Dr Leigh Boucher is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Archaeology and historian of both settler colonialism in the British world and gender and sexuality in Australia.  

Boucher has been at Macquarie University for 15 years. He took up a position at Macquarie following the completion of his PhD at the University of Melbourne and time in London on a research fellowship.  

---

1. What is your area of research and what made you choose this? 

My research spans a few different historical contexts and is centred on quite diverse topics including AFL, historical film, political life in the 1850s, gay and lesbian rights in the past 50 years as well as anthropologies of Indigenous Australians in the 19th century.  

These topics are driven by an attempt to think critically about how we understand human difference, examine how those understandings have changed over time, and consider how these understandings shape the organisation of rights in liberal democracies. 

2. Something you’d like staff to know about 

I am very excited to speak about the ‘History of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras’ at Macquarie in a few weeks. This is such a good example of the ways in which minorised communities have come together to contest the discriminations that limit their lives while also exploring how they might create new ways to understand themselves. 

3. A person you admire at Macquarie, and why 

The entire team at Cult in the Arts Precinct. Their coffee basically powers the Faculty of Arts. 

4. Something people usually ask you when they find out what you do for a living 

Do you get lonely in the archives? (They ask this because I clearly love a chat). 

5. Your definition of success 

As an historian, my definition of success is when research I have published makes someone think critically about the terms they use in everyday life in relation to gender, sexuality and race. 

6. Where you live and what you like about living there 

I live in Darlinghurst and I love it. I don’t think the people who live there realise how particular and unusual the neighbourhood is. Geographers talk about it as a ‘gaybourhood’ and there is something a bit special about living in a neighbourhood that is oriented and organised around gay life. During Mardi Gras it feels even more special – the sizzle in the air is palpable. 

7. A personal quality you value in others 

Trying to understand how others see and experience the world. 

8. The theme for WorldPride 2023 is Gather, Dream, Amplify, which is about recognising and addressing global equality and inclusion for the LGBTQIA+ community – what does this mean for you? 

I am really attached to the word ‘dream’ in that theme, it is really important. It is in the process of gathering together and encountering both our commonalities and our differences that it is possible to dream of different futures. We can dream of different ways to understand ourselves and the world around us. At its best, the politics of Pride doesn’t just ‘amplify’ existing voices and ways of understanding ourselves, it creates new ones. 

9. Tell us more about your lecture on the history of Mardi Gras – what has fascinated you about this topic? 

Mardi Gras is such an important event in the Australian Queer Calendar – it is known as Queer Christmas by many of its most regular participants. I am really fascinated by the ways in which this annual event creates a distinct space (and time) in which we can imagine a queer world. Take a walk around Darlinghurst on the day of the parade and you get a sense of how different that world might look. 

10. Is there anything else you would like to mention about WorldPride being hosted in Sydney? 

It’s not just parties (though these are great too). There is an incredible program of cultural events including film, plays, lectures, walking tours – the list is dizzying. Even if you don’t identify as part of the queer community, go and experience at least one thing on the program and lap up the ideas and atmosphere. 

---

Boucher will deliver a keynote address on ‘Parade, Protest and Pride: A (brief) History of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras’ at the Pride and Professionals Network and Learn on Wednesday 1 March, 12pm – 1.30pm in the Arts Function Centre (C122), Wallumattagal Campus, or via Zoom. Learn more.