The end of the year is rapidly approaching, we’ve taken a look back over the last 12 months and all the stories we’ve published – there were over 2000! From religious reviews to marriage celebrations, gender identity wars and celebrity mishaps, a lot of things went down. Here’s what happened in January.
Politics
The year began with concerns over the Ruddock Review into religious freedom. LGBTI rights group just.equal raised concern that the outcome of the review might be a rollback of hard fought LGBTIQ rights. Additional concern was expressed when the government announced that submissions to the review would not be published. The Greens called for an Australian Charter of Rights, Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said the party had no plans to introduce protections for LGBTI school teachers who work in religious based schools, the lobbying to change that stance began. The WA government announced it review the state’s surrogacy laws, Peter Abetz from the Australian Christian Lobby outlines his opposition. Attorney General John Quigley announced he’d move to remove forced divorce for intersex people, which caused concern for transgender people who were left out of the announcement. The government also announced it would review all laws relating to gender reassignment.
In the News
A gay couple were harrassed on a Jetstar flight. Margaret Court declared Australia “would pay” for marriage equality, Tennis legend Billie Jean King suggested maybe it was time for the stadium in Melbourne to be renamed. Margaret Court’s husband Barry says his wife never suggested transgender children were the work of the devil – despite the audio recordings of her interview. The Liberal Democrat’s David Leyonhjelm said he was concerned that changes to marriage laws would lead to a wave of litigation. The first same-sex marriages took place, with some happening at the stroke of midnight. Mardi Gras was under pressure to give more party tickets to the 78ers. A commonly used hormone drug was taken off the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. An Australian gay couple living in America were sent anti-gay pamphlets instead of their wedding invitations from an online printer. Russian air cadets were in trouble over their sexy YouTube video. That was until people all over Russia and around the world also started making twerking videos in support of the cadets.New Zealand announced they would leave gender and sexuality out of their 2018 census. Transgender woman CJ Palmer was found guilty of causing Grievous Bodily Harm by passing on HIV to a sexual partner and sentenced to six years imprisonment. Germaine Greer was named Australian of the Year in the UK. Researchers showed Grindr might be making people sad. The Chechen Republic suggesting a missing gay pop star was possibly killed by his own family, not the government’s purge of gay men in the nation. Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett named Bayswater Citizen of the Year. There were protests at Melbourne’s Midsumma Festival. Transgender women are arrested in Aceh Indonesia and police shave the women’s heads. Bears Perth apologised after sharing anti-Islam posts on their social media pages
Celebrity
Actress Ellen Page announced she’d wed partner Emma Porter. Comedian Alan Carr wed his,longtime partner Paul Drayton. Drag star Courtney Act was announced as part of the cast of Celebrity Big Brother in the UK and made a big entrance when she lost her skirt, , Ricky Martin posted some tasteful nudes to Instagram, Craig McLachlan left the production of The Rocky Horror Show following claims of unprofessional behaviour; claims he subsequently denied, Adam Rennie replaced McLachlan in the Perth season. Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy became the first openly gay US athletes at the Winter Olympics. Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan died, Jordan Bruno wins Mr Gay Pride Australia. Holland became the first gay pop star in Korea. Boxer Anthony Mundine says gay people confuse society.
Culture
Everyone got excited about the suggestion that there might be a sequel to Call Me By Your Name, the film was also nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars There was lots of anticipation around the release of Justin Timberlake’s album Man of the Woods and the first single Filthy. Neighbours had a gay wedding storyline, Roseanne returned to TV screens with fabulous genderqueer grandson Mark, the WA Symphony Orchestra celebrated their 90th year, We weren’t too excited about Kylie’s Film Swinging Safari, but we did get excited about news her new album would be called Golden and embraced the lead single Dancing. Everyone went mental about Cher coming to Mardi Gras for their 40th birthday. The ABC film Riot dramatised the early days of Mardi Gras. Troye Sivan released My, My, My, Ryan Murphy chatted about his new Tv series Pose. The trailer for Love Simon dropped. Boy George teased songs from the new Culture Club album. The Miseducation of Cameron Post won at Sundance. OUTinPerth chatted to Richard O’Brien. We chatted to Hannah Gadsby about her show Nanette.
Graeme Watson
