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

ISSN 1446-4896

The newsletter is late. Sorry. We've been busy, as you'll understand from the reports below.

We meet every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month at the Sydney Labor Club, 464 Bourke St, Surry Hills.

As with most gay groups, the bulk of the workload is shared by only a few people. Decisions are made at our organising meetings, open to all lesbians and gay nen who want to get involved.

For our projects to bring the best results, we need new blood, more hands to do the work, new ideas, wider resources, better funding.

Can you help? Ring us up:-John, Howard 3876504; Ken, Paul 822630

The series of discussions detailed in our last newsletter have been completed. We covered the difference between gay rights and gay liberation, the history of our movement, marxism, feninism, the gay community and the oppression of gays in the USSR, China, Cuba and Eastern Europe.

Our discussions will continue on a monthly basis, informally in people's homes over wine and snacks. For topics and venues ring Ken 822630 or write to us at P0 Box 380, Broadway, 2007.

GSG members have been very active in the campaigns that the gay movement has run in support of the Petersen Bill and against the Unsworth Bill.

For many weeks we were staffing stalls in Oxford St on Friday and Saturday nights to get the message out to our constituency.

We did a large part of the leafletting and postering to got people along to the march and vigil organised to protest the Unsworth Bill.We were particularly pleased with the size and militance of the nighttime march.The determination and spirit we all felt as we sang "We shall not be moved" won't be quickly forgotten.

We monitored the activities of the Festival of Light in opposition to gay rights

. GSG people saw a number of parliamentarians including John Dowd (the Liberal leader), Fred Miller (Labor Bligh), Ernie Page {Labor Waverley), Rod Cavelier (Labor Gladesville), and Labor MLCs Peter Baldwin, Marie Fisher, Ron Dyer, Delcia Kite, and Bryan Vaughn.

We collected 3,400 signatures on three different petitions in opposition to the Unsworth Bill and delivered 456 postcards signed by gay rights supporters to 46 members of parliament.

We're proud of our record in support of the Homosexual Law Reform Coalition.

Due to workload pressure the collective organising the second national conference on gay liberation and socialism, has had to postpone the conference, which was to have been held July 31 in Sydney.

After Stonewall Week, the collective will reform and will resume its work, aiming at an April '83 conferoneo.

Preparations for Stonewall week are going ahead well. As its contribution to the week, GSG is organising a picket of the electoral office of the member for Blacktown, John Aquilina, who claimed in the 'Daily Mirror' (7.4.82) that there was no support from his electorate for law reform.

We'll be petitioning during Thursday night shopping, July 1st, and showing the flag in what is probably Blacktown's first gay demo.

The World Front for Solidarity with El Slavador has called for an International Day of Action to mobilise all progressive forces against threatened U.S. intervention in Central America.

A lesbian/gay presence will be organised for the Sydney action.

We agree with the Latin American gay liberation groups when they say that only by taking our place in tho struggle against imperialism and its genocidal regimes can we have the credibility to win support for gay freedom in the Third World.

The size and tone of this year's Mardi Gras was gratifying.

Having gay rights banners up at the front, including one saying "Defeat the Unsworth Bill" helped make the Mardi Gras an important show of political strength as well as an enjoyable affirmation of our lifestyles.

Hopefully, next year's Mardi Gras will be even larger because the organisers will have reached out more broadly to lesbians and gay men who are not into the bars.

Wearing our new GSG t-shirts we took part in the annual International Women's Day march.

Organisers of this year's march had called on gay men who are pro-feminist to show our support by marching. By all accounts this year saw one of the largest, brightest and most militant IWDs in years.

April 4th saw one of Sydney's biggest-ever demonstrations. 50,000 people marched against nuclear war.

A gay contingent congealed around our banner, and about 150 lesbians and homosexual men, chanting our own distinctive slogans, joined the section of the march that expressed support for the struggle in Central America.

This year GSG again initiated our traditionnl presence in the May Day parade. Though we had only about 30 people (due to rain), ours was quite a reasonable turnout in relation to other May Day contingents.

Many other marchers commented that our chanting and singing was the most refreshing part of the parade. And for the first time the reviewing stand announced our banners as we passed Town Hall.

Afterwards we toasted international solidarity at a nearby Woolloomooloo pub.

GSG is putting together a booklet/dossior on police harassment. Can anyone who has information or experiences ( current or otherwise ), or who can assist in any way contact John 387 6504

We have just completed our inventory of our banners. Many good and still relevant banners have been lost in demonstrations over the years, never to reappear on the streets.

Out of respect for the labour put into the banners, we'd ask that anyone who has a gay banner at home that they didn't paint themselves to please ring Ken, 82 2630, and find out if it's one of ours, or at least take it along to the next demo.

Later this year we are hoping to put out a booklet on the struggle for our rights in the workplace. We want to include interviews with union leaders and with rank and file workers, as well as official trade union resolutions on gay issues.

If you are interested in this endeavour, phone Ken 82 2610 or write to us.

And the Seventh conference in Adelaide carried this resolution on August 30th, 1981;

'This Seventh National Conference for Lesbians and Homosexual Men declares its support for the anti-apartheid demonstrators in Hew Zealand, and condemns the racist South African government and its rugby team. In particular, we condemn the police bashings and harassment of lesbians and homosexual men detained in police cells during the Springbok tour.

We fully support the boycott by black African nations of the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982 as a result of racism in this country against Australian Aboriginals.

That this motion be sent to the New Zealand High Commisio,.HART in NZ and appropriate black groups in Australia.'

Send contributions to: The Gay Action Alliance G.P.O.Box 2030 BRISBANE 4001

Stop The Games Support Fund c/ Rock Against Racism P.O.Box 62 BONDI BEACH 2026

The Black Protest Committee c/ F.A.I.R.A. 369 George St. BRISBANE 4000

The Campaign Against Police Powers P.O.Box 99 ST LUCIA 4062

Attend the demonstrations which will take place in each capital city the day before the Games open.

'The Assembly knows very well that societies where arbitrariness, intolerance, fanaticism, and racism rule are the ones that have resorted to the homosexual witchhunt. Such discrimination and such repression are incompatible with our principles, which are those of a great country of freedom.

It's high time we became aware of everything France owes to homosexuals, as well as to all its other citizens. They are stigmatised by the existence of a special set of laws, but the stain touches all of us.' French Minister of Justice Robert Badinter.

The post-Petersen homosexual law repeal campaign has been full of strange twists and valuable lessons. Even as the dust was settling on the Petersen equality Bill cracks began to appear in the "equality - nothing less" position of the Gay Rights Lobby (GRL). Prominent lobbyist and co-founder of GRL, Lex Watson, stormed out of one of its meetings when a motion he himself had put six weeks earlier was passed. The motion re-affirmed that equality before the Crimes Act was our minimum demand

Up to that point the GRL had taken responsibility for organising the law reform campaign. It had become obvious however, that it was not possible for any single organisation to decide on the political guidelines for a united gay movement response let alone do all the work that was necessary. An open meeting of gay people called for representatives of all interested groups to come together and plan a broader-based campaign for the new year. The political question that had led to Watson's resignation was left in limbo till this further meeting

In the intervening period a series of informal discussions were hold between the main forces interested at that time in law repeal. The spectrum of positions was very broad. The conservative, media-dominated Gay Business Association, the gay rights oriented GRL and the gay liberation left (GSG and ALP Gay Group) were the main groupings concerned.

The left insisted that the basis for any future campaign must be the re-affirmation of our minimum position as a minimum position. GSG argued that as an extra-parliamentary force the gay movement's role was not to foreshadow the compromises. Pragmatically, any demand we made was likely to be further compromised by those elected for the purpose Politically, for the gay movement to demand less than equality, or to be seen negotiating for less, would be a fundamental betrayal of the interests of gay people in NSW. We would be reinforcing our status of being second-class citizens

This position was eventually accepted by the major groups involved and moved jointly by them at the meeting of thirty gay organisations. It was passed unanimously.

This formed the basis for the establishment of the Homosexual Law Reform Coalition and its nine person working group elected at that same meeting. The significance of the HLRC should not be underestimated. Instead of one or other sector of the movement running a campaign there was to be active and formal cooperation between all sectors Tho working group was to be the forum in which political differences could be discussed and decided. Though a fragile beginning, tho establishment of HLRC was a step forward for an increasingly differentiated gay movement.

Soon after its formation the HLRC was confronted with the Unsworth Bill. In an attempt to gazzump the parliamentary supporters of equality from moving another Bill, Barrie Unsworth moved his own 'reform' Not only did this bogus Bill fail to repeal Sections 79-81b of the Crimes Act, it also up-dated the penalties and wording for related offences (public sex and "gross indecency").

Amazingly Unsworth managed to win the support of Petersen and his parliamentary supporters for this phoney reform in exchange for allowing 2 inconsequential amendments to be moved by them. It was the gay movement that had been gazzumped. Nonetheless the working group of HLRC, realising the Bill was unamendable in any meaningful way, unanimously decided to oppose it, intoto.

Lex Watson, who since his departure from GRL had refused to participate in the gay movement, together with Charlie Bowers, a member of the Deputy Premier's staff, supported the Bill They allegedly told our parliamentary sympathisers that movement opposition was a result of a "left-wing take-over" and "power-struggle". They claimed that the majority of gays would support some form of Unsworth Bill as a "first step".

Meanwhile public meetings of gays unanimously condemned the Bill. Organisations as diverse as the Boomerangs social group, Acceptance, MCC, Gay Counselling and Gay Community News wrote to parliamentarians expressing their opposition. The Council for Civil Liborties, which has Watson on its Committee, re-affirmed its equality stance and noted that Unsworth's Bill fell short of this. Not one NSW gay group supported the Unsworth sham.

However, white-anting by Watson, Bowers and others, proved to be highly effective. The supporters of the Petersen Bill took no notice of gay movement opposition. Media interest in the movement point of view mysteriously evaporated. A virtual embargo was placed on reportage of our point of view. When an 800 strong rally militantly demonstrated outside Parliament not one newspaper or television station carried the story the following day

In Oxford Street it was a different story. Despite attempts by the heterosexual editor of Oxford Weekender to portray Watson's split from the movement as a split within the movement, most gays knew the score.In the words of one bar queen: "Unsworth is shit "

Persistent work by GSG in the streets, together with co-operation by all groups in gay media coverage, produced a surpisingly good response from allegedly "a-polltical" gays. In a State where practically no-one has a clue what happens in Parliament, vast numbers of gays kept themselves well informed of the week by week manouverings. The real meaning of "no reform without repeal" was grasped concretely through struggle in a way that had not been possible in the prior period of passive education

In the end the Bill was defeated - but not because it was a travesty of democratic right:-. The Lower House rejected Unsworth's insult to gays because it was too radical! We did not win - Unsworth lost!

Against this depressing parliamentary situation we must carefully measure the gains of our campaign. We have forged a new basis for working together; we have had a substantial political mobilisation of 'ordinary' gays and politicised lobbyists into activists; we have heightened general media interest in homosexuality; we have helped stymie Unsworth's premiership ambitions and stimulated a political re-think within tho Gay Business Association, and; we have learned once again that democratic rights are not dispensed by Parliaments but won by movements of people.

We should not throw these gains away. The campaign for repeal of anti-homosexual laws must be stepped up, not phased down. Only by fighting for the political initiative can we hope to keep the issues alive within the gay communities and the general public. The fight goes on.

SIR, It seems the press has developed a new genre of -article about homosexuals. Recent years have seen several "gay dollar" stories, all undoubtedly to the delight of the advertising manajers of Campaign and other gay magazines.

The trouble is, though, the picture is far from accurate. Yes, there is a thriving sub-culture, the focus of which is a set of highly profitable establishments.

And, yes, there are indeed tasteful gay men with money to spend. But when we start looking at a mythical "average homosexual", the generalisations are about as useful as ones about an "average heterosexual"

. The article Cashing In On The Gay Dollar (NT Apr 25-May 1) perpetuates this practice and in so doing falls into the same errors. Lesbians have been omitted in their entirety from your article. Aren't they gay? Or is it that in the face of the overall discrepancy between the incomes of women and men, and the rejection by lesbians of the market-produced images of women, that they are simply unprofitable, and hence not worth inclusion in a state-of-the-market article?

And does the Times now have .evidence to support the Stalinist belief that homosexuality "afflicts" only the wealthy?

It s debatable that the "average" Oxford Street reveller would draw on an annual income of $30,000 and would spend $30 on a meal three times a week. The vast majority of homosexuals, indeed the majority of self-identifying gays, are working class.

Of these, only a small proportion participate in the Oxford Street-Surry Hills scene. To equate visibility with majority is careless.

It would also be useful once and for all to dispose of the myth of the "homosexual household" with "two very large discretionary (sic) incomes". We have yet to see a shred of evidence to indicate that this is anywhere near the norm.

The categorisation of the "gay philosophy" at "eat, drink, and be merry" fails to grasp the contradictory functions that bars, saunas, discos, restaurants, and so on perform.

As victims of oppression and prejudice, gays need their own spaces. Oxford Street both gives that protection and encourages our exploitation. KEN DAVIS and PAUL van REYK,
for Gay Solidarity Group,
Broadway, NSW.

Over recent years progressive movements have been struggling for basic democratic rights and have been steadily making gains despite the repressive regime. Most significantly, organizations of feminists, Blacks, gays, and Indians have emerged.

Based on the massive labour rebellions of the late seventies, a new political party -- the Workers Party - is gearing up for the elections scheduled for 1982. At the party's first convention, held late last year, Luis Inacio da Silva ("Lula") called for the workers movement to champion the rights of all oppressed groups. Lula, who is the most prominent trade union leader in Brazil, criticized "the machista culture that we live and breathe in", and reaffirmed the party's support for the independent struggle of women around their own specific demands. He spoke out for the rights of homosexual women and men against discrimination, and for their right "to organize to defend their space in our society".

"Those who think that Brazilian trade unionism is based in the factories alone are fooling themselves." Lula also recognizes the need for the party to have deep roots "in the sectors that have specific interests to defend, such as women and Blacks",

In the nineteen eighties Latin American workers will win great victories in their struggles against imperialism and poverty. Their successes in each country, in the Caribbean, in Central and South America, will be strengthened with the integration of the demands of women, national minorities, and gays into their programmes.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Lampiao, one of the oldest and most respected gay publications in Latin America, has decided to cease publication.

In a letter to subscribers, Lampiao editor Aguinaldo Silva said, "After three years of struggle and due to numerous problems, mostly financial.... the majority of the nine members of the editorial council has decided to close the newspaper's activities."

Silva cited "sharply recessionary times" as the cause of the paper's financial troubles.

Criminal charges filed against Lampiao in 1978 for "outrages against public morality and good mores" were dismissed earlier last year after individuals, organisations and publications throughout the world protested the government's action.

Silva has announced plans for a new magazine to be called Pleiguei, which he says will cover "all aspects of modern life, including leisure and consumption" as well as sexual politics.

VIENNA - The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's traditional New Year Concert was interrupted this year when two gay men jumped on stage, stripped to their bow ties and held up a banner calling for human rights for gays.

Both men are membcrs of the Viennese group HOSI, which has been lobbying politicians about reform of anti-gay laws for over a year. The group is demanding the repeal of four anti-gay laws which establish a higher age of consent for homosexual acts, ban male prostitution, and prohibit the distribution of information on homosexuality, and the formation of homosexual organisations. - Body Politic

INDIA - Forty delegates from across the country met in Hyderabad, November 9 for India's first national homosexual conference.

Delegates discussed strategies for demanding the Indian government reform anti-gay laws in place since British rule. Section 377 of the Indian penal code recommends 10 years to life imprisonment for 'unnatural offences'.

The conference also focussed on the social problems and isolation experienced by Indian gays who often face blackmail and plice harassment - Body Politic

'If you haven't left any marks, you probably haven't whipped your children' - Moral Majority (U.S.) National Secretary an advocate of corporal punishment

Over the period of one and a half days on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th March, 1982, approximately 60 women from 26 ethnic backgrounds, representing 24 langauge groups, attended the first national "Forum for Black, Immigrant, and Third World Women" at the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, in Sydney,

"Immigrant" women - although the phrase obviously encompasses certain other women as well - was defined to include women from non-english speaking backgrounds only. It included among these, women whose families arrived in Australia two or three generations ago, and whose identification and/or labelling as any of the categories of the forum title, is an integral part of their perception of self.

This was not done to just exclude other women, the objective was rather that the participating women could express themselves in an atmosphere where inhibitions born of their difference from mainstream Australian society was less likely to operate. On the other hand, the Forum aimed also to eliminate the possibility of confrontation which could at this stage be more dismissive than otherwise.

The workshops and discussions were on the three main themes around which the Forum was organised. The first theme was The Reality of Our Lives In Australia: Racism and Sexism. The talks given were on Social Security; Migrant Women, Mental Health and Stress; Financial Issues; Aboriginal Women and Housing; Childcare; Health; Contraception and Migrant Women. The most important and immediate recommendation that came out of this part of the Forum was:

'That this Forum strongly supports the Campaign to Defend and Extend Women's Services. Furthermore that we urge these Women's Services to involve multicultural, multilingual women workers in all areas.'

The second theme - Women Worldwide - included Asian Women in Britain;Chilean Women; Azanian Women; and Aboriginal Women.

The third theme was 'Us' and the Women's Liberation Movement and the discussion of the problems that began with the second and third generation women of immigrant descent, moved on to racism within the WLM and left-wing organisations in Australia.

In discussing those issues we were able to develop further our analyses of the way in which we experience racism and sexism operating in Australia. Tho most vital outcome of the Forum was tho formation of communication and support networks nationwide. It is through these networks that we will continue to raise issues of.concern to us not only as Blacks or Immigrants and women from Third World Countries, but also as feminists.

Contacts are: Sydney - Uma 601 3555 (w) 514 803 (h); Melbourne Soraya 419 4160 (h); Adelaide Pon 223 1809 (h) 269 3783 (w): Perth Marie 382 1925 (h)

On the week-end of 18-19th December, 1981, the Gay Liberation Quire took its music to the streets and bars of 'Vaseline Alley'. The programme consisted almost entirely of carols re-written to reflect politically on aspects of the gay male community and life-style.

Quire member Ken Davis comments: 'People enjoyed us; finally Christmas carols were relating to our lives. Carols are an extraordinarily alienating form of fun. They were made relevant. People could relate to the gay rights messages of our songs. We wanted to reach that audience.'

Following the playing of a tape of one of these sessions on Gay Waves on Christmas Eve, 2SER-FM came under the threat of a blaspheay suit from the Festival of Light. The station stands firm behind Gay Waves. As of May, little seems to be proceeding.

An Old Style Revival Meeting was successfully held in the Teachers' Federation Hall on May 12th. The congregation was called to affirmation by the Campaign Against Repression, a coalition of the forces of light ( Wonen's Abortion Action Campaign, Gay Solidarity Group, Rationalist Society, members of the Australian Peace Committee, and the N.S.W. Teachers' Federation ), mobilising against the imminent possession of the collective psyche of this State by Jerry Falwell ( Moral Majority U.S.A. ) and the Christian Right.

Homilies and cautionary tales were given awakening by the congregation to the programmatic attacks being constructed against women, gays, blacks, the State public school system, Jews, and other minorities. The question was also posod - should the Bible be banned for all its 'naughty bits'. The Gay Liberation Quire sang stirring renditions of songs that get them into trouble - with just the hint of the cast-down gauntlet.

The congregation unanimously condemned the unholy alliance being forged between our leaders and the Christian Right.

'I remember it was the night I wore ringlets and was called "my queen". - Cardinal Pirelli

.......neither a light to humanity, nor a festival; neither moral, nor representative of majority viewpoints. The Christian Right represents ignorance and repression; it is dishonest and unscrupulously profit-crazed. It is self-righteously anti-democratic.

The middle classes in the wealthier capitalist nations are feeling insecure — scared by the economic squeeze and by the polarization of international politics. In distress, they turn to ever more irrational forms of religion for comfort, reassurance and self-justification. They see their families as their only security, and ascribe the breakdown of their institutions to scapegoats — radicals, feminists, teachers, trade unionists, homosexuals, migrants, blacks, Jews.......

Indeed, we scapegoats have been the cutting edge of social change ovor the last decade. Ideas once hold by only small groups of daringly radical women now influence the majority of women when they are thinking about employment rights, marriage, childbearing, etc. The pride and confidence that sprang up ten years back in the first militant gay circles now infects the self-image of tens of thousands of lesbians and homosexual men in Sydney. Still a long way to go, but we've begun.

With the economic crisis the ruling class needs to mobilize the middle classes against the gains we have made politically and socially -- in the workplaces, in the schools, in wemon's services, in Oxford St, wherever. They need a mass movement to popularize the ideas that women should be driven out of the workforce and relegated back to the isolation and drudgery of domestic labour full-time. If they do work outside the family home, they will be restricted to the lowest paid and least secure "women's jobs". For "Women Who Want To Be Women" its only "natural".

They need to push the idea that we must all work harder and not be greedy, even if our real wages are falling. Unemployment is not the problem, laziness and the trade unions are The education system must he reined in. Its the teachers who are to blame for rebellious, immoral and irreligious young workers. Schools should teach discipline, respect and the Bible. Where possible, they should be privately owned, government funded, elitist, and church controlled.

Blacks and gays are to be silenced. Media "standards" are to bo tightened. And so we have the super-rich demagogues like Falwell manipulating their praying followers into fear, anger and bigotry with distortions, hypocrisy and outright lies.

They, the followers, cannot realize that it is the dynamics of capitalism itself that destabilize their dealized nuclear families. That it is the barenness of their ideologies that makes clear the validity of our criticism. That it is the narrowness of their experience that renders their lifestyles meaningless and their lives miserable. That it is the idiocies of their sectarian schools, brainwashing their children against Evolution, which destroy their children's ability to cope with the real world. That it is their archaic guilts and restrictive sex roles that turn their closest personal relations into festering conflicts.

They, the followers, cannot grapple with the glaring contradictions their leaders deliver them up to. They have to support free enterprise, but oppose the liberal philosophy. They have to build a united front of Christians, but denounce the World Council of Churches, and the "Antichrist in Rome". Thoy want their insulated Fundamentalist schools, but oppose pluralism. They fear international conflict, but support the most dangerous warmongers; in the name of freedom they oppose communism, but apologize for rightwing dictatorships that oppress the people and the clergy. Thoy condemn sexual exploitation, but oppose laws against rape within marriage. They profess to defend the "little man", but condemn worker solidarity. They support unions in Poland, but not in the West. They praise charities, but not if they are run by feminists. They condemn abortion, but want Supporting Parents' Benefit abolished. They like to give Asians Bibles, but pray that they don't come here to live They rail against violence on television, but incite poofter-bashing. They decry child abuse, but demand more corporal punishment, and cherish the authoritarian family, in which sexual assault on children is most common. They support democracy, but deny tolerance, free speech, and civil and trade union rights.

On the other hand, we scapegoats represent the interests of the vast majority: workers, women, gays. Public opinion agrees with us on our basic demands. It is up to us to defend and extend human rights. It is up to us to tell the truth about the issues they raise.

Jerry Falwell, the leader of the so-called Moral Majority in the U.S.A. is coming to Australia in May. Abortion and gay rights activists are getting together to discuss current rightwing attacks and to work out how to build a coalition of all those who are under threat. We must counter-mobilize.

COME TO THE MEETING —
Thursday March 11, 7.30pm, Labor Club, 464 Bourke St, Surry Hills
initial sponsors: Women's Abortion Action Campaign, Gay Solidarity Group
leaflet: L. Raymond 47 Crown St Woolloomooloo 2011

We are a coalition of groups and individuals who have come together to bring attention to the issues involved in the May tour of Australia by Jerry Falwell, leader of the Moral Majority in the U.S.A.

The Moral Majority is a fundamentalist Christian organisation concerned with restoring traditional Christian values to the home, schools, industry and commerce and government of America. Attacks have been made by Falwell on abortion rights, women's liberation, gay rights, trade unions and radicals. Further to this, Falwell advocates dropping all welfare, increased censorship, racism and increased militarism.

Similarities may be noted between Australia's present style of government and Ronald Reagan's policies (Falwell is one of Reagan's mentors) of cut backs in welfare, attacks on women, blacks, the poor and unemployed while at the same time increasing the military budget to an all time high. The Heritage Foundation a ruling class 'think tank' funded by Causs Beer sent this agenda to the new Reagan Administration:

'It is axiomatic that individual liberties are secondary to the requirements of national security and internal civil order.

Certainly Reagan's new administration can be seen to be implementing this kind of policy, attacking government and radical organisations concerned with improving the lot of poor and oppressed people. Falwell's attitude to welfare is: 'Government social programmes have created a generation of bums."

As a leader of the Right Wing backlash in the U.S., Falwell is coming to Australia to lend support to the growing fundamentalist Christian Right here.

Falwell's visit should be of great concern to us considering the recent growing voice of the right in our governments. The Festival of Light was opposed to the recent Petersen Bill which would have created equality under the law for male homosexuals. Even the compromised Unsworth Bill that would have made male homosexuality legal only over the age of eighteen years, was opposed by the Festival of Light. This attitude to homosexuality is also held by the Moral Majority. Dean Wycoss of the Santa Clara chapter of the Moral Majority said, "I agree with capital punishment and I believe homosexuality is one of those that could be coupled with murder and other sins."

There are a growing number of parliamentarians sprouting anti-abortion rhetoric egged on by the Rev. Fred Nile, M.L. A. and leader of the Festival of Light and the Right to Life. Nile is about to introduce an anti-abortion bill into the legislative assembly. This comes at a time when the staff and women attending abortion clinics have been emotionally and physically harassed by 'pro-life' demonstrators. No doubt Falwell will pass on information about more militant tactics against abortion clinics which he advocates in the U.S. such as fire bombing and physically removing women from clinics. Falwell will be able to relate his experience of the Human Life Amendment to the U.S. constitution. The H.L.A. would declare a foetus a legal person and therefore make women who have had abortions for what ever reasons, murderers.

The H.L.A. was set up in opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment which states that no person shall be discriminated against because of sex. Falwell wants to restore "God's authority" in the home and wants to reverse any gains made in the last decade towards women's liberation. This is mirrored by the Festival of Light who opposed the introduction of the law that would prosecute rape within marriage.

The Moral Majority and the Festival of Light are both profoundly racist. Falwell has put forward anti-black and anti-semitic opinions. Australian Christian Solidarity, the journal of the Festival of Light had its lead article in issue No. 10 "World Council of Churches appalling report on Aborigines........... emphasis on Aboriginal land rights is unwittingly espousing a voluntary apartheid policy'. The article goes on to describe Gary Foley and the World Council of Churches as communist dupes.

The creationists versus evolutionary theory controversy is another of Falwell's 'works'. "There is not one shred of scientific fact to support the evolution of man from a lower form of animal life". The Moral Majority want the 'creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden' to be taught at the same time as evolutionary theory in science lessons to offset 'atheistic, secular, humanist education". Nile in the Sunday Telegraph on the 13/9/81, wrote, "Parents are deeply concerned with the immoral and amoral policies of the N.S.W. Teachers Federation". This comment was made in relation to the Teachers Federation defence of sex education and the Human Relations course in N.S.W. high schools.

The right wing is, of course, pro-nuclear. Leslie G. Kennedy, Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Physics at the University of N.S.W. in Australian Christian Solidarity, wrote, "Nuclear energy should represent a wise, responsible and compassionate solution of a global problem of monumental proportions until that time when Christ will return". It seems these'christians' arc too preoccupied with the second coming to look closely at how the politics they espouse oppress us in the here and now.

We seek your support to expose and fight back against these forces of repression. If you have ides, information or would like to become involved in the campaign against the right, come to the Labor Club, 464 Bourke Street, Surry Hills every Thursday at 6.00 p.m. Like all campaigns using voluntary labour we need money, so any donations would be gratefully accepted. Send them to The Campaign Against Repression, P.O. Box K485. Haymarket, 2000. Sydney.

Since 1978 Sydney has marked the Stonewall anniversary with up front lesbian/gay liberation activities.

In 1969 the riots in New York provoked by a cop raid on the Stonewall bar were a flashpoint for the rapid spreading of gay liberation ideas around the world.

In 1978, the police attack on a commemorative Stonewall mardigras in Sydney taught us that, as lesbians and homosexual men, wo had come of age politically. In the original Stonewall events people from the various lesbian and gay male communities fought shoulder to shoulder against repression. Sydney's Stonewall activities have been one of the few commitments that lesbians and homosexual men have shared in equally. Each in our own way we can show our pride, our determination, our beauty, our militance.

1982 will see Sydney's fifth Stonewall week. As always, wo hope to see all the diverse sectors of our communities reflected in the events held. Already plans are underway;-

Get your group to contribute its own unique activity: social, religious, political or cultural. Its a time we share with each other, and with our people on every continent Lets make it worthwhile.

SUBMISSION TO THE AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING TRIBUNAL 2GB LICENCE RENEWAL APPLICATION

1. The Gay Solidarity Group is a community organization which works to oppose all forms of anti-lesbian and anti-homosexual prejudice and discrimination. Since 1978 Gay Solidarity has been one of the most prominent gay rights organizations in Australia. We are widely regarded both by homosexuals and by the public in general as a voice representing that very significant sector of the population comprised of lesbians and homosexual men.

2. We believe that it is appropriate and proper to convey our concerns about- 2GB's "Sunday Night Light" show to the Tribunal during this renewal process. The programme in question, presented by the Reverend Fred Nile, contravenes accepted broadcasting standards in a number of ways. The programme represents the promotion of a specific set of political views -- indeed an election platform -- by 2GB. The broadcasts of Rev. Nile "have caused or may have caused offence to a section of the public" (Section 119. Broadcasting and Television Act). His broadcasts have insulted, maligned, and traumatized lesbians and homosexual men.

3. Before proceeding we would like to draw the attention of the Tribunal and of 2GB to the Report of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board on Homosexuality, released in June 1982. It includes sections which deal with the questions of media policy on issues of homosexuality, of media portrayal of gay people, and of political and news reporting of gay rights activities. The Report includes as well material relevant to this Tribunal submission in that it objectively assesses the ways in which Rev. Nile and his organization, the Festival of Light (FOL), have presented their anti-homosexual arguments.

4. On the problems of media portrayal of homosexuality, the Report notes adverse patterns of stereotyping and myth-creation, of neglect, censorship and silencing, of sensationalism, bias and negativity. (refer to tho Report pp236-252, esp section 4:71). Irrespective of Rev. Nile's show, 2GB itself has no shining record on these questions. Apart from one programme on FM radio, accurate infornation on homosexuality, and direct and open participation by the gay conmunities in broadcasting is completely excluded from the airwaves.

5. On Rev. Nile and his organization the Report has this to say:

These observations hold true for all of Nile's publications including the "Sunday Night Light" show. Indeed Nile's broadcasts are a key focus for the propagation of defamatory myths about homosexuals -- that we are disease-ridden, mentally ill, decadent, child-molesting freaks.

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, in a similar grievance before the Tribunal alleged that a programme indulged in "systematic, deliberate and partisan indoctrination" of its listeners. We believe that those words could not be more fitting than for Nile's show.

6, Rev. Nile commenced his weekly four-hour broadcasts on 2GB on Sunday 19 July 1981, exactly two months before his election to the NSW Upper House. His programme can be characterized neither as religious nor as an open forum for political discussion; his programme can only be seen as a blatant presentation of the politics of a particular electoral team. The programme began as such, and continues as such to this day.

In that this extraordinary privilege is extended by 2GB, or any other commercial radio station to no other political formations, this represents an affront to natural justice and to accepted community standards of fair play. According to reports in "Australian Christian Solidarity" (vol 1, no. 8, Aug. 14, 1981) 2GB "invited" Nile to "come on air". Nile, admitting his lack of experience, willingly accepted the invitation. 2GB saw Nile as a "controversial" figure, who despite his lack of expertise, might liven up Sunday night radio. We believe that Nile's broadcasts should be examined in relation to Section 116 and other provisions of the Act. Nile has continually used the Sunday night show to agitate for votes and other support for his political organization. He has incessantly appealed for letters and other lobbying activity in support of political campaigns he is running, for support for demonstrations and other functions. In virtually every programme he solicits letters of support for his show.

7. We maintain that the "Sunday Night Light" show is not religious broadcasting. It is not clear to us whether 2GB sees this programme as its contribution towards complying with Section 103 of the Act. To include this programme under the category of religious broadcasting is to subvert that category.

Unlike certain other talkback programmes on commercial radio, Nile fulfills none of the functions of religious broadcasting. It is not only that Nile was inexperienced in broadcasting, for some time his only ministry has been in the sphere of electioneering and lobbying. For many years he has been full-time director of the Festival of Light. Now, as well, he is a parliamentarian himself.

On air he avoids pastoral situations. Unlike Roger Bush or Father MacLaron he is unable to deal adequately with personal crisis callers. All too often they are asked to call back during work hours, or told of other church agencies. The whole tone of the programme is structured to discourage such calls and encourage supportive political callers. In the area of theology, Nile is also reluctant. While justifying his political stances with particular interpretations of scripture, he rarely moves into more purely religious fields. On nore than one occasion he has confused basic Christian theological concepts, for example, being unable to differentiate between the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin Birth when callers enquired how Catholics and Protestants differ. In fact he falsely stated that most Protestants do not believe in the Virgin Birth. Neither we nor the Tribunal should be constituting a heresy trial, yet the question of Nile's status as a religious, as against political, broadcaster is important.

Further, unlike all other radio and television religious broadcasters, he cannot refrain from openly attacking leading church people who do not share his views. He has repeatedly attacked the World Council of Churches, and the Australian Council of Churches. One minister of the cloth is currently seeking legal redress from Nile, claiming that Nile said on air that he had been defrocked. Nile is also not averse to appealing to his listeners to intervene in internal church matters, for example by writing protest letters to church bodies such as the Commission on Social Responsibility of the Uniting Church. (7.3.82),

8. The talkback and interview format is predisposed to convey the political bias of the compere. Yet most other broadcasters, including those on 2GB, manage to facilitate a certain interplay of different viewpoints from callers, and manage to structure interviews to prioritize the presentation of the ideas of the interview subject. This is seen as integral to the broadcaster role.

Perhaps aore than any other talkback "host" Rev. Nile quickly cuts off callers who disagree with his policies. More than any other radio interviewer Nile uses his interviews as excuses for extensive expositions of his own views. The percentage of radio time devoted to his voice very much overshadows the other content of the show and any opportunities that might ordinarily exist for the expression of counter viewpoints in his four-hour time slot.

9. We have raised the serious charge that Nile repeatedly offends against that large segment of the community who are homosexual, and that this offending material is nowhere countered on 2GB airtime.

We recognize that lesbians and homosexual men are by no means the only social group who may take offence at material in Nile's show. Teachers, women's rights supporters, trade unionists, non-Christians and more liberal Christians, many sectors of the public may well feel that they have a case to put against him. We would remind the Tribunal, however, of the extensive time devoted by Nile to presenting his prejudiced and bigotted views on gay people.

We have no wish to interfere with Rev. Nile's more than adequate rights to free speech. Yet in many countries, incitement to hatred on the basis of race and other social qualities is illegal.

In that the interventions by the Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies and by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies in the renewal hearings for 3CR and 2SER FM respectively in 1980 and 1981 were seen as valid, we believe we present a similar case.

In that Rev. Nile himself saw fit to publicly challenge 2SER FM and the continuation of its licence on the basis that some Christians may be offended by a broadcast {Christmas 1981) that he termed blasphemous -- prior to hearing it for himself -- we would reserve for the gay communities a similar right.

To us it is evident that all definitions of "offence" that" have been used in such proceedings would cover our concerns.

We believe that the consistent anti-homosexual content of Nile's broadcasts is unquestionable, and would be surprised were he to deny this.

Should 2GB or Rev. Nile wish to deny that the material is anti-homosexual we are, of course, willing to provide more specific ovidence of his on-air agitation against our people, and his incitement of listeners to hatred of gays.

10. Nile's programme unfairly promotes political views," and presents material that offends several sections of the public. Within the structure of his programme these pronouncements are protected from fair and reasonable discussion. We contend that neither 2GB nor any other AM radio stations allow time for gays and other maligned sections of the public to answer propaganda such as Nile's. 'The FOL has the privilege of directly presenting its policies to the public via four hours per week of airwaves time.

12. We would be pleased to take part in any further capacity in the proceedings of the Tribunal which may be relevant to our concerns as presented in this submission. We sincerely offer our co-operation with 2GB in resolving any of the problems we have highlighted above. And, of course, we are grateful for the opportunity provided by these proceedings, as a forum for public review and accountability of the mass-media, to raise these issues for the consideration of the Tribunal and of 2GB.

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