Once again, Pride March revealed the breadth and depth of our wide community to the general public in a wonderful display of colour and movement, held in fierce morning sunshine in Melbourne, with a gentle breeze off the Bay. Earlier we had thought that smoke from bushfires may drift over us. With this latest burst of hot weather, we are reminded of the 10-year anniversary of massive fires in nearby forests and the great loss of lives.

Gordon interviews Stephen Nicolazzo – Director of the play Merciless Gods, a staging of some stories of queer immigrant experiences by author Christos Tsiolkas, to be presented at the Arts Centre Melbourne.

From the Anniversaries Book, we’ve selected Don Dunstan (died 6/02/1999)  – the 1970s gay Premier of South Australia who broke down  conservative state laws and allowed the wider gay community of the time some relief and advancement of society.   We compare this with the way our current state politicians acknowledge and support our existence and are quite motivated to eliminate discrimination in our laws. At this year’s Pride March, the Premier of Victoria, Dan Andrews, announced the intention to ban all forms of ‘gay conversion’ therapy

From international sources, we report that Manchester’s LGBT Centre has received funds to rebuild their home; while in Barcelona homophobic vandals have desecrated their newly opened LGBT centre; a retired US Army General says that President Trump’s transgender ban is ‘a mistake’; and in California the local gay community and supporters have funded a performance space and practice studios for the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.

We also feature the life stories of three icons – Canadian Mark Tewksbury, Olympic swimmer and gay activist; Australian singer, performer-showman Peter ‘boy from OZ’ Allen, and US movie-star and gay icon James Dean.

Listen to these stories, opinions and more – presented with some merriment (where appropriate) by Chris, Gordon & Phil.

Show #842 – First broadcast on 5 February 2019   

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