Loud and proud: rainbow stories on Australian screens
As LGBTQI+ representations become more commonplace, we look at the long road to mainstream acceptance in this two-part series.
Skip to Part One: Stories and Part Two: Creators.
From Don and Dudley on Number 96 to trans actor and advocate Georgie Stone joining the cast of Neighbours, Australia has a proud, if not always loud enough, history of LGBTQI+ representation on our screens.
In recognition of this creator-driven push for more queer voices on our screens both large and small, Screen Australia spoke to some of the leading lights driving this visibility. Tracing the occasionally bumpy path towards where we are now and getting a sense of where we need to be, in Part One we focus on the storylines and characters that mattered, and in Part Two the journey of the creators behind them.
Throughout the series we hear from some of Australia’s screen luminaries. Number 96 creator David Sale recalls a surprising lack of pushback when he pitched a queer character at the centre of his story about the colourful tenants of a Sydney apartment block. Head On director Ana Kokkinos reflects on her contribution to the New Queer Cinema explosion of the '90s and the need to hear from more diverse Australians.
"If you’re a white, straight male, the evidence suggests that structurally, you're given certain advantages, there's no question about that,” Kokkinos notes. “We still have structural barriers around gender, sexuality and cultural diversity, and disabilities too.”
Script executive, writer and editor Sarah Walker (Neighbours, Wentworth) and A Place Called Home creator Bevan Lee detail a push back against introducing a lesbian storyline in Home and Away, while prolific producer, writer and director Tony Ayres spoke about the need to see non-white Australians represented.