This piece draws on a number of publications and research projects which have received funding in the past. Earlier this year I visited Italy to mark the re-translation of my first book, Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation published in There was something moving and humbling about talking to audiences, many of whom were not born when I wrote that book, more so because I do not speak Italian and was largely dependent on interpreters.
In all four cities where I spoke, audiences ranged widely across age and sexual and gender identities. Some were veterans of the early Italian gay movement, others just discovering a queer milieu. Reflecting on the world in which I wrote my book, and the changes that have occurred since, I turned to the words of the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Certainly, in countries like Australia, this statement feels persuasive.
Who would have imagined back in that the most trusted politician in the country would be an openly lesbian Asian woman?
Or that the prime minister would lead a Pride march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Of course there are still people on the margins who struggle for acceptance.
While we now have large, well-funded queer community organisations, they often overlook the most marginalised, as is the case for queer refugees and asylum seekers. Italy has civil unions rather than same-sex marriage, and while abortion is legal, the Meloni government is seeking to restrict access to it.
