The Secret History of Atralia's Gay Diggers | SBS Voic

Contents:

• THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT COACH KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY
• ATRALIAN GAY HISTORY: PL DEXTER & THE GAY ARMY
• RACG TO PRERVE THE HISTORY OF MAE’S 1ST GAY RIGHTS ANIZATN
• 160 GAY HISTORY TRIVIA QUTNS, ANSWERS, AND FUN FACTS

THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS

It is certa that Phillip, generally regard as a product of the European Enlightment, uld not have forseen that such a society would prise regnised muni of gay men and lbians. After all, the ncepts of homosexualy and ‘the homosexual’ were not to be nceived for another 81 years and gay liberatn lay a further 100 years beyond that. In the words of historian Garry Wotherspoon, homosexual men were ‘nghty, sick and sful’, and wh regard to the latter, generally rema so.

In 1958, the Police Commissner Col Delaney, a vout Catholic wh secury service nnectns and a homophobic obssn, claimed that ‘homosexualy was Atralia’s greatt menace’. The police force took s cue om the Commissner and the post-war perd saw a crack down on homosexuals, wh police even actg as agents provotr at regnised beats. Then, 1969, Ivy’s Birdge opened Taylor Square and that marks the begng of Oxford Street as Sydney’s gay ‘Goln Mile’, as other venu opened durg the 1970s.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT COACH KEV MAXEN MAK HISTORY AFTER COMG OUT AS GAY

By 1973, the medil profsn began to shift s attu, assisted by the claratn of the Royal Atralian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists that homosexualy was no longer a mental illns, the first such body the world to do so. The Homosexual Law Reform Society of the Atralian Capal Terrory was set up Canberra for some months 1969; however, while homosexual people were members, the spokpeople were heterosexual. It was, therefore, somethg of a shock to most Atralians to read The Atralian newspaper of 10 September 1970 of the formatn of an anisatn, Campaign Agast Moral Persecutn Inrporated (CAMP Inc), dited to removg the stigma that society attached to homosexualy.

The name was liberately chosen to give an Atralian flavour to the anisatn, as ‘mp’ was a word of self-scriptn wh the homosexual muny while ‘gay’ was not.

ATRALIAN GAY HISTORY: PL DEXTER & THE GAY ARMY

John had e out of amic psychiatry where, as a stunt, he had difficulti rencilg the tablished medil view of homosexualy as an illns wh the realy of his own life.

) They both looked to the formatn of a small group that would be knowledgeable about current thkg on homosexualy and be able to rpond publicly, puttg forward an rmed gay viewpot. On 6 Febary 1971, the first public gatherg of homosexual men and women took place a small church hall Balma, then the heart of Sydney’s unter-culture.

The early years of gay liberatn Atralia were enthiastic, energetic and spectacular, at least for the participants and, one spects, a bewilrg spectacle for the populatn and the media. Yet, wh the formatn of CAMP Inc 1970, gay liberatn s broast sense had been permanently placed on the social agenda, not to be removed. The mment which the activi of those years engenred many of the participants ensured their volvement, often their own small way, the life of the gay and lbian muni even to today.

RACG TO PRERVE THE HISTORY OF MAE’S 1ST GAY RIGHTS ANIZATN

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.

160 GAY HISTORY TRIVIA QUTNS, ANSWERS, AND FUN FACTS

“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. 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. “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.

Different generatns of gay and lbian dividuals will provi sight to what has been like to live a gay or lbian life Atralia om the 1940s to the prent, when attus have shifted so remarkably. The project will terview five different generatns of “ordary” gay men and lbians providg ep sight to how dividuals negotiate social change their timate liv. This project is the first prehensive natnwi oral history project unrtaken wh a diverse range of members of Atralia’s lbian and gay populatn.

First, will bolster and diversify the Natnal Library of Atralia’s digal llectn by providg up to 300 hours of lbian and gay oral histori. More broadly, the project will vtigate how lbian and gay dividuals have navigated a perd of extraordary social change, and the impact of this transformatn on lbian and gay liv and cultural narrativ.

Rearchers on this project acknowledge the important gay and lbian oral histori that have prevly been nducted by other rearchers, cludg the ongog efforts of the Atralian Lbian and Gay Archiv Melbourne. Interviews for the Atralian Lbian and Gay Life Stori project are beg nducted wh participants born between 1930 and 1994 who self-intify as same-sex attracted.

It will provi a rource equivalent to the Before Stonewall: A Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenred Oral History llectn, held by the Brish Library Sound Archive Collectn. It will serve to foster broar awarens of lbian and gay liv – and the ways which generatns of lbian and gay Atralians have shaped a profound transformatn of social attus Atralia. By Danielle Pore VillafañaPart 1: Beg Gay Was a CrimeEvery year on the last Friday of Augt, schools and workplac across the untry wear purple to celebrate rabow (LGBTQI+) young people, whether they are out, closeted or anythg between.