Today, No Award would like to introduce you to Judy Small, a queer, Australian protest song folk singer, who sings about social justice issues, who happens to be a Federal Circuit Court Judge.

WHAT.

The real question is, how did No Award, all of whom have worked in the legal industry and half of whom is queer, only learn about her this week? If it turns out she’s also a genre writer then she covers basically all of our bases!

Of course she’s been called ‘Judge Judy’, because of course someone had to make that joke.

Her legal career has included volunteering at the Western Suburbs Legal Service, working at the Dandenong office of Victorian Legal Aid, and later became the Director of VLA. And now she’s a Judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia! At which point she retired from singing. Before that she was a psychologist working in drug and alcohol counselling because she wants to help people!

She is a committed old school social justice warrior!

I found out about her because I came home on the weekend to discover my housemates and a friend singing one of her songs. It’s a song they’re auditioning, so I’m not going to tell you which one, but they’re hoping to perform it at their choir’s next concert! So I’m going to plug their choir: shOUT Youth Chorus.

shOUT (formerly the Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Youth Chorus) is Australia’s first queer youth chorus and was founded in 2005. We are a choir existing within and working together with the Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Chorus Inc.

We provide young people aged between 16 and 29 with a welcoming, inclusive, loving and supportive environment in which to develop their singing skills.

And they are all ADORABLE, many of them are often in my house and giving me things and drinking from the House Wedgwood. If you are queer and in that age bracket and want to sing and in Melbourne you should DO THAT.

The event is A Little Queer Music, which will also be super adorable and you should see the COSTUMES my housemates are planning to wear! The concert is celebrating music composed by or made famous by queer artists over the last 100 years. HOW EXCELLENT. Anyway you should definitely go.

THIS IS A SONG ABOUT EQUAL MARRIAGE OH MY POTATO: No Tears for the Widow

And who can tell how many other women
Live their lives in shadows
Unrecognized, unsympathized
Unseen and disallowed
Who’ve lost not only lovers
But often hearth and home
For “marriage” is a special word
And only meant for some

This is a song about how if men had to use birth control they’d all die and also about misogyny: The IPD

It was proven to be safe for the average human male
Though testing showed some minor side effects
There were two died of infection, and six were sterilised
But only ten per cent were too depressed

Waheeeey!

I know many people who will love the lyrics to this song, and also the singing: Influenced by Queers

Yeah tear down the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
(if you don’t want your children being influenced by queers)
Burn all recordings of Tchaikovsky’s music
(If you don’t want you children being influenced by queers)
Don’t let them see the movies of Marlene Dietrich
(if you don’t want your children being influenced by queers)

Let the Rainbow Shine, which I’m including because the guy who developed the rainbow flag for us queers died this week.

Lest We

‘I am indeed aware of the 1980s protests about rape in war. I was there in 1981 in Sydney holding a banner reading “In memory of women raped in war” when a returned serviceman came up to us and hissed:

“We should’ve let the Japs in. Then you’d know what rape is about!” and “Lest We” was written in response to that demonstration.’

(from here)

Mothers Daughters Wives

The first time it was fathers,
The last time it was sons
In between your husbands
Marched away with drums and guns.
And you never thought to question.
You just went on with your lives.
Cause all they taught you who to be,
Was mothers, daughters, wives.

About being one person, and about community action?! One Voice in the Crowd

It’s not my issue, not my scene, I’ve got to get my own house clean
I keep it neat and tidy just in case the Queen should call
Come back to me another day and gladly I’ll join in, we say
And I’m just one voice anyway, just one brick in the wall

One brick in the wall you may be, one voice in the crowd
But without you we are weaker and our song may not be heard
One drop in the ocean, but each drop will swell the tide
So be your one brick in the wall, be one voice in the crowd

Her website: Judy Small Website

I was going to link to ‘You Don’t Speak For Me’ because it’s great and fun but it includes a weird line about Genghis Khan so I’m going to cover it instead and change the line. But you should go listen to it anyway.