Features
George Lovell of Ferntree Gully: model citizen or pariah?
From the time of his 1905 arrival in Ferntree Gully, George Lovell impressed the locals with his community spirit. But what happened in early 20th century Australia when a selfless model citizen was exposed as homosexual? The accepted narrative of early 20th century attitudes tells us that the general public held gays in utter contempt. …
Anita Bryant: Mother of modern homophobia has lesbian grandkid
The news that Anita Bryant’s granddaughter will soon marry a woman no doubt brought a smile to the faces of people of a certain vintage. In the 1970s, Bryant positioned herself as America’s leading anti-gay rights activist. But to her chagrin, her gig as the mother of modern homophobia did not set her singing career …
The sordid history of gender testing and the Olympic Games
Gender testing began because the International Olympic Committee refused to believe ‘real’ women could or should participate in traditionally male track events. The all-male IOC insisted the fairer sex’s fragility made events like the 800m impossible for the delicate female constitution. However, 20th-century testing failed to identify male imposters. Instead, it evolved to exclude women …
Peter Black on 50 years of C.A.M.P. in Queensland | CAMP INK
On the opening night of the annual MELT Festival at Brisbane Powerhouse, QC President Peter Black delivered a speech on the 50th anniversary of CAMP on Queensland. The Campaign Against Moral Persecution was the first local organisation dedicated to homosexual law reform in the state. Peter Black Peter Black is the Associate Dean of Learning …
Olympics intersex rule: Faster, Higher, Stronger – except you
Olympic regulation excludes some female athletes unless they artificially lower their natural testosterone levels. The Olympics intersex rule puts the lie to the Games motto, ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together’. For those athletes, it might better read, ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger – except you!’ Read also: The sordid history of gender testiing and the Olympic Games. …
Coming out to Granny – a personal memoire of the 1970s
I long considered my grandmother proof that the secret to a long life is to be a cold hard bitch. So I judged her the greatest obstacle to sharing my truth with the world when I came out at seventeen. I did not otherwise regard the experience as of any real consequence, never suffering the …
The pre Drag Race all-stars downunder – Aussie herstory
Today, RuPaul’s Drag Race defines drag. Indeed, drag queens of a particular vintage complain that baby drags have no idea the artform even existed before RuPaul’s Supermodel of the World. But a glance through old newspapers and magazines shows pre Drag Race all-stars downunder making Aussie herstory decades ago. Undoubtedly, thanks to RuPaul, drag enjoys …
Maud Allan & The Cult of the Clitoris: the trial of the century
A 1918 newspaper article headlined The Cult of the Clitoris destroyed the career of the most famous dancer on Earth. It implied that Maud Allan was both a lesbian and a dangerous femme fatale, undermining the British war effort by encouraging sexual deviance. Total tomfuckery. The suggestion Maud Allan influenced World War I was ludicrous. …
Lindsay Kemble: from Adelaide’s ‘gay deceiver’ to war hero
Billed as Adelaide’s ‘gay deceiver’, Lindsay Kemble enjoyed a decades-long stage career as a female impersonator after the publicity from a 1915 arrest for unlawfully disguising himself as a woman. Two constables testified against Lindsay in the Adelaide Police Court. Each detailed the interest they took in a young woman they noticed “out late at …
Supermum Shelley Argent talks to QNews – the 2011 interview
Shelley Argent is a mum on a mission. From putting up posters in men’s toilets to taking the fight for equality to Canberra’s heavyweights. Shelley has become a force to be reckoned with who wants nothing more than to see her two sons treated as equals. QNews recently visited Shelley at home and, over freshly …