South Australia’s sex work laws are dangerously backwards | Peter Goers
She was the matriarch of Adelaide’s night-life and I adored her. I salute her generosity, her good spirit and her wicked smile, writes Peter Goers.
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Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. And then there was Stormy Summers – star of stage, screen and sheets.
I was always proud to know her. She was the matriarch of Adelaide’s night-life. I salute her generosity, her good spirit and her wicked smile.
It’s hard to think of Adelaide without Stormy Summers and she was audacious. She made international news where she ran for Lord Mayor in 2000.
Pity she didn’t win. We could’ve done a lot worse and we have.
I loved attending her Christmas night parties in her penthouse “above the shop”, the celebrated brothel in Light Square.
The guests would pay respects to Stormy’s dear old, infirm, Dutch mother whose funeral I later attended.
Stormy’s wedding was one of the most memorable Adelaide events.
I wrote about it on these pages in 2003 as a send up of social notes and here is part of that report:
“It was the fairytale wedding of the decade. Adelaide’s most famous Madam, Stormy Summers, was happy and glorious at her extravagant but tasteful wedding to Mark Garner on Wednesday.
“She was unique among brides. Instead of wearing something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, Stormy was all that herself.
TELL US WHY IN THE COMMENTS
She looked radiant and younger than springtime at her spring wedding. There’s not a line on her pretty face, and this can be attributed to a shining spirit, relaxed mind and her big good heart.
“Stormy was coy, demure and gorgeous, flashing a brilliant smile with diamonds in her teeth.
“Her Arctic white wedding gown featured a sweetheart neckline, Juliet sleeves, a full skirt and a three-metre cathedral train.
“The entire gown was overlaid in Belgian lace encrusted with pearls. The dress was sublimely backless. Her beautifully coiffured platinum blonde hair was replete with a pearl bandeau.
“A lady’s best accessory is a well-dressed man and the groom Mark Garner was resplendent in an ankle-length Gothic coat, dark glasses, white satin tie and a red rose in his buttonhole matching his bride’s bouquet.
“The three bridesmaids and flower girl – Blayze Williams who skipped and scattered rose petals – wore elegant blood red glissade chiffon shrugs.
“Stormy was married in her front garden – Light Square. She is probably the only bride ever to be married on top of Colonel Light. She was married uniquely under a prominent erection – a gold theodolite. Stormy was fashionably 45 minutes late to tread the 300m red carpet which showed her customary sense of theatre.
“Stormy’s wedding gown will be auctioned off for Pastor Morrie Thompson’s Teen Challenge. “He said, “I hope she gets out of it first”. The 400 guests were all frisked for hardware. We were a raffish lot. There were mums and dads from Plympton Park, rellies from Holland, bikies in their Sunday best, working girls, drag queens, drag kings and lesbian ushers.
“Celebrant Lyle Stace was also one of Santa’s Helpers at the Magic Cave. The Apache Indian “Wedding Prayer sighed on the breeze and the five-tiered wedding cake was shared with nursing homes the next day.
“We partied in white marquees (de Sade?) and then we all went home full of the joy of a marriage made in heaven as Stormy went back to work.’’
Stormy’s life as a brothel madam was stormy.
She was often arrested for running a “bawdy house”.
Where once South Australia led the social reforms of Australia, we now lag dangerously behind.
The decriminalisation of sex work is long overdue.
We are the last state not to decriminalise it. New South Wales decriminalised sex work 29 years ago.
Sex workers in SA continue to be denied the rights and protections of all other workers. Their work is eternal and inevitable. Jesus loved prostitutes more than moneylenders.
Where are the politicians like Vickie Chapman who did her very best (with Tammy Franks) to end this great criminalising hypocrisy?
That would honour Stormy Summers and those she protected and give us a truly happy ending.
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