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Kim Kemmis

@kimkemmis.bsky.social
386 followers 145 following 233 posts

Historian/writer. Bi. PhD USyd. Social history of opera & history of sexuality. ADHD/ASD. Conversion therapy survivor.

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Reposted by Kim Kemmis
RevDaniel @revdaniel.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Watching the culture wars over Christmas heating up on social media. No one gets angrier about “not being allowed to celebrate Christmas ” than a completely secular white person who never attends church, couldn’t accurately tell you the Nativity Story, and who’s favourite carol is “Rudolph”. 🙄
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Kenny Logins @kennylogins.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Unwinder
@unwinder.bsky.social
Generative Al has helped me to understand why, in Star Wars, the droids seem to have personalities but are generally bad at whatever they're supposed to be programmed to do, and everyone is tired of their shit and constantly tells them to shut up
May 10, 2025 at 1:21 AM
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Libby from Biscuit @thisisbiscuit.org.uk · 26/09/2026
"I’m not some oblivious wife desperately trying to convince herself that her gay husband is actually into women. I see the evidence with my own eyes".
queerty.com
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Just decided the male equivalent of 'work wife' is 'boulot bro'. (Now working on non-binary version.)
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Moving house lament #528: They say, 'Don't sweat the small stuff', but they don't have to pack the small stuff.
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Rodney Croome @rodneycroome.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It was a privilege to be in Parliament today with these fine folks for the tabling of the Tasmanian Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill 2026. More on the bill: ymlp.com/zPMEDH Show your support here: equalitytasmania.org.au/end-conversi...
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Goodnews @goodnews.computer · 04/09/2026
Take a break from being depressed that everything you love is being destroyed by slop for a moment and let me tell you about the beautiful symbiotic relationship between graffiti writers, train yard workers, and model train enthusiasts.
A hand holding a model train with a replica of the same graffiti on the full scale train car behind it.A model train with two graffiti pieces on opposite sides.
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Getty @gettymuseum.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Archivists organize, preserve, and manage all kinds of important cultural and historic material, and their work inevitably involves lots of smart and long-lasting storage solutions. Here are their ratings of the card file box 🗃️ emoji.
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Fahad Ali @fahad-s-ali.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
["I keep thinking if children become antisemitic, racist, it makes it easier for them to pick on the next group, after the Jews. No one is immune."] This is precisely the right position. We cannot exceptionalise some forms of racism. They are all connected. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...
abc.net.au
'Where is our morality?' Holocaust survivor's warning to Australians
Current and future generations are learning about antisemitic atrocities through the voices of Holocaust survivors, like Mark Spigelman.
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Movies Silently @moviessilently.bsky.social · 31/07/2024
"I Noticed That You Mentioned Silent Films So I Wanted to Come Over and Explain a Film I am Sure You Have Never Seen Called METROPOLIS" by Berthold Woltze
Man annoying woman on train
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ECT Scotland @endconversiontherapy.scot · 04/08/2026
Our analysis of the UK Conversion Practices bill remains the same. It is insufficient and, in fact, if passed in its current form it would actively damage the fight against conversion practices. The Scottish Government must proceed with its own far more comprehensive and well-designed bill.
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Heavenofhorror.com @heavenofhorror.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
LEVITICUS is an LGBTQ+ horror movie about the brutal impact of religious conversion therapy. Also, it’s a beautiful love story. It has elements of movies as diverse as It Follows and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. I was completely mesmerized throughout. Read our full Leviticus movie review!
heavenofhorror.com
Leviticus – Movie Review (4/5)
The post Leviticus – Movie Review (4/5) appeared first on Heaven of Horror.
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
A piece of research I have been doing for a very long time - the adventures of Count Ercole and Contessa Nance Filippini, opera pioneers in 1920s and 1930s Australia. Amazing people. open.substack.com/pub/kimkemmi...
open.substack.com
Opera in strange places: the companies of Count Ercole and Nance Filippini
Before the post-WWII period opera in Australia was maintained, as an artform, by touring companies.
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Sure, Ted had his issues, but Sylvia would have been a challenge.
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stimparoo.bsky.social @stimparoo.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Odysseus was “a complicated man” but so was Shaft. 😸
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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
There is a lot to say about the Nolan Odyssey movie. But one point that I think has not been emphasized enough is: this is a film about living in LA, as Nolan, my erstwhile British compatriot and age mate, has done for years. I gather it’s a strange place.
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(The Lesser Known) Luke Wilson @lukeslamdunkwilson.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
🚨 SHAME-SEX ATTRACTION’s most recent review is now out! 🚨 I am so grateful for Cody Sanders’ thoughtful and generous review in Christian Ethics Today of my new anthology. Here it is! 💜
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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
The @wearequeeraf.com article about Labour’s viciously anti-trans schools “guidance” is quite clearly intended to very seriously harm trans children. In my view it constitutes a form of Ambient Conversion Therapy. Many, many times worse than Section 28 www.wearequeeraf.com/understand-t...
Speaking to QueerAF Dr Natacha Kennedy, lecturer in Educational Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London said "The government's new schools guidance is not about protecting trans children, it institutionalises the practices that research shows causes them harm. In my view the government's schools guidance constitutes a form of 'Ambient Conversion Therapy' by embedding systemic pressures that will undermine trans children's identities and
wellbeing 24/7. It will increase minority stress and make their lives much harder."
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
A shipwreck, a medal and a set of ugly bookcases: what do these have to do with the University of Sydney? An expanded version of a piece I wrote a few years ago. kimkemmis.substack.com/p/the-sinkin...
kimkemmis.substack.com
The sinking of the S.S. London
In 2022 as part of my day job I did some research into the history of one of our School’s prizes, the Nicholson Medal.
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Omar Sakr @omarsakr.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Happy birthday to my wife who is not on here but I am sharing this anyway because where I go so too must my love
Birthday Poem
Beloved, as you rose in the hospital next to our wounded sun I was home wiping our baby moon clean of shit & regretting as I always do, any day that begins with us apart.
What can I tell you other than the obvious? Yes, I should have written this on any other morning with time and the kind of deep consideration poets are romanticised for—alas, here we are, breaking our hands and backs to raise heavenly bodies. I'm walking past clucking chickens in a mist
-shrouded street, cool and lovely, with tired lines shuffling along beside me, the pram, the freshly dressed moon.
I wonder what the breakfast tray holds for you, and hope it's a boiled egg and crusty hashbrown, the best of the lot.
We've already texted each other how we survived the night but I still can't wait for you to come home and repeat it.
The park is ahead of me and through the mist (or is it a fog?) I can see the grass. People are always saying we should touch grass, and no one ever says, but what about the pesticides?
They must not have sensitive skin, like us. I know they mean it as a way to reconnect with the world, what's real. Fuck the grass. All I need to do is touch you.
@omarsakrpoet
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Alastair Lawrie @alastairlawrie.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Targeting only one form of hatred at a time is a mistake. Hatred against Jewish people, and Muslim people, and First Nations people, and LGBTIQ+ people, and people with disabilities, and women, must all be confronted.
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Excellent thread on just some of the problems with the proposed UK bill on conversion practices.
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Libby from Biscuit @thisisbiscuit.org.uk · 23/06/2026
“Bi+ Australians are the largest population group in the LGBTQ+ community, yet their experiences have been consistently overlooked [...] Our findings reflect a diverse and engaged population. However, across many measures, bi+ people experience poorer sexual health and wellbeing outcomes.”
unsw.edu.au
Australia’s first study of bi+ people’s sexual health uncovers critical gaps
The national survey of 2100 bi+ people – which includes identities like bisexual, pansexual, queer and fluid – provides crucial information to inform better health policy and services.
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Omar Sakr @omarsakr.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
New poem about the primary kind of friendship I have these days while raising my kids.
Meme, beloved

There are memes about memes, and memes about friendships that have become the sending back and forth of memes, and I send those to you too, each one a memento —holy fuck is that where the word comes from, am I just now getting that? Surely only the prophet's been higher than me right now, PBUH— okay, each one's a miniature window into an interior place, into a thought & feeling & shape, into culture, into our relationship's space-time, and it's not that deep, just a distraction while I shit or weep or curl up on the cot in the hospital next to my sleeping son, but it's also that deep and more, a trans-dimensional shift from here to there, direct to your hands, or, knowing you might not see it for 3-6 days, at least a wanting of that, a record of desire. These moving rows of hieroglyphs I send you each day are timestamps of every moment I wished you were next to me our heads tipped all the way back, laughing ourselves sick.
@omarsakrpoet
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Kateration @kateration.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Someone has been projecting images all over D.C. “It’s swampier than ever.” The Kennedy Center one is pretty hilarious. 😂😂😂
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parademag.bsky.social @parademag.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Leviticus transforms conversion therapy into a terrifying supernatural nightmare, delivering a powerful and unsettling queer horror story. Read the full review at the link below. bit.ly/4xFI5mj
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
The opinions of people who say governance when they mean management are not worth attention.
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I support Somali-Americans @adamrothman.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
The only acceptable use of Claude
Claude Rains in Casablanca
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
A new Substack post, talking about the conference session from hell, and Colin MacInnes’s interesting, infuriating and entertaining 1973 book about bisexuality, Loving Them Both. open.substack.com/pub/kimkemmi...
open.substack.com
Colin MacInnes and the conference from hell
A few years ago I gave a paper in an online conference, of bisexual scholars studying bisexuality.
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Jay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
We all have the ability to make the world a better place, each in our own way. I think it's fair to say that Anthony Head knew this, recognised it, and did far more than most to live up to the opportunities his fame afforded him in order to put good into this world whenever and wherever he could.
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Libby from Biscuit @thisisbiscuit.org.uk · 03/06/2026
"The host warmly introduced me as a bisexual Christian author and pastor, then added: “And he is in a straight marriage.”"
broadview.org
Why bisexual Christians still feel unseen in affirming congregations | Broadview Magazine
Churches need to rethink the assumptions around belonging itself, a Winnipeg pastor argues
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Rodney Croome @rodneycroome.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Tasmania was one of the first states to debate a ban on conversion practices but is yet to pass one and is now lagging behind. It’s time to act. Here’s Tasmanian survivor, Glen Worrell, in yesterday’s NW Advocate.
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Had a historian moment today. Saw a reference to 'drinking the Kool Aid' and got annoyed because they actually used Flavor Aid.
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Bisexual Brunch @bisexualbrunch.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
And we’re top of the #LGBT rankings again. Thanks @_feedspot for putting us no.1 in a list of 100 lgbt podcasts to listen to in 2026. thanks to all our lovely #bisexual listeners worldwide
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Libby from Biscuit @thisisbiscuit.org.uk · 26/05/2026
"Nearly three-quarters of gay and lesbian people are “out” to family and friends, but fewer than a third of bisexual people are, leaving them isolated and unsupported. Kyle was a brilliant, sensitive young man, yet what he wanted more than anything was to fit in as one of the guys"
huffpost.com
My Son Called Me And Shared An Unexpected Secret. What Followed Was The Worst Tragedy Of My Life.
"Despite all his outrageous, attention-seeking behavior, my son guarded his one secret closely."
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Up now on Substack! Part 3 of the Frank Rigo story, or How the first all-Australian opera company was taken over by the corporation (the Firm, actually). kimkemmis.substack.com/p/frank-rigo...
kimkemmis.substack.com
Frank Rigo's musical dawn (part three)
The first Australian opera company
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Matt Bishop 🏳️‍🌈 🏁 @thebishf1.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
The trans agenda is now a political hot potato but the truth is it’s just trans people asking to keep the rights they used to have without much issue, until right-wingers began to try to take them away & a surprising number of apparently moderate folk decided that some of that was reasonable. (2/4)
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Stop Conversion Therapy / Sogice / Ecosig @conversiontherapy.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Let's look more broadly at the environment of sexual abuse of authority that former conversion therapy movement leader Alan Chambers merely exemplifies. 🧵1/5
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
I was thinking A Clockwork Orange, but realised that would be like reading Twitter.
Ad for The Living Library: 'Talk directly to the consciousness of your favorite book.'
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Part two of my account of Frank Rigo's opera adventure is up at kimkemmis.substack.com/p/frank-rigo... More goodies from the back catalogue to come...
kimkemmis.substack.com
Frank Rigo's musical dawn (part two)
The first Australian opera company
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, Fred and Scrappy Doo.
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Have posted a rough, non-academic version of some work I had in process when my uni pulled my affiliation. It deals with Frank Rigo’s opera company of 1919, the first attempt to put together a truly Australian opera company, which doesn’t get the attention it should. Link to part 1 ...
kimkemmis.substack.com
Frank Rigo's musical dawn (part one)
The first Australian opera company
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Have posted a rough, non-academic version of some work I had in process when my uni pulled my affiliation. It deals with Frank Rigo’s opera company of 1919, the first attempt to put together a truly Australian opera company, which doesn’t get the attention it should. Link to part 1 ...
kimkemmis.substack.com
Frank Rigo's musical dawn (part one)
The first Australian opera company
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Great thread, especially if you're Australian.
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Bernard Zuel @bernardzuel.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Alert for every dope dealer, mung bean retailer and crystal seller in the country. #itsthenewsoporific
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DNA @dnamagazine.com · 30/04/2026
Vale David Malouf, The Gay Australian Author Who Gave Us “Johnno” And “Ransom” Australian literature lost one of its defining voices on Wednesday, 22 April 2026, when David Malouf died peacefully at a Gold Coast hospital after a short illness. He was 92. His publisher, Penguin Random House…
dnamagazine.com.au
Vale David Malouf, The Gay Australian Author Who Gave Us “Johnno” And “Ransom”
Australian literature lost one of its defining voices on Wednesday, 22 April 2026, when David Malouf died peacefully at a Gold Coast hospital after a short illness. He was 92. His publisher, Penguin Random House Australia, confirmed the news, calling him a giant whose work will continue to shape the country long after his death. Malouf was a Brisbane-born poet, novelist, and essayist whose books reshaped how Australians wrote and read about themselves for more than half a century.
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Omar Sakr @omarsakr.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
A special fuck you to Dymocks as well, who have been instrumental in this farce. Pulling stock and refusing to sell books featuring an illustrator because he wrote a blog that, at worst, was insensitive. But don’t worry, you can still buy pedophile Cardinal George Pell’s books from them
Dymocks, the country's largest bookstore chain, ordered that stock of Matt Chun's existing work be removed from their stores. CEO David Allen declared that they wouldn't stock any future work from him as well. "The Bondi tragedy is heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking, and something that should never have happened, and as we communicated, we are constantly reviewing our offering to ensure our Brand is representing the expectations of our customers," Mr Allen told Sky News. "We are doing our best to stay alert to the connections that any literature has had to this terrible tragedy and to respond accordingly, and the steps we have taken with Matt Chun or any other sensitive literature is as a result of this."
This is genuinely astounding and entirely insane - it is the first time a major retailer has waded into the genocidal fray.
They represent over 20% of bookstores in the country, and no publisher can ignore this action. I am in no way defending UQP's action, which I think is disgraceful and disgusting (more on that later), simply noting that this is the first time material leverage has been applied to pressure a publisher, where previously it's been the terrifying prospect of a hysterical email.
sakr.substack.com
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Unbelievable. Five hundred or so words, and not one of them 'gay'. Instead, 'He never married.' When was this written, the 1960s? www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...
theguardian.com
David Malouf, Australian writer whose work spanned the ancient world and 70s Brisbane
Remembering Babylon was shortlisted for the Booker prize but none of his novels were made into films because, he said, ‘almost nothing happens’
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Kim Kemmis @kimkemmis.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Just thinking how easier my years at theological college would've been if I could've answered with movie quotes. 'And the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah, declaring "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."'
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Omar Sakr @omarsakr.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
In these ghoulish tactics, we can see the true hate--how they fear and loathe our humanity, our legendary hospitality, our inexhaustible generosity, our dust-stained fingers, our calloused hands reaching again and again into the rubble. They aim to destroy humanity itself. They will not succeed.
Human in the genocide
To the drone flying above, 
replaying a man's cry,
"Help, I'm injured"
in Libnan, or the wordless 
wail of a baby in Gaza, 
yes I know these people 
are most likely fictional 
traps to get one to crawl
 out of rubble and into 
a sniper's scope-
you are asking, who 
will die for the chance
 to be human? And if
no one answers, 
you will report: no people 
are left in the area, mission 
accomplished. Yet I 
have seen, over and over, 
my kin hurrying on hands
 and knees into death 
for the chance, however 
slim, to recover the buried, 
the brutalised and broken, 
with love in their hearts 
and a curse on their lips.
Praise God! Praise God!
We will never be defeated
@omarsakrpoet
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