Rainbow Crusaders

Jan Hillier & Pokey’s Night

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 21:31:23 +0000

Many of the wonderful characters that inhabited the world of glitter, drag and subversion owe much to the Australian understanding of drag and camp culture showcased in films such as ‘Priscilla Queen of the Desert’. In this episode of Rainbow Crusaders, Patrick looks at one such character, a beloved member of Melbourne’s camp community: the out and proud Jan Hillier and her work with the queens and performers in developing the Pokey’s night at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St. Kilda.

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Marion Bill Edwards

Tue, 01 Sep 2015 10:34:17 +0000

In this episode, Patrick goes back to the early 1900s to uncover the extraordinary life of Marion Bill Edwards, a transexual who, if not always for reasons on the right...

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Ecco Homo

Sun, 30 Aug 2015 01:20:53 +0000

Patrick unravels the life of Peter “Vanessa” Troy Davies, the gender-fluid artist, sometime musician, costume designer, music video director and make-up artist who is the subject of Melbourne International Film...

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Equal Love with Ali Hogg

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 22:02:00 +0000

Patrick talks to Ali Hogg, the convenor of Equal Love, about her 11 year battle to end discrimination against same-sex couples by successive Australian governments.

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Daughters of Bilitis / Australasian Lesbian Movement

Sun, 09 Aug 2015 21:32:07 +0000

Patrick has a look back at the Australian chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis who later became the Australasian Lesbian movement.

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Toonen v Australia and the impact of sodomy laws

Wed, 05 Aug 2015 11:14:45 +0000

On Christmas Day 1991, a young Tasmanian fuelled by righteousness and with a newfound sense of purpose, filed an official complaint to the UN that dictated that the state government of Tasmania were breaching the right of privacy through laws that criminalised homosexual activity between two consenting males.

This week we look at the landmark Toonen vs. Australia decision by the UN Human Rights Committee speaking with the named Nicholas Toonen and the impact of sodomy laws.

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Val’s Coffee Lounge

Mon, 03 Aug 2015 23:07:27 +0000

123 Swanston Street in Melbourne CBD. A tiny door leads up a rickety flight of steps. Nowadays to a Hare Krishna restaurant. Across the road the Melbourne Town Hall looms overhead.

In the 1950s, if you walked up the rickety flights of stairs, you’d enter another place entirely. A dimly lit lighted narrow room filled with mauve chairs, and muralled wall and filled by the crème of Melbourne’s bohemian and camp crowd. A time when homosexuality was still considered perverse activity, the Vice Squad was raiding private parties and anti-Communist sentiment was rife.

Here though there was nothing but fabulous people, the fresh aroma of threepence coffee and a glamorous blonde woman dressed in an exquisite suit walked along the azure carpet and made sure her clientele where made to feel safe in a time of isolation.

This opportunistic and by her own admission outrageous character, leapt on an chance to make a safe haven for her fellow camps and in doing so developed a wonderful culture where same sex attracted and gender diverse individuals could be themselves without oppression.

That woman was Val Eastwood, the first to be profiled by Patrick in our series, Rainbow Crusaders.

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