Our journey through the news stories of 2018 continues with everything that went down in April where radio station volunteers public feuded, Israel Folau hit the headlines, multiple celebrities came out and there was lots of discussion about conversion therapy.
Politics
Western Australian religious leader Margaret Court argued that the nation was losing its “foundational truths” in a submission to the Ruddock Religious Review, New Zealand removed historical convictions for gay sex, a branch of the Victorian Liberal party put forward a proposal to show support for conversion therapy, Health Minister Greg Hunt said he was opposed to conversion therapy but for freedom of speech, Trent Zimmerman said the proposal was from the nineteenth century, Victoria party president Michael Kroger stepped in to kill the debate, Nationals leader Michael McCormack said he didn’t even know what conversion therapy was, Labor said they’d outlaw the practice. Senator James Paterson criticised a Labor pan to support queer owned businesses.
In the News
Two men were arrested in the Indonesian province of Aceh for having homosexual sex – the region observes sharia law and punishes offenders with capital punishment, authorities said the canings would no longer happen in public, Lindt Cafe Siege victims Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson were given posthumous bravery awards. Rugby player Israel Folau said gay people would go to hell unless they repent, Rugby Australia boss said he could have put a “more positive spin” on the news, Folau threatened to quit,  Scott Morrison praised Folau saying he had strong character. Community groups were concerned that the WA LGBTI Health Strategy was being rushed, Health Minister Roger Cook said he’d look into it. A Christian broadcaster said laws against conversion therapy were discriminatory, The FBI said there was no evidence that Pulse Nightclub gunman Omar Mateen was gay, Astro Labe – the man who head butted former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was sentenced to prison, a Chinese social media platform faced a backlash from users are it threatened to ban gay content, a decision they quickly reversed. There were claims of bullying at Melbourne radio station JOY949, which lead to a public discussion on the station’s culture and accusations that the station’s membership database had been stolen. A Canberra business was cleared of any wrongdoing for no longer hiring a contractor who opposed marriage equality. Fringe World artists were left unpaid when production company Jump Climb collapsed.
Celebrity
Venezuelan Olympian Robert Páez came out as gay. Matthew Mitcham and Tom Dailey campaigned for anti-gay laws to be removed from Commonwealth nations law books, British PM Theresa May made a historical statement on the issue, Casey Dellacqua announced her retirement from professional tennis, Broad City star Abbi Jacobson announced she is bisexual, model and actor Xander Hodgson came out as gay, Sheldon Riley impressed us on The Voice, while another contestant proposed, Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst shared she is HIV positive, Swedish DJ Avicii died, Janelle Monae and Kehlani both came out as queer.
Culture
Meshell Ndegeocello released her laidback version of the TLC song Waterfalls, Cub Sport got steamy in their new video, Wentworth announced new cast members and that they’d already begun filming a seventh season. Bob Dylan reworked a classic tune to create a gay love song, Kylie released her Golden album – it went to the top of the Australian charts, Netflix cancelled Everything Sucks, CO3 restaged their production Frank Enstein, it was announced that the musical Billy Elliot would be coming to Perth for the first time in 2020. We chatted to Patrick Wolf, it was announced that sci-fi authors Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders would be coming to Perth in 2019. The Last Great Hunt gave us The Talk, we got our first look at Ryan Murphy’s new show Pose, we chatted to Stuart Murdoch from Belle and Sebastian, new queer night Homopolitan launched, It was an announcement we’d waited decades for – ABBA announced they’d recorded some new music.
Read what happened in March.
