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A report in the Newcastle Herald of 8 March 1997 states: "A former Zimbabwean nationalist leader has launched a campaign to persuade anti-gay President Robert Mugabe's government to punish homosexuality with castration and public whipping.

The crusade, calling for public lynching and castration of convicted rapists and gays, began a week after police said they wore investigating charges of homosexual rape against former president Canaan Banana.

'These crimes are on the increase and Zimbabwean laws against: sexual perverts, especially rapists and gays, are too soft,' Michael Mawema, a former nationalist politician told the first meeting of his campaign."

It is necessary for lesbians and gay men to intensify the boycott of Zimbabwe and neighbouring Namibia until such time as their homophobia is overcome and anti-discrimination laws are introduced to protect homosexuals in these countries.

A petition has been circulated by the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby concerning uniform age of consent for heterosexuals and homosexuals.

If you have not yet signed the petition or made a submission to Canberra, don't forget to do so as soon as possible.

Information about the submission to the Federal Government can be obtained by phoning the Federal Attorney General's secretariat in Canberra on (06)250 5867 for a copy of the MODEL CRIMINAL CODE CHAPTER 5: SEXUAL OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON discussion paper. Send a copy to Commission Watch c/o Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, 94 Oxford Street Darlinghurst, nsw 2010.

South Sydney City Council has provided the dates for tree plantings for 1997. The dates are:

Planting takes place between 10.30am and 4.00pm and Council provides BBQ food and drinks as well as seats, umbrellas and toilets!

An analysis of media reports of the Commission's proceedings leaves people wondering whether the inquiry is into the NSW Police Force or is basically an expose on paedophilia. For an excellent analysis on the issue read Sasha Soldatow's article in Campaign, March 1997.

In Melbourne, the future of Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA) is uncertain.

In February 1996 the ALGA was set to move to premises in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, which was seen as a secure base for the collection and a permanent home after nearly 20 years of temporary premises. The Archives founder and longtime secretary, Graham Carbery, by selling his own home, had purchased a building which was about to be renovated to provide accommodation for the Archives on the ground floor with his dwelling upstairs.

These plans changed when the Executive Officer of the ALSO Foundation approached ALGA with a written offer for the Archives to be "at the heart of a permanent community centre," at a peppercorn rent, in a proposed gay and lesbian community centre, to be operational by March 1997. ALGA accepted the offer and Carbery sold the Gertrude Street premises.

However, after its Annual General Meeting in October 1996 the new ALSO Board changed its mind about "a permanent community centre."

That's why the Archives, which has little money of its own, feels it burnt its bridges and has a very uncertain future unless ALSO can be persuaded to honour its EO's offer. The 4th National Homosexual Conference in Sydney in 1978 passed a resolution setting up the Archives. Graham Carbery and a dedicated group of likeminded volunteers have since then amassed and collated a unique national collection of lesbian and gay material for the education of society. ALGA has helped to produce Carbery's history of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Michael Hurley's Guide to Gay and Lesbian Writing in Australia and History Inverted's lesbian history project travelling Exhibition, Forbidden Love, Bold Passion.

According to Ruth Ford of History Inverted, the prospect of a future without ALGA is "totally tragic."

Join the Archives or write to them at PO Box 124 Parkville Vic 3052 to find out how you can assist them with this crisis.

The Senate is still involved with the issue of euthanasia and it is necessary to keep the pressure up for enabling legislation to occur nationally in support of the Northern Territory's historic landmark legislation.

Censorship continues to be a problem in the community at large and especially so for the lesbian and gay communities.

The ABC has censored some of its own shows, such as Simone de Beauvoir's Babies and the 1997 Mardi Gras and again, pressure must be maintained at all times to ensure that censorship does not take us back to the dreadful pre-1970's era when Lady Chatterley's Lover was still a banned book.

Howard and his wowsers are trying to push everyone and everything back into the closet. This has got to bo resisted otherwise we in Australia will get the biggest entry into that magnificent journal Index on Censorship if it is still published. We may need it now more than ever!

A march and rally is being planned for Saturday 12 April 1997. Information and flyers will be available in good time and for more information you can contact Campaign Against Racism PO Box 81 Newtown NSW 2042.

"Gay Victory": This was how the 27 February 1997 edition of the Burnie Advocate referred to the unanimous High Court decision to allow the TGLRG case to proceed.

When the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group (TGLRG) originally lodged its case the Tasmanian Government objected to the Group's standing before the Court and to the Court's jurisdiction to hear the case. Both claims were based on the absence of any prosecutions under Tasmania's anti-gay laws. The Court over-ruled these objections, stating that even if the offending laws are not enforced they overshadow the lives of gay men in Tasmania. The court also ordered the Tasmanian Government to pay TGLRG's costs so far. It was indeed a great victory.

The most obvious implication of the Court's decision is that the case will now proceed to an examination of whether or not Tasmania's anti-gay laws are invalid. Getting a hearing in the High Court was probably the most difficult obstacle faced, so the chances of a positive outcome from the case have increased significantly following the decision.

The decision also has wider implications for human rights in Australia. The Court has effectively broadened its criteria for standing, giving other people who have experienced human rights abuses a better chance of having their grievances heard.

A successful outcome would provide an important precedent for the invalidation of WA's discriminatory anti-gay age of consent law.

WRITE TO PINK THYLACINES - THE NEWSLETTER OF THE TASMANIAN GAY AND LESBIAN RIGHTS GROUP GPO BOX 1733 HOBART TAS 7001

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER OR LESBIAN AND GAY SOLIDARITY CONTACT MANNIE (02)9718 1452 OR KENDALL (049)69 4013

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 24 APRIL 2017

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