By Jeff Cheverton
BRISBANE — The first Lesbian and Gay Pride Festival was held here in June 1990 after more than my lifetime of Bjelke-Petersen rule. Pride started because people were angry and impatient for change: sex between men was still illegal in Queensland, and lesbianism was denied or made invisible.
A young gay man from Sydney, Rodney Goodbun, arrived in Brisbane in January that year convinced that Stonewall had to be celebrated in the sunshine state. Carolyn Davies and I were living with him at the time. With some funding from Student Initiatives in Community Health, our household set about advertising the first meeting of the Lesbian and Gay Pride Collective. Hove Street became "Pride Central".
At that time it was rare to find a mixed gender organisation that was not dominated by men with a large dose of misogyny. There was really no group in town committed to women's equal participation. Lesbian and Gay Pride became the only organisation to put the word "lesbian" first. Dykes on Bikes have led every Pride march, and, while "the boys will be boys", the group has worked through many gender issues to create a lesbian-friendly atmosphere.
Pride successfully involved lesbian and gay activists in the one organisation. The first collective meeting, held at the end of April 1990, attracted 22 people, 10 of whom were women. These were people who had not previously been involved in lesbian and gay politics; they had felt excluded by the dominant "we're just normal citizens who happen to have sex with the same sex" attitude. The activists at this first meeting decided to organise public demonstrations, a radio day, an afternoon fair, a film night and an art exhibition — all in eight weeks!
Pride had a political and militant focus: we set out to create spaces where lesbians and gay men could be out and proud in spite of Queensland's history of repression and violence against alternative sexuality. We didn't beg acceptance; we simply demanded rights.
Unlike other gay organisations at the time, Pride wasn't interested in backroom deals or a softly, softly approach to law reform. Pride took the view that lesbians and gay men have a right to express our sexuality and be treated as equal to (if somewhat more glamorous than) heterosexuals.
Pride sought to provide opportunities for lesbians and gay men to publicly challenge homophobic attitudes and heterosexual privilege. The public sphere became the focus of our activities.
In our second year, the Pride Festival expanded from seven days to an entire month. The following year it developed to include an art and photographic exhibition, forums, reading nights, performers from "down south" and even a hypothetical. Other community groups became involved, organising their own events, and the sporting program of the festival flourished.
In 1992 the festival was dedicated to the achievements of an exceptional Pride worker, Kate Strandly. It was an action-packed two and a half weeks of lesbian and gay visibility. The political edge continued with kissing actions in the mall and at the beaches (Southbank), and there was a night-time march to protest anti-lesbian and anti-gay violence. The inaugural Pride Cabaret was also held.
"Queer" came to Queensland in 1993, but the collective decided to keep "lesbian and gay" in its name. One reason was to maintain lesbian visibility. Another was to resist the Americanisation of our culture, and another was to be honest about our focus. The collective, although concerned with the promotion of lesbian and gay sexualities, has always included bisexuals and predominantly heterosexual people.
That year we had forums on identity, speakers from the Murri lesbian and gay organisation, Two-Spirited People of Colour, discussions on mental health, sign language interpreters at most events and a commitment to wheelchair-accessible venues.
In our fifth year, 1994 Pride will come under interstate scrutiny with the Queer Collaborations national student conference and the national Lesbian Confest. Maybe next year Pride, together with the thriving lesbian and gay cultures of Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and others throughout Queensland, will organise Pride events across the state.
After five years of lesbian and gay community/cultural development Brisbane has a Lesbian and Gay Festival that promotes social change, strength, unity in diversity and Pride.