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ISSN 1446-4896

The lesbian and gay anti-militarist group, Enola Gay, is calling on all supporters to come to the Sydney demonstration against Australian warships sailing to the Gulf. While lesbians and gay men have no cause to support any of the governments in that region, all of whom are undemocratic, sexist and heterosexist. we do have a duty to oppose imperialist intervention, and prevent the slide to war.

A gay and lesbian contingent once again took part in the annual Hiroshima Day march on August 4. Although overall turnout was poor, about 400 in all, and participation behind our Enola Gay banners was smaller, we maintained our tradition of being very vocal and colourful, with anti-AlDS, gay liberation and anti-US bases and warships chants.

The Stonewall anniversary weekend was a busy time for many activists, the march organised by the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby attracted over 1000 people on Saturday June 30 including many organisations. GSG's annual dinner was a success: gay MLC Paul O'Grady, Bruce Brown from ACT UP, and Western Suburbs high school lesbian activist, Jennifor Glass, gave inspiring speeches to sixty people.

The Commonwealth government hosted two important conferences in Canberra: AIDS In Asia and the Pacific (5-8 August) and the Fourth National Australian AIDS Conference.

Both conferences were marked by struggles by different groups to gain representation: Aborigines, Pacific peoples, women, and most importantly, people with HIV. There was at times friction between existing AIDS constituencies: sex workers, gay men, drug injectors and people with haemophilia.

Tho most inspiring moments in the conferences wore those times when people from non-govornment organisations broke through the diplomatic and official smokescreens and talked honestly about the impact of the epidemic in their countries, their initiatives, and the obstacles to their struggles.

There were very eloquent statements by scheduled and unscheduled speakers representing women, Aboriginal communities, and people living with AIDS. ACT UP groups in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra co-ordinated a national demonstration outside the opening session of the National Conference on Thursday morning, August 9, demanding wider access to AZT and other treatments.

Bruce Brown, backed by dozens of ACT UP supporters took to the stage to read a prepared statement exposing the true facts about the "Australian model" of AIDS response, just before the scheduled opening by Health Minister Howe.

The ACT UP intervention, alongside the stronger representation of people living with HIV, created a new consensus for activism amongst the conference participants. It was under this activist pressure that Howe announced one week later that AZT would be available to everyone with under 500 CD4 cells — a major victory!

Australian gay and lesbian and sex worker activists wore able to meet their counterparts from several South East Asian countries for the first time at the Asia Pacific Conference. The White Line dancers and FACT, the Fraternity for AIDS Cessation in Thailand, were tremendously inspiring, both at the conference itself, and in their short visits to Melbourne and Sydney. Other Inspiring conference participants reported on struggles against AIDS and anti-homosexual prejudice in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Bali, Java, Singapore and Penang.

GSG sent a message of greetings with Natee from FACT to take to the 3rd ILGA Asian Region Gay & Lesbian conference in Bangkok on August 24-26.

GSG people have met with several people from the Pink Triangle group in Kuala Lumpur in recent months. Pink Triangle offers a range of services to lesbians and gays and leads the community response to AIDS in Malaysia. Pink Triangle has women and men members from each of the ethnic/linguistic communities of Malaysia. It is one of the largest gay groups in a Muslim dominated nation. GSG has offered to twin' with this group in the International Lesbian & Gay Association, that is to pay their membership and establish close bilateral relations. Pink Triangle is establishing a resource library and because it is difficult for them to get overseas materials, we are appealing for people with books (or music cassettes) that they no longer want, that have gay, lesbian, AIDS or feminist themes (fiction or non-fiction) to donate them so they can be sent to Kuala Lumpur. Contact Ken (10am-6pm 283 3222) if you wish to donate items.

The Soviet publication "New Times" has announced the repeal of the anti-homosexual laws in the Russian Federation, but we have been unable to verify the status of the laws currently. GSG received a reply to our message of support from the Moscow Union of Lesbians and Gay Men. Roman Kalinin thanked us for our support and sent us a copy of the second issue of their magazine TEMA. We intend to exchange more information about gay and lesbian issues in both countries.

GSG has also written protesting the executions of homosexuals in Iran, and has been corresponding with the Israeli gay organisation SPPR. with regard to the development of anti-discrimination laws.

The reactionary Right to Life Association held a national seminar at St Margaret's Hospital in Surry Hills on Saturday August 25. featuring a line up of anti-gay politicians: Senator Harradine. federal MP Alistair Webster, NSW parliamentarians Johnno Johnson and Guy Yeomans (as in "Yeomans amendment", which forbids inciting homosexual activity for men under 18 years). Special guest was Henry Hyde, the US Congressman who introduced the law preventing Medicaid funding for abortions to poor women. Womens Abortion Action Campaign protesters at the hospital entrance were joined, early in the morning, by a squad of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, playing accordion and demanding amongst other things the abolition of public funding for discriminatory church run hospitals.

Badlands is a residential service for people with HIV or "at high risk of HIV which does not require of its residents abstinence from sex or injection drugs. After a really tough fight against some local residents, Badlands has finally established itself in Bourke Street. Although supported by ACT UP and GSG people, Badlands met with an equivocal response from Local Member, Clover Moore, who supported the idea, but wanted it somewhere else. The vote in South Sydney Council was supported by the Labor Party, but opposed by Liberals and Independents, including an openly gay representative.

GSG members wore distraught to learn about the moral indiscretions that led to the downfall of Logos leader, Howard Carter, inToowoomba, Queensland. Logos, a Christian church group associated with the anti-semitic League of Rights, was a main opponent of law reform in Quoenlsand and Tasmania. Howard Carter wrote unusual treatises on AIDS, which were widely distributed, insisting that HIV was casually transmitted. He will be missed.

GSG will be discussing the proposed legislation against vilification of lesbians and gay men in coming meetings, and also support for the struggles in Tasmania and Queensland.

Our meetings are every month on the second Thursday at 8pm at the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, opposite the station. Meetings are due: Thurs 13 September, Thurs 11 October, Thurs 8 November, Thurs 13 December

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 updated 18 SEPTEMBER 2014 and again on 26 APRIL 2017

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