17c起草社区

Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli is not your typical 61-year-old academic. She has led a colourful life and had an illustrious career as a sociologist, teacher, writer and activist.

In addition to autoethnographies and conference papers, Pallotta-Chiarolli has written novels, poetry, and letters, including Australia鈥檚 first AIDS biography, Someone You Know: A Friend鈥檚 Farewell.听

‘Respect the Person, Not the Labels’

鈥淚鈥檝e often asked myself as an ally,鈥� she says,听 鈥渨hat right do I have to do this work? But others will often tell me, 鈥榮ometimes people listen to you because you are straight, married, girly.鈥欌�� She adds that sometimes she is mistaken for a drag queen. 鈥淚 love that. It鈥檚 great!鈥�

The Melbourne-dweller has southern Italian heritage and grew up in Adelaide 鈥渋n the dirt鈥� with parents who taught her to 鈥渞espect the person, not the labels that come with the person.鈥澨�

The 2018 Globe Community Award winner says for her it has 鈥渁lways felt natural to challenge injustices鈥� because she is descended from a 鈥渓ong line of protestors鈥� who challenged fascism and the church.听

For the first few years of her life, she and her family lived in a backyard shed.听

‘Dressing Up While My Parents were Serving Pizza and Homemade Wine’

By the age of 16, she had queer friends. She says her parents鈥� place was where they 鈥渇elt comfortable.鈥澨�

鈥淲e were having drag parties, as you do in the late 70s, early 80s. We were all dressing up while my parents were serving pizza and homemade wine,鈥� she says.

She lost a handful of friends to AIDS during the height of the epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s, including teacher, Jon Eliot and 21-year-old, Tom Munroe.

鈥淚t made us grow up and wake up,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think it also really showed the injustices and the fact that some people will get treated better than others.鈥澨�

Member of the Order of Australia

The political ignorance and the lack of treatment options angered her. While there now exist viable treatment options, she laments the ongoing political callousness. She describes the Religious Discrimination Bill as 鈥渁bsolutely appalling鈥�, but says it is an 鈥渆xample of people in power trying to grip and hold onto whatever they can.鈥澨�

听On Australia Day this year, Pallotta-Chiarolli was named Member of the Order of Australia. She said in her statement she will use the award 鈥渢o make better our systems and society.鈥澨�

She dedicated it to the late Jon Eliot, her dear friend and former teaching colleague whom she supported when he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987.