Queer people might be better represented in mainstream media than ever before, but there was still room in the press for more diverse stories, gay rights campaigners have told a LGBTI people and their allies in Bendigo.
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Speaking at a Bendigo Queer Film Festival breakfast on Sunday, Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives volunteer Dr Graham Willett said queer news was reported less salaciously over time.
“Pre-1950s, it was nothing but scandal,” he told attendees at the Capital yesterday.
News sources today were instead a battleground for modern debates about marriage equality and the Safe Schools Coalition, he said.
Also speaking at the function was Bill Calder, whose book Pink Ink details the history of the queer press.
Asked why the LGBTI community needed its own publications, Mr Calder said it helped forged a community by connecting people with places and events that catered to them.
They were also campaigning publications, lobbying for the decriminalisation of homosexuality and providing less sensational accounts of HIV/AIDS crisis than more widely read sources.
The next challenge for queer news sources was surviving the digital revolution, Mr Calder said.
Both men argued there was still room for more diversity of views in the media today, saying there was not one voice that could speak on behalf of all LGBTI people.
“If you want a society that has diversity and is prepared to challenge and change, you don’t want it in a neat and tidy package,” Mr Calder said.
It’s the 14th time Bendigo has hosted a the film weekend, one of only a few events of its kind in regional Australia.
The weekend of feature-length and short films is accompanied by the annual Queer Country art exhibition, which this year showcased works by LGBTI creatives from Victoria and New South Wales.
Queer events were needed to foster a sense of community among same-sex attracted and gender diverse people, as well as their allies, Ms Pepperell said.
“Rural LGBTI people can be really isolated,” she explained.
But Ms Pepperell said aside from queer characters, films in the BQFF program were no different to other cinema fare.
“All film does is give us a way to relate to people,” she said.
“Their experiences are universal.”
Bendigo will again be awash with rainbow flags this week when La Trobe University celebrates its annual Pride Week.
Mark Kearney
Journalist. Traveller. Pop culture connoisseur. Mark is passionate about education, the arts and social justice, especially stories affecting the LGBTI community.
Journalist. Traveller. Pop culture connoisseur. Mark is passionate about education, the arts and social justice, especially stories affecting the LGBTI community.
