Metro Australia – July 2019

The police and institutional prejudice

In 1978,Sydneywasfarfromtoday’ssanctuaryofanonymity

andfreedomforitsgayandlesbianinhabitants.Talkingabout

theeveningofthearrests,Marrrecallsthatthecity‘could

notbelievethehatethatwasin theairthatnight.’^14 In many

ways, the policebrutalityinflictedon the 78ers was a disturb-

ingbarometerofthewidespreadhomophobiaandclimateof

persecutionthatpervadedAustraliansocietyat thetime.

In the decadesprecedingthe first Mardi Gras, the police

werefrontandcentrein a seriesofincidentsacrossthe

countrythatemphasisedtheextentofthispersecution– a

patternofabusethatsawgaymenin particularsingledout

for systemicmistreatment.Even in the supposedlymore so-

ciallyprogressivecitiesofMelbourneandSydney,thepolice

deployedalarmingtacticsthatactivelyunderminedtherights

ofgaymenwithinbothpublicandprivatespaces.Underthe

rathervague‘solicitingforimmoralpurposes’clause,police

wereabletotargetgaymenin theirownenvironments.An

ACONreviewofgayandtransgenderprejudicekillingsin

NSW pointsout the historicalrole of police as the guard-

ians of homophobic sentiment:

And the police,as enforcersof the law and reflectingprevail­

ing socialattitudes,had little tolerationfor what they saw as

perverts,degenerates,effeminates,and paedophiles[...] And

it wouldseem that they were given unofficialblessingfor this

when the RomanCatholicSuperintendentof Policein Sydney

and later PoliceCommissioner,Colin Delaney,declaredin

thelate1950sthathomosexuality was ‘the greatest social

menace facing Australia.’^15

Homosexualitywas illegal in NSW until 1984, and the police

routinelyemployeddeceptivetechniquestoentrapgaymen

andthenarrestthematestablished‘beats’(gaymeeting

places).Unsurprisingly,the reviewfound that, in NSW, ‘hom-

ophobiashapedthedevelopmentandenforcementoflaws

thathadviolentandlastingimpactsonthecommunity’.^16

Victorianpolicewerejustasdiscriminatory,evenresort-

ingtotheexpulsionofa gaycoupleafterpolice‘discovered’

they were cohabiting:in 1975,TheAgereportedthatLindsay

andJohnwerearrestedandchargedwith‘theancientcrime

ofbuggery’.Thecouplewereforcedtoleavetheirjobs,family

andfriends,andrelocatetoSouthAustralia,wherehomosexu-

alitywaslegal.^17 Duringthesummerof1976–1977,Victorian

policethencarriedoutundercoveroperationsata number

of establishedbeats,with an emphasison Melbourne’sBlack

RockBeach.In a bidtoenforcethelawagainsthomosexuality,

young officers were schooled in ‘gay mannerisms’, and then

sentin toentrapandarrestmenforloitering,solicitingforsex

orevensunbathingnaked.More than 100 men were arrested

at BlackRockBeach.^18

Theprovocativelevelofdeceptionusedbypoliceat

BlackRockdid,however,becomea talkingpointin themedia,

sparkingwidespreadpublicdebate.^19 Similarly,thetoneofthe

earlierAgepieceis contemptuousoftheroleofthepolice,

suggestingtheemergenceofmoreliberalattitudestogay

andlesbianrightswhileunderscoringthe police’s reluctance

to adopt more progressive policies:

As a result of the magistrate’sextraordinarysentence,they’ll

havetoleavetheirjobsandfriends.Allbecausesomeonein

the VictoriaPolice– thosemen of uprightmoralsand trun­

cheons– disapproved of what was going on behind their

venetianblinds.^20

Territorialisingspace: Queering the streets

and the screen

Duringthelate1970s,thesuburbsaroundSydney’sOxford

Streetbecameestablishedgayprecincts,withbars,clubs

andotherbusinessesexplicitlytargetinggayandlesbian

consumers.Thisareabecameknownasthe‘goldenmile’.

In tandemwith this socialstratification,the ‘pink press’

emerged:publicationslikeCampaign,OutRageandStar

Observerallcontributedtothesenseofa ‘gayidentity’and

the developmentof a queer communitywithin a geographi-

callylocalisedurbanspace.^21 Atthesametime,gayand

lesbianactivismhadbecomeanincreasinglypublicpres-

ence,withdemonstrationsontherise.Themore‘liberal’

sectorsof societywere startingto take noticeof the inequal-

ity and speakup in supportof law reform.Queergrassroots

organisationsliketheamusinglynamedCAMP(Campaign

AgainstMoral Persecution)in Sydney,the HomosexualLaw

ReformSocietyin CanberraandSocietyFivein Melbourne

were all workingto influencepoliticiansand lawmakers,and

toincreasethevisibilityofthegayandlesbiancommunity.^22

Againstthisemergingbackdropofa slowlylegitimising

non-heterosexualidentity,thekindofsymbolictransgression

ofpublicspaceenactedbythepoliceprovedevenmore

incendiary;the policeoperationsclearlyset out to infiltrate

andrepossess‘queer’locations.Thisnotionofreclaiming

queerspaceis centraltotheeventsdepictedinWitchesand

Faggots,Dykesand Poofters. Theaggressivepolicetactics

andprotesterarrests(manyofwhichwerelatercondemned

asarbitraryandeffectively‘illegal’)highlightthepoliticisation

of publicspace:the streetsof Sydneywere sites of visibility

forthegayandlesbiancommunityand,assuch,weresites

transformingfroma ‘regulated’(heteronormative,patriarchal)

publicspacetoa perceived ‘unregulated’ (homosexual,

dangerous)one.

Towardsthe end of the film, we see activistsholdinga

posterthat reads,‘We are the peopleour parentswarned

usagainst.’Thisprovocativeengagementwithanoutsider

statusspeaksto the politicsof marginalisation:those denied

a presencein mainstreampubliclifeclaiminganidentity.The

notionofspacealsoalignswiththepoliticsofqueeractivism

andtheactofmobilisingthecameraeffectivelyto‘claim’the

sociopoliticalterritorythatis beingdeniedtoitssubjects.

Writingabout the film, historianScott McKinnonrefers to the

‘weaponising’ofthecameraasa meansofself-regulationand

control of the ‘messages which were presented about them’:

112 • Metro Magazine 201 | © ATOM