Tasmanian gays have welcomed a belated Hobart City Council apology over a ban which led to what they say is still Australia's largest act of gay civil disobedience.
The council last night voted to apologise for banning a gay law reform stall at the Salamanca Market and ordering the arrest of its staff, 20 years ago.
The August 1988 ban led to 130 arrests during seven weeks of protests against the ban.
Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesman Rodney Croome today said the number of arrests made the protest Australia's largest single act of gay civil disobedience.
The council's apology was welcome, Mr Croome said.
"The arrests caused deep pain on both sides, and I expect a few tears to be shed when the apology is finally given", Mr Croome said.
"The apology will send out a positive message about Tasmania's maturity into a more inclusive society."
Two councillors, who were in office at the time of the ban, voted unsuccessfully last night against the apology.
Darlene Haigh and John Freeman defended their 1988 actions, saying the council was acting on legal advice and complaints from the community.
Homosexuality was not decriminalised in Tasmania until 1997.
The council will later this year, at a date to be set, hold a civic reception for the activists to publicly apologise for the ban and the arrests.
It will also endorsed a commemorative plaque and public art work to which it will contribute $15,000 and support a photographic exhibition to which it will contribute $3,000.
In August 1988, the newly-formed Tasmanian Gay Law Reform Group had established the stall to gather petition signatures and distribute information about decriminalising homosexuality, but a single complaint saw the stall closed.
When the group defied the ban, the council ordered police to arrest anyone staffing or supporting the stall, or found in possession of a gay law reform petition or a poster, sparking large-scale protests at the market and across the nation.
Over seven consecutive Saturday mornings, 130 arrests were made until the council backed down and allowed the stall on December 9 that year.
Tasmania in 2004 became the first Australian state to create a same-sex relationship registry.
It also could become the first jurisdiction to enable gay marriage if a Greens bill to be debated next month succeeds in state parliament.
