He was named Tasmanian Australian of the year in 2015 but activist Rodney Croome, AM, says he finally feels he belongs in the place he still calls home after last week's landmark vote on marriage equality.
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Mr Croome spent his childhood on a farm near Sheffield “in a very tight-knit community with a strong sense of place and a strong sense of belonging” but the North-West Coast was considered one of the most homophobic regions in the country.
He left to go to university in Hobart and at 24 was arrested at Salamanca Market as he campaigned for Tasmania to decriminalise sex between men in private, which didn’t happen until 1997.
“I came out a time when most LGBTI people born in Tasmania would leave or if they stayed they’d keep their heads down. There was only one publicly gay person in Tasmania and it was Bob Brown,” Mr Croome said.
“It was difficult to say I’m gay and I want to be treated with the same dignity as everyone else and treated equally under the law.”
Today it marks a week since the emotion-charged moment he knew his region, along with his state and country emphatically voted yes to marriage equality.
The sense of relief is still audible in his voice. The reason for him personally is connected to his North-West roots and the change in attitudes.
“This is all about home, all about belonging, all about family,” Mr Croome said. “I don't want anyone to feel as isolated and alone as I did when I was growing up as a young gay man on the North-West Coast. I'm hopeful the local postal survey result sends a message to all young LGBTI people that their community is on their side and they don't have to suffer in silence.
“The Braddon and broader Tasmanian results send the message to the rest of the nation that we have moved on from our dark past, that our reputation for backwardness is unfair, and that we are an increasingly tolerant and inclusive community.
“The postal survey was difficult for many LGBTI people because prejudice was given the biggest stage it has ever had.
“I'd like to see the $20 million saved on the projected cost of the postal survey to be spent on support services for LGBTI people across the nation.”
Mr Croome said one of his primary motivations in his three decades as an activist was to ensure all LGBTI people, himself included felt they could belong in the place that shaped them.
“Kentish and the North-West Coast shaped me...it felt like last week's survey result...fulfilled the promise made to me when I was a child that I had a people and a place. It said I didn’t have to flee in order to be free.”
Mr Croome is happy to reflect on how Tasmania returned a 63.6 per cent yes vote higher than the national average of 62 per cent, with the vote highest in Denison at 73.8 per cent and while lowest in Braddon, at 54 per cent he’s pleased with that.
“I’ve heard some people express dismay at the result in Braddon and my response was to remind them only a few years ago when the Australia Institute did a survey of attitudes around the country electorate by electorate, Braddon came in near the bottom. Braddon was amongst those electorates in regional Queensland that voted no last week and yet Braddon has moved up the list to return a strong yes vote on marriage equality.
“It shows the North-West Coast has moved on from a time when there were anti-gay rallies and prominent public figures said some pretty horrible things about LGBTI people.”
When the postal survey was announced at a rally in Hobart, Mr Croome’s call to action to the crowd was to ‘call your cousins’ to make sure they all vote yes.
“It was a bit of a tongue in cheek Tasmanian appeal but I did, I called my cousins, many live on the North-West Coast and I’m really happy so many said yes.”
Mr Croome said the Tasmanian result had given him the greatest joy.
“Back in the ‘90s the world voted Tasmania least likely to succeed on LGBTI equality because we were the last state to decriminalise homosexuality and to adopt anti-discrimination laws,” he said.
“There was quite a bit of hatred expressed publicly and yet here we have a national survey which showed support for marriage equality in Tasmania was above the national average and if you look at state results Victoria won gold and we were equal silver medallists with Western Australia.”
Now he and partner Rafael Manzanilla are talking marriage plans.
“My partner and I would like to get married. It probably won’t be straight away...but it is something we would like to do down the track,” Mr Croome said.
If he gets his way it would be held in the North-West but his partner also likes Tasmania’s East Coast.
“It could be a battle of the coasts,” Mr Croome laughs.
He said many same sex couples are still processing the fact it might happen and waiting until marriage equality legislation is passed.
Mr Croome said religious freedom is a very “important underpinning of our society but not to the extent it legitimises discrimination against other people”.
“I fear people like (Federal Treasurer) Scott Morrison want to see continued discrimination under the cover of religious freedom.
“That’s not what Australians voted for they voted for equality for everyone under the law. I don’t believe it’s right to bring issues of freedom of conscience into the debate on marriage equality legislation. It’s a separate issue and I’d be more than happy for it to be dealt with next year as a separate issue.”
