PO Box 1675
Preston South Vic 3072
Australia
e-mail josken_at_zipworld_com_au
1) AGE OF CONSENT:
The following report appeared in q
online on 21 June 1999:
“The age of consent law is set to pass Commons making it the same as it is for heterosexuals.”
“The Government have agreed to reintroduce the Sexual
Offences (Amendment) Bill in the next Session of Parliament. This will be
on or after 25th January 2000 so that the Parliament Act can be used. They
expect that the Bill will pass all its Commons stages in a day and will
then go to the Lords. If the Lords reject the Bill, it will become law by
operation of the Parliament Act; if the Lords accept it, the Bill will become
law in any event; if the Lords try to talk it out of time, it will become
law at the end of the session rather than failing; if they pass wrecking
amendments the Commons can simply reject those amendments and the Bill will
still become law by the end of the Session.
”
2) HATE CRIMES:
Murders continue around the world which turn out to be gay and lesbian hate
crimes. The bomb blast in a Soho, London pub, killing three people is a
more recent example, but in the USA the numbers continue to rise. The Sydney
Star Observer reported in its 17 June 1999 edition that Steven Goedereis
had been murdered by two young men aged 16 and 18 because Goedereis had
called out to one of them, “Hey, beautiful.” The two men have been convicted of murder
motivated by gay hate. Sentence is due on 3 September 1999. Several States
and the US Federal Government have been attempting to introduce gay hate
crimes legislation, but the issue is proceeding very slowly, with murders
continuing apace.
This is an issue which gay and lesbian activists need to
pursue with great vigour if we are ever to achieve a breakthrough. The growth
of Christian fundamentalists and other religious zealots and bigots around
the world, especially with their access to the Internet, means that gay
and lesbian organisations will have to use the same technology to counter
their web hate sites.
3) CENSORSHIP:
This brings us back to the issue of censorship, not just of films and other
media, but of the recent passing of a bill through Federal Parliament to
vet access to certain web sites because of their “pornographic”
content, yet the Federal Government is not doing anything to censor the
pornography of hate and filth and lies poured out by the homophobic and
religious right and other racist and sexist organisations around the world.
While being against censorship in general, we feel that
it is necessary for governments to respond honestly to concerns in the community
about various problems with all the new technologies. In the Australian
Federal Parliament, censorship is used as a means of buying support and
votes from members of Parliament who have specific agendas and demand from
the Government certain legislation in order to ensure that they will support
the Government.
The issue of the film Lolita was a case in point, and although
Lolita in the end was not banned, and at the same time there was another
film on with a similar theme which received no attention from the Government,
it has to be remembered that the film Salo was banned, which brings Australia
back to the 1950s - Prime Minister John Howard’s comfort zone!
4) ANTI-DISCRIMINATION BOARD AND BISEXUALITY:
At its last gay and lesbian consultation meeting in March 1999, the issue
of bisexual membership of organisation such as Mardi Gras came up for discussion.
After much vigorous and, at times heated debate, the ADB informed the meeting
that under current legislation it was not able to interfere in the workings
of organisations such as the Sydney
Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras, and that the communities would have to work
out the issues themselves.
Following this meeting there followed articles and letters on the topic
in the gay and lesbian media and a certain amount of acrimony was engendered
- if that is an appropriate term to use for this topic! The outcome, so
far, is that there has been no resolution of the issue, and what has emerged
from the discussions is that the bisexual groups politically are opening
themselves up to accusations of homophobia. Either bisexuals support gay
and lesbian struggles or they don't. If they don't, they are perceived to
be homophobic, and will be excluded from the struggles which still have
to take place for ultimate gay and lesbian liberation.
5) SPECIAL BRANCH FILES:
Activists are now able to access information under Freedom of Information
legislation from the NSW Police if they believe that the Police Special
Branch - now disbanded - may have been collecting information about them
over the past 20 to 30 years. For $15 an application may be made for a file
containing relevant information concerning yourself, and this can be done
at Police Headquarters in College Street Sydney.
6) LESBIAN AND GAY SOLIDARITY PARTICIPATION IN RECENT
POLITICAL EVENTS:
Supporters rallied and demonstrated with us at the Palm Sunday Jabiluka
day of protest on Sunday 28 March. The march drew about 1 000 people altogether
and several speakers informed us of the continuing problems with mining
uranium and the problems associated with Jabiluka and Aboriginal land rights.
On the way home from the rally, members of LGS left the LGS banner on a
train, and it has not been found! However, a new banner has been made to
replace the old one, and it is a very handsome banner indeed! Congratulations
to the banner maker!
Lesbian and Gay Solidarity were also involved with the
recent Quilt Project unfolding at Darling Harbour on 10 and 11 April where
we assisted in reading out names while the panels were unfolded. As ever,
a very moving event, and one which we hoped would get less over the years
but continues increasing.
On Sunday 2 May, LGS also participated in the May Day Rally
and we were especially pleased to meet delegates from South African union
movements and also from Indian gay and lesbian organisations. The rally
of about 1 500 people was told of the attacks on the union movement by the
Federal Government of Australia which is out to break the power of the union
movement here once and for all. Unless union supporters rally and try to
increase union membership, and unless the union movement itself does something
to stop the increasing disillusionment amongst its rank and file members,
causing mass resignations, the Australian union movement is in for a very
bad time, which may end in its ultimate disappearance.
7) COUNTRIES TO BOYCOTT ON VISITS OVERSEAS BECAUSE
OF HOMOPHOBIA:
Highest on the list is Brazil, according to information received from two
of our correspondents in Northern Ireland. Brazil has the highest rate of
gay and lesbian related murders in the world. Other countries high on the
hate list are Zimbabwe and Namibia where the presidents of both countries
continue to make statements which can be construed as inciting their followers
to murder gays and lesbians because they are alien concepts in their cultures.
This is despite the fact that rites of passage for young men in many African
and other countries involve initiation ceremonies which are basically of
a homosexual nature!
Other countries to continue boycotting are Afghanistan,
Burma, Cayman Islands, China, India, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Pakistan, Romania, Singapore, Swaziland, certain
states in the USA, West Indies, Zambia. Please advise of others of which
you may be aware so that we can list them in future newsletters.
8) THE SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTIONS:
The second democratic elections in South Africa since the change from the old regime in 1994 took place on 2 June, with the African National Congress the winners with 66% of the vote. Thabo Mbeki has now been installed as the new President. Lesbians and gays welcomed the news and anticipated that all discriminatory laws will be changed to bring them into line with the Constitution which came into force in 1994. The National Coalition of Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE), Gays and Lesbians of the Witwatersrand (GLOW), National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) and other related organisations in South Africa will need to keep up the pressure on the Mbeki Government to deliver on the law changes as soon as possible. They will also need to be ever vigilant that the religious right and other conservative elements do not manage to persuade the government to change the constitution or backtrack on human rights issues.
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 last updated 10 FEBRUARY 2016
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