Eyewitness News: Gay Pride Week activists

In July 1973, Sydney's Gay Liberation group proposed the first national Gay Pride festival for September, a callout that was taken up by groups in Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne. What resulted was a slew of festivities and arrests, which created momentum for subsequent landmark movements. 

Following a week in Sydney filled with activities that included a speak-out, a festival in The Domain, and a public meeting, the final event was to be a demonstration. The Sydney Gay Pride Week demonstration drew around 200 lesbians and gay men, who set out from Sydney Town Hall to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph. Only to find the police waiting, determined to stop them. 

The violence of their clashes with police can be gleaned from the demonstrators’ first-hand accounts. Two activists, Lance Gowland (1925-2008) and Mim Loftus, spoke to a journalist after the arrests.  

Gowland was an Australian peace and LGBTQIA+ rights activist, unionist and member of the Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP) and Communist Party. He is perhaps best known for helping organise the first Mardi Gras in 1978, in which he drove the lead truck. Loftus, meanwhile, was an active member of Sydney Gay Liberation, writing about sexism in the movement and working to improve lesbian visibility. 

In this clip from Eyewitness News, Gowland and Loftus describe activists – including Gowland himself – being pushed, shoved and provoked by police.

Explore more Gay Pride Week 1973