MAGazine

Hi Guys and welcome to a hallmark in gay   history, the 17th Anniversary of MAG.

(Below is the speech I prepared for our MAG Meeting on

13 Sept)

 Well, it will be 17 years in September since I founded MAG the Mature Age Gay Men’s Group.  What a trip!  And how MAGnificent it has been to have interacted with so many outstanding guys who have helped form a family for all of us survivors of the 60’s and 70’s era of sexual liberation and then the 80’s and 90’s when we were devastated by a microbial monster, just 100 nanometers across, the greatest biological scourge ever to plague a minority.

 But here we still are, having lost many of our ilk…not only to AIDS but also to the    decrepitation and travails that we all in our time will eventually succumb to.

But isn’t it grand to know that we need not be alone.  That there is a place to come to and share and be supported.  That there are people who care and indeed cater to us.

That there is someone to call on us when we are sick, in trouble or just lonely.

That there are multi-talented wonder men who continue to donate their time and      efforts to assure that the efficacy of MAG that has made it one of the largest gay       organisation in Australia and indeed in the entire world catering to the needs and    concerns of the mature gay and bi-sexual male, continues to flourish beyond our finite existence. And this evening is proof of that indeed.

 And yes, there is the inestimable availability of being hugged and solaced and to know that I am you and you are me, and together we are one.

 There are many things that I am proud of in my life.  I won’t be egotistical in citing them ad infinitum, but along with having been instrumental through the Continental Baths in the changing of the laws against homosexuality in New York City in 1972, which saw us no longer as criminals; and then, when homosexuality was removed from the American Medical Association’s list of pathological disorders in 1974, and we were no longer depraved – along with that… is having founded MAG!                         And so I pay tribute to all of those tireless volunteers, all too numerous to     mention, who have made it all possible.  And then to ACON, under whose         umbrella we have been protected and secure all these many years.

And of course our fabulous invited guests of the evening amongst whom are

the incredible Justice Michael Kirby, Stevie Clayton CEO of ACON… and you!

The entire GLBT Community!  

Thank you……….Steve Ostrow

And now in the great MAG tradition I ask that we all stand up and spread our love to each other in great bear hugs THANK YOU...let the games begin!!

Love Steve