On Valentine’s Day 2012 comedian and actor Magda Szubanski came out on The Project. 

Back in 2012 Magda Szubanski made a Valentine’s Day announcement voicing her support for marriage equality, followed by her coming out as gay, gay, gay, gay, gay on national television.

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The Kath and Kim star released a statement early in the day voicing her support for same sex marriage.

Szubanski said, “I am 1000 per cent in favour of gay marriage.”

“We pay taxes, fight wars for this country, nurse you when you are sick, make you laugh, sing and dance for you, play netball for you, star in your movies, cook your meals, decorate your store windows.

“And, chances are, gay people designed whatever it is you’re wearing.

“All Australians, including gay Australians, should have exactly the same rights, including the right to love, marry and take care of our partners.” Szubanski said.

Later in the evening the star appeared on the Channel 10 program The Project and confirmed that she herself was gay. In an emotional interview the actor said she wished she had come out publicly sooner, but there were a lot of pressures on people in the entertainment field.

During the interview broadcaster Steve Price said if marriage equality was allowed it was inevitable that a gay couple would turn up at the door of a church and demand to be married by the church, leading to a legal battle in a tribunal – a decade later, and five years after the laws were finally changed – that has not happened.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch made its debut in 1998

Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell’s musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch made it’s debut on this day in 1998.

Opening off-Broadway, the musical tells the story of a genderqueer East German singer of a rock and roll band who is following her former lover Tommy Gnosis, who is a more successful artist, as he undertakes a national tour.

John Cameron Mitchell originally played the lead role but other actors took over the part later in it’s initial run. Ally Sheedy, Donovan Leitch Jr, Michael Cerveris, and Asa Somers.

The musical was later made into a feature film with John Cameron Mitchell as Hedwig and Michael Pitt playing the role of Tommy. Despite being applauded by critics, the film was not successful at the box office, but has subsequently developed a cult following.

A Broadway production opening in 2014 and ran for over 500 performances, Neil Patrick Harris played Hedwig and the role was subsequently played by Andrew Rannells, and then Michael C Hall.

An Australian production was planned for 2021 with Hugh Sheridan in the lead, the production was scuttled when transgender activists campaigned against a cis-gendered actor being given the role.

The creators of the musical sided with producers, saying that actors of any gender were welcome to play to the role. Sheridan later shared that he was non-binary and detailed that the controversy had a significant impact on his mental health.

OIP Staff, this post was first authored in 2020, and has been updated. 

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