LGS HOME PAGES: http://www.josken.net

ISSN 1446-4896

GSG has decided to share the rental of an office/meeting space with the Sydney Greens. Already GSG, the Eleventh Conference Collective, and the Gay Liberation Quire are holding meetings there regularly. The location is Suite 3, floor one, Attika House, 224A King Street Newtown. This is a few doors from Intervention Bookshop, and next to Burland Hall; it’s not far from Newtown Hotel, and the new Bookshop.

At 7pm on Friday 4 April GSG will be holding a small celebration to mark our occupancy. A number of Sydney’s gay religious personalities will be officiating for the blessing of the premises. All GSG friends are invited to attend.

We have been stretched a bit thin lately, with some of us working hard on the conference, and other projects. We are meeting second and fourth Thursdays at the new premises. The dates of the next meetings are:

GSG may not be meeting on Thursday 24 April, as it is the eve of the National Conference.

May Day is celebrated with a parade by progressive organisations on Sunday 4 May. GSG has in past years convened a lively gay contingent, and has held small social events with the Quire and Enola Gay. Stay tuned for further details for this year.

Enola Gay again excelled itself in congealing a bright lesbian and gay contingent in the march on Sunday 23 March. Although not much homework was done beforehand, well over a hundred lesbians and gay men carried our pink-triangle-smashing-the-bomb idol, and stretched the Dykes for Disarmament, Enola Gay, and Poofs for Peace banners across the width of the road. We had chorus lines and singing, and new chants “make quiche not war”, “latex not MX”, “money for AIDS, not for war, US out of El Salvador”, to add to our old favourites: “Gays against the bomb, poof!”, “Gays against the nuclear family, no fast breeders” and so on. We again got some media coverage for our efforts, and were well received by other marchers. Perhaps this was the most spirited contingent we have had yet.

With the US government taking a turn to the even more bellicose, a conference of Latin American and Caribbean political parties in February in Managua has issued a call for an international day of anti-intervention actions on April 28, the day of our National AIDS Seminar. GSG people have helped to initiate a demonstration at 5pm, Town Hall Square. It is important for lesbian/gay liberationists to attend in force, to show solidarity with the revolutionary movements of the Americas, and to voice opposition to the imperialist war drive.

Preparations are well under way for the Eleventh National Conference of Lesbians and Gay Men, April 25-27, at the Western Campus of the University of NSW. Registrations are starting to arrive, and final plans for workshops and streams look interesting. Volunteers are urgently needed, both for preparatory work in a number of areas, and for the running of the conference facilities during that weekend. People are needed to help with arranging catering, childcare, typing, billeting, interpreting, enquiry desk, and so on. Conference collective meets every Wednesday night, at 8pm at the GSG office, 224A King Street Newtown. Please ring Ken 8102630, or Matthew 357 5180 if you can help in any way.

The Broad Left and Getting Together Conferences are attracting hundreds of people wanting to find new ways towards social change. GSG people are participating in small ways in both conferences. In particular, GSG speakers have been invited to a session setting a gay liberation agenda for the left, at the Sunday afternoon of the Broad Left gathering. In addition, some members of GSG are involved in an Easter meeting, which is regrouping supporters of the Trotskyist Fourth International in Australia.

Quire has been together since Stonewall 1981, surviving through many transformations. Quire meets every Wednesday at the GSG office, and is very keen for new people to come and join in the singing. Phone Paul on 810 2630 for any information. You don’t need to audition for this quire, just want to have fun singing gay and political songs.

GSG initiated a statement opposing South African participation in the Gay Games II in San Francisco in August. This statement, co-signed by eight groups will appear in Campaign newspaper in response to an earlier article that said the South African athletes should be welcomed. We argued that the international agreements on isolating the apartheid state must be honoured at all times.

GSG people talked with anti-apartheid activists in Sydney about the imprisoned South African black gay activist Tseko Simon Nkoli. They will try to find out news of his situation through ANC contacts within South Africa, and are keen to work with us around this issue.

Inside Out is continuing its work in support of lesbians and gay men in gaol in Australia. Anyone who wants to help by writing to or visiting gay prisoners should write to Ken Lovett, c/- PO Box 380 Broadway 2007. Amnesty International in London has appointed an officer to investigate the worldwide situation of those persecuted for their sexuality, or imprisoned because of support for gay rights. This is in response to agitation by groups in the International Gay Association over many years for Amnesty to take up the cause of homosexual prisoners. Please contact GSG if you want more information, or you can help in nominating cases that should be presented to Amnesty.

The Gay Immigration Task Force goes from strength to strength, with new victories and new members each month. A Gala Cabaret is to be held at Leichhardt Town Hall on Saturday April 5. Tickets are $10, or $5 concession. Everyone is strongly urged to come along. GITF meets the second Monday of the month at Humanist House, 10 Shepherd Street, Broadway at 7pm. Advice is available from Marrickville Legal Centre, 9 Robert St, Marrickville, 559 2899, every Monday night. GITF can also be contacted via GPO Box 415, Sydney 2001.

GSG was visited in March by Akihiko Shimizu, one of the people working on the first Asian Region conference of the International Gay Association, to be held in Tokyo, 1-3 May. At this stage it is not clear whether any Australian gay activists can attend; greetings from Sydney gay groups are being sent.

Combined Unions Against Racism is holding a Cabaret at 8pm on Sunday 13 April at the Graphic Arts Club, Regent Street, Railway Square. This is to raise money for victims of attacks by the fascist National Action. The concert will feature well-loved gay performers, and is supported by gay groups including GSG and the Gay Immigration Task Force. National Action has targeted people such as Betty Hounslow, whose work is valuable both for the anti-racist and gay liberation movements.

CURRENT NEWSLETTER AND ARCHIVE OF PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS

Mannie has a personal web site: RED JOS: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISM

Mannie's blogs may be accessed by clicking on to the following links:

MannieBlog (from 1 August 2003 to 31 December 2005)

Activist Kicks Backs - Blognow archive re-housed - 2005-2009

RED JOS BLOGSPOT (from January 2009 onwards)

This page created 11 SEPTEMBER 2013 and updated on 26 APRIL 2017

PAGE 176