Community Heroes Archives - 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø /category/features/community-heroes Setting Australia’s LGBTI agenda since 1979 Tue, 16 Dec 2025 04:18:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2023/02/starobs.png Community Heroes Archives - 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø /category/features/community-heroes 32 32 Meet Mitch Brown: The AFL’s First Out & Proud Bisexual Player /features/meet-mitch-brown-the-afls-first-out-proud-bisexual-player/239567 Wed, 05 Nov 2025 02:49:55 +0000 /?p=239567 The first thing you notice about Mitch Brown is how kind he is. And not the ‘media-rehearsed’ type of kind — just that down-to-earth, human sort of kind. When we ...

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‘The OG Lesbian Bitch’: Rosie O’Donnell On Her New Show, Common Knowledge /features/the-og-lesbian-bitch-rosie-odonnell-on-her-new-show-common-knowledge/238977 Wed, 01 Oct 2025 02:46:35 +0000 /?p=238977 It’s been a big year for Rosie O’Donnell — one of her serial workplace bullies was elected to the presidential office again, and she moved her family across the ocean, ...

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Campaign: Founder of Australia’s First National Gay Mag Reflects On 50 Years of Advocacy /features/campaign-founder-of-australias-first-national-gay-mag-reflects-on-50-years-of-advocacy/238598 Wed, 10 Sep 2025 05:59:17 +0000 /?p=238598 To honour and celebrate its 50th anniversary in September 2025, the trailblazing gay magazine Campaign is fondly remembered by its founder, Rod Stringer, as a vital lifeline for a community ...

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So Bloody Proud: Melbourne Chargers Lead The Charge on New Era of 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø+ Blood Donation /features/so-bloody-proud-melbourne-chargers-lead-the-charge-on-new-era-of-lgbtq-blood-donation/237946 Wed, 06 Aug 2025 02:12:22 +0000 /?p=237946 At 7:30am on a chilly winter Monday, a group of burly rugby players in their kits gathered outside the Lifeblood Melbourne Donor Centre on Collins Street. They were there to ...

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MEDEAs 2025: Honouring Doug Lucas, A True Melbourne Drag & Community Legend /news/medeas-2025-honouring-doug-lucas-a-true-melbourne-drag-community-legend/237026 Wed, 04 Jun 2025 02:08:08 +0000 /?p=237026 Doug Lucas stands as a living archive of queer joy, and a staunch queer elder in Melbourne’s glittering 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøIA+ nightlife.  As he prepares to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at ...

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ACON CEO Michael Woodhouse: A Lifetime of Leadership and Community Care /features/acon-ceo-michael-woodhouse-a-lifetime-of-leadership-and-community-care/235488 Tue, 18 Feb 2025 04:05:38 +0000 /?p=235488 The appointment of Michael Woodhouse as the Chief Executive Officer of ACON in September 2024 marked both a homecoming and a fresh beginning.  With over two decades of leadership in ...

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Siegfried & Roy: The Campest Act Of All Time /features/siegfried-roy-the-campest-act-of-all-time/234739 Tue, 07 Jan 2025 23:56:37 +0000 /?p=234739 Siegfried & Roy are two names that simply just belong together, don’t they? The combination simply rolls off the tongue, and the proudly ostentatious duo cemented their place in history ...

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Michael Kirby & Johan van Vloten Retire From Bobby Goldsmith Foundation After 22 Years /news/kirby-and-vloten-retire-bobby-goldsmith-foundation/233516 Wed, 23 Oct 2024 03:56:23 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=233516 The Bobby Goldsmith Foundation has announced the retirement of Michael Kirby and Johan van Vloten as co-patrons after 22 years of dedicated service. After the announcement at BGF’s recent, Red ...

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Cairns Pride Festival Kicks Off This Weekend /news/cairns-pride-festival-kicks-off-this-weekend/233197 Wed, 02 Oct 2024 04:31:58 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=233197 The Cairns community is set to celebrate their pride festivities this weekend as the Cairns Pride Festival commences a week long celebration from October 4 – 12. Including the Cairns ...

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Marc Brew: Finding Power In Disability And Queerness /artsentertainment/marc-brew-finding-power-in-disability-and-queerness/232996 Thu, 19 Sep 2024 23:40:16 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=232996 Marc Brew was only 20 years old when he was in a horrific car crash, killing the other three people in the car and leaving the young ballet dancer unable ...

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HIV Advocate & Former Mardi Gras President Bill Whittaker Has Passed Away /news/hiv-advocate-former-mardi-gras-president-bill-whittaker-has-passed-away/232898 Thu, 12 Sep 2024 01:59:21 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=232898 Bill Whittaker, who was a longtime and tireless advocate in Australia’s community-led response to HIV, the first CEO of ACON, and the President of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi ...

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THE DISRUPTOR: 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø founder, Michael Glynn /news/the-disruptor-star-observer-founder-michael-glynn/231872 Wed, 03 Jul 2024 02:18:46 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=231872 Disruptor. Radical. Firebrand. A ‘lanky American with no shortage of attitude and chutzpah’. All the above were common descriptors for the founder of 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø, Michael Glynn. His legacy is ...

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Stonewall Day: “When The Gays Fought Back” /news/international-news-news/stonewall-day-when-the-gays-fought-back/231799 Fri, 28 Jun 2024 02:59:24 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=231799 Today, June 28, is Stonewall Day – the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. It honours the day in 1969 when a routine police raid on the Stonewall Inn in ...

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Vale Lance Leopard /news/vale-lance-leopard/231748 /news/vale-lance-leopard/231748#comments Mon, 24 Jun 2024 06:15:15 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=231748 Marcus Pierce – known to the community as Lance Leopard – tragically passed away in Brisbane last week, along with his mother Carmel. Lance was a well-known member of Sydney’s ...

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Minus18 Won’t Stay Quiet On Increasing Anti-LGBT Attacks On Queer Formals /news/minus18-attacks-queer-formals/231665 Tue, 18 Jun 2024 03:20:08 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=231665 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøI+ youth organisation Minus18 recently shared with followers on social media that anti-LGBT hate groups have been attacking their queer youth formals – and they’ve opened up to 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø ...

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Why The NSW Apology For The Criminal History of Homosexuality is So Vitally Important /news/nsw-apology-criminal-history-of-homosexuality/231381 /news/nsw-apology-criminal-history-of-homosexuality/231381#comments Wed, 05 Jun 2024 02:05:54 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=231381 On June 6, 2024, the 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøI+ community witnessed the formal NSW apology for those who were victims of homosexuality being criminalised. In 1984, the Crimes Amendment Bill decriminalised homosexuality across ...

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Mama Alto: A Storyteller Swathed In Old Hollywood Glam /features/mama-alto-a-storyteller-swathed-in-old-hollywood-glam/231377 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 01:10:09 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=231377 Mama Alto is a Melbourne cabaret and jazz icon. She is also a storyteller and a transgender activist, who creates spaces allowing 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøI+ people the safety to find power in ...

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Newcastle Drag Legend Glenda Jackson Passes Away /news/newcastle-drag-legend-glenda-jackson-passes-away/231143 Mon, 27 May 2024 03:02:24 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=231143 Newcastle 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇøI+ community icon and drag legend Glenda (Glen) Jackson has sadly passed away. The news was confirmed by Glen’s friends via her social media. Ian Tufrey posted to Glenda’s ...

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Australian Entertainment Legend Ignatius Jones Dead At 67 /news/ignatius-jones-dead/230670 Thu, 09 May 2024 01:39:01 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=230670 Australian music legend Ignatius Jones has died at his home in the Philippines. The performer, writer and event director, best known for being the front man of Jimmy and the ...

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Remembering Les Girls Legend Trixie Laumonte /news/national-news/new-south-wales-news/remembering-les-girls-legend-trixie-laumonte/229735 Wed, 03 Apr 2024 04:17:00 +0000 https://starobserver.com.au/?p=229735 Former Sydney showgirl and Brisbane icon Trixie Laumonte passed away in Brisbane this month. Tributes have flown in for the former Les Girls performer as many remember her for an ...

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