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Where's MY apology?

November 18th 2009 02:05

Kevin Rudd, Cardinal Pell, Jim Wallace - please copy

While it’s very proper and appropriate that native Australians and now the forgotten Australians have received an apology, it’s time the gay community had a few, too.

Especially from the Catholic Church, which has been flooding the public arena with disinformation and propaganda on the issue.

For months the Pope and his minions have been insisting that the church doesn’t have an issue with paedophile priests, it’s all the fault of those goddamned homosexuals.

Well now they are hoist with their own petard, as their own research proves it just isn’t true, as reported by AAP and numerous papers yesterday Really Long Link. Apology, please.

At the recent Senate hearing into Marriage Equality, representatives of the church stated that children must have a mum and dad and same-sex parents are worse. Wrong, as a recent senior British government advisor has said Really Long Link lesbians (and gay men) make BETTER parents. As every previous credible peer-reviewed study has found. Apology please.

There is a fair amount of junk science – mostly emanating from one Dr Paul Cameron in the US – that purports to show that we die sooner, make lousy parents, and are more likely to be crooks.

All of that has been comprehensively shown to be twisted propaganda cobbled together without a skerrick of truth Really Long Link and Really Long Link for the US ‘pro-family’ right wing extremist pseudo-Christian movement, yet the church and the Australian Christian Lobby quote this as if it were gospel. Apology please.

Within living memory - my memory - gays and lesbians have been imprisoned, subjected to medical tortures, separated from their loved ones, denied families and children, simply for being gay. Apology please.

Mr Rudd is due to address the Australian Christian Lobby on Saturday – perhaps he would be so kind as to ask for their apologies on our behalf – and add his own. Please.

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Posted By: Doug Pollard - Category: Australian politics, discrimination, gay lesbian politics, equal marriage, equal rights, religion, same-sex, social commentary

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A Cancer of the Soul

October 19th 2009 08:28

I thought I had pretty much heard it all, until last week, when a friend called me for help.

Archie and Bill** have been together for decades. Bill is very sick. Terminal cancer. Archie struggles, trying to keep their little business afloat, monitoring Bills complex drug regime, and supervising dialysis three times a week.

Archie’s beloved partner is dying, slowly, and he can’t do everything any more. He needs someone to understand. To share the burden. So takes the recommended, sensible course, and contacts a respite service. Run, as it happens, by the allegedly gay-friendly Uniting Church.

His counselor invites him to attend a support group for men caring for their terminally ill partners. The men sit in a circle, and one by one, tell their story. Each man speaks of the pain and struggle of caring for his wife. Each sits down to sympathetic applause.

Archie stands up and speaks about Bill. He sits down to silence. For the rest of the evening, he is shunned. He leaves feeling more alone than ever.

He’s heard of beyondblue - he has their magnet on his fridge - he calls – and gets an answer machine. In desperation, not knowing what else to do, he calls a friend, who helps him through the night.

The next morning, the friend calls me. He’s afraid of what Archie might do if he doesn’t get help. Do I know where he can get understanding and support, before he finally breaks?

Once I get my anger under control, I do some hunting around, and I find the answer is – nowhere, unless you’re very lucky.

When Archie’s feeling suicidal, he can call the 24 hr Lifeline, but that’s about it. He can’t afford to take time out or break down over the phone during the office hours most counseling and support services keep. He’s too busy trying to keep the business afloat and supervising Bill’s care.

In one state – Victoria – he might get a sympathetic hearing from the people staffing the Carers Helpline because they’ve had some training on GLBTI issues, but in the other states – nothing.

An expert in GLBTI ageing I consulted was shocked, but not surprised.

“Just dive into that great big homophobic pool and risk drowning. If by chance there’s someone there who isn’t a bigot, they will throw you a line,” they said.

Even in Victoria “finding a group that fits an individual and their needs is a matter of trial and error”, said the ALSO Foundation. Archie’s experience almost put him over the edge – how many more times must he put himself on trial and suffer judgment before he’s helped? Could anyone survive that?

Even beyondblue, which to its credit has recently begun reaching out to young queers, wants to see “evidence of interest” before it will organise “beyond maturityblues” sessions with the local Council on The Ageing for old gays and lesbians – which it already does for ethnic groups.

Archie plans to report the discrimination. It’s another burden on an already overburdened man, but he doesn’t want anyone else to go through the same.

I’ll be blunter: the insensitive clod who sent him to that support group and the facilitator who allowed him to be humiliated need to learn the error of their ways. And Carers Associations nationwide need to establish a vetting system so that already desperate people are not made even more desperate by the very people they turn to for help.

Bill’s cancer is physical, but the cancer of homophobia at the heart of our supposedly ‘caring’ services, is a cancer of the soul. Time for an exorcism.

(**not their real names)

Doug's column The Sceptical Observer appears every week in the Sydney Star Observer and Southern Star (Melbourne)

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Posted By: Doug Pollard - Category: Melbourne, TV, discrimination, gay lesbian politics, equal rights, religion, social commentary

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Moscow gay rights violently supressed - video

May 16th 2009 21:30

UPDATE

Moscow police violently prevented the gay pride demonstration:

Please ask the organisers of Eurovision to halt the contest.

Eurovision Director General - Jean Reveillon - ebu@ebu.ch
Stefan Kuerten - Eurovision Operations Department - kuerten@eurovision.net
Jeff Dubin - News & events - dubin@eurovision.net
Svante Stockselius - Song contests unit - stockselius@ebu.ch

END UPDATE

According to daily paper Moskovski Komsomolets (MK), Moscow police are planning to arrest the Moscow Pride leader Nikolai Alekseev today, Friday.

Nikolai has organised a gay pride march for Saturday, one day before IDAHO, the International Day Against Homophobia.

Australian/British activist Peter Tatchell is in Moscow to attend the pride march despite bing bashed at last years march.

Peter Tatchell under attack, Moscow Pride 2008

I spoke with Nikolai on Wednesday for the Rainbow Report: you can download the podcasts parts one and two here.

Part One
Nikolai talks about the gay pride march planned for Saturday, Eurovision Song Contest Final day.
Really Long Link

Russian rightwingers opposing Moscow Gay Pride 2008

Part Two
Nikolai talks about what it's like to be gay in Putin's Russia.
Really Long Link

Please ask the organisers of Eurovision to halt the contest unless Nikolai is allowed to protest freely, as is his democratic right. Oppose the Mayors ban.

Eurovision Director General - Jean Reveillon - ebu@ebu.ch
Stefan Kuerten - Eurovision Operations Department - kuerten@eurovision.net
Jeff Dubin - News & events - dubin@eurovision.net
Svante Stockselius - Song contests unit - stockselius@ebu.ch

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