Neil Van Zee, universally known in the Perth Gay and Lesbian community as Nanna Neil, is from a staunch Baptist family. Being rebellious he rejected his family's religious teachings and joined a Catholic monastery and was rejected by his family for a while. After a while Neil decided to then rebel again and went into the US Navy and trained to be a spy.
Spying wasn't Nanna's cup of tea, and he rebelled again, so the US Navy sent him to the fleet believing this to be the very worst punishment. They didn't reckon with our Nanna, whose only comment was, "Thank you Sir, I joined the Navy to go to the fleet".
Once at the fleet, because of Neil's experience as a spy, he had top security clearance and was therefore appointed to the position of ‘Top Security Instructor’, teaching new personnel about nuclear weaponry, which was highly top secret at the time.
Neil also saw two theatres of war in Vietnam which left him generally disillusioned with the policies of the USA Government. His disillusionment was intensified when
President Kennedy was assassinated. He felt that he did not want to live in a country where that sort of thing could happen and did happen.
In Perth, Neil was involved in many organisations, such as the WA AIDS Council, Acceptance, Gay and Lesbian Reform Group, Police Liaison Unit for Gays and Lesbians, People Living With HIV/AIDS as well as the Gay Olympics. In 1992, Neil was candidate for a seat on the Perth City Council.
Neil was an avid T-shirt and flyer collector and created an AIDS Shrine for the Gay Museum in 2003 as well as other AIDS Shrines which were exhibited at Connections Nightclub.
His collection is a testament to life in Perth’s gay community.
