Pat O’Hara OAM
Pat O 'Hara took pride in her role in forming the Queensland Association of Gay Law Reform (QAGLR) with Ted Kelk. Initially they published Queensland Gay Action News and lobbied Brisbane politicians from Cairns, but when Ted moved to Brisbane because of his health, and then the Brisbane branch of QAGLR took over the lobbying activities, Pat kept the home fires burning.
A lifelong activist, Pat formed the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) along with three other women in 1975. Based on a strong feminist foundation, WEL aspired to empower women in crisis to take charge of their lives. The group soon identified the need for a women’s shelter to provide a safe haven for desperate women fleeing domestic violence. The Bjelke-Petersen regime opposed women 's shelters, believing they led to the break-up of marriages and so Queensland boasted only two refuges, one in Brisbane, and one in Townsville. Aware that establishing a new shelter would require a lot of work WEL created a sub-committee to lobby for the shelter, and raise public awareness of the need, appointing Pat …show more content…
Pat remained on the Women 's Shelter Committee and guided the new venture in its formative years. During that time she met many gay and lesbian members of the community, and became increasingly concerned at the prejudice and discrimination directed towards them. " Gay people are no different to any body else," she said, "in the 1980’s gay people in Cairns needed support because of the enormous amount of discrimination. Most people would not know what a gay person looked like, let alone identify someone as gay. I couldn’t. I found out later that one of my sons was gay and I was so distressed that I had not been aware of his sexuality- not that he was treated any differently before or after he told me he was
Pat O 'Hara took pride in her role in forming the Queensland Association of Gay Law Reform (QAGLR) with Ted Kelk. Initially they published Queensland Gay Action News and lobbied Brisbane politicians from Cairns, but when Ted moved to Brisbane because of his health, and then the Brisbane branch of QAGLR took over the lobbying activities, Pat kept the home fires burning.
A lifelong activist, Pat formed the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) along with three other women in 1975. Based on a strong feminist foundation, WEL aspired to empower women in crisis to take charge of their lives. The group soon identified the need for a women’s shelter to provide a safe haven for desperate women fleeing domestic violence. The Bjelke-Petersen regime opposed women 's shelters, believing they led to the break-up of marriages and so Queensland boasted only two refuges, one in Brisbane, and one in Townsville. Aware that establishing a new shelter would require a lot of work WEL created a sub-committee to lobby for the shelter, and raise public awareness of the need, appointing Pat …show more content…
Pat remained on the Women 's Shelter Committee and guided the new venture in its formative years. During that time she met many gay and lesbian members of the community, and became increasingly concerned at the prejudice and discrimination directed towards them. " Gay people are no different to any body else," she said, "in the 1980’s gay people in Cairns needed support because of the enormous amount of discrimination. Most people would not know what a gay person looked like, let alone identify someone as gay. I couldn’t. I found out later that one of my sons was gay and I was so distressed that I had not been aware of his sexuality- not that he was treated any differently before or after he told me he was