OUTRAGEOUS – The Queer History of Australian TV

During the 50 year anniversary of Stonewall in 2019, there were numerous lists compiled around the world about the greatest queer moments in pop culture. Unfortunately, no one knew or recognised that Australia had broadcast every gay TV milestone first, and sometimes years and decades before the rest of the world caught up. It’s time for the record to be corrected.

Australian TV audiences began seeing queer people on TV from the early 1960’s. By the 1970’s current affairs shows were profiling a lesbian and gay couple kissing each other on prime time TV.

These are some of the first kisses between real queer people ever seen on TV, and soon gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender characters were being welcomed into Australian dramas. And not just as guest roles either – they were regular characters, every night for years and years.

The societal memory of positive gay role models on TV in the 1970s may have been a contributing factor in how Australia handled the AIDS crisis.

Representation is important.

Our Impact strategy includes creating live events and talks around the tv series. Sharing all the ways Australian producers, writers and actors led the way. Let’s look back at how it happened, and break it down as to why it still matters today.

The stories are provided by queer community identities. Our IMPACT vision is to extend the record of these stories to every day LGBTQI people

We’ll also create corporate training assets with our education partners

History is important, we’ll restore the records.

There is now a generation of Aussies who have grown up with seeing representation and they are curious about learning who the trailblazers were.

Young people today believe in diversity and inclusion but many of them are unaware of how progressive Australia used to be.

Tell them that “The King” of Australian television was really a queen and they want to know why he had to stay in the closet.

They aren’t familiar with Crawfords’ cop shows like Homicide, and are shocked to learn that many of TV’s earliest cops were homophobic, even when dealing with “poofter bashing”, a sad staple of too many dramas that reduced gay men to victims.

Today, there are queer people everywhere on reality TV, they are reading the news, and they are representing their multicultural and Indigenous communities.

And as more actors come out as gay and non-binary, we want to plan a better future for them all.

Producers Margee and Andrew understand that audiences demand authenticity and we are in conversation with LGBTQ partners to help us refine the delivery of this documentary.

This series will allow screen bodies, university and schools to access this history rarely shared with a mainstream audience. Understanding how representation on screen affects those watching will be a powerful case study.