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I'm absolutely delighted to be here to chair this plenary session as part of the human rights conference. Uh, I'm delighted to see so many confident, engaged, committed, unabashed LGBT people in one place. Uh, that's always nice to see. Uh, the turf on which we operate is shifting sand. We're [00:00:30] never sure if a step forward is really a step forward or just a temporary lurch before we get pulled back. And sometimes our biggest enemies are the people who say we've gone far enough. We've got enough or everything's at exactly the right point. So it's always nice to see people come together and share ideas, share complaints and share plans for how to move forward. Um, we're fortunate this morning to have three [00:01:00] diverse, highly experienced and knowledgeable speakers who will present on the general topic of our rights across the region by way of giving us a snapshot of this part of the world as it relates to our issues. Our presenters I will introduce in a moment I won't do them all at one time. I will do the introduction as the individual person comes up. Once we've completed the presentations, [00:01:30] uh, there will be an opportunity for questions and answers. So please store those up until we're finished with all three speakers. Uh, we're committed to finishing by 10 o'clock so that we're not the cause for the disruption of your schedule over the course of today. Uh, so again, thank you for having me. I'm delighted to be here, and I would like to introduce our first presenter, who I believe is Annette from Australia. Now, I will give you a full [00:02:00] introduction. Annette, Annette is an is an elder of the people whose traditional lands cover the area. Many of us know as Melbourne, Annette has worked passionately to protect aboriginal cultural heritage for future generations. Her work has encompassed archaeological investigations, cultural heritage management, reburials and preservation of cultural knowledge. She is co-chair of the Victorian traditional [00:02:30] owners Land Justice Group, a forum representing traditional owners across the state of Victoria. As though that wasn't enough, She also runs the first and currently the only cultural heritage consultancy owned by an indigenous woman in Australia. So please, uh, welcome as warmly as possible. Annette [00:03:00] normally, um, in Australia, when we talk on someone's country, we always take the time to recognise it and this is the Maori's country and I'd like to take the time to thank them for letting me speak on their country. I'm not sure what the right words are to say, but I hope they covered it. If anybody's here, that's Maori. I'm I'm aboriginal and I'm a gay black widow. I'm probably one of the first women to to lose their partners. [00:03:30] My name is Anna Cheri and I'm I ran or I own the first black Aboriginal company gay company. But today there's a few other guys who, um, who are straight guys who run other aboriginal companies. My people normally believe in a creator called El, who's an eagle who flew out over a vast plane of nothing and created the world from that world. Nations from those nations, countries and from [00:04:00] those countries to people. That's why a lot of aboriginal people say my land, my country, my mother and it's an affiliation we have with the land that no one can take away. Also evolution. It's it doesn't really matter what religion you look at, whether it's evolution or that we all believe in the one thing we come from the land and I was doing this talk once in a Roman Catholic church, and this fellow got up to me and he said, Look, you know, I've got no problem with your dream time. I You know, I believe that we we come from the F two. But he said, You know, I believe Adam [00:04:30] and Eva White I said, Oh, shit, I said, You know, Well, that explains everything, because if they had been black, they would have said stuff the apple and ate the snake and we and we wouldn't have got kicked out of Eden, which is true anyway. Our our our our our bunch or two, believes that LA gives life to everything. And it's a mother and and we [00:05:00] we should respect it. And my grandmother, Granny Jemima, who was full blood or harm just before uh, they put everybody onto the reserves, was talking and walking with my grandmother one day, and she turned around and Nana and then I wanted to pick this flower, she said to to Nana, don't pick this flower. And then I said Why? And she said, because if you pick their flow, No-one else can see the beauty of that, and it's not there just for one person. It's there for everybody. And that's a bit about our culture. We, we we [00:05:30] we believe in caring and sharing and respecting each other's values. I was actually born gay, Um, from a very young age, Um, I was sent being aboriginal. I was sent to a Roman Catholic school and when we were little, we, um, used to play Kiss Chay and for some reason, I never wanted to kiss the boys. So I used to run after and kiss the girls. And behold, the bloody nuns used to always flog me. They used to have this, um, Bible or this, [00:06:00] uh, stick thing duster. And they were quite often, once a week either hit me over the head with it or or smacking me for not fitting into the protocol of of white society and being black and gay back then, I I really blew their brains in the seventies today. Look back. Back in the in the seventies and the sixties when I was born, I've been asked to talk about how it was then and how it is now. And I remember [00:06:30] that, uh, back then, if you if you loved a woman or you loved a man, they thought there was something wrong with you. They'd wanna lock you up. They'd want to bash you. And we've all heard about stolen Children. But as gay people back in those days, we don't talk about it. But if you were gay, they thought that the Children were in moral danger and I'd actually take your Children from you, Which is which is a pretty thing. And I know we've come a long way today, but we really haven't come all that far. When you look at things [00:07:00] again. Back in the seventies, it was impossible. If you're gay to to get anywhere today, we've got some of the best jobs in the world. I started off in the seventies as an Aboriginal archaeological site officer. Being black and gay was really scary because there was no women in the field. Women weren't accepted. Back then you had to be a man to do cultural heritage. So I fought the odds and I went in and I took the job. And for the next two years, my whole life was hell. Not only did I have the other aboriginal [00:07:30] site officer men against me. I also had just the normal people within the work, working really hard against me. You have to excuse me. I apologise for the way I'm dressed too. I forgot to tell you, but, uh, somehow, uh, all my clothes, toothpaste, brush and arm deodorant. So thank God you're back there. It has has been lost. So, um, I apologise for the way I look, but I really took this serious. [00:08:00] And I want to look as flesh as the ambassador, but I've end up looking like a squid hog, which tells my true past. Thank you. So really, as a site officer, they put me through hell. The boys, you know, they said, Oh, you have to be able to knock off a slab and be able to smoke some of that green stuff to be part of the crew. And I didn't smoke or drink. So the first three [00:08:30] Stubbs I did, the first thing I did was have to run and hide because I everywhere. But it was the only way I could get into the circle. And it was really sad that you had to subject yourself to stuff like that to be accepted as one of the boys from there from fighting really hard. I fought for the right as a gay woman to do aboriginal reburials. I'm the only woman nationally in Victoria who does reburials and who does my job. There's still no one else, and I'm also the longest serving person in aboriginal cultural heritage. [00:09:00] And like I said, when I first went in there, it was really, really tough. I was one of the forefronts there after fighting for our rights within aboriginal affairs and, uh, getting to actually be co-chair of Victoria, which is a really big responsibility. And again, I'm one of the first black gay women to get into these positions. And it's really hard to get into these positions because not only have you got people shaking your hand and and being really nice to your face, [00:09:30] 95% of the people are putting a knife in your back and really jealous and want to take your position. So you've always got to keep one step ahead and two steps in front after setting that up, and it took me something like 17 years to to get there. I met a a beautiful lady called, um, Cathy Adams, who six years later I married and and had 22 beautiful Children to And, um, she wanted Children. And I thought, Oh, jeez. How are we gonna do that? [00:10:00] So I went out in the community. I panic because I'm from the seventies, and she was from the eighties. She was She was 10 years younger than me. So I went out and found, um, a child that really no one wanted and we were going to put up for adoption. I brought her home and said, Babe, I got one. She looked at me. She said, No, honey, I wanna have a baby. And and immediately, my heart broke because I thought she'd want to sleep with a man or something like that. She said, no, we're going to do IVF. [00:10:30] I said, All right, I'm there. And we went in there and back then, Uh, six years ago, in 2006, we actually started in about 2000. It was illegal for black women to have Children, but nothing like that ever stops me. So So what I did was I had a few friends from being up within in the community. And I got people to, um, turn a blind eye and Cathy, I and I from 2002 to about 2006, went through the IVF programme. And other, [00:11:00] uh, other gay women had to go to New South Wales. But I refused to do that. And I fought really long and hard, and we were a bit of rebels there and and we broke the law. But we had our first child. Julia and I was so proud of Julia. She was a She was a beautiful girl. But as I was telling you, working as an Aboriginal side office wasn't the best. And, um, a lot of times I was put on restricted duties, So we had Julia were proud, and I'm getting in and out of trouble as usual, [00:11:30] fighting for gay rights. And Cathy says we I want another baby. I said, Alright, and we had Joey on ice. So we went and we took Joey off. So he was on ice for two years because we didn't want to have two at once, because I was really scared. I thought, How are we gonna do this? we'll go one at the time. This looks easy. Not easy, guys, but worth it. So we went and we had Joey and she's pregnant with Joe and she she's she's home with Julia and and I come home from work. She goes rights wrong, honey. And I said, Oh, they've stood me down [00:12:00] again, Babe, she goes But they've stood you down and I said, Yeah, but I've still got my pay packet And she looked at me and I seen the fear in her eyes and she got really, really scared because here we are. We've got a child here. We're renting a house, She's got another baby on the way. And and the government was continually treating me like you wouldn't believe at one particular stage. I was managing an aboriginal organisation in Danny, and for the first time ever, I got all the tribes around the table [00:12:30] not talking about you very nicely, trying to jump the table and punch the shit out of each other but talking. So I thought, This is a great step. We're going well and, um, a lot of time in my life through being gay and and the sort of white crew you had in there and the black crew because there was also a black crew in there that was against gay people. They made my life difficult, very difficult. And, um, when I was managing, [00:13:00] uh, cooler nations, they sent this white Nathan man over there to try and put me in my place. Because not only did I think I was a woman who didn't know my place, they thought I was a woman that was seriously needed. Medical help, even in the nineties and two thousands. And they sent this gentleman over not only to show me in my place, but to pull me in line, which was virtually impossible. And again, a lot of time I'd get in trouble from the government. And the only reason [00:13:30] I was in trouble because supposedly someone who made a phone call who wouldn't leave their name who wouldn't leave their number and wouldn't leave a contact so the government would put me on restricted duties for six months and after I proved my innocence would take me off. But this time, when they sent the white overseer over was the worst time in my life. He sacked people because he misunderstood family rights. Then we had to state them and at the end, because he couldn't break me and found find nothing wrong with me. He actually tried [00:14:00] to physically knock me out in the office and he was a big fella and I ducked and got out of the way and I said, Stuff this And then I went on stress leave for a year because I couldn't go back to the office and because it was so successful because the organisation was so good, they shut it down. And that's when I went home and Paul Cafe was sitting there. And that's when I thought, Look, you know, I want to work in the government and I want to make a better place for my people and because I do all the reburials and that I've got so [00:14:30] much responsibility. I can't walk from it. I'm in the Melbourne tribe. You know, A lot of our people have got drug and alcohol problems. What do I do? So lo and behold, I started up my first consultancy, first black aboriginal consultancy. I I'd seen what the white people were doing, and if they can make that sort of money. Why Can't ask black fellas too. So I started up my company and I thought I was going really, really well. And guess what happened? That White Boys Club and Black Boys Club within [00:15:00] Aboriginal affairs. Victoria came after me again, and being gay was really bad because like, there was a lot of people in there who wouldn't stick up for me and thought I was wrong. And if I'd have been black and straight, I wouldn't have had to be subjected to the things I was subjected to. So after this gentleman tried to hit me, I went out on stress leave. I started up my company, and I also thought, I'll take this to the union because the [00:15:30] union in Victoria is pretty good. And it it's pretty gay friendly. We got him on 23 charges. He pleaded guilty to 13, but did they sack him? No. What they did was they transferred him to the museum in Victoria and gave him information for at least trying to pull the stupid black gay woman into into line over there again. He he harassed gay people and stood over him. Since then, he's been moved sideways again [00:16:00] so things aren't as good as you think. There was another time when I took the, um government on again and because I was a black gay woman and I was taken on a straight black man who was running the department at the time. The director. I spoke to people within equal opportunity who said I had an unbeatable case. So I took it up. The gentleman he was representing my my case is now [00:16:30] the actual director of Aboriginal affairs, Victoria, which seems quite strange. But he forgot to lodge my complaint. So therefore it wasn't lodged in time. So Aboriginal Affairs got a way of 17 years of putting me through hell, making me sit in a car, watch everybody else go around. I couldn't go out and look after my sights. And like I said, the opportunity officer who handled my case is now the [00:17:00] director of Aboriginal Affairs. Victoria and I'd like to point out here. It wasn't just black gay women. It was black women that they were against. They thought women really should be at home. And I want to say again, my culture isn't like that. These black men have been affected by white culture in our society, which has made things go really, really bad. Now I'd like to [00:17:30] so I'm just running through this and I had someone talk and they said, Talk a bit about this a bit about this so I can give you a bit of an over overview of Of what's happening. I'd like to talk a bit now about, uh, out black out. Black is a, um, organisation set up in Victoria and originally it was set up by the gay men and I didn't realise this. And when they first set it up back in about 96 they had a, um, meeting and a Christmas party and they had on [00:18:00] it for sister girls. And because of my life fighting so hard for my people's rights and gay rights, I always end up in a heterosexual circle heterosexual conferences. So I'm not really, um, Cathy was really good at this sort of stuff, and I forgot to say Cathy passed away 12 months ago. She died in my arms, and no one knows why. But we've still got a little four year old and a six year old. You'll hear them out out there occasionally on their DS S. They're great kids. I love them. [00:18:30] And when I was flying over here, I just want to point out really quick. Um, they wouldn't let me fly as a mother. They made me fly as a father. And I told them, You know, in in aboriginal language, we call boys things a Pippy and bubbles and I said, Look, you know, I've got none of that. I'm a woman and I'm a mother. But there was no provision. Even though I'm on the kids' birth certificate in Victoria, we've got a group a lady called Felicity. She she [00:19:00] She's a legend, She's a gay woman, and she's fought so hard for us to get rights to be recognised as partners. Yet when we fill in government papers, the only way we can fit into the papers is even with the men's role. Even on the birth certificate. I'm a parent because as a parent and not the second mother, they would not put me on the passports as a mother, and I was arguing. I argued for about two months and this conference was getting really close, so I give up and come over as a father. Normally [00:19:30] I wouldn't give up. I'd fight to the end. But I really want to come to this conference and I don't know why. And probably it was just Cathy being gay and and where I work and what I do not having much to do with gay people. This was really important because I want my my Children to know they're a rainbow family. They're gay. So even though we've made a lot of steps in Victoria, there's still a lot of bureaucratic forms that don't recognise what we're fighting for and what they've said that they've now achieved. So I'd like to just say thanks [00:20:00] to Felicity and the Rainbow Families in Victoria, they have done a lot of work and a lot of things for us. Anyway, back to our black, I went along to their first meeting and they said, Oh, sister girls, Christmas party. So again, me not knowing much about being, uh, being gay, but not knowing much about the the the the trendy bits I rolled, rolled it rocked along because, um, it was a black turn, and the boy said to me, Hey, what are you doing here? I said the sister girl party. They said, not that sister Girl. Boy, [00:20:30] sister girl, I said, Oh, gosh, what am I gonna do? So they threw me in in in in the, uh, land room and put the telly on. I said, OK, this is all right. They said as soon as we finish our meeting, you can come out. I said, Oh, so I got to sit here for two hours. We use boys. Me Then I can come out said, But I'm gay too. And they said, No, no, no, Sister Girls, I said, all right. But they brought me a few beers while they were having their meeting, and they looked after me like that, and I watched home and away and neighbours. And finally, finally, [00:21:00] they finished their meeting and they let me out there for a chin wag with him, and I couldn't work out why I couldn't have been there in the first place. Ronnie Johnson set up our black. He was a he he he died. And, um, he died a couple of years ago, but he set out black up, and, uh, a gentleman called Brian and he took it over after he passed away. And Brian's like my nephew. He's a beautiful boy. He He's another black man. And so was Ronnie, and, uh, he opened the door for women to come into our black. So today, women converse [00:21:30] with our black, Um, but for some reason, the black women in Victoria don't seem to party as hard as the boys, so we don't come together and meet as much as what the boys do. But we're pretty staunch and we stick together. But there's also a lot of black women from my age group now. Remember back in the seventies, when it was where you're gay, you're bashed, you're raped, you know, they took your Children off them. A lot [00:22:00] of us have still got this in our mind, and I do see a lot of gay women in the black community, but they won't come out in the closets, get a few drinks in of them, and you're right. But she got those drinks into them. They're really, really scared to come out. And and I think the reason why a lot of older women our age are scared to come out is because we lived through that process. And that's what I loved about Cathy. Like she didn't grow up in the seventies. She grew up in the eighties and nineties where you didn't get bashed, you didn't get [00:22:30] raped. And she had this this this thing about being gay that I loved and she never, ever had fear. You know, the fear that I had when we first had the Children. I had the fear of being black and stolen Children, but also the fear of being gay and stolen Children. The thought that the government thought that those Children might be in moral danger. But Caine never ever had those fears. And I love the look in her eyes and I love the way. But I just want to feel that, too. But [00:23:00] through living through the seventies, I've always got that in the back of my head. What about if we slip back and we go back there? What's going to happen to my Children? What's going to happen to me? What's gonna happen to you? But hopefully we've got really good people out there and we won't slip back. OK, then, not a problem. Sorry about that, guys. Yeah, it's OK.
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