# @pinknews on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DM9mXp8vjol
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/32964473-pinknews-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/995d877e04.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-08-05T06:01:10.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** PinkNews (@pinknews) — https://gondola.cc/pinknews

## Caption

Tasmania’s first out gay Labor senator, Josh Dolega, gave his maiden speech on 30 July, using the opportunity to “give a sense of hope” to young queer people wanting to enter politics.

Addressing the Senate, he said his responsibilities were not lost on him. He went on to open up about his own experience as a young queer person, revealing that he “experienced some tough times” for being who he was and admitted that “there were times when I wondered if I’d ever find someone to love and to love me back.”

Dolega also addresses the state’s journey from having “the worst laws in the country” for LGBTQIA+ people to “the best” — crediting generations of grassroots activism and community determination for that change.

“My state was the last to decriminalise homosexuality and the only state to criminalise cross-dressing. And it’s hard to imagine, in this time where RuPaul’s Drag Race is an international phenomenon, that such laws ever existed,” he told Parliament.

#queernews #lgbtqia #tasmania #joshdolega

## Stats

- **Views:** 8,494
- **Likes:** 1,195
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- **Comments:** 12

## Tags

tasmania, lgbtqia, joshdolega, queernews

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