Given the university base, the meetings mostly attracted the young and the political, but the group had its own diversity. As Rodney Thorpe recalls:

There were socialists who wanted to 'link the world up’ with the blacks and women and the gays and the oppressed people and the students; radical Christians who had no idea about what their sexuality was; people who were out to all the world and happy to appear on television; and kids coming over from Melbourne High, who were still at school and who had to sneak into the meetings and who hadn't had sex and they wanted it ... and every week we'd get new people coming and then you would have to go through a lot of those things again. We had to deal with people's fears and ignorance and their coming out.

Not surprisingly, the group talked a lot and argued a lot and if it occasionally seemed to Rodney Thorpe like a "hell of a mess" - and he was not alone in this impression - somehow they got through it all. Priorities for actions were discussed and tactics sorted. One man remembers intense debate over whether or not to have a kissing booth in the union foyer and whether to hand out "homosexual apples" on the trams.

TRANSCRIPT:

GAY LIB PARTY
AUGUST 9TH 8PM

GAY LIBERATION CENTRE
259 BRUNSWICK ST. FITZROY

DONATION $1
BYOG

CONFERENCE PROPAGANDA & GAY BOOKS ON SALE

TAKE COLLINS STREET TRAM NO.9 OR 11.
TO JOHNSTON STREET.

Gay Liberation dances were one of the main ways in which the group drew in new members, as well as being the main fundraising source for the group.

Initially these dances were held at Trophy Hall, which was part of the Beaurepaire Centre at Melbourne University. Rodney Thorpe recalls some of the trouble the group faced in establishing these dances:

“that just caused a storm on campus, because the guy who was the caretaker of the Beaurepaire Pool was … this old, horrible … homophobe who used to sort of you know yell at people in the shower and stuff if they fooled around, and we were asking him to have his precious Hall for a gay dance. But we won, because the … University was very supportive of the Student Union environment to all that sort of stuff, of liberation movements and things, so we got what we wanted.”

TRANSCRIPT:

GAY LIBERATION

G-DAY! WELCOME BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO GAY LIBERATION. IF YOU ARE NEW, WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN, TALK TO THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU. WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO INVOLVE YOURSELF IN OUR ACTIVITIES.

IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY, IDEAS, CRITICISMS, ETC. PLEASE SPEAK UP AT THIS MEETING OR SEE PEOPLE AFTERWARDS. WE ARE NOT TRYING TO HAVE A FORMAL STRUCTURE IN ORGANISATION, OR IN OUR MEETINGS. RATHER THAT MEETINGS ARE SOCIAL, RELAXED AND GAY SO THAT HOMOSEXUALS CAN RID THEMSELVES OF THEIR STRAIGHT MASKS AND BE THEMSELVES.

***** ACTIVITIES IN THE COMING WEEK *****

*TASK GROUP: MONDAY 7.30, UNION HOUSE, GRADUATE LOUNGE.
the task group is open to anyone willing to be active in Gay Liberation. Activities are worked out and discussed, Ideas, etc. welcome.
See Judy

* DANCE COMMITTEE WEDNESDAY 7.30 AT 198 Elgin st., (Back of Shop) SHANES.
the dance is tentatively on the 16th Dec. at Much More Ballroom. The Dance group needs new members, open to anyone, no experience (in dances) needed.
See Shane or Kay

* PUBLICATIONS GROUP THURSDAY 7.30 AT 5/76 BRUNSWICK RD. BRUNSWICK.
The broadsheet/paper is coming out by Dec. 1st. Next meeting is DEADLINE for articles. We plan after this to have a Sunday meeting for pasteup. Artists needed.
See Jeff afterwards.

* DEMO tentatively FRIDAY 7.00 Dec. 1st.
leave Uni. on 'homosexual' tram for city square for public celebration of homosexuality. Hopefully street theatre, placards etc.
See Tony or John

* AHEAD trying to create alternative social activities going en masse to Caberet, and GAY PICNIC.
Dates decided tonight.

* CONSCIOUS RAISING GROUPS We have many active C.R. groups. If you want information or wish to join/form one see Rex.

* SYDNEY GAY LIB. NEWSLETTER 12 issues for year $2.00
send money to Sydney Gay Lib. 67 Glebe Pt. Road. Glebe N.S.W.
***** T SHIRTS $2.50 *****
BADGES 20 cents.

PUBLISHED BY: PUBLICATIONS GROUP

Later the dances were held at the Melburnian Receptions rooms at the Block Arcade in the centre of Melbourne.

The dances were quite different from the other social events of the time, venues such as Maisie’s (Her Majesty’s) in South Yarra, which was a relatively informal drinks at a side bar of a corner pub, or the dances like Spangles or Jan’s Dances. For some the dances were a revelatory experience, in the same way as the Gay Liberation meetings and CR groups, a space filled with ‘liberated’ gay men and women, John Langworthy recalls “they were the most liberated gay event I'd ever been to at that stage.”

TRANSCRIPT:

Friday Aug 16

DANCE
GAY LIBERATION

byog $1.80
9pm - 1.30am

melbourne receptions
block arcade city

phone: 414926 8pm-11pm

Further Information

TRANSCRIPT

GAY PRIDE WEEK DANCE

Chicata - Springwater
Friday 20th Sept

melbourne receptions
block arcade
city

byog $1.80
9pm - 1.30am