Gay in alice springs
Gay Young Couple In Alice SpringsJosephine Jones © Copyright by Josephine Jones |
That was the headline in The Centralian Advocate on Thursday 28th August Of course, Gay did not mean then what it does now. Earlier that year July Neil Armstrong had verb foot on the moon. Television had not yet reached the outback of Australia so we had seen a film of the landing in the Memorial Hall. This film had been provided by the Americans from the nearby secret Space Base which everyone knew about.
The week before there was great excitement in Alice Springs, Australia. The Duke and Duchess of Kent were coming on an official attend from England. Our laboratory part of the Alice Springs Hospital was asked to cross fit 2 bottles of blood each for the Duke and Duchess. This was in case they were in an aeroplane crash. We all wondered what possible good two bottles of blood for each person would be in a serious plane crash. When the couple left Alice Springs to soar to Tennant Creek the blood was to be flown in a separate aeropl
Alice Springs. The red centre. Days from beaches or any buildings higher than three stories. Remote, ancient, silent as the ocean at night. The quintessential Aussie outback and yet also, surprisingly, the nation’s rural LGBTIQ capital. Particularly for women.
Alice Springs has one of the highest numbers of female same-sex couples in the country. According to the census, one in of all couples in town are women, giving it a similar profile to the far smaller town of Daylesford in Victoria. Men in same sex relationships number about half as many—along with a smaller tally of people who identify as trans and intersex—yet as a whole the region has an openness and diversity that makes it unique for the nation’s interior.
“I had no idea what to expect,” admits Lewis Young (pictured in the blond wig) of his first visit two years back. &#;I just booked flights with another ally and we came up for about five days and I was absolutely blown away.”
Lewis describes stumbling upon a community of artists who’d left cities for the desert and he began to consider doing the same. “The town
Lesbian couples drawn to Alice Springs by friendship, protest and acceptance
Joanna Henryks and Melissa Lindeman are one of a surprisingly high number of lesbian couples in Alice Springs.
Where do female same-sex couples live?
| State | Local government | Percentage of female same-sex couples |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Inner West | |
| NSW | Sydney | |
| VIC | Darebin | |
| VIC | Hepburn | |
| VIC | Yarra | |
| VIC | Mt Alexander | |
| VIC | Melbourne | |
| VIC | Port Phillip | |
| VIC | Maribyrnong | |
| WA | Vincent | |
| VIC | Moreland | |
| NSW | Blue Mountains | |
| NT | Alice Springs |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census
They said they were drawn to the central Australian town by the lifestyle, perform opportunities, and warmth of the local community.
Ms Lindeman, who manages a health service, said she felt more free to be herself in Alice Springs than she did in her former home in Victoria.
"There was a robust [lesbian] community in Melbourne, but it's not always protected to be totally yourself in certain environments," she said.
"In Alice, it's a smaller community
Mardi Gras: How Alice Springs' 'queens of the desert' made LGBTI history
Central Australia is synonymous with a lot of things.
A self-described group of "country queers" and "devil dykes", however, is probably not one of them.
But that is what John Hobson and his circle of friends arrange out to defy in , taking their fight for gay rights almost 3, kilometres from Alice Springs to the Sydney Mardi Gras.
For Mr Hobson, the decision to enter the parade was a "spur of the moment idea". Little did he know they would go down in the history books as the first-ever entry from Alice Springs.
"There was a group of us sitting around our lounge room in Alice Springs telling the younger ones the wonderful tales of 'Gay Sydney'," he said.
"Then someone asked, 'Do you think we could go?' And we stopped and thought about and decided, 'Yeah, we probably could'."
Huddled in an old Ford Falcon Station Wagon, with bodies crammed across seats, Mr Hobson and his friends drove non-stop to Sydney.
Jan