To The Women Who Build Our Community… A Thank You

By Karen Price and Nicolas Parkhill

This International Women’s Day (IWD) falls hot on the heels of Sydney WorldPride.  So this IWD it’s important to ask the question… do we know the significance of the contribution women make to the strong, diverse LGBTQ+ community we enjoy in NSW?

In many areas – politics, science, sport, the arts and others – history is replete with the names of the men who are credited as leaders, their achievements lauded.  Contributions from women are often minimised, missing or misrepresented. 

We have been so well served over many decades by our women leaders – indeed, women have been central to building LGBTQ+ community architecture in NSW.  Outside of our corporations, workplaces, parliaments, media and public services that will celebrate IWD, today we want to celebrate the women who are leading LGBTQ+ focussed community-based organisations with skill, strength, compassion and intelligence.  

The list of organisations and women listed in this piece is apologetically and knowingly incomplete – and no offence is meant to the many not listed. A roll-call would be lengthy, with names in the hundreds, such is the strength of the contribution from women.  

While some are appropriately acknowledged and highly visible (Anna Brown (EA) and Kate Wickett (SWP) for example) – others – many of whom have spent decades donating their time or otherwise giving to LGBTQ+ communities – deserve our deep thanks and recognition. Some are living legends, some have passed, and most are not well known.  

How many of us could name the women who have co-chaired or been CEO of Mardi Gras over its past 45 years?  What about the Presidents who have served over the last 35 years of Dykes on Bikes?

Many of our most iconic LGBTQ+ groups in NSW have been and are led by women.  We enjoy the inclusive sports and recreation provided by groups like the Flying Bats (Jen Peden), Sydney Spectors (Jane Ubrien), Sydney Women’s Baseball League (Holly Creenaune, Loz James, Jackie Mills) and the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir (Kate Deakin, Sarah Penicka-Smith).

We regularly enjoy the spaces, representation and creative outlets provided by Queerscreen (Lisa Rose), Heaps Gay (Kat Dopper), SheQ (Kamalika Dasgupta), Club Arak (Fadia Abboud), Sissy Ball and House of Slé (Bhenji Ra), Sydney Queer Irish (Loretta Cosgrove), we love the Queerstories, plays and musicals from Maeve Marsden, DJ’s like Kate Munroe and Sveta have been keeping us dancing for decades, and often C.Moore Hardy or Ann-Marie Calihanna have been there photographing us while we did so.

Countless grants have been provided to community by the The Aurora Group (Alison King, Sam Turner).  Services to LGBTQ+ community have women at the helm – Jane Costello (Positive Life NSW) Jain Moralee (Twenty 10), Tina Dixson (Queer Sisterhood Project, LGBTIQ asylum-seeking and refugee women) and Nicky Bath (LGBTIQ+ Health Australia).  

People before them provided leadership across paid and unpaid community services – people like Sue Wills, Levinia Crooks, Bev Lang, Stevie Clayton, Judy Arpana, Susan Brooks, Robyn Kennedy, Robyn Archer, Jane Marsden, Shirleene Robinson and Rev Dorothy McRae-McMahon.  In the story of NSW LGBTQ+ history, these are among the women who should loom large.

Inclusive spaces and celebrations of community are arguably more critical in rural and regional NSW. LGBTQ+ people outside our cities can face additional barriers.  Erif Benham, Susi St Julian and Marie Reilly have provided leadership to one of our most longstanding regional community groups, Tropical Fruits.  The leadership of Lee-Anne McDougall (Newcastle Pride), Glitta Supernova (Naughty Noodle Fun Haus and Central Coast Pride), Holly Conroy (Wagga Mardi Gras), and Kerri Mijok, Krista Schade and Kerry Aldred (Rainbow on the Plains, Hay) – among others – give LGBTQ+ people of all ages a place outside of Sydney to feel proud of who they are – and it’s a lifeline for many. 

And of course, we know that some women in our communities are at the forefront of some of our most marginalised groups; First Nations (Jinny Jane Smith, Meggan Grose, Mish Sparks, Estelle Clarke, Jane Yettica); and Trans and Gender Diverse trailblazers and leaders (Roberta Perkins, Noelena Tame, Aunty Lisa Taylor, Chantell Martin, Peta Friend and Eloise Brook) deserve special respect.

Women are of course providing extraordinary leadership, visibility and representation in many other spaces – corporate, public services of all types, media, industry, research, boardrooms and others. And while this leadership is absolutely worthy of celebration, this piece seeks to say thank you to those in our communities who have taken on leadership and/or make other contributions that build the community that many of us engage with.

The spaces they’ve created are often the way we find our tribes, express ourselves, meet our partners, celebrate our difference, and advocate for change. 

Off the back of the celebration of our communities for Sydney WorldPride – it is worth reflecting on how much women have contributed to creating this community that has been showcased over the past 3 weeks.

Women’s contributions are often quiet, structurally subservient, and/or overlooked in our histories.  This IWD, ACON pays tribute to the strong, resilient, generous and skilled women who have done so much to build our communities.  

To all women making a contribution, we hope you read yourself into this thank you. The opportunity to highlight some is not meant to shade others.  This is a collective call for greater recognition of women who help create the vibrancy of LGBTQ+ life in NSW.

This is important, because underrepresentation, lack of attribution or visibility contributes to a lack of respect for women in our communities – and that, on IWD and beyond – needs attention.

Karen Price is Deputy Chief Executive Officer, ACON and  Nicolas Parkhill AM is Chief Executive Officer, ACON