Jude Munro was just a 20-year-old university student when she first stood on the corner of Flinders Street Station, bravely handing out leaflets calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
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It was 1971 – and being "out and proud" was something of rarity – but even then, she was determined as ever to challenge the status quo.
"I've always been driven by a strong sense of social justice," says Munro, who went on to become one of the co-founders of Melbourne's gay liberation movement a year later.
"At school I'd had relationships with other female students, and just couldn't understand why the love I felt – which felt so pure – could somehow make you an outcast in society. It just drove me crazy, and I wanted to do something about it."
Fast forward four decades, and Munro has effectively come full circle. After years fighting for equality, the former Brisbane Council chief executive was recently appointed by the Andrews government to chair Australia's first ever Pride Centre: a $15million hub to showcase the LGBTI community's culture and history.
The brainchild of Sexuality and Gender Commissioner Rowena Allen, Victoria's Pride Centre is expected to rival San Francisco's LGBTI community centre, occupying up to 600,000 square metres at a yet-to-be-decided location in the heart of the inner city.
Once built, it will become the headquarters of Melbourne's many LGBTI organisations, such as Joy FM, Minus 18, and the Victorian AIDS Council.
According to Munro, it will be part tourism drawcard, part working space, part service provider. And this week, the project edges one step close to reality, with the announcement of its inaugural board: Beyondblue chair Georgie Harman, management consultant Margaret Hansford, technology specialist Megan Smith, town planner Peter McEwan, National Australia Bank general manager Stephen Barrow and Norton Rose Fulbright Lawyers partner Stuart Kollmorgen.
"The Pride Centre is long overdue and will attract people from across Victoria, Australia and the world," said Equality Minister Martin Foley. "We are getting on with making it a reality – so we have a place for the LGBTI community to call home right here in Victoria."
For the government, picking Munro as the Pride Centre's inaugural chair was no-brainer. After all, she's spent decades in top governance roles – a chief executive for several councils; a director for numerous organisations; the head of her own consultancy firm – and has ample experience overseeing big boards, big budgets and big ambitions.
But this project, says Munro, is particularly special: a potent symbol of how far we've come – particularly since those early days of the gay liberation movement she helped establish in the 1970s.
"We are now in a situation where it's not just about tolerance, it's about acceptance," she says. "So we need that home for the LGBTI community: a safe space, and a place of celebration and diversity. The Pride Centre is so much more than just a building."
