Iain Clacher
 Salamanca Markets in 1988. Photo: Roger Lovell
The council also voted to commemorate the event with a $15,000 contribution to a plaque and public art work and a $3,000 contribution toward a photographic exhibition. The council will also host a civic reception at which the apology will be delivered.
Six of the council’s 12 aldermen voted in favour of the apology.
Councillors John Freeman and Darlene Haigh voted against the apology, while two others were absent. Lord Mayor Rob Valentine did not take part in the debate as his parents run a stall at Salamanca and could be seen to have a pecuniary interest in the issue.
Freeman and Haigh, who both served on the council at the time of the arrests, continue to maintain the ban was justified.
Freeman told council the ban was “medically correct” because of HIV/AIDS, while Haigh said it would have been a “dereliction of duty” not to ban the stall as homosexuality was illegal at the time.
However, in a passionate speech Deputy Mayor Eva Ruzicka reminded council that Freeman and Haigh were not the only councillors involved in the Salamanca melee.
“I was there,” she said, “but as someone who was arrested.”
Ruzicka told Evolution Online she would “do everything possible” to convince Freeman and Haigh to take part in the conciliation process.
“I will do everything I can to convince them,” Ruzicka said. “Without them, it won’t be perfect, but then nothing is perfect.”
Chairing the debate, Ruzicka said she could have paid a high price for her arrest at Salamanca 20 years ago.
“It was on the news. My employers found out, and my job was under threat as I was a legal secretary at the time. My partner was quite homophobic, so it was an interesting time for everyone. My mother has only recently found out about it.”
Ruzicka also spoke about the affect of the saga on council officers and police.
“Council officers underwent enormous stress. Many didn’t know how to handle it. They never understood what it was like to have people chanting at you and you had to arrest them. They were just doing what the council had ordered them to do.”
Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesperson Rodney Croome said the apology will help reconcile those who were involved in the arrests and send out a positive message about how much Tasmania has changed.
"The arrests caused deep pain on both sides, and I expect a few tears to be shed when the apology is finally given," Croome said.
"The apology will send out a positive message about Tasmania's maturity into a more inclusive society.
"It will also remind us that human rights, and human rights defenders, deserve respect, no matter how contentious the issue at stake."
Croome said he regrets that Freeman and Haigh voted against an apology, but added this will not diminish the apology's importance.
"This is not about individual councillors, but about the city as a whole making amends to those of its citizens it targeted, and those of its staff members it put in the firing line."
Ruzicka said homophobia had been “virulent” in the Tasmania of the 1980s, but that there had been much positive change in the years since.
“It’s funny little island,” Ruzicka said. “We might be tiny, we might be insular, but some of the most wonderful human rights and environmental things happen in this state.”
The official apology is due to be delivered during Human Rights Week in early December.
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form