The Informer

How do you take someone’s story and transform it into a tail for today?

Earlier this year the ABC aired a telemovie RIOT based on real people and real events surrounding the original gay and lesbian mardi gras protest and reflecting on ran important chapter in Australia’s LGBTIQ history.

Riot showed how even with the system against them and ever-present adversity, including police brutality, legislative persecution, social shunning, job dismissal and general violence, activists decide to come out fighting in their celebration of diversity.

And it was all thanks to the 78ers that we could tell this story.

Ti Butler spoke to Greg Waters, the writer of RIOT and asked what it was like telling a piece of Australian history in this way.

This segment of The Informer aired on JOY 94.9 on 21st June 2018

This weekend is not only the 40thanniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, but one of the weekends of Sydney Pride Festival as well. To commemorate Sundays Anniversary, there are plenty of events happening including the Pride of Place Conference, remembering our past and shaping our futures.

The conference co-sponsored by the Ally Network, the 78ers, Sydney Pride History, the University’s Culture Strategy, and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, will explore themes of intergenerational lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer experience, and celebrate the evolving purpose, identity and influence of Mardi Gras within the LGBTIQ community. The relationship between LGBTIQ politics and Indigenous Australians, as well as multi-ethnic communities, will be a focus of conference discussion.

There will be a giant new inflatable art installation to be set up in Taylor Square to mark four decades of the event. With the  inflatable art installation titled 40 Years of Love – towering three storeys over Taylor Square on Oxford Street from Sunday.

You can join the 78ers at the Columbian hotel for a drink in their honour and much more. You can find all the details at Sydneypride.com.

As people drink and celebrate in honour of a political protest that fought for our freedoms, it made us wonder what Sydney Mardi Gras actually means to you.

For some it will always be a place of protest, for others, it is a space of celebration. Is the parade too corporate, or have we lost our activist edge?

At Mardi Gras Fair Dean Arcuri decided to explore what Mardi Gras means in 2018 to the community that celebrate it.

This segment of The Informer aired on JOY 94.9 on 21st June 2018.

At 10pm on the 24th of June 1978, the first Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras took place. Nothing like it is today, the first march was met with police violence that became a catalyst for change.

From arrest to acceptance Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras grew out of a terrible night in our history.

A planned street festival calling for an end to discrimination against homosexuals in employment and housing, an end to police harassment and the repeal of all homosexual laws, saw 2000 people step out from the Oxford Street Bars and clubs responding to the call, out of the bars and into the street.

Although the organisers had obtained permission, this was revoked, and the parade was broken up by The police.

It was actually the opposition that the march was met with when it first began, both from outsiders and within our own communities, that help to shape it into the iconic beacon of pride we see today as one of Australia’s most loved events.

But as we look at 40 years of Mardi Gras, what does moving from protest to pride actually mean. At Mardi Gras Fair Day earlier this year, Dean Arcuri sat down with Ken, Diane, Michael and Robin from the 78ers and asked just that, as they reflect on that first march and how far we have come today.

Photo: The Pride History Group

This segment of The Informer aired on JOY 94.9 on 21st June 2018.

It’s a literal Throwback Thursday, because this Sunday, on June 24this the 40thAnniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Tonight, we are going to look back on 1978, 24thJune at 10pm, as we speak to some of those who were part of the first protest, exploring how this has inspired generations of our Australian queer culture and activism, as we look to our past to inspire our future.

This episode of The Informer aired on 21st June 2018 and was hosted by Dylan Joel.

How do you take someone’s story and transform it into a tail for today?

Earlier this year the ABC aired a telemovie RIOT based on real people and real events surrounding the original gay and lesbian mardi gras protest and reflecting on ran important chapter in Australia’s LGBTIQ history.

Riot showed how even with the system against them and ever-present adversity, including police brutality, legislative persecution, social shunning, job dismissal and general violence, activists decide to come out fighting in their celebration of diversity.

And it was all thanks to the 78ers that we could tell this story.

Ti Butler spoke to Greg Waters, the writer of RIOT and asked what it was like telling a piece of Australian history in this way.

This segment of The Informer aired on JOY 94.9 on 21st June 2018

This weekend is not only the 40thanniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, but one of the weekends of Sydney Pride Festival as well. To commemorate Sundays Anniversary, there are plenty of events happening including the Pride of Place Conference, remembering our past and shaping our futures.

The conference co-sponsored by the Ally Network, the 78ers, Sydney Pride History, the University’s Culture Strategy, and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, will explore themes of intergenerational lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer experience, and celebrate the evolving purpose, identity and influence of Mardi Gras within the LGBTIQ community. The relationship between LGBTIQ politics and Indigenous Australians, as well as multi-ethnic communities, will be a focus of conference discussion.

There will be a giant new inflatable art installation to be set up in Taylor Square to mark four decades of the event. With the  inflatable art installation titled 40 Years of Love – towering three storeys over Taylor Square on Oxford Street from Sunday.

You can join the 78ers at the Columbian hotel for a drink in their honour and much more. You can find all the details at Sydneypride.com.

As people drink and celebrate in honour of a political protest that fought for our freedoms, it made us wonder what Sydney Mardi Gras actually means to you.

For some it will always be a place of protest, for others, it is a space of celebration. Is the parade too corporate, or have we lost our activist edge?

At Mardi Gras Fair Dean Arcuri decided to explore what Mardi Gras means in 2018 to the community that celebrate it.

This segment of The Informer aired on JOY 94.9 on 21st June 2018.

At 10pm on the 24th of June 1978, the first Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras took place. Nothing like it is today, the first march was met with police violence that became a catalyst for change.

From arrest to acceptance Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras grew out of a terrible night in our history.

A planned street festival calling for an end to discrimination against homosexuals in employment and housing, an end to police harassment and the repeal of all homosexual laws, saw 2000 people step out from the Oxford Street Bars and clubs responding to the call, out of the bars and into the street.

Although the organisers had obtained permission, this was revoked, and the parade was broken up by The police.

It was actually the opposition that the march was met with when it first began, both from outsiders and within our own communities, that help to shape it into the iconic beacon of pride we see today as one of Australia’s most loved events.

But as we look at 40 years of Mardi Gras, what does moving from protest to pride actually mean. At Mardi Gras Fair Day earlier this year, Dean Arcuri sat down with Ken, Diane, Michael and Robin from the 78ers and asked just that, as they reflect on that first march and how far we have come today.

Photo: The Pride History Group

This segment of The Informer aired on JOY 94.9 on 21st June 2018.

It’s a literal Throwback Thursday, because this Sunday, on June 24this the 40thAnniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Tonight, we are going to look back on 1978, 24thJune at 10pm, as we speak to some of those who were part of the first protest, exploring how this has inspired generations of our Australian queer culture and activism, as we look to our past to inspire our future.

This episode of The Informer aired on 21st June 2018 and was hosted by Dylan Joel.

Yesterday, Human Rights Lawyer Lee Carni had the honour and privilege of delivering a statement to the UN Human Rights Council on the importance of protecting LGBTI rights globally. Lee is in Geneva for the next 3 weeks advocating for stronger human rights protections in relation to LGBTI rights and women’s rights back home. and we look forward to touching base with her next week to see how those conversations are going.

Here on the Infomer, we bring you Australia’s LGBTI news and current affairs, and we love doing it. We have other shows on JOY such as World Wide Waves that look at what is happening globally, but sometimes it is important for us to take the time to focus past our own backyard.

During IDAHOBIT last month, we at The Informer started talking about finding ways on the show to highlight what is going on in our LGBTIQ Global community, while still bringing you the news and current affairs for Australia.

We started to remember that 12 months ago we couldn’t stop talking about what was happening in Russia with Vigils of solidarity all around the country, and here we are, 12 months later, and circumstances for our LGBTIQ community in Russia continues to get worse, and we hear about it less and less.

Now on The Informer, Darcy Meehan reminds us of the past year in Russia, because just because their isn’t a headline, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be reminded of injustices around the world.

Sporting identities, clubs and codes across the country gathered in Melbourne last night for the inaugural Australian Pride in Sport Awards, celebrating outstanding achievements in LGBTI inclusion in Australian sport, both on and off the field.

The Australian Pride in Sport Awards was the first celebration of its kind dedicated solely to recognising exceptional efforts in making sport more inclusive of LGBTI people. Produced by Pride in Sport, the national

not-for-profit sporting inclusion program spearheaded by Australia’s largest LGBTI health organisation ACON.

Water Polo was heavily featured in the nominations and winners last night, and now on The Informer, Dean Arcuri speaks to the winner of the Out Role Model Award from Brisbane Jeremy Archer, who is also a member of the Brisbane Tritons, QLD LGBT I and inclusive water polo team.