GAY SOLIDARITY GROUP NEWSLETTER NUMBER 6

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Formerly Gay Solidarity Group (Established in 1978)
PO Box 1675
Preston South Vic 3072
Australia
e-mail: josken_at_josken_net

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

ISSN 1446-4896


SERIES 2
GAY SOLIDARITY NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 1
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 1981

WITH THIS ISSUE WE RESUME PUBLICATION OF OUR NEWSLETTER. OUR COMMITMENT TO VARIOUS CAMPAIGNS HAS MADE IT HARD FOR US TO KEEP IT GOING, NOT WITHSTANDING OUR LIMITATIONS MONEY-WISE, EQUIPMENT-WISE AND TIME-WISE, WE WILL EXPECT TO PUT OUT A NEWSLETTER SIX OR EIGHT TIMES PER YEAR. YOUR SUPPORT CAN ENSURE THIS.

G.S.G. AND GAY LEFT AMALGAMATE

Gay Solidarity and Gay Left now function as one group. We are meeting fortnightly -every second and fourth Monday, 7.30pm at the Sydney Labor Club, 464 Bourke St, Surry Hills. A» always we invite all lesbians and homosexual men to come along and join us in planning and building campaigns to challenge our oppression.

As with both groups previously, we'll be fighting for gay rights, but seeing gay rights in a wider liberationist perspective. This means relying on mass action by lesbians and homosexual men, and on the support of the labour movement and the fighting organisations of women, migrants, blacks and other oppressed peoples.

Gay Left was formed in response to a new wave of interest in gay activism after the Sixth National Conference for Lesbians and Homosexual Men in Sydney August 1980. Its year of activity is not to be regretted, yet since then new groups have begun which have involved many of those who were last year interested in Gay Left — e.g. Socialist Lesbians, Gay Rights Lobby, the sexuality discussion group.

The role of Gay Left had not been clarified in a way that was satisfactory to many of the people that were involved; and though it was generating interest from new people, it was decided that it amalgamate with G.S.G. to avoid any duplication of gay activist work.

On our plate for the next six months is:

1. a series of discussions to introduce and re-examine the basic ideas of gay liberation. These discussions will retain the name Gay Left.
2. a campaign to challenge police harassment of lesbians and homosexual men.
3. work around issues raised by the International Association of Gay Women and Men.
4. co-operation with other groups in the campaign to repeal the anti-gay laws.
5. liaison with the Socialist Lesbians and others to organize a second national conference on gay liberation and socialism in 1982 in Sydney.

We urge anyone who has ever been involved in either Gay Left or Gay Solidarity, or who is interested in organizing against our oppression, to contact us. We need your ideas on how we can go forward, we need your help so we can share the work around.

We sometimes get requests from prisoners around Australia for people to write to them. If you would be prepared to show a bit of solidarity please contact us.

Police Harassment

The .struggle for gay liberation has traditionally been inseparable from the fight against police harassment In .June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Bar in New York and the ensuing riot by homosexual men and lesbians marked the birth of the gay liberation movement. Australia has been no exception. From the murder of Dr Duncan to the attacks on the 1978 Mardi Gras, from the continual harassment of beats to the raids on gay bars, police persecution has been an everyday occurence for homosexuals and their political movement.

In Sydney at the beginning of this year, gay organizations and media once again took up the question of police harassment due to a spate of raids on gay bars. Gay Left called a public meeting, held forums and attempted to organize a coalition of forces for a campaign against police attacks

Keeping up momentum for such a campaign proved to be a difficult task. Apart from anything else, lesbians antl homosexual men have come to expect police harassment as a fact of life--police oppression is so widespread that fighting back seems a daunting and personally risky course of action.

Nonetheless, considerable progress has been made. In August a man was convicted on a charge of causing "serious affront'' for dancing with another man in a gay bar. This conviction sparked off a demonstration which was widely supported by diverse sections of the gay community and attracted according to tho Sydney Morning Herald 150 people.

The 7th National Conference of Lesbians and Homosexual Men endorsed the fight back against police harassment and called for a national campaign culminating in mass demonstrations on the tenth anniversary of Dr Duncan's death--10th May 1982.

GSG is co-ordinating this campaign in NSW and is organizing a programme of activities leading up to May 10, including publication of an "emergency card" con taining essential information in case of arrest, detontion or bashing, organization of legal support services and mass action.

A national campaign against police harassment will involve us all in an important struggle against one of the main agencies enforcing our oppression. Whether or not the anti-homosexual provisions of the Crimes Act are repealed, the overwhelming bulk of police oppression will continue unless gays take the initiative and fight back. GSG calls on gays to come forth with details of their experiences and join the campaign.

FIGHT BACK!

LEGALISE BUGGERY!

The campaign for homosexual law reform has made considerable progress this year. On April 7 George Petersen attempted to amend the Crimes Act to effectively repeal 79-81b -the sections that deal with male homosexuality.

Unfortunately the NSW Parliament, not wanting to be confronted with the issue during an election year, preferred to defer the matter. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly duly ruled Petersen out of order when he rose to move the amendment. Parliament was once again spared the torment of debating the laws relating to homosexuality.

Meanwhile, outside Parliament House, a demonstration of 500 people was loudly supporting Petersen's move. The size and the militancy of this lunch-time demonstration was itself a considerable achievement.

As reported elsewhere, law reform continued as a political issue for the remainder of the year and right through the election campaign itself, particularly in the electorate of Bligh.

With the re-election of the Wran Labor Government Gay Solidarity felt that the incoming Parliament should be met with a renewed display of public support for homosexual law reform.

A demonstration has been called for lunchtime, Wednesday November 4th, outside Parliament House. The demonstration will have three main demands:

-Repeal all anti-homosexual laws
-End Police Harassment
-Include homosexuality in the Anti-Discrimination laws

The timing of this demonstartion is particularly crucial as it seems certain that repeal of 79-81b of the Crimes Act will be moved and debated in the near future.

Not only is it expected that this demonstration will play a part in rallying support for the repeal move, but also it will be a timely reminder to politicians that law reform goes beyond the Crimes Act.

Ending of police harassment and the banning of discrimination should be tied to the removal of the archaic buggery laws. The achievement of these demands cannot rely on lobbying and media pressure alone - though supporters of amendment should be throwing their weight behind the Gay Rights Lobby efforts in this area.

An early show of strength to the incoming Parliament will be very important in maintaining pressure on politicians, as well as being an important lead up to the rally to be held on the actual day that the debate on law repeal takes place.

Advances must be made on the basis of the gains so far won if they are to be made at all. JOIN US ON NOVEMBER 4th!

RALLY FOR GAY RIGHTS

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 4TH

OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT

Gay Left Discussions

We want our ideas to be as accessible to people as possible, so we decided to begin a series of discussions about gay liberation.

They will be held fortnightly on Sunday afternoons in people's homes. They will be fairly informal, with wine, coffee, and snacks. Most can be general open discussions, but some topics in the first series require someone to give a prepared talk, and for some, lists of articles and books that can be referred to later, will be prepared for anyone interested.

We're issuing an open invitation to any Gay Solidarity supporters and friends to come along. Who we had in mind were people who thought they'd like to be involved in the gay movement but felt put off by not knowing anybody and not being familiar with the history or politics of gay liberation. Maybe you are in another group, and are not sure what makes the radical end of the gay movement different.

Often now people come to G.S.G. meetings, which are heavily oriented to the business-at-hand, and cannot accomodate their initial needs. Often we make assumptions about what and how to do things, based on our previous experiences in the gay movement or our own political philosophies.

These assumntions need to be explained; and for us a re-examination of the ideas that we base our gay activism on will be refreshing and valuable.

What we have planned for our first eight afternoons is:

1. GAY LIBERATION, a general discussion to introduce the series. What comes after gay rights? Why are we oppressed? Is gay liberation revolutionary?
2. THE EARLY GAY MOVEMENT 1850—1935, a talk to fill us in on our heritage.
3. THE SPREAD OF GAY LIBERATION 1969 — 1981, how the movement has developed in the West and in the Third World.
4. THE GAY AND LESBIAN COMMUNITIES, how do liberationists relate to other gay women and men? How do we feel about the various lesbian and gay scenes today?
5. FEMINISM, how does our struggle relate to the struggle of women against sexism? What are the fundamental ideas of women's liberation?
6. MARXISM, the basic ideas of marxism have helped the development of gay liberation and many gay activists are socialists. What are the essentials of revolutionary socialism and what are the theories of class-struggle?
7. EASTERN EUROPE, CHINA, CUBA, USSR, if socialism is an answer, why are lesbians and gay men so oppressed in these countries?
8. STRATEGIES, why should we have our own movement? What do we mean by mass action? Counterculture, reform, and class-struggle strategies.

After this series we can assess how participants want to continue. We have four suggestions so far:

1. a series on controversial questions in the movement — e.g. working relations between lesbians and homosexual men, drag, pornography, sadomasochism, paedophilia, clones, bar scenes.......
2. a series on modern theorists whose ideas have bearing on gay liberation — brief introductions to Freud, Gramsci, Wilhelm Reich, Trotsky, Mary Daly, Foucault ....
3. a series on the development of the movement in Sydney — a quick look at its ten year history, the various political forces involved; a survey of the left, the women's movement, and other progressive movements; and a look at our enemies, the Festival of Light and the Christian Right.
4. a detailed look at a current gay liberation book — "The Spiral Path", a very uneven book by David Fernbach, has been suggested.

There are many alternative possibilities. We come up with detailed plans, not to repress spontaneity or to limit the sharing of ideas, but to give the discussions direction and to make sure as much ground as possible can be covered.

Ploase contact Ken 358 2212 (hm) or P.O. box 380 Broadway 2007 and come along. Our first gathering is on November 22.

ELEXION NOTES

In a number of respects the NSW elections on September 19 were important for gay activists. Most obviously the overwhelming vote for the A.L.P. means that our agitation for our most basic gay rights demands must be stepped up in the immediate period. People have voted Labor not just out of revulsion for the Liberals, and not just for an efficient non-controversial administration, but because they want to see change on matters that affect their daily lives — like education cutbacks, health facilities, land for NSW Blacks, unemployment, childcare, anti-discrimination legislation, public transport, housing .......... and gay rights. We should try and force as much as we can get out of the re-elected government.

P.E.A.C.E. SLATE

Earlier in the year Sydney gay activists wore approached and asked to take part in discussions to set up a coalition to stand for the upper house, the Legislative Council.

As we understood the proposals, there would be a ten candidate team, led by an Aboriginal land rights campaigner, and including people representing other social movements -- women's liberation, gay liberation, people fighting for conservation, rational development of resources, for better standards in housing, health care, transport, migrant services, etc.

We hoped this was an opportunity to form an alliance with all those fighting the Wran government from the left, and to raise all the issues that concerned us right across the state.

On the sixteenth of August we politely withdrew from these discussions. It had become clear that though we respected each others' policies, we were overestimating the maturity that our respective movements have achieved. We felt that the campaign could not involve the most advanced people in the labour movement or the women's movement. We felt the candidates would not adequately present our issues to the electorate. We felt that though it promised support in many NSW areas, we could not organize properly in Sydney in the short time before tho vote.

The dominant force in the formation had become the countercultural environmentalists. The different politics , experience and backgrounds of the various component movements could not be converged easily. After we withdrew, others also dropped out, leaving only that particular sector of the ecology/peace movement.

The resulting campaign did not put forward the demands of the oppressed, or of the working class. It was no more anti-capitalist than the Democrats. It put forward no solutions to the crisis other than lets all be nice to each other. "Tired of conflict, vote for PEACE".

We remain very keen to participate in any future discussions which can lead to a fighting alllance to challenge Wran's inaction and Fraser's ruling class offensive.

The P.E.A.C.E. team received about 0.5% of the vote for the Legislative Council.

Following this article, the charter of gay liberation demands that was to be used in the campaign is printed.

CLERICAL REACTION

Fred Nile, leader of the anti-democratic Festival of Light got over nine percent of the vote for the NSW upper house, and has been comfortably elected for a nine-year term.

With the Liberals unable to rally the middle-class vote, and Wran refusing to raise issues of social freedom, Nile was able to cohere a christian vote large enough to get him a parliamentary salary.

Complicit in this set back for democratic rights are sectors of the capitalist media, who have given Fred a column in the Sunday Telegraph, and four hours on Sunday nights on 2GB. The media makes no provisions for Nile's bigotry to be answered.

Nile presents a threat that should not be laughed off or ignored. He is not simply a wowser. He puts forward a complete right wing programme, centered on Christianity and the nuclear family, but aimed against all social progress.

He will use his position in parliament to speak out, his lies protected by parliamentary privilege, against abortion, divorce, working women and feminism; against gay rights; against progressive education; against the Black movement; against militant trade unions.

Fred wants to see the tradional patriarchal family and Christianity (or at least a Christianity untainted by tho World Council of Churches) unchallenged as the dominant ideological bases of society. He wants to censor anything he sees as secular humanism and therefore dangerous.

Fortunately the vote for Fred does not indicate vast support for his policies. Opinion polls have shown a decline in support for all of the causes that he champions, and indeed for his Christianity. Many of his polling booth workers knew nothing of his ideas apart from the fact that he believes in God.

Fred's victory is no cause for despair, though it should be a warning, and an indicator that we have a lot of hard struggles ahoad of us in our fight for justice, equality and social transformation.

It indicates that we need to prioritise efforts to build alllances to defend democratic rights, and revive the secular components of our programme, which challenge the privileges that the pulpit bigots of Fred's ilk still retain in society today.

BLIGH

The election in the seat of Bligh was a significant test for all sectors of the gay movement.

Both major party candidates sought the gay vote, and it is a victory that the seat was won by a candidate with a relatively advanced public gay rights policy.

The agitation and lobbying that was done was very valuable in raising our demands as an issue for the elections. Yet many gay rights strategies were exposed in the process.

The theory is that we all live together in the one electorate, buy from gay businesses, and vote according to the directives our "responsible gay community leaders" hand down after they lobby the candidates for us.

In all the maneuvering that went on in Bligh, this theory wont down in flames.

First off, it is a mistake to merely compare the candidates' stated gay platform, or even worse, to assess who the most articulate and presentable politician in the race is.

None of us should, and few of us do, decide our political allegiance solely on the basis of gay rights. We all have other concerns apart from law reform; most of us are tenants and workers as well, and a pro-gay (sic) Liberal candidate would be as much help as a match in a bushfire. Many did not like the Labor candidate, Fred Miller, because he wasn't well presented and well spoken. Ho didn't handle cross questioning on gay issues well. Yet the key point was that an older inner-city A.L.P. man, very much a product of the traditional working class and its organizations, had come out in support of all the gay demands he was presented with, and had a good gay rights record in his local A.L.P. bodies.

You don't have to have an analysis of the centrality of the labour movement in the struggle for gay freedom, to appreciate tho importance of this breakthrough. The candidate surveys often miss the most crucial gay liberation considerations.

Further, if not handled correctly, they can encourage gays to place their trust in politicians, rather than taking the struggle for gay liberation into their own hands.

Bligh saw the withdrawal of the conservative forces, once allied to what used to be called CAMP from the main political arenas of gay politics. They were simply absent.

But most of all Bligh exposed the gay businesses, the owners of which are more likely to react as businessmen rather than as gay rights supporters. The Liberal candidate, Barraclough, was courting their support, presumably counting on class allegiance, and offering some private financial and political considerations in return.

In the run up to the election we saw various representatives of the gay business world twisting and turning, and trying desperately to obscure and rationalize the unsatisfactory gay policies of their losing Liberal.

The lessons of Bligh should not be forgotten.

WHAT WE WANT

END ALL FORMS OF PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LESBIANS AND HOMOSEXUAL MEN IN EMPLOYMENT, THE LAW, EDUCATION AND OTHER AREAS.

1.Repeal all anti-homosexual laws!
Repeal Sections 79-81B of the Crimes Act.
Repeal sections of the Offences in Public Places Act.
Release all those in prison or undergoing compulsory psychiatric treatment because of homosexual "offences".
Destroy all records of prosecutions on anti-homosexual charges. Compensate all those who have been penalized under these laws.
For the rights of lesbians and homosexual men to meet and express affection in public.
2. End police harrassment of gay people!
For removal of police stations as "proclaimed" places of detention under the Intoxicated Persons Act.
An end to verbal and physical abuse of lesbians and homosexual men by police in gay meeting areas.
For police action against poofter-bashers and rapists.
3. End discrimination against lesbians and male homosexuals in employment!
Fcr the inclusion of homosexuality in the provisions of the anti-discrimination legislation.
For trade union action to defend gay members from victimization.
4. End discrimination against lesbians and male homosexuals in education!
Defend the rights of gay teachers and students
For comprehensive sex education courses that present homosexuality as valid and healthy.
For a rewriting of lesbians and male homosexuals into history and literature courses—our past will not be silenced
5. End discrimination against lesbian and gay male parents in child custody!
No imprisonment in " homes" under "moral danger" clauses for children who are growing up gay or who are living with gay women or men.
6. Abolition of all regulations prohibiting homosexuality or penalizing lesbians and homosexual men in "welfare homes", mental and other hospitals, armed forces schools, prisons and other institutions.
Restitution for all those who have suffered under such regulations.
7. For government funding of self-managed gay community centres which can offer free of charge: legal aid, crisis intervention, employment and health services, facilities for socializing and discussions, affirmative self-help counselling, youth services and general information on homosexuality.
For facilities to be provided for gay women and men with special needs—old gays and the gay disabled.
8. For recognition of homosexual relationships as being entitled to the benefits of equivalent heterosexual relationships in finance, inheritance, superannuation, immigration and all other areas.
9. For a commission made up from gay organizations, health workers, and consumers to eradicate all psychiatric practices designed to "cure" homosexuality.
No Chemical castration, no soul-destroying psychoanalysis, no drugs, no surgery, no aversion therapy.
10. Guaranteed access by lesbians and homosexual men to the mass media to rebut anti-homosexual propaganda and to counteract the negative images of homosexuality that the media portrays.

printed in this issue is a statement by individual gay activists on the Bligh events. The above election comments wore contributed by Ken Davis and are not the democratically decided views of G.S.G.

The election of A.L.P. candidate Fred Miller in the electorate of Bligh is a victory for gay rights in NSW. Bligh, which has important concentrations of homosexuals, now has an M.L.A. publicly committed to the achievement of legal equality.

We must now increase our agitation for the repeal of the anti-homosexual laws and an end to police harrassment. The re-elected Wran government will only take action if we show the strength of our committment and support.

During the campaign, however, gays worked for and voted for both Miller and Barraclough. We did not act as a unified community.

Even though Miller's record and policy on gay rights is decisively better than Barraclough's (most noticeably on whether we should have the same age of consent as hetersexuals), some people with vested interests sought to encourage gays in Bligh to support the Liberal Party.

The leaflet issued for polling day by the "Lobby for Equality" would seem to have been a last minute attempt by these people to confuse voters.

We do not want to criticize those handing the leaflet out. They were doing what they could to raise the issue of gay rights to the voters in Bligh.

Yet we cannot avoid the conclusion that the failure of the leaflet to accurately represent the policies of the candidates was deliberate. The process initiating this leaflet was neither open nor democratic.

All homosexuals have a stake in gay rights. All of us have to work to win the necessary changes. We cannot leave it up to either politicians or self-appointed community leaders.

Shane Ostenfeld, Max Pearce, Richard Wilson, Maitland Bowen, Paul van Reyk, Leigh Raymond, Ken Davis, John Cozijn, David Fagan.

PLANS FOR 2ND GAY SOCIALIST CONFERENCE

Last April about two hundred people took part in the Socialism and Homosexuality Conference in Melbourne It was decided at that conference that a second one should be held in 1982, in Sydney.

The Melbourne conference described itself as an "open conference for all socialists who support gay liberation The aim of the conference is to develop socialist perspectives on homosexual politics in the eighties. Issues for discussion will include differing ideas on how socialists should organize with gays, organizing within the labour movement, alliances with women's liberation. The conference will be forward looking in its emphasis on the development of a united rosponse to oppression based on sex and sexuality


We invite movement publications to reprint from our newsletter. Please acknowledge source and send us a copy.


A committee has been set up in Sydney to begin preparations for the 1982 conference. Over the next couple of months the theme and aims will have to be discussed. The date and venue will have to be decided soon, and initial publicity sent out. Fundraising must begin soon.

If you think you might be interested in the conference please come to the planning meetings (details in the calendar) or contact G.S.G. or the Socialist Lesbians (care of Women's Liberation House 62 Regent St Chippendale).

Those currently involved are hoping for a conference that is much broader than the first, both in terms of topics covered and in terms of who we should try and attract to participate. "Sexuality and Class: a Conference on Gay Liberation, Feminism, and Socialism" has been suggested as a title. It is felt that the conference must combine serious political and theoretical interchange with discussion that is at all times accessible and open.

TOKYO

--- the following information is summarized from a comminique of the Japan Gay Centre, P.O. box 662, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-91, Japan. It was printed in the July 4, 1981 edition of Gay Community News Boston.

Japanese history tells of same sex liaisons between monks, samurai, and aristocrats. Though, as usual, the histories ignore women, it is assumed that there was lesbianism in the Shogun's harem, and amongst tho aristocracy. The Jesuit missionary saint Francisco de Xavier, who arrived in Kyushu in 1549 was shocked at the extent of homosexuality in Japanese cities. It was not uncommon for young men to be kept in brothels.

Though Buddhism and the law do not forbid homosexuality, Confucian moralism from the eighteenth century on, and Western influence have meant the eradication of open homosexuality until very recent times.

Although the police and the courts were not major problems, discrimination and prejudice have given Japanese gays tho image of "Plants that flower in the darkness". The rightist author Mishima has described male gay life in the '50s in his book "Forbidden Colours".

The strength of male chauvinism in Japan means that most Japanese lesbians and gay men are married and unable to "come out". Now gay publications and bars are opening for men in the big cities. Yet gay men still have the image of drag entertainers and lesbians are thought of as butch.

Inspired by the successful campaigning of the gay movement overseas, the gay movement got underway in Japan in 1976 (though Australian gay organizations were contacted by the Green Club of Osaka in 1974, and Magnus Hirschfeld, a leader of the early gay movement is reported to have been enthusiastically received by Japanese gays,.during his world speaking tours in the late nineteen twenties — G.S.G.).

The Japan Gay Centre was set up in 1979 by two women and two men to fight for human rights and to try and break down the isolation of lesbians and homosexual men in Japan.

U.S.A IMMIGRATION CAMPAIGN

About fifty people attended a picket outside the American Consulate in Sydney on September 25. G S.G called the protest in response to an appeal for international actions Similar demonstrations were held in European and North American cities

Since the Cold War era, U.S. entry regulations have classified lesbians and homosexual men as sexual deviants and forbid entry to U.S territory even for short visits. The gay rights movement in the U.S.A. and internationally has campaigned around a number of incidents over the last couple of years.

English gay activists going to Stonewall Day parades, and Canadian women going to a women's music festival have been searched and turned away at the borders. Last year G.S.G. protested when a Melbourne man, on his way to a short holiday in the U.S.A. was interrogated and searched at the Honolulu airport. After the intervention of American lawyers, he was "paroled" into the country to complete his holiday. In the meantime his name was released, without his consent to the Australian press.

This current protest was a response to the treatment of Phillip Fotheringham on May 5 this year. A Canadian citizen who was resident in Virginia from 1970 to 1976, Fotheringham was detained at JFK airport in New York, his luggage searched, his diary read, and his sexuality questioned. He was put onto a plane back to London, without compensation.

Nineteen gay and womens rights organizations in Sydney signed a letter of complaint to the U.S.A. authorities. This harassment is discriminatory and contrary to the spirit of many international covenants ratified by the U.S. government.

Our action was appreciated overseas, and it attracted good publicity on radio and television.

FOR A WORLD WITHOUT FRONTIERS!

OUR CHOIR

Since Stonewall day in June Sydney has had its own Gay Liberation Quire. It has performed both tentatively and triumphantly at protests, at fundraising dances, at the Darlinghurst Fair, at the Patch's talent quest, and at the Metropolitan Community Church. When it performed at the Gay Rights Lobby evoning at Ken's Karate Klub, its audience went wild --in true Bette Midler fashion — as the boys disported themselves in bathing costumes at the end of the pool.

It is made up of twelve to twenty radical gay men. It operates within the parameters of the modern gay male subculture, though not uncritically. This is a very different milieu to that of the subculture of women's music that involves many lesbians. Yet it was formed as a Gay Liberation choir, rather than a gay male choir, and its policy is that it is open to women, (problem -- it cannot recruit one or two women, to integrate women vocally would require an influx).

Its starting point was fun and gay politics rather than professional quality; but it does its best, its getting better, and the response has always been warm .

The Quire camps up and transforms old favorites like "Gonna Wash that Man Right out of my Hair"; it sings songs from the feminist songbook "Something Good", and songs by beloved Sydney artiste Judy Small ("Festival of Light"), left songs, and its own compositions, rewrites, and parodies.

As the Quire expands it may diversify into sub-groups. Plans at the moment include a gay bush dance, and degro Xmas carolling in Oxford St. It is also hoping to learn current gay freedom songs from overseas.

If you want to contact the Quire, call Ken 358 2212, or Paul 82 2630, after hours, or write to P.O. box 380 Broadway 2007

KEN DAVIS
pTHE GAY WAVES SONG

(Words: John Schwarzkoff; Tune: Aeroplane Jelly)

We like Gaywaves on Thursday
Gaywaves of Thursday for us

Good talk and great music Gay talents abound
It's mind-blowing, fun, and politically sound
Creative, explosive Gaywaves gets our vote
When complacency looms hear Gaywaves rock the boat
We like Gaywaves of Thursday
Gaywaves on Thursday for us.

Come to depravity country
2SER, Thursday, at ten
Nonsexist, nonracist,
Tune in with a friend
The show nine out of ten diseased minds recommend
It has ups and downs as the name would suggest
But Gaywaves alone stands the consciousness test
We like Gaywaves on Thursday
Thursday is Gaywaves for us!

SUBSCRIBE TO GAY COMMUNITY NEWS

I enclose $10/$7*/$20**,being one year's subscription (10 issues) to Gay Community News, commencing with the month of...........

Name.................
Address................
P'code,
*$7 for people on fixed income.
**$20 for sustaining subscription.
Please return this form to:
GCN, PO Box 21 (outdoor), Carlton Sth 3053


calendar

Gay Solidarity Group meetings

7.30pm 2nd and 4th Mondays Sydney Labor Club, 464 Bourke St, Surry Hills, Monday November 9th, Monday November 23rd, Monday December 14th

Gay Left Discussions

2.00pm 1st and 3rd Sundays private houses—ring Ken for info on 358-2212, Sunday Nov 22nd Gay Liberation, Sunday Dec 6th Gay Movement 1850-1935, Sunday Dec 20th International Gay Movement

Stonewall Collective

7.30pm 1st Thursdays, Sydney Labor Club, 464 Bourke St, Surry Hills: Thursday Nov 5th, Thursday December 3rd

Gay Waves

10.00pm-l.00am Thursdays 2SER-FM 107.5 MHz

Socialist Homosexuals Conference Planning Collective

6.30pm 3rd Mondays, Inner-City Education Centre, 37 Cavnndish St, Stanmore: Monday Nov. 15th, Monday Dec 21st

Australian Labor Party Gay Group

8.00pm 3rd Mondays: Sydney Labor Club,464 Bourke St, Surry Hills; ring Max for info 33-6389 (hm) or 9234446 (wk)

SPECIAL EVENTS

Gay Waves Garden Party--Sun Nov 8th l.00pm, 138 Stanmore Rd, Stanmore

Gay Community News Fundraiser, Sun Nov 15th--ring 358-2212 for info

Police Harassment Campaign: Card Launching, Tues NOV 24th—ring 3582212 for info

STONEWALL'82

The Stonewall Collective has reconvened to begin preparations for the 1982 Stonewall commemorative activities.

Around the world at the end of June, the gay movement holds marches, forums, dances, and cultural events to mark the anniversary of the birth of the modern wave of gay freedom in the Stonewall riots of June 1969 in New York.

Sydney has held major public activities for Stonewall since 1978. That year police attacked our first Mardigras, arresting 53 participants. Stonewall '81 culminated in a march for gay rights that attracted over one thousand women and men. Other events included public meetings, a film festival, a dance, and religious services.

The Stonewall Collective aims to organize a framework (of publicity, etc.) within which all the diverse groups in the lesbian and gay communities can present their own activities. The Collective will be responsible, as before, for organizing the march. Currently the Collective is getting fund-raising activities going. A New Year raffle has been initiated. In the next months we'll be deciding our basic guidlines and plans for the 1982 events. We invite any lesbians and homosexual men who have ideas about how Stonewall '82 should shape up to contact us.

We would appreciate any help, now or in the leadup to the week in June. Meeting details are in the calendar in this newsletter. Our postal address is:

P.O. box K485
Haymarket
NSW 2000

* I would like to become involved in the Gay Solidarity Group
. * I would like to attend the Gay Left Discussions.
* I would like to subscribe to the Gay Solidarity Newsletter. ($3.00 for 6 issues)
Name...........................................
Address........................................
................................... P'code
Phone.......................(home)......................(work)

Please return to Gay Solidarity Group. P.O. Box 380, Broadway, 2007.


ADELAIDE CONFERENCE 29-30.8 81

It couldn't be said that the Seventh National Conference for Lesbians and Homosexual Men achieved a great deal. Which is not to say that it was not a worthwhile event, or that the organizing collective did anything other than an excellent job.

The national conferences play a major role for gay activists spread thousands of miles apart, with little regular communication and no national organization. They are a peculiarly Australian institution, and a necessary one.

For instance, out of the workshop on police harassment there came a decision to hold a national campaign against police harassment. This can be counted as an achievement of the sort only really possible at such a national gathering. However, the workshop also allowed for an exchange of information about one area of political work that not only left people better informed and less isolated, but perhaps provided the motivation for further work and action. This is the kind of benefit not easily recorded in the minutes book

The Seventh National Conference saw "gay community", relations between lesbians and gay men, and the decline of the presumed "socialist-feminist consensus" as major points for the exchange of views. Also various activist groups — the Gay Rights Lobby, Gay Community News, G.S.G., Gay Waves, etc -- organized workshops around their own areas of involvement, thereby making contacts and organizational links

Valuable and necessary as all this may have been, it is still the case that a number of things still need to be done that can only be done at a national conference In many ways our movement is still very immature -- we have no nationwide organization, and no organized capacity to respond coherently on a national level

National conferences should provide the venue not only for the clarification of ideas, but also for the building of our movement. For this conferences need to be working events, with participants prepared with proposals for action, ideas, and organizational back-up before they walk into the first plenary.

In recognition of this need the Adelaide conference adopted as the theme for the next conference "Building the Gay Movement". The expectation behind this theme is that the eighth national conference (scheduled for Canberra, end of August 1982) will be a far more together meeting, working on problems such as nationally integrated campaigns, adequate information networks, national funds for defence and lesbian mother child custody, and united responses to victimizations and to the Fraser government.

If the 1982 conference manages to make some headway on these tasks, while maintaining the pleasant atmosphere and good food we found in Adelaide, it will be an occasion to remember.

JOHN COZIJN

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Mannie & Kendall Present: LESBIAN AND GAY SOLIDARITY ACTIVISMS

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

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This page updated 18 SEPTEMBER 2014 and again on 19 APRIL 2017

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