Hobart City Council Apology: 20th anniversary Tasmanian Gay Law Reform Group's stall Salamanca Market 1988

This apology was offered by the Hobart City Council through Lord Mayor, Rob Valentine, at a civic reception at Hobart Town Hall on December 10th, 2008.

Tonight we pay tribute to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex citizens of our great city, as well as their families, friends and supporters.

We acknowledge their contribution to the life of our city, to its diversity, its prosperity, its culture and its values of friendliness, acceptance and equity.

Tonight we reflect on the prejudice and discrimination that many GLBTI people, their family, friends and supporters have endured. We also acknowledge the commitment of those who have defended the rights of GLBTI people.

Twenty years ago in September 1988 the Hobart City Council prohibited a gay law reform stall at Salamanca Market. This led to the arrest and banning from the Market of gay law reform stall supporters who were ordered by Council representatives to leave and who refused.

We acknowledge that there were members of Council at that time who believed what they did was right. But looking back at the discrimination, the pain that was caused to everyone involved, and the prejudice that was fostered in the wider community, the Council has now resolved that it will apologise.

The Hobart City Council apologises for prohibiting the gay law reform stall at Salamanca Market in 1988 and for the resulting arrests and bans.

We are sorry for the pain and trauma caused to all involved, including GLBTI people, their family members, friends and supporters and those Council officers who were required to carry out the Council decision.

We are also sorry that the actions we took may have encouraged ill-will and discrimination towards GLBTI people in the broader community.

We resolve that actions such as these will never happen again. The Council is committed to Hobart being a city of strong communities based on diversity, participation and empathy. As a key element of this commitment the Council is now working constructively with the GLBTI community.

Tonight marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also marks the 20th anniversary of the successful negotiations between the Hobart City Council and the gay law reform stall organisers, which brought the arrests to an end and allowed the stall to become a permanent and valued feature of Salamanca Market.

With both these anniversaries in mind we ask that this apology be accepted in the spirit of reconciliation in which it has been offered.

We ask that it is seen as a mark of how far our community has come from the prejudices of the past, and that it encourages us all to tackle the prejudices which remain.

We also ask that our apology serve as a solid foundation upon which we can together build an even better city, a city that is ever more just, welcoming, vibrant and culturally diverse.

Let us now turn our gaze to that future, and resolve to make it one in which we will all be proud to call ourselves citizens and friends of the City of Hobart.