By Rob Cover
PERTH — The Queer Collaborations (QC) Conference was held at the University of WA July 1-5. More than 200 local and interstate individuals attended.
Seven plenary sessions ranged over subjects from Aboriginality and sexuality to transgenderism. The theme of the conference was "prophecy", a term which allowed debate on the meaning of the word and how it could be applied to the queer community.
Particularly popular presentations included Roger Levi's "Queers and the Military", which reviewed his history as a homosexual male in the Australian Navy and changes to naval law which attempt to protect personnel from discrimination.
Papers by Alan Fedda, Fiona Thompson and Tait which discussed issues of queer identity and the negotiation of new methods of definition of queer created a heated, but interesting, debate in which the general outcome was that "queer" as a notion may need to remain undefined.
Also interesting was Katherine Doyle's paper on "Disability and Body", which discussed the important cross-issues of disability and non-heterosexual identity.
Aaron Myers and Alison Keal reported on the situation in Tasmania, smashing stereotypes of Tasmania as a "fascist homophobic" state in practice, proving that a queer community is permitted to exist without governmental oppression in all but legislated right. They also discussed the long-term agenda of the gay and lesbian rights associations in the state, and the effectiveness to date of their campaigns.
As part of the conference, an action was held on July 4. Initial plans to target the office of Wilson Tuckey in response to his homophobic comments during the pro-gun rallies were scrapped in favour of a peaceful visibility march through Perth city. Addressing a crowd of an estimated 1500 onlookers, delegates gave impromptu speeches about the need for full acceptance and equal rights.
The 1997 Queer Collaborations Conference will be in Brisbane.