Equal Citizens in a Just Land: a response to the Hobart City Council Salamanca apology

This response to the Hobart City Council Salamanca arrest apology was given by Rodney Croome on 10.12.08.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been asked to respond to the apology we have just heard from the Lord Mayor.

I found this response one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to compose.

Reflecting on what happened 20 years ago raises many strong and conflicting feelings.

On the one hand I acknowledge and applaud the sincerity of the Council. It genuinely wishes to make amends for its actions, heal the wounds of the past, and build a more inclusive city on the basis of its apology.

I also recognise how historical this moment is. Never before has a public authority in Australia offered an apology for breaching the human rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and our supporters. It shows how profoundly Tasmania has changed since 1988.

On the other hand, I cannot forget the pain of being banned from a public place because I was gay.

I will always live with the memory of sitting alone in a police cell, not knowing when I would be released, and fearing I might even be gaoled for what I believed in.

Yes, there were moments of fun, companionship and even exhilaration during the Salamanca protests. Yes, these protests propelled the issue of gay law reform onto the Tasmanian political agenda.

But none of that changes the trauma and pain many of us felt at being excluded from a society we thought we belonged to.

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But then, listening to the Lord Mayor read the apology, I realised he hasn’t asked us to forget the past.

Instead, he and his fellow Aldermen have asked us to have faith in the future and in each other.

They have expressed their belief that our society can be an inclusive one which respects human rights and diversity. They want us to take the apology as a sign that this is possible.

I too share this optimistic outlook, passionately and unshakably.

For this reason I not only accept the Council’s apology, I embrace it.

I am not alone in this.

The stall that was banned at Salamanca Market 20 years ago belonged to the organisation which became the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group.

One of the unchanging aspirations of that Group has been to encourage respect and break down the barriers between people of different sexual orientations and gender identities.

With that aspiration in mind, and having talked to my friends and colleagues in the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group, I am confident I can accept the apology on our behalf.

Obviously, the TGLRG and I cannot and should not speak for everyone in the room.

The point of an apology is that it is offered without the expectation of acceptance.

It is entirely up to you to decide in your own heart whether you accept the apology and how you accept it.

What I can say, though, is that having now accepted it myself, I feel a wonderful sense of relief and release.

It’s as if, after 20 years, the bars around my police cell have finally disappeared, and I can see more clearly than ever the time when we will all be equal citizens in a just land.

Thank you.