"Oxford Street forms part of a trading
route that was used by people before White settlement. It started as a
trading route, it's ended up as a trading route, I wouldn't want to talk
about some of the trade that goes on there (laughter), but it's there."
"While I'm totally into gay people having a good time and making a statement
about their sexual politics, there's a lot people who want to march as
a political statement which says, We're gay and we also have a vision for
Australia, of the kind of country that we want to live it."
Kim Neville is a Vietnamese-Australian
"The gay and lesbian community, if there is such a thing, has been quite reluctant to take on any race issues, So it's good that people are mobilising around Native Title. I hope that people are talking about it and confronting the fact that all this Mardi Gras joy-joy stuff is a very White and middle-class scene."
Steven
Ross is a Gay Koori of the Muthi-Muthi Nation on the NSW/Victoria border,
with rights to Wamba-Wamba nation
"Queers shouldn't rest on their laurels
thinking that they exist in some kind of cultural vacuum in and of themselves
and are not influenced by any one else, like the straight community. A
lot of them come from communities where there has been a tradition of the
oppression of Indigenous people, so it's really stupid to think that they
don't hold those values as well."
Karen Moon is an Irish-Australian Lesbian
"We should remember and respect where we
are. I don't just walk into anybody's house and just sit down and make
myself feel at home. If I want to go into their house I go and knock on
the door."
Michael West identifies as an Anglo-Australian “fag"
"There are similarities. It is the outsider status. The dominant category in society is White, straight, middle-class and anyone who doesn't fit the requirements is out. As a fag I'm outside of that. Kooris are outside of that. Asians are outside. We're all attempting to find voice amongst numerous other voices."
Sue Green identifies as a Wiradjuri lesbian
"There's a coming together of Queers and
Aboriginality now because there's been this huge backlash against Aboriginal
people and against reconciliation by the current government. There's also
been a backlash against lesbians and homosexuals. So people are getting
together because we realise that our struggles are one and the same, in
a lot of ways."
Have an
opinion?
Want to
comment on something
you've read here?