Co-Convenor's Report

Secretary's Report

Campaigns Report

Events and Fundraising Report

Treasurer's Report

Auditor's Report

Summary of Achievements

Anti-Violence Project

Gay and Lesbian History Project

Thank you

ANNUAL REPORT 2000-2001

Events & Fundraising Report

For the second year, the Lobby's Events and Fundraising Committee has been enormously busy organising and taking part in some great events and fundraising activities.

The E&F Committee has been incredibly committed and gets a huge thank you from me for its dedication to making Lobby work fun, helping raise the profile of our work and raise funds along the way. The Committee volunteers this year have been Colin Redman, Anthony Hillis, Madeleine Macmahon, Suzie T, Shane Garland, Robert McGrory and our former E&F convenor, Alex Sosnov.

Once again, First Fleet (Harbour Party) and NiteGroove (Frisky Parties) are the Lobby's main sources of funding and we are extremely grateful to them. Funds from both organisations have ensured that the Lobby has been able to continue, and focus on, its primary objective of fighting for our social and legal rights.

Mardi Gras 2001 was especially busy for the Lobby. We were involved in a range of events starting with our second 'Launch Party' to celebrate the start of the Mardi Gras Festival. Although it didn't quite go as planned, it was a great night for everyone. It was originally organised as a cocktail and cabaret evening at Customs House, the venue of last year's party. Due to slow sales, however, we moved the party to the fabulous Stonewall Hotel rather than risk a loss in Lobby funds. The Stonewall kindly handed over its three-floors to the event. Our performers were tremendous. We are very thankful to the Australian Line Dancer Cloggers who had everyone clapping along and tapping their toes. "Don't cry for me Argentina" was without doubt the crowd's favourite. The gorgeous talents of Hilary Eternity and Candy Box had us all in stitches and rapture. Plus Luke Atkinson played some great music and had everyone dancing until well into the morning. We would also like to thank Yellowglen for sponsoring the evening and providing free champagne as people arrived. We will have a similar event next year to mark the start of Mardi Gras and hope you can all come along.

Fair Day is always one of my favourites. Many of you stopped by our stall this year to review our fact sheets, buy raffle tickets and fill out our first community survey. Fair Day was also our chance to unveil our fabulous Lobby tattoos - a very popular accessory for all. The community survey findings were interesting for the Lobby, showing that federal discrimination legislation, the community views discrimination in schools and violence as the critical issues. Most respondents also saw parenting, superannuation, age of consent, and workplace discrimination as important issues. The Lobby Committee considered this information at its planning day in May, and most of these key issues continue to be our focus.

The Lobby had a large presence at the always-popular Harbour Party produced by First Fleet. The weather was fantastic and we had people lining up to get their naked flesh tattooed with the Lobby logo at the entry to the Party. Lobby volunteers also kept the people queuing, to get in, busy by selling raffle tickets. Once again, Harbour Party is our major fundraising event. In addition to raffle ticket sales, we earned $30,000. The after party at Home Nightclub earned us a further $5000. A huge thanks to First Fleet and Home for their fantastic support.

Our Parade entry this year focussed on gay and lesbian parenting and other important issues. This helped raise the profile of parenting issues by building on the impact of the Mardi Gras lead float.

The Lobby was proud as always to be involved in the Frisky Parties produced by NiteGroove. These parties are always amazing nights and continue to be a great success for everyone who attends and for the Lobby's fundraising. A special thank you to NiteGroove and a happy 5th Birthday!

Shortly after the end of the Festival we drew the winners of the Lobby raffle. Which had an Olympic theme. We owe a very big thanks to all the people and organisations that donated prizes. Two times Olympic Gold Medallist, Kate Starr of the Hockeyroos, gave us a limited edition body suit signed by the 2000 team. In addition we raffled a portrait of boxer Paul Miller, donated by Sydney photographer Paul Freeman, and a magnum of Yellowglen sparkling wine, signed by Russian Gold Medal winning gymnast Svetlana Khorkina. Yellowglen and Stolli also donated some divine cocktail packs. We raised just over $2000 from this raffle.

Parenting has of course been a key social and legal rights issue for the Lobby in the past year. In October and November, we convened four consultations with gay and lesbian parents and prospective parents. The Campaigns committee did a fantastic job on the resulting parenting report. The launch for the report was held as a fun family partnership event with the Rainbow Babies. On Sunday 6 May, Mums, Dads and a number of children and young people got together at the Metropolitan Community Church hall in Petersham. The sight of Lobby committee members outlining the report's results with kids crawling around their feet was a change for the Lobby and a great sight. A delicious selection of food and drinks were provided thanks to Colin Redman, a committed member of our Events and Fundraising committee. Despite the on again, off again torrential rain some of the kids and their parents strolled down to the park for rides on Alf and Benny, two completely adorable Shetland ponies.

Stonewall Pride Week is held each year in June to commemorate the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising at New York City's Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall Hotel hosts a week of great community activities in June. The Lobby was very proud to be part of the Stonewall Pride Week organising committee and held two great events this year. The first was another of our community forums. With the theme 'Outvote - Does Size Matter?' The forum focused on whether we should abandon the major political parties for the minor ones. We were very fortunate to have excellent and entertaining guest speakers - Paul Van Reyk, Jennifer Wilson and Antony Green. Our moderator, Bridget Haire, did an equally wonderful job. The agreement reached was that while we vote on more than just gay and lesbian issues, those issues cannot be ignored. The second floor of the Stonewall was packed and many stayed on after the forum closed to discuss the issues in more detail.

We also hosted a great party event called 'Outloud - Tribute to the DJ'. It was a fun night of music and celebration, featuring a bevy of local DJs who generously donated their services. We are very grateful to Anthony Hillis for organising and making Outloud a success. Special thanks to the Stonewall Hotel and in particular Aaron Elias for his help and support during the week.

Special thanks to Alex Sosnov for all her hard work as Events and Fundraising Convenor for most of the year. Alex left the position to take on the acting role as Lobby's Female Convenor in May and her contribution to events and fundraising till that time was enormous.

I look forward to a fantastic and eventful year ahead.

Nikki Maloney
Events and Fundraising Convenor