QC - Friday (Backdated Entry)

In the morning I found the trans caucus resolutions in my bag. Myles must have put them there to discuss over dinner. The TV was all full of the London bombings – endless repeats of the same footage and speculation over too little information.

Today I decided to attend in a dress. When I’d packed back in Barnsley, I’d done it quickly and this was mostly utilitarian clothing. As it happened Perth was a lot colder than I’d expected (another change?) and for most of the week I’d been wearing borrowed clothes from Mum – jumpers, jackets and slacks. I was home for a week and already I was being dressed by my mum! After a week of attending, I was feeling a bit “gender fucked” and very unfeminine, so today, I was going in wearing a dress.

Only, I think I should have worn one of my own no matter how cold it was. Never, ever, wear a borrowed dress and run for the train. As I got on the train I got “read” by some high school age kids. They were all wearing uniforms and it seems that they were in Perth for “Pony Club Trials”. The Sugar valley Pony Club meets just down the road from where I live, so on the whole I would have been interested, but on this occasion the kids (who were from Tasmania) were being fairly transphobic and abusive. They openly took photos of me, so I took out my camera and took photos back!

Then a women got on who looked lost. I suggested she sit down next to me and we talked until she got off at McIver. It transpired that she had short term memory problems and often forgot what she was doing. I listened to her and it seemed that this was what she needed most. Because she looked just like anyone else, they assumed that her problems were all imaginary. I had a good feeling after this, like I was meant to be on that train for her, and this put idiot teenagers into perspective for me.

Shortly afterwards I stopped in at a “Crazy Clark’s” to buy some luggage tags and met a woman whose brother lived in London and had been missing since the bombings. It seems that they were affecting people around the world, not just in Britain.

By the time I arrived at QC, they were halfway through the Resolutions session. I delivered the trans caucus resolutions to be tabled, and later moved a motion (about condemning the Bombings) myself. The remainder of the resolutions were passed (or rejected) in a bulk vote. After the resolutions came the bidding, and the University of New South Wales (as the only bid) won QC for next year on a “Safe, Sane & Consensual” theme. As mentioned before, I asked for and got Querelle for 2006. I aim to do a decent job of it too. Then there was the official closing ceremony, and Queer Collaborations was (nearly) over for 2005.

I felt really tired by lunch, and was coughing irregularly by evening. It was the start of a viral infection that stayed with me for over a month. Early afternoon however, and most of the attendees returned via bus to the city, and collected in Forest Chase for a protest march. I did not feel well.
All week in Forest Chase there’d been a large tent display of “Russian Winterland” for the school break, featuring ice sculptures and stuff for the children. Because of this, we gathered down the other end of the plaza, near the Police outpost. This may have been a mistake. There were some speakers before the march, and every so often police would come over and say “watch your language”. It may have been the use of “fuck” which upset them, but few students thought much of this at the time. Bear in mind that this was early afternoon, and the place was crowded with shoppers and bystanders and even “Post Office Goths” (some of which joined in the march).

But apparently no one had bothered to apply for a permit in advance for the demonstration or march, so technically both were illegal. The protest itself was anti-V.S.U., and passions were high. As the group started off however, we found our way barred by 6-12 police around a police van. I started taking photos with my camera, and things got “ugly” as they say. The police arrested five (for “bad language”, it later transpired), shoving them in the van as they could. I chased this as it drove off, but poor health and viral infection meant that I only got as far as Barrack St. When I returned the struggle was still in progress, and some hecklers from City Arcade were trying to bait the protesters. Eventually, the group was allowed to march. Once again, I got as far as Barrack St. I chatted with Belinda (QC organiser), Nick and a few others, and then decided to go home.

First though, I went to Mr Samurai for a cup of Miso soup, and on the way back bumped into some of the Post Office Goths (so called because they frequent Forest Chase outside the G.P.O.). They were quite cheerful, as they’d joined in the march, and one young lass pointed out how they were all either gay, lesbian, or bi – “deviant” in one form or another. Then she saw the Ankh I was wearing, and gave them a copy of Queer Stuff. You make connections in the most unexpected places sometimes.

Despite Steve talking with a camera crew from the TEN network, nothing appeared on any news that night about it. Even though it never reached the media, many people watched the protest. Another QCer told me of an elderly woman he’d met who’d been an activist back in Scotland. She’d told him that she would have joined the march, but that she needed a walking stick to get around nowadays