ISSN 1446-4896 ISSUE 5, 1998, NUMBER 40
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 1998

OBITUARY

 1) TSEKO  SIMON NKOLI ~ 26.11.57 - 30.11.98  
Lesbian and Gay Solidarity says goodbye to a  very special comrade, Simon Nkoli, credited with forming the first black gay movement in  South Africa ---- the first organisation to  include black lesbians.

 Simon died on the eve of World AIDS Day 1998    from the effects of HIV/AIDS. He was only 41. Simon's funeral was on Saturday, December 12, at Sebokeng, where he grew up ------- a black township serving the steel manufacturing area 50km south of Johannesburg. Writing after the funeral, Steven Cohen  said that on the way in to Sebokeng with the "marvellous moffie choir" he felt "white and guilty and grubby in a spoiled kind of way, passing row after row of inhuman hostels. And I thought of the victimisation I had experienced as a queer and a Jew .... and how much it hurt. And I thought of Simon and the way he bore so many crosses, being gay, being black in the old damning South Africa and HIV+ in the new uncaring one.

On the way out", Steven continued, "I felt blameless, included, un-judged. So much more it felt like we all belong together, gay, lesbian and transgendered, HIV+ or not, black and white, camp, butch, young and old. We are Simon"s people, Comrades fighting for our own and each other"s lives."

"Simon Nkoli unified the black and white gay communities. His links with the ANC (African National Congress) after his four years of imprisonment and subsequent acquittal, were hugely instrumental in the entrenchment of gay rights in the new South Africa's constitution."

One can only echo Steven Cohen's feelings which he put into words so succinctly.

My first contact with Simon was in 1986 while he was in prison for treason with 21 other politicals for protesting against rent hikes in South Africa"s black townships in June 1984.

After the trial of the 22 had started in 1987, Simon wrote to tell me that he was the last person to give evidence in Delmas before the trial was moved to Pretoria. He wrote: "I was in the witness stand for seven hours." Prior to his examination, the shortest time for such an examination of one of the accused had been about five days, the longest twenty-two days. Simon was in good spirits, telling me: "I am quite confident that most of us, if not all, will be acquitted at the end of this long trial."

He concluded that particular letter with: "Keep well and wish me good luck. Give my regards to all my gay brothers and sisters over there. I know one day when I am completely free I will travel to Australia."  And he did, twice, in 1992 and 1996.

One of his co-accused in the Delmas 22 trial, Terror Lekota, now national chairman of the ANC, remembers him as one of the most enthusiastic, most caring and most intellectually curious of his co-accused. "Over time," says Lekota, "all of us acknowledged that Nkoli's coming out was an important learning experience. His presence made it possible for more information to be discussed, and it broadened our vision, helping us to see that society is composed of so many people whose orientations are not the same, and that one must be able to live with it. And so, when it came to writing the Constitution, how could we say that men and women like Simon, who had put their shoulders to the wheel to end apartheid, how could we say that they should now be discriminated against?" (Mark Gevisser writing in the Sunday Times South Africa, 6 Dec. 1998.)

Towards the end of 1997 when Mannie and I were in Johannesburg we met up with Steven Cohen (mentioned earlier) but missed out meeting Simon again although we were privileged to be shown his personal papers which he had already donated to the gay and lesbian section of the library at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Of course both Mannie and I had met Simon in Sydney in 1992. We were warned in Johannesburg that it would be hard to catch up with him because one could never be sure where he would be at any given time. He continued to use his time as an AIDS activist to demystify and remove the negative stigma of HIV/AIDS in the African continent.

I feel very sad that I didn"t persevere in Johannesburg in an effort to see this incredible gay man at work in his own country. We shall remember his life when we plant a tree for Simon in the Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Groves  ----- Kendall Lovett.

                                                       ++++++++++++++

In a tragic footnote to Simon's death after his AIDS activism and educational role a news item from the web reports:

WE CONDEMN THE MURDER OF GUGU DLAMINI, SOUTH AFRICAN AIDS ACTIVIST WOMAN LIVING WITH HIV.

The New York Times recently reported the death of Gugu Dlamini in South Africa. A 36 year-old mother of one child, Gugu died as a result of the beating she received by neighbours in her own home. They had accused her of having brought shame to their community (Kwamashu, on the outskirts of Durban) after she openly revealed on December 1 -- World AIDS Day -- that she was infected with HIV.

Gugu worked as a volunteer for the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) of South Africa. According to the United Nations, three million people in South Africa have the infection. In KwaZulu-Natal, the province most affected by the illness, and where Gugu lived, up to 30% of the adult population lives with HIV/AIDS.

On Monday December 21, Gugu was physically attacked by a man, who ordered her to keep silent like other people living with HIV/AIDS. Although she requested help from the police, they didn't do anything, according to reports made by her friends to the local newspaper. That same night, a group tore down her house and Gugu was brutally stoned and hit with sticks. She died the following day." The murder illustrates profound HIV/AIDS discrimination and flagrant violence which affect women around the world!

Send messages to: Peter Busso, Director NAPWA: napnat@sn.apc.org  and, as well,

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, Deputy Minister of Justice: liezel@justice1.pwv.gov.za

possibly along the following lines:

"We condemn the murder of Gugu Dlamini, who was courageously living with HIV/AIDS and was brutally killed by her neighbours in the community of Kwamashu, in KwaZulu-Natal, without the benefit of any assistance from local police in spite of her request for help."

Don't forget to include your name, organisation and country. Encourage your friends to do the same and write to Dr Zuma Minister of Health, Union Buildings, Pretoria, South Africa.

An article about Gugu"s murder appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 29 December 1998, the same paper that refused to print a letter about the death of Simon Nkoli a few weeks earlier.

            "President Nelson Mandela urged South Africans to break the silence surrounding AIDS and to eradicate discrimination against those with the disease. "Although AIDS has been a part of our lives for 15 years or more, we have kept silent about its true presence in our midst. We have too often spoken of it as if it was someone else's problem," Mandela said in a speech marking World AIDS Day."
(Capital Q 4.12.98)

2) JABILUKA:
Three old ladies who didn"t get locked in their lavatories!

Hunter"s three green grandmas - Jean (61), Marion (64) and Dianna (66) - recently returned home after being arrested, charged for trespassing on the Jabiluka uranium mine site in the Northern Territory and fined in the Darwin Magistrates Court for their non-violent protest.

Jean told the Newcastle Herald (4.12.98) "The grandmother name we wore with pride because it (uranium mining) is an issue of the future, which will affect our children and grandchildren." Dianna added: "We made a conscious decision to make a symbolic gesture and take a step over the barbed-wire fence into land that we  believe is owned by the Mirrar people."

3)WHEN IS A WAR NOT A WAR?:
In the December issue of Djadi-Dugerang there is an article by Professor Henry Reynolds reprinted from the Melbourne Age, 27 November 1998. In his article Reynolds says that Phillip Ruddock, in one of his first public comments as Minister for Reconciliation, stated, "there could not be a treaty between black and white Australians because there had not been a war."

More recently the Prime Minister dismissed the idea of the Australian War Memorial recognising Aborigines killed in frontier conflict because, he said, a state of war never existed.

But Professor Reynolds goes on to say: "In 1879, the colony"s leading newspaper declared that "we are today at open war with every tribe of wild blacks on the frontier."

"A list of such references could be extended indefinitely. Enough has been adduced to show that many colonists -- officials and private settlers alike -- thought they were at war.

"This could matter less to us today if Australia did not devote so much attention to the sacrifice of war. We cannot seriously tell indigenous communities to forget the past, when we put so much thought and emotion into commemorating it, when we have given semi-sacred status to the famous phrase, "Lest We Forget."

"Let us remember that the last recorded massacre of Aborigines, at Coniston in the Northern Territory, took place in 1928 -- 10 years after the end of World War 1.

"Another obvious difficulty is that the Prime Minister so often insists that we are all members of one nation and that everyone must be treated equally. Surely this should mean that the victims of the frontier wars would be admitted without question into the temple of nationalism, the Australian War Memorial.

"We would also expect that important sites of conflict throughout the country would be located, listed and marked appropriately. That is what we would have done if 20 000 settlers had died within Australia defending their country against invaders." (Extracts only from the article by Professor Henry Reynolds, author of The Other Side of the Frontier, a history of Aboriginal resistance to white colonisation. Djadi-Dugerang is the Newsletter of Indigenous Social Justice Assn, PO Box K555, Haymarket NSW 1240. $20 subscription.)

WHAT HAPPENED BEHIND THE BOWL?

Recently your roving editors discovered an Aboriginal plaque in Kings Domain, behind the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, which commemorated the "resting place for the skeletal remains of 38 Aboriginal people" representing 38 named tribes of Victoria.

4) SPAIDS - SYDNEY PARK AIDS MEMORIAL GROVES:  
We have made contact with AIDS Memorial Groves Groups in the USA, 4 in number at the moment of which we are aware, and hope to exchange information about our respective projects. The project in San Francisco is called the National AIDS Memorial Grove, and on their site in Golden Gate Park they have erected a stone memorial to blend in to the surrounding area. Some of the photos of their project appear on their web site, and their Systems and Volunteer Programmes Manager, Layne Varholdt has provided us with information for contact and visiting purposes:

            The National AIDS Memorial Grove, 856 Stanyan Street San Francisco, CA 94117

                         Phone: (415) 750-8340 Email: AIDSMEMGRV@igc.org

                         Web site: http://www.aidsmemorial.org

Layne writes, "If you are planning a visit to San Francisco, we would be honoured to give you (or any parties interested) a tour of our site."

SPAIDS will continue with plantings in 1999 in accordance with South Sydney City Council"s Sydney Park community plantings schedule. We anticipate plantings to commence in May/June 1999 and will issue the usual publicity flyers and media releases in good time.

We have also made a submission to the Council for their Arts in the Park project and hope to be provided with a permanent arts site in our Groves.

5) UK HOMOPHOBIA:
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald of 2 December 1998 stated:

  "The Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, has denied conducting a gay smear  campaign against Mr Peter Mandelson, the Trade and Industry Secretary, over his  trip to Rio de Janiero.  Mr Hague"s office insisted that his Commons reference to "Lord Mandelson of Rio" had been a joke and had not been a reference to allegations in the magazine  Punch that Mr Mandelson had gone on a tour of Rio's gay haunts."

This homophobic attack may not have been the one that removed Peter Mandelson from office, but it was no doubt a contributory factor in the Tory determination to get rid of Mandelson. The infamous UK paper "The Sun", owned by Rupert Murdoch, had to climb down from homophobic attacks which backfired over similar incidents reported at the time.

There should be no doubt about the ongoing homo-hate propagated in the UK when it is remembered that the House of Lords turned down the equalising of the age of consent bill passed by the House of Commons in 1998.

Additionally, as reported in Capital Q on 4 December 1998, the founder of the activist group in the UK, OutRage!, Peter Tatchell, has been convicted and fined for interrupting the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey"s Easter Sunday sermon. He was fined 18.60 Pounds by the Canterbury Magistrate"s Court.

Most religions continue to pursue their homophobic lines by pushing the "family values" approach. It has been obvious for a very long time that gay hate crimes are perpetrated by those who have been fed on most religions" anti-homosexual propaganda, and the collapse of capitalism, causing massive unemployment in countries throughout the world, has meant a total breakdown in family units, family life, family "values", whatever those are, and an increase in attacks on those who are perceived as the enemies of society by those who have lost their way in the modern world.

6) NSW AGE OF CONSENT AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS:  The New South Wales Government has continued to ignore recommendations for changes to legislation to introduce equal age of consent for all, and it is also stalling on issues before Parliament on equal rights of same-sex couples in areas such as superannuation, hospital visiting rights and other discriminatory practices which make it guilty of human rights violations.

The NSW Government is also aided and abetted in its homophobic practices by the Federal Government where, as  reported in the Sydney Star Observer of 10 December 1998 that:

            "A motion recognising harassment, vilification and violence against lesbians, gays,

            transgenders and bisexuals passed in the Senate last week with the support of all

            members except one - Senator Mal Colston. Even government senators and

            Senator Brian Harradine supported the motion. Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett,

            who introduced the motion, said Colston"s actions left little doubt about how he will

            vote on the Sexuality Discrimination Bill, due for debate in 1999."

As a result of all the homophobia generated by all governments, it is not surprising that Simon Hunt, Pauline Pantsdown in his other persona, was assaulted by a section of the crowd at the Homebake concert in the Domain a few weeks ago. Not only was he hit by dozens of bottles and beer cans, but also by a metal Walkman/radio. These followed screams of "Die faggot", "Get that fucking faggot off the stage", "kill the faggot" and more of the same.

A few weeks later, an incident occurred at a football match in Sydney when one man screamed at another, "You"re just a fucking poofter".

Unless a major education campaign is undertaken by schools and other educational institutions into the theory and practice of homophobia - the first and worst term of abuse used by all is POOFTER -  we are destined to more of the same well into the next century.

Where is the activism of the past when we need it well into the future?

7) CANAAN BANANA:
The Canaan Banana issue in Zimbabwe has had some very interesting follow-ons. Apparently President Mugabe of Zimbabwe was very annoyed by President Mandela of South Africa seeing Banana when he fled into South Africa through Botswana. The issue in South Africa was very much "should he be given asylum from Zimbabwe"s homophobia, or was he guilty of rape, not consensual homosexual acts, and therefore should be sent to jail for what he had done?"

Zachie Achmat from South Africa"s National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE) was reported by q online on 3 December as follows:

            "It is ironic that Banana who has been part of an oppressive regime which massacred people in Matabeleland, persecuted trade union activists and remained silent while Robert Mugabe undermined democracy and the rule of law in Zimbabwe, could seek asylum. He is morally responsible for the human rights violations of the Zimbabwean regime while he was the head of state."

             "The NCGLE does not believe that Canaan Banana will qualify for asylum on the basis of sexual orientation because he has always denied that he is gay or "homosexual" or had consensual sex with men. And, we know that he has not been persecuted for being heterosexual."

            "It will be an insult to the mass of lesbian and gay people in Zimbabwe, the members of GALZ and in particular Keith Goddard who have been persecuted by the regime of which Banana was a part to grant him asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation."

            "The NCGLE appeals to President Mandela to treat Canaan Banana no differently form any other asylum seeker."

Since then, Banana has returned to Zimbabwe and it is believed he is now awaiting sentence.

All of South Africa"s neighbours, without exception, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and of course Zimbabwe are becoming more homophobic and this is leading to continued human rights abuses in all of those countries.

The Canaan Banana issue has merely served to highlight the ongoing problems, and those of us who are not close to the scenes of these criminal activities can assist gays and lesbians in those countries by writing to their presidents about these human rights abuses. Pressure must be kept up as much as possible.

8) RELIGION AND HOMOSEXUALITY:
q online reported on 2 December 1998 from South Africa:

            The eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) meeting in the Zimbabwean capital said it would not allow homosexuals to take part in its proceedings. WCC information officer said his organisation had agreed that GALZ would not be allowed to make addresses. John Newbury said the position was adopted after Zimbabwean gays failed to be endorsed by any member of the WCC at regional or international level. However, he said, members of GALZ would not be barred from attending the conference, as it was open to the public. Homosexuality is unlawful in Zimbabwe, and President Robert Mugabe has condemned the practice, saying it is unnatural and filthy.  

Recently, for the second time, the Rainbow Sash Group in Melbourne were prevented from taking part in communion by the Archbishop of Melbourne, George Pell.

The Rev. Fred Phelps and his group planned a demonstration at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the gay student, whose murder in a gay hate crime shocked even the hardened USA.

(Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty in the March (1999) trial of two men charged with the murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard. The 21-year-old died from head injuries after he was pistol-whipped, tied to a fence and left for dead in October (1998) - report in Sydney Morning Herald, 30 December 1998)

Reports from Iran by groups such as Amnesty International - who themselves for years, until recently, ignored the plight of those jailed throughout the world because of their homosexuality - indicate that homosexuals are still being murdered by that regime.

Hindu fundamentalists in India have been burning cinemas showing the lesbian love story film Fire.

Jewish fundamentalist religious extremists continue to create problems for homosexuals in Israel.

It is long past time that gays and lesbians should expect religions - and especially the fundamentalist practitioners thereof - to accept their homosexuality.

RELIGION IS THE OPPRESSOR AND ONE OF OUR MAIN ENEMIES. THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT IN THE USA IS PUSHING ITS PROGRAMMES ON THE MEDIA AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE - OF COURSE THEY HAVE FINANCES TO ENABLE THEM TO DO SO - BUT GAYS AND LESBIANS WORLDWIDE MUST TRY TO ORGANISE TO FIGHT BACK WITH MEDIA CAMPAIGNS DISCREDITING THE HYPOCRITICAL ACTIONS OF PRACTICALLY ALL RELIGIONS - ALMOST WITHOUT EXCEPTION!

9) MALAYSIA:
The prosecution in the Anwar Ibrahim case in Kuala Lumpur has just finished its case and now, early in January 1999 the defence will begin putting its argument.

Keep your eyes and ears open for the homophobic attacks to come out of everywhere in Malaysia during the next few weeks.

10) YOUR ABC AND THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
On 30 November 1998, the day before World AIDS Day, The Sydney Morning Herald had an article in The Guide about a forthcoming programme. The Guide advised that a film about AIDS in Africa , called A Friend in Need was to be shown on Monday at 10.30pm on ABC. Not only was the film not shown, but an email to the Guide for information as to its failure to materialise, elicited no response. To date there has been no response from the ABC either. We are still following this up, because it seemed to be a very interesting programme on AIDS in Africa, as AIDS continues to be a worsening  problem throughout the world.
   

11) AGE OF CONSENT:
 Since our item in the last issue of the newsletter we have no further information to pass on at the moment,  but we are following this item up and hope to obtain further information in time for the next newsletter.

12) AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR LESBIAN AND GAY RESEARCH: 
In the ACLGR Newsletter, Vol.5, No.3, November 1998, the two paragraphs quoted say it all!:

"Without help from members and others in the gay and lesbian community - donations, volunteer work and moral support - the Centre cannot continue to maintain the schedule of activities which it has undertaken in 1998.

This year the Centre is celebrating its fifth birthday, but in order for it to continue holding seminars, lectures and conferences, publishing collections of original articles, undertaking research activities, being available as a resource for the wider community fostering gay and lesbian research, it desperately needs your contribution. Only with such assistance can the Centre hope to celebrate its next birthday, and many more thereafter."

Because of the crisis facing the Centre, we have decided to help by sending out with this newsletter,  application forms for membership of the ACLGR for 1999.

ARE YOU A MEMBER?

We would urge you to give the matter serious consideration and help to sustain and revitalise a vital organisation working for the advancement of all aspects of gay and lesbian knowledge and information.

13) AUSTRALIAN LESBIAN AND GAY ARCHIVES:
ALGA held a history conference in Melbourne on 13 and 14 November 1998. The conference was very successful, well attended and had some interesting speakers including Ruth Ford, Keith Howes, Ian MacNeill, Robert Aldrich, Jean Taylor, Graham Willett, John Ballard, while a special panel on Homosexual Lives and Politics 1960-1990 included Beatrice Faust, Ken Davis and Alison Thorne.

Don"t forget -ALGA needs your support - if you haven't become a member, 1999 is a good opportunity for you to do so. Application forms were sent in LGS Newsletter No.4, 1998 and more are available if required from LGS.

14) INTERSECTION/ANTI - HOMOPHOBIA ALLIANCE:
A joint meeting had been proposed for December 1998. An InterSection member made the trip out to Penrith on a miserable, rainy day, only to find out as the morning progressed and no one arrived for the meeting, that most of the members came from the Blue Mountains, and there had been a big accident on the road, blocking it completely so that no one could get through to the meeting!

This was rather disappointing as both groups are working along similar lines and it would have been useful to compare notes and plan strategies for the future.

The next Alliance meeting is planned for Tuesday 2 February 1999 in the Small Meeting Room, Lemongrove Team, Ross Wing, Governor Philip Campus, Glebe Place, Penrith.

Their phone number is (02) 4724 3877  and anyone wanting to attend is welcome - phone first to let them know you intend to be there.

InterSection has not yet planned its next meeting, but it may be a joint one with the Alliance in view of the failed December meeting.

15) THE EDITORS have been involved in attending committee meetings looking into the organisation of ACON/CSN Hunter and, in Sydney, about Talkabout and its contents and layout.

ACON restructuring has been going on for some years now, and there are some strange goings-on affecting staff morale not just in the Hunter but in the whole of the ACON establishment.

The appointment recently of a new (now called) Chief Executive Officer of ACON seemed at first to have some promise, but as time has passed, dissatisfaction is as strong as ever, and staff in most areas appear to be very unhappy. To add fuel to the flames, 4 new senior manager positions were recently created and filled, and apparently the staff has not had an increase in salary for the last 6 years! If this is correct, then there is something seriously wrong with ACON and it is time that AIDS activists in the community started investigating and taking action - demonstrations, publicity in the papers, all those sorts of actions.

16) COLOMBIA LEGALISES SAME-SEX UNIONS:
Since the reform of the Colombian constitution in 1991, the country"s Supreme Court has been very supportive of the gay and lesbian cause.

During the last presidential term, a legal decree was created to refuse the right of a non-married heterosexual couple to own any kind of property together. The Supreme Court rejected the decree, stating that it was a discrimination against non-married heterosexual and homosexual couples. Lawsuits followed forcing the Colombian Social Security to include same-sex partners into insurance policies and to avoid discrimination against lesbians and gays willing to adopt children and inherit the effects of their deceased partners.

After a process that took over three years, same-sex unions have been finally recognised by Colombian law. And on 12 December two homosexual men became, we understand, the first legally married gay couple in Colombia with the same benefits as any other married straight couple.

We are indebted to Sister O Pus Gay in Santiago via MMQC in Sydney for this celebratory Colombian news item.

SPAIDS T SHIRTS AVAILABLE AT $15

GRAHAM CARBERY'S MARDI GRAS HISTORY

                                   AVAILABLE AT $10

DONATIONS RECEIVED: Our thanks to Jim Harvey for his assistance to us with a donation towards the production of the newsletter.

ITEMS HELD OVER: Due to lack of room and the urgency of sending out the newsletter certain items will be held over for the next newsletter, No.1 1999.