Fight back - LGBTIQ Hate Crimes in the 1980s and 1990s.
Sydney Star Observer: Media coverage of the Stop the Bashings Rally, March 1990.
For most LGBTIQ people, violence is no stranger.
Violence has been part of our daily lives for millennia. Ecclesiastical laws (supposed offences against a god), State laws and social norms have all conspired to inflict violence on queer people. We have been burned alive, buried alive, raped, hunted and murdered.
This legacy of hate has seeped through to modern culture.
A welcome development is the Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes which is investigating unsolved suspected hate crime deaths of LGBTIQ people (or people who were presumed to be LGBTIQ) in NSW between 1970 and 2010. In preparing Statements for the Inquiry, covering the initial community response to this violence, it became apparent that there was no ‘go to source’ for some of the documents needed. This short blog series seeks to fill this gap by providing a basic history of the initial community response to hate violence from the late 1980s to the late 1990s.
NSW Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project: Campaign message, circa 1996.
A bleak period.
When the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL) established the NSW Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project (AVP) in 1990, the situation in NSW was bleak. Oxford Street was a hunting ground for groups of young men out for a bit of ‘poofter bashing.’ Across NSW there were reports of queer people being terrorized in their homes, neighbourhoods and community spaces, by strangers and by neighbours. There was a sense that murder, violence and hate were increasing, and more - much more, needed to be done to stop it. The GLRL was reporting in early 1990 that: “…up to 20 to 30 lesbians and gay men may be being bashed each week! In the last 2 months, we have experienced at least 2 murders, possibly more”.
The NSW Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project (AVP).
The genesis for the project was the urgent need for an accelerated and coordinated response to anti-LGBTIQ violence. It was modelled on similar initiatives overseas such as the Community United Against Violence (CUAV) project in San Francisco, which was established in 1979 and the New York City Anti-Violence Project, which was established in 1980. A key difference between the projects was that the NSW response was primarily focussed on hate violence, given the political dimension of the GLRL, whereas the US projects adopted a broader social welfare model, and were responding to all types of violence, such as domestic violence.
The GLRL and AVP mobilised funding through several sources such as the NSW Department of Health (Health Promotion Branch) and the NSW Attorney General’s Department (Crime Prevention Division) and through community donations. The project was was staffed by 3-5 paid employees, student interns and volunteers. Financial and in-kind support (office space) were provided by the then South Sydney City Council.
In a relatively short space of time, the AVP evolved into one of Australia’s foremost violence prevention and community safety programmes. It received four major awards including Joint First Winner of the 1994 Australian Heads of Government Violence Prevention Award.
Documenting hate and supporting survivors.
To document incidents of violence, the AVP sought to mobilise the community to report violence, both to the AVP and to the police. Starting in 1990, the project operated a violence hotline where people could phone to make a report and to get information and support, including referral to appropriate response services.
NSW Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project: Report the Violence Campaign, circa 1992.
AVP staff often facilitated meetings between survivors of anti-LGBTIQ violence and the police in instances where a survivor was reluctant to report to the police or in situations where the survivor had reported to the police but was unhappy with the response or unsure how the police would follow up the report.
Although a cultural change started to occur within the NSW Police from about the 1990s, it was only in its infancy - and many would argue that it still is! Based on incidents reported to the AVP, around half of all respondents did not report the violence to the police because they believed the police would not take the issue seriously. Of those that did report to the police, around half complained of poor service.
Part of the challenge back then was that policing in and around Oxford Street was inadequate and/or threatening. There was a general consensus in the community that there was a need for evening patrols to act as a deterrent. As an aside, 30 years later, the issue now is one of over policing of the community - on the streets, and in venues and parties, often involving strip searches, sniffer dogs and other unnecessary and odious practices.
The current Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ Hate Crimes has heard evidence that: “… police were slow to investigate reports of suspected hate crimes, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, and had engaged in entrapment to lure gay men into committing crimes.
No surprises there!
The Special Commission has also expressed frustration with how the police are providing evidence. The police have claimed that the burden of responding to the Commission’s requests for information has put a strain on their workforce and financial resources. The 78ers, veterans of Sydney’s first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1978, have condemned this position. The SMH, said the police had gall to tell gay-hate inquiry to lay off its report.
Advocating for change.
At this time, preventing and responding to violence was a priority for most LGBTIQ organisations. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, PRIDE, the Gender Centre, the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service, Lesbian Line, 2010, ACON, and others were advocating for policy and legislative reform to address and prevent hate and violence. These collective efforts resulted in some remarkable achievements.
Journal of the NSW Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project, circa 1996.
In response to intense advocacy, the NSW Police appointed its first full time Client Consultant Gay Liaison Officer in 1990 and began a process of progressively rolling out the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officers (GLLO) programme, in which appropriate police officers were designated as community liaison officers. There are now more than 200 LGBTIQ liaison officers, although not everyone is happy about it.
At the federal level, the government contributed funding to prevention programmes, including the Lesbian Loves Rights campaign, which was designed to promote the rights of lesbians and to promote protective behaviours. This may have been the first time a federal government had funded a mass education campaign to promote lesbian visibility and safety.
In the 1990s, the Australian Institute of Criminology and other research and policy think tanks convened conferences and meetings and produced discussion papers and research on anti LGBTIQ violence. Sue Thompson, the first full time NSW Police Client Consultant Gay Liaison Officer, and champion of much of the positive change within the police, has developed this detailed Timeline Hate Crimes 1978-2018. The Australian Hate Crime Network (AHCN), which is a partnership composed of three sectors of society: academics, representatives of NGOs from minority communities, and people from relevant government organisations, has produced this list of Australian materials covering the period 1990-2010.
The NSW Attorney General’s Department in 1995 set up an inquiry into the so-called “Homosexaul Advance/Panic Defence,” which led to the the Crimes Amendment (Provocation) Bill 2014. The bill removed the legal foundation for the use of the Homosexual Advance Defence, which was a common-law creation of the partial defence of provocation, in cases involving a non-violent sexual advance.
In 1996, the Department funded the Homophobia: What are you scared of?, campaign which was probably the first time a state government had put resources into a public education effort to challenge anti-LGBTIQ behaviours and social norms. Later, in 1999, the Crime Prevention Division appointed a gay and lesbian policy officer to coordinate violence prevention efforts across a range of government agencies and to work with the community on the development of violence prevention initiatives.
At the local government level, South Sydney Council appointed its first gay and lesbian liaison officer in 2000, which was a full-time policy officer post to coordinate violence prevention efforts across the council and in collaboration with the community sector.
South Sydney Council had been very active in anti-violence work. It had provided support to Mary's Place, a memorial to a lesbian survivor of a rape. Mary was brutally assaulted in Floods Lane in Darlinghurst in January 1996. The homophobic hate crime became the catalyst for a place-based art project to reclaim the laneway for Sydney’s LGBTIQ community and to stand as a memorial for all Marys (i.,e not just Mary but all women) rape survivors. The project was awarded the Australia Day and South Sydney Council award in 1998. Mary’s Place will be the focus of a future blog. If anyone involved or affected by the project, would like to contribute, please let me know.
Journal of the NSW Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project, 1997.
Probably, the most important achievement during this time was the amendment to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 to include a new ground of complaint of vilification based on perceived or actual homosexuality. This amendment was legislated in 1993 by the Anti-Discrimination (Homosexual Vilification) Amendment Act and was a key recommendation of the Streetwatch Report, the first community study into violence against lesbian and gay men in NSW (1990).
Community education campaigns.
Large scale community education campaigns were developed to promote protective behaviours within the communities such as the reporting hate crimes.
NSW Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project: Summer Campaign, 1995.
Homophobia: What are you scared of?
To address the root causes of anti-LGBTIQ violence, large scale awareness campaigns were developed to challenge behaviours and social norms that promoted homophobia and violence. One such campaign was Homophobia: What are you scared of? The initiative was awarded a Certificate of Merit in the 1997 Australian Violence Prevention Awards.
NSW Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project: Violence Prevention Campaign, circa 1996.
Violence against Indigenous LGBTIQ people.
The Homophobia: What are you scared of? campaign included a specific focus on violence against Indigenous LGBTIQ people.
NSW Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project: Violence Prevention Campaign, circa 1997.
The Whistle Project.
Separately from the AVP, a range of individuals spearheaded voluntary community responses. This included the whistle project, which incorporated the safe place project; and the street patrols.
Whistles were promoted and distributed as a simple way for people to raise the alarm when under threat or witnessing someone being threatened or attacked. Many businesses, particularly in inner-city Sydney, volunteered to be safe spaces where people could go for protection. These businesses were provided with signs to promote this service.
Street Patrols.
Because policing in and around Oxford Street was so inadequate, community members sought to fill this gap by establishing street patrols. Volunteers were trained to patrol Oxford Street as a deterrent as well as to provide a visible point of contact. These volunteers provided assistance and information to victims and contacted the police if required.
Did anything change?
In 1996, the Australian Institute of Criminology reported that: Despite the difficulties of comparing results from several different surveys, it is evident that attitudes within and about the gay and lesbian community have improved considerably. More survivors of incidents are inclined to report in the belief that the police will be able to help. Physical attacks between November 1991 and June 1993 more than halved. In 1995-96 the number of reports of violence against lesbians and gays in Darlinghurst and Newtown decreased by 20 per cent on the number of reports made in 1994-95.
Small but important steps in the right direction.
Ending hate.
Eliminating hate related violence against LGBTIQ people, as well as racial violence, gender-based violence, and other types of prejudice related violence, is possible. Violence is a human action, which means that an alternative human action to violence is possible, which in turn means that prevention is a smart investment.
However, without a full-scale national inquiry into the nature and prevalence of hate crimes against people because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, society’s efforts to eliminate it will remain elusive. Such an inquiry was among the main recommendations of the Streetwatch Report. This remains unfinished business.
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