Rainbow Report on IDAHO
May 15th 2012 01:39
Martin Foley MP
IDAHO stands for international day against homophobia, which is May 17th. It commemorates the day homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases by the World Health Organisation in 1990.
And there are lots of IDAHO events: Albert Park MP Martin Foley is hosting what he calls an Engagement Party – a panel on equal marriage, tomorrow night, for example.
But if I may paraphrase, the battle against homophobia isn’t just for IDAHO, it’s for life. Something we all have to tussle with every single day, in ways small and large.
Reaching the Pinnacle
The Pinnacle Foundation works in a very practical way: providing scholarships for LGBTI students, and also pairing them with a member of our community already working in their chosen field of study to act as a mentor.
Obviously it’s a great idea, but how does it work out in practice. Join me and meet one of those students, Laura Partington, and her mentor, Lauren Oliver.
Institutional Homophobia
A couple of weeks ago we told the tale of a mental health program for same-sex attracted young people in Adelaide, run by a place called 2nd Story. And a disturbing tale it was.
According to a now-fired peer educator, despite government money flowing to 2nd Story to run programs for SSA youth, little was happening in practice, and most of the employees with experience in GLBTI issues had been fired. Apparently 'experts' know better than GLBTI youth themselves.
A manager from the facility said they now had a new ‘best-practice’ model for dealing with SSA youth with mental health issues, but in practice that seems to have driven potential clients away and more money is being eaten up in administration costs instead of going to actually help the kids who need it.
Greens MP Tammy Franks raised the issue in the South Australian Parliament, and eventually secured a briefing with the Health Minister, but what she found was not reassuring. She joins us tonight.
Homophobia in the Defence Force
Vince Chong of the Defence Force Gay & Lesbian Information Service (DEFGLIS) tells us that despite being pretty progressive on GLBTI issues, the lack of marriage equality still gets in the way. And there are still pockets of homophobia to be dealt with, as we saw with the recent anti-gay Facebook page.
Join in
SMS 0427 569(JOY) 949: email onair@joy.org.au: call 1300 569(JOY) 949: tweet @rainbowreporter : post on The Rainbow Reporter Facebook page
On air every Tuesday 1900-2000hrs AEDST Joy 94.9 in Melbourne Australia, streaming live at these times worldwide
| 19 |
| Vote |
Comments (6)
Add Comments
Read More
