The Same Same 25 Announced - The 25 Most Influential Gay and Lesbian Australians

Local News, By Tim D, 10th October, 2007

In an Australian first, SameSame.com.au last night announced the 25 Most Influential Gay & Lesbian Australians at an event held at the Art Gallery of NSW. What have been nicknamed ‘the Gaylies’ by the mainstream media, the list comprised the likes of pop singer Darren Hayes, musical theatre star iOTA and one of the greatest sportswomen that Australia has produced Hockeyroo Alyson Annan.

The event saw an honest and at times emotional speech from modern day cowboy Adam Sutton that had a crowd including Senior Sergeant Joy Murphy of Victoria Police, Justice of the High Court of Australia Michael Kirby, Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull and lesbian mum and author from Playschool Viki Harding silent and transfixed for ten minutes. Co-founder of Same Same, Tim Duggan says: “A list like this has been a long time coming. Australia is now at a stage where we see gay and lesbian people having a huge amount of influence in lots of different fields. The Same Same 25 is a fascinatingly diverse list of people from all walks of life with one thing in common – they exert a large influence over their chosen profession.”

The 25 were publicly nominated over the course of four weeks, supported by a national media campaign in the gay and lesbian press. Hundreds of nominations were received, sifted through and considered by the eight selected judges, one of which is TV personality Andrew Mercado who also
hosted last night’s event. “It’s a real honour to be involved with the Same Same 25,” says Andrew. “I think it’s really important to have positive gay role models out there. It’s also important for straight people to see gay people excelling in their fields. And of course, it’s great for young gay people out there to have something to aspire to.”

All the members of the 25 are unanimously thrilled at being on the list. It’s a diverse list, a list covering a broad range of ages, locations and fields of endeavour. There are some names people will already know, some others that they won’t but will now – and it’s sure to spark plenty of debate.

To view who made it into the Same Same 25 for 2007, and vote for who you think is the most influential, click here.

Your Thoughts

Christian Taylor

said ages ago

remember folks - the fluidity of the term influential - we've said it all along - a big influence over a large number of people or an important influence over a small number of people. it's about showing a diverse list that shines a spotlight on issues and sparks debate. i think dr ron is the perfect example of this... positive change happening at grassroots level.

sally88

said ages ago

Hello everyone, As one of the judges I would like to say thank you for all the support. We have copped a little grief over the list in some respects but as Tim said, we expected and welcomed the discussion over the inclusions on the list. It was extremely important to us that we included people from many different fields and sectors as more often than not we tend to focus on certain groups both within our community and throughout the wider community. All comments are gladly received. Thanks again guys. Sally Horrobin Sydney Star Observer

chad_74

said ages ago

yes I agree alan jones should of been included....perhaps we could remove bob brown...

sally88

said ages ago

Hi Chad, the list applies to people who are 'out and proud.'

peeter

said ages ago

and Alan Jones is simply famous, not someone who would personally motivate me or is influential within our community. I was shocked that Ian Roberts wasn't included? Then again I'm not sure how influential he is now. I guess if he was a spokesman for the GLBT community - speaking to large organisations about the hardships/discrimination of our community, maybe he would of been recognised. Some of the stories of the 25 are amazing. Can't wait to see the list next year! Nice work Same Same.

Ronny

said ages ago

To Chad74 and Peeter. The expression is "he would have" not "he would of". I appreciate people correcting my grammatical gaffes soI hope you do too. If you don't then heaven help the English language and communication in general.

chad_74

said ages ago

Cheers Ronny....another subject To those complaining about not having enough women included...What the ####? Stop feeling inferior . Men dont treat women as being unequal so lose the chip. Perhaps to pander to these people next time it could be 12 most influential gay men and 12 most influential gay women(I didnt use lesbian as its gender bias)

DrRon

said ages ago

The Peter Principle That expression has been kicking around my head ever since John Howard announced last month that if reelected he would hand over to Peter Costello and I don�t mean to be overtly partisan; in fact I have no particular party preference. Devoutly voting for one party is for me much like barracking for the same football team: you may be loyal but invariably the team you choose will eventually disappoint. A leadership handover or not, it seems inevitable there will be a change of government on Election Day November 24th. For a long time, the opinion polls have been showing the fan base of the incumbent has eroded significantly. Yet many commentators have been scratching their heads about this. They can�t understand why because when the economy is strong governments don�t usually lose office. Instead they say this election is different to others. Hugh Mackay, for example, a respected columnist recently wrote that �this is an unusual election [because] the economy seems robust.� I can�t be the economy, and instead offers the explanation that Australians are abandoning the government because now they are �waking up�this is a retrospective election: we're re-thinking some stuff we let slip by while we were in our little trance... many Australians who have felt powerless will want to punish this Government for sins long past�; perhaps but I doubt Australians were just snoozing and skipping retribution for some later election. I also doubt that because it still remains true today that when the economy sours so too does a government�s support base: �it�s the economy stupid�. This time is no different. Outside of the Resource related sectors, the economy is not nearly as robust as many say it is; as http://www.econoclast.com.au revealed in regular Updates. Excluding the impact of the resources boom, the economy is well-below average. If there is a change of government, then it probably is due to the economy and the way it has been managed, or moreover, hasn�t been managed. That returns me to my theme of the Peter Principle. The main reason for the economy souring is bad monetary policy, including not stopping house price inflation in the early 2000s and especially the last four rate rises which were unnecessary. These four hikes came because the Reserve Bank (RBA) erroneously believes low unemployment causes inflation; that�s a myth. The RBA has used the cover of several spikes in food and fuel prices as an excuse to quickly raise the cash rate; and they may well use that reason again if the next CPI due October 24th is above their trigger point (see Flying by the seat of their pants http://econoclast.com.au/docs/archive2007/Seat_Pants_hjt56.pdf ). The problem with raising rates when there hasn�t been inflation is that it risks overkill resulting in an economic downturn or worse. The economy and the government�s support soured after the first of the banana-inspired rate rises in May 2006. The Peter Principle is applicable in several areas. Let me consider just two: firstly you can argue that these four rate rises could have been avoided if the government had continued micro-economic �reform� and secondly if they had better oversight of the RBA. For example if the government had deregulated banana imports, a simple micro-economic reform, after Cyclone Larry in March 2006, not only would bananas but also other fruit that became substitutes would not have risen nearly as much. Many items in the CPI would have been more contained and the RBA would have had fewer chances to sneak in their rate rises. More importantly however, if the government had been better at overseeing the enactment of monetary policy rather than allowing the internal managers to run it, the myth that low unemployment causes inflation might have been exposed; and the �Housing Crisis� (the after effect of house price inflation) avoided. The RBA obtained independence in the 1980s long before formal agreements were initiated but independence does not mean lack of oversight. It has been 18 years since an �outsider� was brought into run the central bank. While internal promotion creates stable career paths, the Peter Principle is not necessarily the most effective way to manage an economy or to run a country. Ominously the alternative government Labor promises to maintain �RBA independence�. While I wish good luck to all candidates, I suspect it is the rest of us who will need it the most and long after Election Day has past. For regular economic and market Updates go to http://econoclast.com.au/subscribe-now.html. Any information contained in this posting or conclusions made, whether express or implied, do not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs of an individual and does not constitute investment advice or an investment recommendation.

Christian Taylor

said ages ago

there's no denying that alan jones is influential - the only thing keeping him off the list is that he's not out.

pinkyboisyd

said ages ago

Dr Ron - did u perhaps mean for this to be a new post....?

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