The History of Queer Protest in Perth

From underground resistance to street parades, Perth’s queer protest history is layered, complex and increasingly relevant today. Join us for an evening with long-time activist Neil Buckley as we explore the shifting landscape of LGBTQIA+ protest and visibility in Western Australia.

About Neil Buckley

Neil Buckley is a long-time community champion in WA and beyond, having served as a board member for PRIDE, WAAC, and is presently a board member of WestPride Archives. He was chair of PLWHA/WA, a founding member of POWA (Positive People WA), and also served as the NAPWHA representative for Western Australia. He was involved in ACT UP at the beginning of the AIDS pandemic and has had an active role in trying to reduce the stigma around HIV that is still in our community today. He has been a prominent advocate for the Expungement of Gay Historical Convictions and successfully petitioned the WA Parliament to support a Bill for the expungement of historical gay convictions.

Neil has also been an advocate for change within mainstream churches towards greater acceptance of rainbow people. He is now actively advocating for the decriminalisation of aspects of current HIV laws and speaking out against the rise of MAGA doctrine and the ways it is beginning to impact us here in Australia. He is also currently driving the 1727 Memorial Project, which tells the story of rainbow  legal and moral persecution within the context of early Australian and Netherlands history — a story that unfolded 60 years before the arrival of the British First Fleet.

Neil is also known as The Blessed Mother Gretta Amylleta of the Holy Vapors, of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, also called the Order of Perpetual Indulgence, are an international network of charity, protest, and street performance organisations that use religious imagery to call attention to sexual intolerance and satirise issues of gender and morality.

Neil is also the original owner and donator of the door to the Museum, an artefact now recognised as part of Perth’s gay hidden social history.

Free event. Bookings essential.