The Campaign

Joseph Lloyd
19th Feb 2020

It's a 90 minute dramatisation of highlights from a 9 year battle that overturned the criminalisation of homosexuality in Australia's state of Tasmania and ultimately forged a path to same sex marriage equality a decade later. .

It's amazing to think that up until 1997, intimacy between homosexual couples was punishable by incarceration of up to 21 years and an entire generation has grown up with the liberties of this fight possibly unaware of our nation's sordid history.  That's 7 years longer than the maximum sentence for assault and rape. It centres around Rodney Croome and the key players in his inner circle that relentlessly initiated and pursued social and legal campaigns that changed the negative perception of the LGBTIQ+ community by almost two thirds. The unprecedented and highly publicised arrests grew into Australia’s largest-ever gay rights civil disobedience, which began a campaign to change the Tasmanian law – the most draconian in the Western world in terms of its penalty and, by the time of its repeal, the last of its kind in Australia.

Matthew Lee, Madeline MacRae, Simon Croker and Jane Phegan portray the key activists within the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights group (THLRG) as well as multiple characters they encountered along the way on both sides. It's a great historical account that opens our eyes to a key moment in time when it was not uncommon for gay males to be associated with paedophilia due to misconceptions. The flip on gender equality in this case sees the lesbian persona completely invisible on this matter as we're told in one of Jane Phegan's monologue as Lee Gwen Booth. Tim McGarry would have had the most fun though, playing some of the most comical right wing characters the group had to oppose. Adding his flare, it's funny now, but in retrospect, the arguments being used against the homosexual community were quite disgusting.

It's a reminder for the Australian LGBTIQ+ community of its perseverance and triumph, it's a reminder to all Australians of its past, it's a connection that many will resonate with also facing the same challenges in the social injustices and issues they represent and fight for. 

The Campaign is one of the essential moments of the Sydney Mardi Gras season that needs that will inspire the next generation of activists fighting for today's causes.  The blueprint of its success is a timeless tale that will help keep the fire of social equality campaigns in its newer forms at their peak. 

Until 28 February at The Seymour Centre