We Spoke To The Legend Behind The Greatest ‘Q&A’ Fashion Statement Of All Time
We're all happy little sodomites today.
Last night on Q&A, we were treated to a work of art. Some of the best moments in this cursed show take place when the camera cuts to the audience reaction, and on last night’s episode we got a glimpse of one audience member’s incredible shirt, which featured the Vegemite logo replaced with the word “sodomite” instead.
We trust you to know what sodomite means, but if you don’t probably don’t google it on your work computer. You’ve been warned.
you: Zaky Mallah's hat is the most iconic #qanda fashion item ever
me: pic.twitter.com/kNLRWVN0gZ
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) November 12, 2018
The fashion itself is tops, but the moment’s made even better by the stricken expression of the audience member in front, who looks like he’s just had a vision of a grim and foreboding future. Which I guess is what happens when you watch Q&A, hey?
Anyway, back to the great fashion: we spoke to the wearer of the shirt, Iz Connell, who said she decided to wear the shirt on Q&A to commemorate the approaching one-year anniversary of the postal survey Yes vote, and push back against some of the conservatism she saw in the panel.
“I saw how conservative three of the five panellists were, and noted that at least two of them were stridently anti-gay and vocal about opposing same-sex marriage during the survey period. It’s almost the first anniversary of the Yes vote,” she told Junkee.
“Sitting in the audience and hearing [Former Nationals leader John] Anderson mangle and decontextualise a Martin Luther King quote was really difficult. It was also quite upsetting hearing [Parnell] McGuinness immediately default to defending men when talking about sexual assault and harassment, instead of realising that that plays into the hands of the societal forces that allow that behaviour to continue.”
“I wasn’t expecting the shirt to make it on air, but when the producers were locating the questioners before we went on air and I was sitting directly behind the man asking the second question, I knew it’d be onscreen. It’s one of my favourite shirts and gets a lot of attention in public.”
Connell also shared the great story behind the shirt, which is actually a pretty iconic bit of queer history. The shirt’s a reference to the work of the Ethel Yarwood collective, which is famous for its work on Mardi Gras floats. The group has created a tonne of great float concepts over the years — you can see a list of them here.
The “happy little Sodomites” was a concept from Mardi Gras 2000, where a bunch of parade-goers dressed up as Vegemite jars that read “Sodomite” and sang a beautiful queer adaptation of the happy little Vegemite song (“we’re happy little sodomites, as queer as queer can be!”). The concept won the Mardi Gras award for Best Small Group Entrant in 2000, and you can see video of it below. Ethel also sells the shirts on Redbubble, if you’d also like to be a happy little sodomite.
Anyway, amidst all the bullshit of Q&A, let this be a moment of lovely queer joy for you.
“I’m glad my t-shirt brought some light entertainment to the whole spectacle,” Connell said, adding that she was also the one who made a fart noise when panellist Zed Seselja said ScoMo could win the next election. True hero.