“Up the Lezzos!” was the triumphant cry of a newly out Kate Rowe as she was thrown into a paddy wagon at the first Mardi Gras. Fifty years later she would launch her memoir How the Fuck Would I Know? at Qtopia, which now occupies the police station where she was once locked up. That book would document a life full of unexpected turns, from a lavender marriage to help a gay friend in need, healing from addiction, finding her strength through extreme sports and learning the ukulele.

Nick Henderson, historian, researcher and collections manager at the Australian Queer Archives will host a discussion with Kate on the personal and political changes in lesbian life since that charged night in 1978.