Adelaide Pride March: Legacy and Solidarity

1

/ 25

+21

Thousands took to the streets at the weekend to participate in the annual Adelaide Pride March. Community and political groups, alongside the public, marched from Light Square/Wauwi to Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga in a colourful and glittering display of solidarity and celebration.

The annual Pride March coincides every year with the opening of the annual Feast Queer Cultural Festival and has been a centrepiece of the gay rights movement ever since the first ‘Pride Parade’ was held in Adelaide in 1973. For more than 40 years, the parade has celebrated milestones of law reform and provided a platform for protest against the discrimination and inequity experienced by LGBTIQ peoples.

Each year the modern Pride March recognises the legacy of gay rights activism in Australia particularly because in the early years, prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1975 under reformist premier Don Dunstan, gay rights activists were putting themselves on the line.

Front page of The Advertiser, September 18, 1975 (image: State Library of SA)

South Australia has long been a state at the forefront of social change, where the gay rights movement was galvanised in the late ’60s and early ’70s by both local and global events. The movement grew rapidly following public outrage at the murder of Dr George Ian Duncan, an Australian law lecturer at the University of Adelaide, and a visit to Adelaide from the distinguished gay rights academic and advocate Professor Dennis Altman, author of the ground-breaking book Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation. Events such as these led to the formation of Adelaide based gay liberation consciousness group, the Gay Activists’ Alliance Group and later, in 1977, the Adelaide Homosexual Alliance.

Newspaper clipping from May 1990 issue of Galah detailing a report on the death of George Duncan (image: State Library of SA)

The Pride March has gathered support in Adelaide over time but in recent years has grown exponentially.

According to event organiser, Eric Kuhlmann, 2016 was the biggest yet. “Last year we had 37 or 38 community groups and this year we were up to 45,” Kuhlmann says. “There is more and more support from the wider community wanting to get involved. For the first time this year we had the fire brigade and the federal police marching with us. It’s important for us to make the effort to invite people into this event because we are asking for solidarity. Last year, when we had local police in uniform march for the first time it was really meaningful, because the event is not just for LGBTIQ people; it’s for our allies as well.”

Kuhlmann believes Pride March is an event for the whole Adelaide community to come together, regardless of political agenda.

“People can be as political as they want. Our approach is to give people a platform and we leave that open,” says Kuhlmann. “It’s an occasion to give people a chance to express whatever it is they have to say. When we stop traffic it is a really empowering feeling. In that moment, we can ‘own’ the streets”.

Kuhlmann believes that although the Pride March is an event to celebrate gay pride, it should be treated as an event in which to participate and be actively involved.

“Adelaide Pride March is not Mardi Gras. Yes, it is joyful and noisy, but we want it to show that we still are not treated equally, in terms of marriage equality in particular. I don’t like being discriminated against, nobody does, and the march is a time to acknowledge that. When politicians and key public figures march alongside us that is important, it makes you think that change is possible.”

Through the event, according to Kuhlmann, it is also important to recognise the achievements of the early gay rights movements in Adelaide.

“Last year we celebrated the 40 year anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1975. We also celebrated all that Don Dunstan achieved. He was quite a flamboyant premier and would wear pink shorts into parliament so there was a group who marched wearing pink safari suits. This year there was a group who marched to commemorate the massacre in Orlando. It’s global solidarity, and it’s nice to see groups take on issues and use this platform. There is a history to this march, and it’s important to recognise that every year.”

Photos: Tash McCammon