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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-11-16 Daily Xml
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Purcell, Mr Ian

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:32): Earlier this month, South Australia lost a true champion of equality, human dignity and community—a man of great charm, a man of great bravery and a man of great flair. I speak of Ian Purcell AM, a lion of the LGBTIQ community who died peacefully, aged 69, on Monday 6 November at 5.15am at the Mary Potter Hospice. I share in the sadness of Ian's husband, Stephen, his family and his many, many friends and that of the South Australian LGBTIQ community who have lost in Ian one of their most extraordinary community leaders.

Our Premier, Jay Weatherill, described Ian as 'a passionate leader in the ongoing campaign for equality for LGBTI South Australians'. I also have a quote from veteran rights activist Rodney Croome, who praised Ian as:

…a role model for many people who today defend and celebrate the LGBTI community, both in Adelaide and beyond.

Rodney said:

He was always uplifting of others when they were down, able to find a path forward when others were confounded and keen to instil hope in those who had lost heart.

He continued:

His indefatigable optimism for the future and his perceptiveness about what is really happening today were always sources of inspiration and wisdom. With his passing Australia has lost an LGBTI human rights hero.

Ian was born in Unley on 21 December 1947 of a large family and was always a proud South Australian and Adelaidean. He was an outstanding educator who had a long and successful career as an English teacher, and many of his former students have been among those mourning his passing, but it his leadership and activism in and for South Australia's LGBTIQ communities over 30 years which will see him remembered fondly by so many.

Indeed, as reported by The Advertiser shortly after news of his death became public, he was often affectionately referred to as the godfather of Adelaide's gay community. His whimsy and drama in this moniker conferred upon him by his friends tell you so much about Ian himself and what he has meant to the LGBTIQ community for so long. It is an oblique and humorous reference to that most persistent of urban myths—the notion of a gay mafia that was secretly pulling strings when the prosaic truth was quite the reverse.

Ian was a consistent champion for equality, but he was also a true culture vulture, a real Renaissance man as it were. He was an avid historian and a man of letters, a thespian, a dramatist and a consummate impresario. He loved the arts and was the creator of acclaimed productions. His activism was always theatrical, and he is well remembered for his two musicals about Adelaide's LGBTIQ history: The Pink Files, playing on the notorious police surveillance of homosexuals, once commonplace in this state; and King of the West End, the story of the openly gay interwar Labor MP, Bert Edwards, and his later prosecution for homosexual offences.

Ian brought that same sense of theatre into every community role he performed. He was active in the seven-year fight to end the legal discrimination against same-sex couples in South Australia as part of the Let's Get Equal campaign, through which I first met him. Along with Matthew Loader, my staff and office, and a group of dedicated community members and several of my wonderful parliamentary colleagues, we worked with Ian to seek legislative recognition for equal superannuation rights for same-sex couples ahead of wider statutory reform. It is extraordinary to think that we only managed to achieve this in 2007, and even now, as we work in this chamber this week to do extra wonderful things, we still have much unfinished business.

Let's Get Equal was only one of Ian's contributions. He was a founding member of the Uranian Society, a cultural forum for gay men, and the lobby group Lesbian and Gay Community Action which was formed to counter political and social conservatism at the height of the AIDS epidemic. He was a board member of Gay and Lesbian Community Services for 18 years, doubling as the manager of the gay and lesbian community library. At the same time, he was a founding member of the revived Adelaide Pride March, held 30 years after the first pride march held at the height of the public debate about the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1973.

He was also an active contributor, curator and supporter of the Feast Gay and Lesbian Cultural Festival for 20 years. He was an inaugural member of the ministerial advisory council on gay and lesbian health and the SA Police Gay and Lesbian Liaison Committee, and a long-term member of the Parkstone Trust. Ian worked tirelessly to advance the cause of LGBTIQ communities and to fight discrimination, and he was one of only two people who have been honoured with membership of the Order of Australia for his services to that community. He was a state finalist for the Senior Australian of the Year in 2011.

It was a privilege to attend the celebration of his life at Centennial Park last Saturday with many hundreds of other mourners, including a number of current and former parliamentary colleagues, prominent South Australian academics and cultural icons, to celebrate his life and honour his legacy. Led by one of Ian's creations, Dr Gertrude Glossip, it was indeed a celebration. Ian and Will Sergeant collaborated to help Gertrude Glossip bring us her now famous heritage cultural walking tours of Adelaide's CBD held especially during the Feast festival.

A mentor to many and a much-loved and well-respected figure, I extend my condolences to Ian's husband of 25 years, Stephen Leahy, his family, his many close friends and all members of the LGBTIQ communities. May Ian's legacy continue to inspire us all.

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