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

ISSN 1446-4896

A 25 min video documentary entitled SEX AND THE SANDINISTAS will be screened. It deals with testimonies of lesbians and gays inside the Nicaraguan Revolution.

There will also be two speakers: Annie Vickers, an arrestee, and Monsignor Porca Madonna.

Venue: 14 - 16 Buckland St, Chippendale. 7.30pm. $5 or $3 donation. Thurs. Dec 5

Testimonies of lesbians and gays inside the Nicaraguan Revolution: a 25-minute video documentary

With the fresh spring air came that favourite sport - police raids and entrapments of beats. The Police have denied that entrapments do take place. High officials have denied knowledge of them. But WE know they take place. And taking place they definitely are - all over Sydney.

What use is liaison if the police force maintains that such things do not happen? Why waste our time and fool people into trusting the police?

Year after year Fred Nile's numbers grow smaller. This year's cleansing march on October 7th saw 500 fundamentalist Christians opposed by 500 people - gay men and lesbians, pro-choice activists, progressive Christians and socialists.

Organised by the International Socialist Organisation and endorsed by Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Rights For All Male Sexworkers, UTS Students Association and the Bella Bar Women's Coffee Shop, the anti-Nile counter demo was a success. Not many "Christians" will dare show up at next year's rally, if there is one!

Notably despicable was the cynical use of children to further Fred's end Elaine's political agenda.

The other point, of course, was the to-be-expected police violence. Once again we saw that they are not there for us but against us. Ten gay, lesbian and feminist activists were arrested; many were bashed by both "Christians" and police. Three cheers fcr police liaison!

Being gay or lesbian is only one criterion for attending Mardi Gras parties. The other is having enough money to afford them

. The solution found to prevent an excess number of straights attending the parties is to restrict the sale of tickets to members only. Membership and party ticket will cost a total of $80. A member can buy up to five tickets to sell to friends. If they share expenses it will still cost each person $65.

While this will presumably keep out straights (though this is highly doubtful) it will definitely keep out gay men and lesbians wno can't afford this kind of money: young homosexuals, unemployed, those on sickness benefits or with low incomes.

What should be our Mardi Gras, that is a Mardi Gras for ALL gay men and lesbians and other queers, has now become a yuppy Mardi Gras. The criterion is not your sexuality but how thick your wallet is.

So, in anticipation of the next Mardi Gras, we wish you all a very happy Yuppy Mardi Gras.

Maybe it's time gay men and lesbians reclaimed the true meaning cf the Mardi Gras and reasscciated it with the aims and ideals of gay and lesbian liberation. Stonewall '69 and Mardi Gras '78 were not carried out by yuppies but the "non-respectable" sectors of the homosexual sub-communities.

Conservatism hath no bounds! Now the target is nude bathing. While most public, popular beaches are not open to nude bathing, now they want to close down nude beaches. LGS wishes to state its support for maintaining nude bathing beaches.

It is well known that the Industrial Relations Bill was passed in the Upper House thanks to Fred Nile's controlling vote. For those wno always insisted that Fred's just a joke, and that we shouldn't take him seriously, this should be an eye opener. If he is a joker, he's certainly a dangerous one.

However, while Fred is easy to expose because of his extrene right positions on a number of issues, other parliamentarians who receive a lot of gay support have not been supportive of worker's rights.

The independents opted for debate and voting for amendments to the Bill. Of course this restricted response to on extreme anti-worker bill did not prevent it passing through. Only working class militancy can hope to achieve anything. The general strike was one such action (though too limited in scope). The independents, including Clover Moore, voted against the strike. When it cmne to the test they were not with us.

Some homosexuals may be anti-worker. But most of us are workers and unions are often our only form of defense against employers. The independents' vote against the strike is just as nuch a vote against us homosexual workers.

The NSW parliament still hasn't voted on Fred's anti-abortion bill. It will be discussed again on the 3rd of December. While there isn't much chance of it being voted in, there is still the necessity of public mobilisations and campaigns to further propagandise support for pro-choice policies.

BILL VOTED ON IN UPPER HOUSE ON 28 NOVEMBER DEFEATED BY 28 VOTES TO 7

In South Africa gay men and lesbians celebrated Pride Week in October. 1500 people, black and white, marched through Johannesburg's inner-city districts of Braamfontein and Hillbrow on Saturday 12 October.

One of the organising groups is the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of Witwatersrand. One of its founding members, Simon Nkoli, will be an opening speaker at an international conference in Auckland of indigenous people confronting HIV. Lesbian and Gay Solidarity hopes to bring him to Sydney on a speaking tour. Arrangements are being worked out to take him to Melbourne as well.

The Gay and Lesbian Street Patrols need more members to be aole to provide a better service for the Darlinghurst community and hopefully extend operations. If you are interested call Michael Glynn on 6604190.

Contact Michael Aaronson by writing to GPO Box 3716 Sydney 2001 or phone 13 2222 and ask to page 810 240.

GAYWAVES is recruiting for more lesbian members. If interested write to PO Box 473 Broadway 2007 or phone 330 3000 during broadcasting time.

.Melbourne's monthly newsletter of gay and lesbian activism is available from PO Box 108 North Carlton Vic 3054 for $15 ($5 concession) for one year.

LGS meets on the second Thursday of every month at the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre (opposite the station) at 6pm. Meetings are due: Jan 9 1992, Feb 13 1992

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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