A gay man broke down and cried uncontrollably after visiting the police cell where he was brutally bashed after marching in Sydney’s first ever Mardi Gras.
In June 1978, Peter Murphy was one of 53 people who were arrested and thrown in the back of paddy wagons as police violently clashed with gay rights demonstrators on Oxford Street.
For the first time in almost 40 years, he visited the Darlinghurst police station holding cell where a police officer assaulted him when he was 25.
A gay man broke down and cried uncontrollably after visiting the police cell where he was brutally bashed after marching in Sydney’s first ever Mardi Gras in June 1978
‘I remember walking in through the door and the guy just turned me around and started punching me in the head,’ he told an SBS camera crew.
‘He punched me in the head all the way around the wall ’til the other wall and I collapsed and by the end my body was convulsing.’
Mr Murphy, who is regarded as a founder of Sydney’s annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, recalled how a constable watched as a more senior officer brutally bashed him.
‘He’s still alive,’ he said.
The assault in Sydney’s eastern suburbs occurred in an era when homosexuality was still illegal in New South Wales, along with four other states, and carried a maximum jail term of 14 years.
The premier at the time, Neville Wran, gave a robust defence of the police in the aftermath of the violent arrests, despite being a founder and former president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties before going into Labor politics.
While NSW police have marched in the Mardi Gras since 1998 and have recruited specialist gay and lesbian liaison officers, Mr Murphy wished there was a formal apology from them over the 1978 arrests.
No charges were even laid against the protesters but many of them lost their jobs and family ties after The Sydney Morning Herald published their names and addresses.
The arrests at the 1978 Mardi Gras in Sydney occurred in an era when homosexuality was still illegal in New South Wales and carried a maximum jail term of 14 years
For the first time in almost 40 years, Mr Murphy visited the Darlinghurst police station holding cell where a police officer assaulted him when he was 25.
While NSW police have marched in the Mardi Gras since 1998, Mr Murphy wished there was a formal apology from them over the 1978 arrests
‘If we could only get the police to admit that they made a big mistake and that they appreciate now what we achieved in 1978, that would make a huge, huge, huge difference,’ he said.
Mr Murphy’s visit to the police cells was broadcast on Sunday night as part of SBS’s coverage of Saturday night’s 2018 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which featured an interview with international popstar Cher.
The annual parade attracted 300,000 spectators, who turned out in fine weather to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Mardi Gras, and was the first since Australia legalised same-sex marriage in December.
It was also attended by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who had power of attorney over Neville Wran before he died in 2014.