Closets Are For Clothes: A History Of Gay Australia

The publisher Black Dog Books approached me. I think they had been trying to get this idea off the ground for a couple of years. It was of definite interest to me as I had worked in queer media for a long time and I had also studied gay and lesbian history as part of my cultural studies degree. It was also of interest as while there has been a number of teacher resource books that deal with homophobia there was actually nothing for the kids themselves. Homophobia often stems from not actually knowing any gay people, hopefully this will make gay people seem a little more real.

Closets

Although there isn’t a book that deals with the entire history of gay people in Australia since white settlement, there are books which are very detailed and focus on specific time periods. There are books which are focused solely on Mardi Gras for instance. It was a matter of reading many different books from Australian historians and from British historians too and then taking what was relevant for Closets. I also spoke with people, interviewed people, who could give first-hand accounts of what had happened in different times in history.

Were there any areas of research that you found particularly surprising?

I found it really surprising that people were calling for a more tolerant approach to homosexuality as far back as the mid 1800s in Europe. There were a lot of educated people who wanted the death penalty for homosexuality abolished and there were people who saw nothing wrong with it. I think many people think activism about attaining gay rights only started in the 1970s but the fight goes back much longer.

How do you think the experiences of queer youth in Australia have changed over the years? Are things improving?

Many laws have changed so that gay and lesbian people have much the same rights as the rest of Australia. There is still some way to go but we are getting there. People are not nearly as closeted as they were. We see gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people on television now and that sort of visibility goes a long way. We are no longer so hidden. Ignorance is what has lead to homophobia and the best way to combat that is via education. These day’s queer youth have a lot more access to social support groups. This wasn’t the case a few decades ago and to be gay for many people was a very isolating experience. We still see queer youth being bullied though and until that becomes completely unacceptable behaviour to everyone we must fight on.