men were at risk of beg exposed as gay.
BONDI RISE MEMORIAL HONOURS VICTIMS OF SYDNEY GAY HATE CRIM DURG 1970S TO 1990S
Ostensibly, Willett provis a chronologil narrative which trac the nstctn of a homosexual ‘muny’ and the movement towards gay ‘liberatn’ and homosexual law reform Atralia: the book’s three parts, tled ‘Livg’, ‘Out’, and ‘Loud’, broadly characterise the emergence of homosexual visibily and vibrancy between 1950 and the prent day.
Individual chapters, however, easily stand alone as each one generally foc on a sgle theme or issue, be this law reform, AIDS or the ntemporary bat between Queer book begs wh a survey of the mp scene the 1950s, a which fear of vlence and arrt stifled homosexual life and any ias of polil actn.
Although fear of bashg, employment discrimatn and arrt kept most homosexual inti hidn, this did not prevent homosexual men or women om fdg each other. Ined, the stments of reprsn and the regulators and enforcers of muny standards – the prs and the law urts – unwtgly facilated the velopment of the mp scene by publishg the nam and lotn of mon homosexual beats and f the procs of nductg and reportg crimal proceedgs agast homosexuals.
FOUR OTHER GAY-HATE CRIM BEG VTIGATED BY NSW POLICE AFTER STT JOHNSON MURR CHARGE
This was led by Lrie Collson Melbourne and supported by the Homosexual Law Reform Society Bra, but failed to attract tert among the late 1960s, however, crimalisatn was on the mds of policians, the clergy, newspaper edors and liberal reformers both male and female. The first gay rights anisatns – the Dghters of Bilis and the Campaign Agast Moral Persecutn (CAMP) were tablished 1970, and om that pot on polil activism beme a permanent part of Atralian homosexual life.
GAY BEAT TO TRIBUTE: BONDI'S MARKS PARK TO GET HATE CRIME MEMORIAL
Willett keenly relat the way which they anised muny meetgs, tablished sgle-issue lobby groups and ran for parliament on a policy platform of gay rights. He also not their opposn, the leadg voice of which was the Reverend Fred Nile, Member of Parliament New South Wal, and his Ftival of the transn om ‘Out’ to ‘Loud’, Willett explas how homosexual sexual activy between nsentg adults was first crimalised 1975 unr the Dunstan Labor Government South Atralia, to be followed by reform of Commonwealth and Victorian legislatn 1978 and 1980 rpectively. He also charts the growg support for the ‘gay agenda’ the muny, and the way which a visible and vibrant homosexual muny – nurtured by gay bs, the gay prs, gay bars and sportg petns – emerged Atralia’s two largt ci.
The thor utns, however, agast assumg that the experience of Sydney and Melbourne gay men and lbians was shared by their brothers and sisters ral areas and provcial ci, some of which have yet to form ‘muni’ of homosexual men and women any real the third sectn of his book, Willett relat how the gas were placed jeopardy 1981, wh reports om the Uned Stat that young homosexual men were dyg om a myster gay ncer which was begng to ‘spread’ to ‘normal’ men and women.
Drawg on existg but wang disurs which nflated homosexualy wh mental and moral sickns, nservativ and bigots took the opportuny to argue that AIDS was a physlogil maniftatn of moral failg and psychiatric illns, th jtifyg their lls for strict laws agast homosexualy.