item details
Gay Task Force; producer; September 1985; New Zealand
Overview
This poster advertised a protest march on 13 September 1985 against the upcoming presentation of the petition against the Homosexual Law Reform Bill at Parliament on 24 September.
During the passionately intense law reform debates of 1985-86, activists knew that in order to achieve decriminalisation and social acceptance, it was just as important to be seen protesting in the streets as it was to lobby and educate behind the scenes.
Ultimately, the Homosexual Law Reform Act was signed by the Governor-General on 11 July 1986 and came into effect on 8 August that year. The Act decriminalised sexual relations between men aged 16 and over.
Lambda symbol and design
The poster was designed by Neil Costelloe (1960-1990) for the activist group Gay Task Force during the Homosexual Law Reform campaign in 1985-86 (Costelloe died a few years later in London from AIDS-related causes).
It features entwined female symbols representing lesbianism, and the Greek letter lambda. In the context of chemistry and physics this symbol means the complete exchange of energy. It became the symbol of the gay rights movement in the 1970s (pre-dating the rainbow). In 1969/70, American graphic designer Tom Doerr selected the lambda to be the symbol of the New York chapter of the Gay Activists Alliance (formed in 1969). In December 1974, the lambda was officially declared the international symbol for gay and lesbian rights by the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland.