Human Rights are rights that all citizens in a democratic society are entitled to have. These rights must be entrenched in legislation by all governments for the protection of their citizens as a safeguard against abuse.
Unfortunately the human rights of gay, lesbian, transgender people and people living with HIV/AIDS are denied on a daily basis due to religious discrimination, homophobia in state education and other departments, and ongoing abuses of power by federal, state and local governments.
It is not enough to pay lip service to issues such as equality under the law if such equality provides exemptions on the grounds of religion or is ignored by the very organizations there to protect the citizens of the state.
As this submission concerns the state of Victoria, discriminatory practices of the federal government will not be included, although the state is able to go some way to address some of the areas of discrimination if they have the political will.
Examples of state discrimination:
The following are examples of why human rights must apply to all citizens, not just the majority:
Student teacher removed from school after being outed as a lesbian – state sponsored and supported homophobia;
Teacher has to leave his position due to new state child sex protection legislation – the man was involved with a young girl when he was 21 and she was almost 16 – mutual consent and long before he became a teacher – and it was an unrelated event. (See Attachment A).
Two documents on schools and homophobia:
– there is still a need for such reports because of ongoing bullying and homophobia in schools by teachers and students and there is a lack of protection for gay and lesbian students and teachers.
The first document – “Writing Themselves In – A National Report on the Sexuality, Health and Well-Being of Same-Sex Attracted Young People” was printed in 1998 and reprinted in 2002 and was published in the Monograph Series No.7 by the National Centre in HIV Social Research, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University.
The second document – “writing themselves in again – 6 years on” - The 2nd national report on the sexuality, health and well-being of same-sex attracted young people in Australia – was printed in 2005 – Monograph Series No. 50 and published by the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS), Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University.
The second document should have shown vast improvement in the situation for same-sex attracted young people in the six-year period between the two reports. On the contrary, it showed that the situation had got worse, and that governments were not doing anything to remedy the situation.
The Local Councils’ Situation:
Local governments in Victoria are governed by laws promulgated at state level. It is therefore disconcerting to find issues concerning all gay, lesbian and transgender people, young and old, dismissed as being of no consequence in the wider community by state and local governments.
As an example, a survey for a Museum Victoria, State Library of Victoria and Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives project recently attempted to be undertaken of the gay, lesbian and transgender holdings and databases of municipal libraries in Victoria ended with hardly any responses. The libraries were asked to advise of gay, lesbian and transgender items on their databases in their libraries. Their lack of response showed a complete disregard for the groups of people most in need of such data bases.
Adoption Issues:
More recently, issues have arisen about same sex adoption and IVF for lesbians. Certain politicians (specifically in the Victorian National Party) have described the recommendation to allow same-sex couples to adopt children as “social engineering gone mad”. The Victorian Law Reform Commission released a paper on 22 July 2005 recommending that same-sex couples be given the same adoption rights as heterosexual couples. We believe it is discriminatory if they are not given the same rights as recommended. The Commission recommended in an earlier position paper that lesbians also be granted access to IVF and donor insemination. At the moment they can have access to infertility treatment only if medically infertile.
Discriminatory Attitudes:
In order for there to be equal rights for all citizens of Victoria it is necessary for there to be changes to laws that continue to allow discrimination. If the Victorian State government is sincere in its attempts to right the wrongs of the past, then reform in all existing legislation that has been shown to be discriminatory against lesbian, gay and transgender people is an immediate necessity. (See our LGS Submission No.262 to Victoria’s Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee.)
The Attorney-General’s Statement of Intent May 2005 stated that it established as a priority the need to ensure that human rights are valued and protected and that issues of inequality and disadvantage are demonstrably addressed by the justice system . The commitment also supported the Government’s agenda to restore democracy in Victoria and strengthen its democratic institutions.
HIV/AIDS: We find it incongruous that Corrections Victoria has within its Health Services Unit a senior Project Officer whose position is dedicated to addressing the issues of blood borne diseases and sexually transmitted infections in its prisons. The infection rate for HIV/AIDS is 3 times greater in its prisons than for the wider community outside, yet condoms are still not available within prisons. We see this as another abuse of the human rights of prisoners who, after all, are part of Victoria’s population. (See Attachment AA)
Accountability:
It will now be a test of the Victorian State Government’s political will to see whether it will ensure that the necessary changes to legislation are made as soon as possible.Mannie De Saxe and Kendall Lovett, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne
Mannie De Saxe and Kendall Lovett, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne 2/12 Murphy Grove, Preston, Vic 3072
Phone(03)9471 4878 Email: josken_at_zipworld_com_au
John Howard, Prime Minister, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600
Prime Minister,
One of the fundamentals of the English language is the understanding of the meaning of words.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 8th edition, 1990, defines:
Fundamentalism: 1) strict maintenance of traditional Protestant beliefs such as the inerrancy of Scripture and literal acceptance of the creeds as fundamentals of Christianity;
2) strict maintenance of ancient or fundamental doctrines of any religion, esp. Islam
You were quoted as saying that people campaigning for gay marriage were fundamentalists, it was not discrimination to deny gay men and lesbians equal marriage status with heterosexual couples, and you were challenged to defend what one student at a Dublin university called your efforts to entrench homophobia in Australia.
You were quoted as having replied that your government had remedied much of the financial discrimination, but that most Australians did not want gay couples to have equivalent status.
“I think it is a form of minority fundamentalism to say that you have to, in every aspect of one’s institutions and one’s arrangements in society, to have technical equivalence.”
Discrimination is very large on your agenda for a section of the population who are actually demanding the same human rights as the majority of Australians already have.
What gays, lesbians, transgenders, people living with HIV/AIDS are demanding, are not special rights, but equal rights.
Just as many heterosexual couples choose not to marry, so too, do same-sex couples choose not to marry.
However, same-sex marriage, or its legal equivalent as would remove discrimination and provide all citizens with equal rights in their relationships. Are there other citizens of this country who are also accorded second-class citizenship status, or is this status reserved for same-sex relationships only?
When you have conducted a referendum on same-sex unions in Australia, and have the results available as numbers of the population who support, or do not support, same-sex marriages, or unions, then, and then only, will you be in a position to state categorically whether most Australians do or do not want gay couples to have equivalent status.
Much of your agenda in relation to this issue seems to be driven by fundamentalists on all sides of the political spectrum in the current parliament.
All you have succeeded in doing, while remaining out of touch with such issues, is entrenching discrimination and homophobia, entrenching majority fundamentalism, and ensuring human rights abuses to many citizens of Australia.
When it comes to taxation, there is no discrimination, so our taxes go towards ensuring human rights abuses by entrenching unequal rights for some in our communities!
Signed: Mannie De Saxe and Kendall Lovett,
Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne
Copies To: SBS, ABC, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Star Observer, MCV, Melbourne Star/BNews, Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, New South Wales Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, PinkBroad, Ozhomohist, The Sunday Age
31/05/2006
On the eve of Russia accepting its presidency of the Council of Europe, on 27 May 2006 Moscow authorities have dispersed a peaceful demonstration in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights and failed to ensure the safety of its participants.
The events resulted in violence by Russian Orthodox extremists and neo-Nazi groups against LGBT people and their supporters. Earlier this month the mayor of Moscow Yuriy Luzhkov had refused to authorise a gay parade. “We will not even consider this matter” he said in an interview to a Russian radio station one day before the event.
ILGA-Europe expresses its deep concern with the recent events in Moscow and reminds the Russian authorities that freedom of assembly is a basic human right, guaranteed by Article 31 of the Russian Constitution and Article 11 of the European Convention for Human Rights. ILGA-Europe is also concerned by the role Russian politicians and faith organisations have played in inciting violence and hatred towards LGBT people.
Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe said: “We are appalled with the hateful discourse of some Russian politicians and faith organisations. Holding a public demonstration in support of LGBT rights is not about Western values or a special right. Freedom of assembly is a universal right, so too is the right of any citizen to live in security and express him/herself freely”.
ILGA-Europe calls upon the Russian authorities to reverse the ban on holding a gay parade and refrain from making comments which promote hatred and violence towards LGBT people. We also hope that Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union will express their outrage at lawless actions of the Moscow mayor and put pressure on the Russian government to ensure that next year’s parade is safe and legal. In this context we also call upon the European Commission to provide support to the Russian and other East European LGBT movements, particularly by making an explicit reference to the LGBT rights in the next European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) cycle.
For more information please contact Juris Lavrikovs at + 32 2 609 54 16 / + 32 496 708 375
Notes for editors:
(1) ILGA-Europe is the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association and works for equality and human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Europe.
(2) LGBT marches and demonstrations have been hindered, banned or experienced violent protests in such cities as Belgrade, Chisinau, Bucharest, Zagreb, Warsaw, Riga, Krakow, and Poznan.
(3) Bans on LGBT pride marches have been already successfully challenged in courts in Riga and Poznan. Also the European Court of Human Rights confirmed that there are positive duties on a state to protect those exercising their rights of freedom of peaceful assembly from violent disturbance by counter-demonstrators. Because both sides may claim to be exercising their right, initially this may be a duty to hold the ring between rival meetings or processions, but if one of them is aimed at disruption of the activities of the other, the obligation of the authorities is to protect those exercising their right of peaceful assembly, case of Platform Artze fur das Leben v Austria, No 10126/82, 44 DR 65 (1985).
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Doug Ireland wrote the following article for Gay City News — New York’s largest gay weekly — in whose latest edition it appears. The interview was conducted in French; the translation is D.I.’s
May 17 will be the second annual International Day Against Homophobia. This IDAHO has been endorsed by the European Parliament, in its landmark resolution condemning homophobia, passed January 18, as well as by the Belgian Parliament, and will be observed with public actions and demonstrations in more than 50 countries, including China and Iran.
The International Day Against Homophobia was the brainchild of its president, a remarkable young French university professor, Louis-Georges Tin, born in the overseas French department of Martinique, in the Antilles chain in the Caribbean. Tin, 31, is not only one of the most creative gay leaders internationally, he is also a rising star of France’s emerging black activist community.
The founder of IDAHO, Tin also initiated CRAN, the Representative Council of Black Associations [ Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires ] in France. Begun last November during the ghetto riots that shook 150 French cities and towns, CRAN—an alliance of some 120 associations—has already been recognized by the political establishment as a force to be reckoned with. Its first annual national convention of 2,000 people, held this past weekend in Paris, saw all major political parties on the left and right send important emissaries as observers in an attempt to curry favor with the assembled delegates.
How did IDAHO come about?
In 2003 after I published the “Dictionary of Homophobia”, I began to work on the idea of an international day of struggle against homophobia,” Tin told me. “For me it was the obvious way to move from thought to action, from theory to practice. Everybody said it was a crazy dream, but I took my proposal for this project to LGBT groups all over the world, to political parties and institutions—and that’s how the first International Day Against Homophobia was observed on May 17, 2005—15 years to the day after the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.”
“This year,” Tin recounted proudly, “IDAHO will be observed in over 50 countries, from Guyana to Sri Lanka to Canada, England, the Ivory Coast, Russia, and Japan. There will be all sorts of actions—public awareness campaigns, conferences, street demonstrations, artistic expositions, film festivals, forums, meetings of associations, and so on.”
IDAHO is an all-volunteer organization.
“It may be surprising to some to learn that we work with no budget and no paid staff," Tin explained. “In the beginning this was a necessity, as I began IDAHO alone and with no money. But it is also a choice—because an association with a base in 50 countries can quickly become a bureaucracy. I wanted to avoid this at all costs. I tried to imagine a structure that would leave the most room for local initiatives, enthusiasm, and independence—even if there’s enormous work coordinating IDAHO at the international level with the help of our correspondents in each country. And I think this formula has worked rather well!”
Tin was born in the small Antilles island into the black middle class. Both of his parents are high school teachers.
“I was 10 when I first realized I was attracted by another boy,” he remembered. “I was never in the least ashamed of this desire, ever—but I was afraid of rejection by everyone else. Not without sadness, I accustomed myself to the idea that all homosexuals hid themselves like I did then, and that I’d never have a real sexuality or love-life. Martinique is very small, everyone knows everyone else, and that explains in part why there is no public gay space, no gay bar, no gay publication there. Nothing. All the Martinique gays live clandestinely. I didn’t begin to have a homosexual life until I went to Paris at the age of 17 for my university studies—for me, Paris was like life on another planet!
“I came out to my friends and family at 19, when I was living in Paris and had acquired total financial and moral independence from my family. To my great surprise, even though I came from a fairly religious Catholic family, they took it rather well—not all my gay friends were so lucky.”
A brilliant student, young Louis-Georges was admitted to France’s prestigious Ecole Normale Superieure.
“I was the first person from Martinique admitted to Normale Sup since Aimé Cesaire [the renowned poet] in the 1930s,” Tin recounted. “In the beginning, all went well, and I studied literature. But when I began to declare my interest in gay and lesbian studies, things progressively degenerated. It may be the school of Sartre, Foucault, and Derrida, but I can assure you the intellectual climate there is less open than is commonly believed. The school administration did everything to oppose the conferences on gay and lesbian themes that I organized through the LGBT group I had created at the school.”
Tin’s academic career suffered greatly after he began his gay activism, even though his post-graduate work received the highest national honors, and despite his having published several books—including an anthology of 16th century poetry and “Homosexuel: expression et répression” (Editions Stock, 2000).
“It was after I published the ‘Dictionary of Homophobia’ that things really got bad,” Tin said. “My career paid for that book very dearly, I can tell you. Even though it was unanimously hailed by the critics, and got a great front-page review in Le Monde’s book supplement—which is the biggest honor a book can receive in the French press—after it appeared my academic career simply stopped, from one day to the next. The kind of teaching jobs that I’d previously obtained without any problem whatsoever became inaccessible. It was discrimination pure and simple, and I was even told so unofficially—but there was no way to prove it, especially given the French judicial system, which is hardly protective of the rights of minorities of any sort. I wound up leaving France for university posts in Manchester, England, and then in Pittsburgh in the U.S. After I’d given up all hope of obtaining a teaching job in France, I finally got one at the university in Orleans.”
What does Tin see as IDAHO’s greatest accomplishments—and how does he envision its future?
“Last year on May 17, we organized the first gay public actions in Bulgaria, Ivory Coast, and China,“ he said. “Because they felt themselves supported by an international movement of solidarity, our friends in those countries found the courage to dare what they’d never dared try before—a political coming-out. This year, the same thing will happen in Russia. With Gay Russia.ru, we have organized an International Festival Against Homophobia, as well as the first gay pride march ever, in Moscow. Despite the fact that the mayor of Moscow has banned the march, we have mobilized support for the right to have that pride march in the Council of Europe, and it will happen. This is typical of the kind of actions the IDAHO committee favors.
“I should also mention that, this year, IDAHO is co-sponsoring an all-day seminar on homophobia with the European Parliament, to be held at its headquarters in Strasbourg, to discuss how to fight homophobia in the member states of the European Union. But I intend to propose that the Euro Parliament take the lead in fighting for the universal abolition of the crime of homosexuality, the theme I have proposed this year for IDAHO. This may appear a utopian goal to some, but it isn’t really. After all, two-thirds of the U.N.’s member states have decriminalized homosexuality, and one may reasonably expect a majority of the U.N. Human Rights Council to support this goal.”
Tin further elaborated on the international parliamentary strategy.
“The key objective now is to get the decriminalization resolution presented at the U.N., and I’m working hard on that goal. One step toward it is to have the European Parliament condemn those countries which make homosexuality a crime, to pressure them to change their laws. This could be a historic first in human rights. Yes, I’ll have a lot of work on my plate to get there. But people told me I was crazy when I decided to launch the International Day Against Homophobia. I believe we can succeed!”
Prime Minister John Howard Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600
2/12 Murphy Grove Preston Vic 3072 Phone(03)9471 4878
Email: josken_at_zipworld_com_au 10 June 2006
Your attitude to same-sex unions would be more understandable, even if still unacceptable, if you were consistent in your homophobia.
We are denied equal rights with other members of the community in relation to issues such as superannuation and other connected financial and legal matters, but when it comes to taxation, you are quite happy to tax us on the same basis as the rest of the community, and use those taxes against us by having the Attorney-General waste tax-payers? money to overturn the legitimate laws of the ACT.
Gay, lesbian, transgender and HIV/AIDS (GLTH) members of the community don?t want special rights, they want equal rights, human rights which are supposedly legally available to all citizens of Australia.
We know from you that there are first-class citizens such as heterosexuals, then second-class citizens such as gays, lesbians et al., and then third-or lower-class citizens such as Aborigines, Muslims and others who are treated by your government accordingly.
Our campaigning has already started to take up the challenge, and we will fight for equal rights for all.
Divide and rule can take you just so far, but in the end the policy will just collapse.
How many same-sex couples, let alone GLTH citizens have you ever met? Have you ever made any attempt to find out what differences there are between heteros and homos? Of course not! You are simply not sufficiently interested to ensure that human rights are provided to all citizens of this country. Why don?t you publicly debate the issues with members of our communities?
You wouldn?t have the courage!
I was married for 31 years, have three children and three grandchildren, have been in a same-sex relationship for over 13 years and defy you to explain what is unacceptable to you.
What we want is equal rights and we want them NOW!
Mannie De Saxe
Copies to: SBS, ABC, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Star Observer, MCV, Melbourne Star/BNews, Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, New South Wales Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Pink Broad, Ozhomohist, The Sunday Age, GLBTI Ageing, Matrix Guild, Vintage Men, Mature Age Gays, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, NSW Premier Morris Iemma, ALSO, Rebellion, CAAH
COPY BELOW OF LETTER TO PREMIER OF NSW MORRIS IEMMA
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne PO Box 1675 Preston South Vic 3072
Phone:(03)9471 4878 email: josken_at_zipworld_com_au
Premier,
It is time to stop the homophobia ever present in your parliament and from you as Premier.
The latest incident involving the Tillman Park Children's Centre in the Marrickville Coucil area would be laughable if episodes like these didn't have disastrous consequences.
The homophobes roaming the streets of Sydney see that the politicans give them carte blanche to attack gays, lesbians and transgender people, either verbally or physically or both, and end up committing heinous crimes because of the irresponsibility of your attacks.
Do you really think it is going to affect the population at large because a few young children have Brenna and Vicki Harding's books read to them?
Morris IemmaWhat do all of the above have in common?
An intensive campaign to stop the national sport of homophobia becoming a pandemic.
Minister for citizenship? An oxymoron if ever there was one! To make second-class citizens of so many of his constituents in the electorate of Lakemba who are gay, lesbian, transgender, HIV/AIDS voters in the electoral district of Lakemba!
And what about the other polticians mentioned above. What is their role in propagating hate speech and discrimination leading to all the abuses known to members of the Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and HIV/AIDS ( GLTH) communities?
Added to all of this is the action of the Prime Minister and the Attorney General to stop the legitimate passing of legislation in support of same-sex relationships in the ACT. Taxpayers' money - we are all taxpayers and I find it totally hypocritical of governments to take our money without question and then use it to make us second-class citizens!
Time to stop the rot, stop the homophobia, publicise the hypocrisies of governments, turn all GLTH communities into activists!
Mannie De Saxe
Copies to: SBS, ABC, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Star Observer, MCV, Melbourne Star/BNews, Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, New South Wales Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Pink Broad, Ozhomohist, The Sunday Age, GLBTI Ageing, Matrix Guild, Vintage Men, Mature Age Gays, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, NSW Premier Morris Iemma, ALSO, Rebellion, CAAH
(CBS 5) BERKELEY A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting.
Pentagon officials on Friday confirmed to CBS 5 that military leaders had considered, and then subsquently rejected, building the so-called "Gay Bomb."
Related ContentEdward Hammond, of Berkeley's Sunshine Project, had used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a copy of the proposal from the Air Force's Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio.
As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."
The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.
"The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soliders to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistably attractive to one another," Hammond said after reviwing the documents.
"The notion was that a chemical that would probably be pleasant in the human body in low quantities could be identified, and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical, the notion was that soliders would become gay," explained Hammond.
The Pentagon told CBS 5 that the proposal was made by the Air Force in 1994.
"The Department of Defense is committed to identifying, researching and developing non-lethal weapons that will support our men and women in uniform," said a DOD spokesperson, who indicated that the "gay bomb" idea was quickly dismissed.
However, Hammond said the government records he obtained suggest the military gave the plan much stronger consideration than it has acknowledged.
"The truth of the matter is it would have never come to my attention if it was dismissed at the time it was proposed," he said. "In fact, the Pentagon has used it repeatedly and subsequently in an effort to promote non-lethal weapons, and in fact they submitted it to the highest scientific review body in the country for them to consider."
Military officials insisted Friday to CBS 5 that they are not currently working on any such idea and that the past plan was abandoned.
Gay community leaders in California said Friday that they found the notion of a "gay bomb" both offensive and almost laughable at the same time.
"Throughout history we have had so many brave men and women who are gay and lesbian serving the military with distinction," said Geoff Kors of Equality California. "So, it's just offensive that they think by turning people gay that the other military would be incapable of doing their job. And its absurd because there's so much medical data that shows that sexual orientation is immutable and cannot be changed."