Formerly Gay Solidarity Group
(Established in 1978)
PO Box 1675
Preston South Vic 3072
Australia
e-mail josken_at_zipworld_com_au
ISSN 1446-4896 ISSUE 3, 2001, NUMBER 50 OCTOBER 2001- FEBRUARY 2002
LOOKING BACK TWO DECADES:
This issue will be the 50th GSG/LGS newsletter. The first one was produced
in April 1979 and from that time has appeared at irregular intervals, The
Gay Solidarity Group changed its name in 1992 to Lesbian and Gay Solidarity.
Although meetings are no longer a feature of the group, the Newsletter provides
news and issues to members and others. This issue was intended to be dated
Oct-Dec 2001. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, we have rescheduled
it as October 2001 -February 2002.
1) AIDS AND SOUTH AFRICA - THE SCANDALOUS SAGA CONTINUES:
It has been reported in Australia that the South African Government has stated
that it has not got the financial resources to pay for the urgent AIDS drugs
required to stop Mother to Child Transmission of the HIV virus. It appears
that South Africa has the resources for a huge defence budget expenditure
for the South African Defence Force when South Africa is under less threat
from external forces than ever before in its modem history. Thus the South
African government appears to have the necessary resources but refuses to
do what needs to be done to slow the AIDS crisis in a country with one of
the fastest growing rates of HIV infection in the world. This is a totally
unsatisfactory state of affairs and needs to be remedied immediately - particularly
with World AIDS Day 2001 slogan "I Care --- Do you?" How much longer are President
Mbeki and his government going to play with the lives of their citizens when
so much of the country's future is at stake? The South African government
needs to act now while there is still time to stop the catastrophe rapidly
engulfing the country.
LATE NEWS:
A report released by the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission
from San Francisco states that the Pretoria High Court issued a ruling (14
December 2001) ordering the South African government to offer treatment to
pregnant women with HIV/AIDS in order to avoid mother-to-child-transmission
(WCT). The Judge, Chris Botha declared that "about one thing there must be
no misunderstanding: a countrywide MTCT prevention programme is an ineluctable
obligation of the State". The South African government has subsequently stated
it will appeal the judgement, but the Treatments Action Committee in South
Africa says this is a delaying tactic and in the end the South African government
will have to back down from its position and international pressure will insist
that the order of the court is enforced.
AND IN THE AGE, MELBOURNE, 19 FEBRUARY 2002:
an article advised us that Nelson Mandela has at last entered the increasingly
bitter debate over the government's health policies. Under pressure from AIDS
activists, scientists, trade unions and the churches, Mr. Mandela told a Johannesburg
Sunday newspaper he would seek to persuade the ANC leadership to curtail the
futile debate about the causes of AIDS and focus on combating the disease.
2) BRITAIN REBUKES MALAYSIAN P.M.:
Britain has rebuked the Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammed, after
he threatened to expel gay British ministers if they visited his country with
their partners. The Guardian 3 November 2001 article continues: "In a terse
statement, the Foreign Office said a day earlier: Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
strongly considers that people's private lives are private.' His remarks were
seen as support for Ben Bradshaw, the openly gay Foreign Office minister,
whose portfolio includes Malaysia. British Foreign Office sources insisted
that Mr. Bradshaw, who met the Malaysian High Commissioner in London within
weeks of his appointment in June, would continue to cover the country. The
diplomatic spat flared up after Dr Mahathir threatened to throw out gay British
ministers if they 'come here bringing their boyfriend'. The Prime Minister,
Tony Blair, appointed Britain's first openly gay cabinet minister after the
Labour Party took power in 1997, making Chris Smith his Culture Secretary.
Mr. Blair also backed his gay Agriculture Secretary, Nick Brown. In an interview
with BBC radio, Dr Mahathir, who had his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, jailed
on charges of sodomy and corruption, said homosexuality was unacceptable in
his predominantly Muslim country. 'The British people accept homosexual ministers
but if they ever come here bringing their boyfriend along, we will throw them
out, 'he said. Peter Tatchell, the gay rights activist, said Dr Mahathir's
comments were not surprising in light of Malaysia's poor human rights record.
'In Malaysia, a consenting gay relationship is punishable by up to 20 years'
jail plus flogging, and this is probably one of the harshest penalties for
gay relationships anywhere in the world,' he said."
3) PETER TATCHELL'S VISIT:
Peter Tatchell was refused a permit to visit the country of his birth a few
months ago when he requested a visa to report on the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting (CHOGM) which was due to be held in Brisbane in October
2001 but postponed due to the events of 11 September 2001. The reason Tatchell
was refused a visa was because of the Australian government's belief that
Tatchell would try to do a 'citizen's arrest" of President Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe who was due to attend the conference. Tatchell tried a few times
to do a "citizen's arrest" of Mugabe because of Mugabe's human rights abuses
in Zimbabwe, including his threats to gays and lesbians in his country. Attempting
a citizen's arrest in Belgium, Tatchell was badly beaten and injured by Mugabe's
bodyguards. Tatchell wanted to come to Melbourne (January 2002) to visit his
mother who has serious health problems and his stepfather who was critically
ill after a stroke. (His stepfather died during this critical period!) Australia's
immigration minister Philip Ruddock said he would not grant a visa until "possible
character concerns" are addressed. Peter Tatchell gave an undertaking that
he would not approach President Mugabe in Australia. However, he said he will
continue to petition Canberra to arrest the President for torture. Minister
Ruddock says there is a clear risk that he might molest, intimidate or stalk
a person in Australia and privacy laws ruled out public statements on individual
visa applications. Tatchell had agreed to speak at the Victoria Gay and Lesbian
Rights Lobby Midsumma Forum on 2 February 2002. He didn't make it. Ruddock
gave him a visa on 19 February!
4) 'WAR" AND "TERRORISM"..
On 22 October 2001 LGS Newsletter received the following from Adam Carr, news
editor of Melbourne's gay B News fortnightly, in response to our item
in the last newsletter about the US and UK "war" on "terrorism":
I was struck in your most recent Newsletter (2/2001) to see a piece headed
Bush-Blair War, which referred to the 'war' against 'terrorists". 1 take your
use of inverted commas to suggest that you don't think there Is a war, or
that there is any such thing as terrorists.
My dictionary defines "war" as a state of usually open and declared armed
hostile conflict between states or nations." It is true that Osama bin Laden's
organisation is not a state, but it has effectively taken control of one,
namely Afghanistan, and used it as a base to launch an armed attack against
another state, the USA, killing more people than the Japanese killed at Pearl
Harbour. The US and its allies have now launched armed counterattacks. That
seems to me to meet a reasonable definition of a war.
My dictionary also defines 'terrorism" as 'the systematic use of terror as
a means of coercion.' 1 would say that hijacking civilian airliners and killing
5,000 people by flying them into office buildings meets this definition. The
authors of this atrocity intended to create terror, and they did so in order
to coerce the US and its allies into doing various things
They succeeded in the first objective, but have so far tailed in the second.
Among those killed on 11 September were at least 12 gay men and lesbians of
whom 1 know by name, and doubtless many others not so far identified. These
included a male couple and their three-year-old adopted son. It is deeply
disgusting and offensive to see the rhetoric of gay activism being used to
excuse this act of mass murder, and to denigrate the entirely reasonable and
so far very restrained response to it by the US and its allies.
Anyone who reads the American gay press can see that a disciplined, targeted
military response to the 11 September attacks has the overwhelming support
of the gay and lesbian community in that country and so it should. We are
at war with people who would cheerfully have gay men and lesbians beheaded
or stoned to death if they had their way, and 1 for one am in favour of using
whatever degree of force is necessary to see them defeated.
More broadly, those of us who formed our political attitudes in the 1970s
need to get over our reflexive anti-Americanism and get to grips with what
is going on in the world. Deeply flawed as western liberal capitalist democracy
may be, it is infinitely preferable to the various models of authoritarianism,
whether religious or secular, which have been posed as alternatives.
1 don 't know what your preferred model of gay and lesbian 'liberation' is
these days, but 1 can assure you that if it involves continued apologetics
for totalitarians and terrorists, and the kind of cynical moral bankruptcy
displayed in the article 1 refer to, it will never gain the support of gay
men and lesbians in this country and nor will it deserve to.
We invite comments on Adam Carr's letter from Newsletter readers - if possible
between 150 to 200 words. In view of Adam's letter it is interesting that
the Anti-War Committee of Students in Solidarity at the University of Pittsburgh
USA on 30 October 2001 published the following:
Reality: The Caspian Sea region has potentially the world's largest oil
reserves, likely making Central Asia the next Middle East. The problem is
piping it out. Afghanistan occupies a strategic position between the Caspian
and the markets of the Indian subcontinent and east Asia. It's prime territory
for building pipelines, which is why the oil company UNOCAL -- as well as
the US government -- welcomed the Taliban's rise to power in 1996 as a promising
source of "stability". That turned out to be a pipe dream (so to speak), but
people like our Commander-in-Chief and the oil men around him have never given
up on the tremendous profit possibilities that Central Asia offers. And if
you don't think such considerations are crossing their minds at this time
of crisis, may we suggest a refresher course in The Facts of Life? (It was
one of the top 5 lies about the US government's war on terrorism - you can
pick up the other 4 on this web site: http://www.neravtcom/left/lies.html)
5) SPAIDS -THE PERMANENT AIDS MEMORIAL, SYDNEY.
Those readers who see the Sydney Star Observer may well have noticed in recent
issues of the gay paper mention of a survey being conducted about a permanent
AIDS memorial. The actual survey to be filled in by readers appeared in issue
no. 583 together with a news article about the survey in the same 1 November
2001 issue. The subject was further discussed in Issues 15 November, 29 November,
6 December and 20 December including readers' letters. The survey results
were expected early to mid-December and to be released at a community meeting.
So far there has been no meeting. Some of our readers may care to keep us
informed of progress, or the date of the proposed meeting. Email us at: josken_at_zipworld_com_au
Sadly, no one has offered to take over SPAIDS in Sydney Park.
6) EGYPTIAN COURT SENTENCES UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FOR SEEKING GA Y CONTACTS
ON THE INTERNET:
The latest report from the International
Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) on the Egyptian government's
homophobic attacks and human rights abuses of the Cairo 52 and others was
released on 19 December 2001 under the heading: One Step toward Justice, Two
Steps Back: More Convictions for Homosexual Conduct in Egypt as Jailed Teenager
is Freed (www.iglhrc.org)
The report states : "Just one day before a Cairo court released from jail
a teenager imprisoned for alleged homosexual conduct, two Egyptian university
students were sentenced to one year in prison for allegedly advertising for
homosexual contacts over the Internet. The IGLHRC is investigating the case.
IGLHRC is gravely concerned that this case may represent renewed
harassment of suspected homosexuals in Egypt." This news represents a small
portion of the ongoing homophobia by many of the governments on the African
continent. At a time when the ongoing AIDS crisis goes from bad to worse,
it is beyond time for these governments to stop preaching hate for gays and
lesbians and to call for help to work towards educating populations about
AIDS and at the same time reducing homophobia in those communities. The Egyptian
government is no exception to this situation. There have been ongoing developments
with worsening homophobia during January and February 2002, and we hope to
update this issue in our next Newsletter.
7) FEDERAL ELECTION RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE LESBIAN AND GAY COMMUNITIES:
AGED CARE BECOMES AGEING AND KEVIN ANDREWS IS MINISTER FOR NO EUTHANASIA!!!:
The lesbian and gay communities have received very little over the years in
the way of equalising laws from either party in power in the Federal Parliament.
One of the biggest issues at stake is that of superannuation entitlements
to couples of the same sex. However, another issue, one which the gay and
lesbian communities themselves have not yet come to terms with, is the recognition
of older people in our communities. Related to this is the issue of discrimination
in aged care. Lesbians and gay men who are on their own and have been out
about their sexuality for many years of their lives, having to go into care
in a nursing home suddenly discover they are being discriminated against because
of their sexuality. With Kevin Andrews now the minister for ageing, the situation
can only become exacerbated, because of his religious affiliations and his
determination to use them for his "Christian" ends! it is time for all in
the lesbian and gay communities to start actively working towards the end
of discrimination in Federal legislation as well as in States legislation
where, although much has been achieved in the last 25 years, there is still
a long way to go. Superannuation and Ageing are only two of the issues. There
are many more.
8) RACIST STICKERS IN MELBOURNE.
We saw stickers at tram stops and posting boxes around the suburbs in Melbourne,
prior to the November 2001 federal election and thought it was urgent enough
in the current racist climate which the Australian Government has been fostering
in relation to the asylum seekers and in the community at large for some years,
to draw our readers' attention to the potential horror it poses for us all.
The stickers were captioned.. "White People Awake! Save the white race! Contact
the most anti~Christian church in the world. The World Church of the Creator.
Australia contact point: PO Box 1622, Collingwood Vic 3066 Australia, website:
http://www. creator.
org We checked out the website and found it to be indeed homophobic, racist
and inciteful to violence.
9) IN MEMORIAM..
GERALD LAWRENCE..
Some of you who were involved in producing the Gay Community News monthly
(Melbourne) after the 5th National Homosexual Conference in 1979, may remember
Gerald, known then as Michael Dubbin, a member of the GCN Sydney Collective.
Gerald died 9 November 200 1. He became one of Sydney's key HIV/AIDS activists.
He was always passionate and willing to contribute his skills to whatever
task he was asked to perform right from those early days of lesbian and gay
activism. He became one of the outspoken positive people in the Sydney community
during the worst years of the AIDS pandemic. Some of us well remember Gerald
as "Banana Sponge" cake in the 1988 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. In
Melbourne on World AIDS Day, 1 December 200 1, we were able to inscribe a
clay tile to his memory which, after the tiles are fired, will be part of
a wall montage at the Fairfield House HIV/AIDS Centre in South Yarra.
RICHARD WHERRETT..
An obituary in The Age of 11 December 2001 reported that Richard Wherrett
had died on 7 December 2001, three days before his 61st birthday. The well-known
theatre director had publicly declared his HIV positive status in 1990 in
the hope of breaking down prejudice and giving courage to other, HIV-infected
people. Wherett died from an AIDS related illness. He will belong remembered
for his association with the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) of which he was
founding director and chief executive for fen years.
10) GAY HATE CRIMES AND FUNDAMENTALISTS OF ALL RELIGIONS:
It has long been acknowledged that a great deal of the homophobia which surrounds
us is generated by fundamentalist religions - Judaism, Christianity, Islam.
Gay hate crimes including murders are perpetrated in those countries professing
human rights for their citizens, the USA being a prime example. Statistics
show that every year since records were kept of hate crimes and their subdivisions
and categories recorded by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) the
numbers of hate crimes directed against the homosexual communities have kept
on rising. In a period of years spanning 1991 to 1999 FBI Hate Crime records
show that percentages of crime based on sexual orientation have risen as follows:
8.9% in 1991, 11.6% in 1992, 11.3% in 1993, 11.5% in 1994, 12.8% in 1995,
11.6% in 1996, 13.7% in 1997, 16.2% in 1998,16.7% in 1999.
The figure for 1999 is nearly double that for 1991 and shows a steady increase
over the years. These USA figures do not reflect what is happening in other
parts of the world. Numbers of gays and lesbians murdered each year around
the world because of their sexual orientation should set alarm bells ringing
about fundamentalist religions. There is no doubt that the murders of gays
and lesbians will continue at ever increasing rates until the hate that is
preached in Western and, yes, Christian countries, and interpreted by their
fundamentalists in their own ways, is stopped.
For those in the gay and lesbian communities who believe that our rights
have been achieved and the struggle is over, we suggest that they have a look
at the latest Christian fundamentalist crusader from Western Australia, Margaret
Court, Wimbledon singles title holder several decades ago. Court has now dedicated
herself to opposing proposed gay law reform from 21 to 16 already passed by
Western Australia's lower house but yet to pass its upper house. These dangerous
religious fanatics are responsible for the ongoing murders of gays and lesbians.
They preach the Bible as justification for their human rights abuses. We live
in dangerous times and our rights are being whittled away even as we think
they are improving! One of the scary aspects of Court's homophobia is that
she was beaten by none other than the lesbian Billie Jean King thus helping
to fuel her fury about homosexuals.
11) BOOKS.. THE PLAY - THE LARAMIE PROJECT..
On October 7, 1998, a young gay man was discovered bound to a fence in the
hills outside Laramie, Wyoming, savagely beaten and left to die in an act
of brutality and hate that shocked the nation. Matthew Shepard's death became
a national symbol of intolerance, but for the people of Laramie the event
was deeply personal, and it is their voices we hear in this stunningly effective
theatre piece. Moises Kaufman and fellow members of the Tectonic Theater Project
made six trips to Laramie over the course of a year and a half in the aftermath
of the beating and conducted more than 200 interviews with people of the town.
From these interviews as well as their own experiences, Kaufman and the Tectonic
Theater members have constructed a deeply moving theatrical experience. The
Laramie Project chronicles the life of the town of Laramie in the year after
the murder, using eight actors to embody more than sixty different people
in their own words - from rural ranchers to university professors. The result
is a complex portrayal that dispels the simplistic media stereotypes and explores
the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which
we are capable." (Summary of play on back cover of book) (A Vintage Books
paperback - published September 2001 $24.95)
CAPTIVE STATE..
The corporate takeover of Britain, by George Monbiot, published by MACMILLAN,
$40. Professor Monbiot was the guest speaker for the John Moore Lecture (UK)
2001 and the subject of Radio National's Background Briefing programme on
Sunday 6 January 2002. The main theme of Monbiot's lecture was that there
exists a crisis in democracy across the world: that people who are not elected
are now in fact running things - pulling strings - and that elected governments
either don't want to or can't say, no! An echo of S11 and M1 if you're interested.
Website: www.captivestate.com
12) GAY RADIO FOR MELBOURNE - LIMITED RANGE - MORE HOMOPHOBIC
DISCRIMINATION?
The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) announced the winners of four
community radio licences for Melbourne on 19 December 2001 one each for students,
Christians, Aborigines and gays/lesbians. Three of the stations will have
a Melbourne wide licence, while the gay and lesbian radio, Joy FM, has its
licence restricted to inner Melbourne. Yet another example of discrimination
by another semi-government agency? Does Professor David Flint, ABAs president,
think that all gays and lesbians live in inner Melbourne or did JOY FM only
apply for a restricted inner city licence?
13) NEWCASTLE QUEER COLLABORATIONS CONFERENCE- SEPTEMBER 2001:
A report in Adelaide's gay and lesbian fortnightly newspaper Blaze (21 September
2001 - and responses in following fortnightly editions) said there had been
intimidation and abuse at the Queer Collaborations Conference held in Newcastle
recently. Certain leftist groups, it claimed, had tried to take over the agenda
of the conference, leading to a walk-out of many delegates who felt threatened
and intimidated by the "extremist factions" present. LGS Newsletter wou ld
welcome comments from readers who could clarify the issues and the alleged
left groups involved in the discussions at the conference.
14) AUSTRALIA'S PROPOSED COUNTER- TERRORISM LAWS:
The Federal Government is introducing a raft of new terrorist-activity laws
which it wants passed when it sits again on 11 March 2002. One of the worst
is planned to give ASIO the power to detain people not suspected of a crime
for 48 hours incommunicado. The Attorney General told the ABC's Radio National
Law Report (12 February) that the proposed laws are intended to remove the
right to silence. People who do not answer questions during ASIO interrogation
may face up to 5 years in jail. He confirmed the laws would apply to anyone
who ASIO believes can provide information regarding terrorism, including children.
Imagine your family suddenly confronted by the fact that you had been "disappeared"
especially when they know what the WHITE apartheid regime did in South Affica.
Held persons for the permitted incommunicado period, released them and rearrested
them as they walked out the door! Remember Pinochet's Chile! Britain's Guildford
4 and the Birmingham 6!!! Australian intelligence and federal police agencies
already have extensive surveillance powers. These new laws are unnecessary
and are likely to lead to abuse. Remember the Hilton Bomb outrage in Sydney,
13 February 1978, and Tim Anderson and the Ananda Marga Three miscarriage
of Australian justice. The Greens and the Democrats will be opposing these
new laws but the Labor Party is being coy. So, write to as many Labor Senators
as you can and express your concern. Demand that they oppose all the proposed
new terrorism laws. Check out the ABC website: www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/lawrpt/stories/s479175.htm
15) DONATIONS..
We have again received donations towards the production of the newsletter
and would like to thank the donors.
Brandon Teena Archive - public lecture by Judith Halberstam, University of
California. Proceeds to Gender Centre. Glebe Town Hall, Sydney. 25 March 2002,
7. 00 pm
"And another thing-" Letters in THE AGE Newspaper, Melbourne:
Now, let me guess. We're about to hear that there are core facts about refugees
Paul Myers, Prahran (18/02/02)
At the last election, this country got the government it deserved - "people
like that". Denise Schulte, Seabrook (18/02/02)
Cricket fan John Howard knows what to do if you are caught out. Phillip Jones,
Horsham (18/02/02)
Memo to Peter Costello: Just say nothing. Paul Custance, Shepparton (18/02/02)
Will, there be any photos of the PM throwing the GG overboard? Ross Gillett,
Ballarat (20/02/02)
With apologies to rubbery figures: it's the same old snake oil, from the same
old snakes. Lyn Knorr, Williamstown (22/02/02)
