The Victorian Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby (VGLRL) ‘Stonewall: 40 Years On’ event, hosted by Sally Goldner, heard presentations from three authorities on queer culture.

Joan Nestle, herself present at the Stonewall protests in New York, spoke about the climate of the times, urging the packed house at Loop bar in Myers Place to remember that Stonewall did not happen in a vacuum.

Nestle said the birth of the gay rights movement in the US came about during a period of agitation for Women’s and Civil Rights that spanned the Fifties to the Seventies.

“Desire, shame, rebellion – sometimes all at once – inform these three decades,” Nestle said.

She urged the next queer generation to keep actively engaged in the past. “History never stays in its place, it’s always moving, always waiting for us to pick it up.”

Police records released last month meant Nestle could identify the lesbian who first fought back at Stonewall: Marilyn Fowler.

Graham Willett, president of the Australian Lesbian & Gay Archives spoke on the effect of Stonewall on Australian activism, followed by radical lesbian feminist activist Jean Taylor.

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