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gay lesbian politics equal rights same-sex - Rainbow Reporter

The HomoMenu Saturday 26 June

June 25th 2010 22:08

An occasional collation of GLBTI themed stories from around the world.

Red Turns Greens to Labor
julia gillard prime minister australia


Gillard puts Labor back in front Really Long Link - and the Greens vote collapses back to normal levels.

Hard to see why, since she said in her acceptance speech only that she would seek to build community consensus on establishing a price on carbon if she was elected PM, as economic conditions improve, blah, blah, delay, delay – which is no change from the Rudd position.

Bulgarian Pride Wins US Endorsement
Aziz

It’s Pride season in the northern hemisphere, and unlike Australia, where we regularly debate if there’s really any point to Pride Marches any more, Eastern Europeans battle to hold these marches at all, often in the face of considerable personal danger, sometimes from their own governments. But not without support from some other countries (sadly, not including Australia), as the US and other foreign ambassadors offer public support to the GLBTI community of Bulgaria. Really Long Link


Everything Old is New Again

Gay Liberation was our watchword in the 1970’s – not Gay Marriage or Gay Military Service (except in the porn mags). Most of us have moved from there into the mainstream – but not all. Radicalism still lives – in San Francisco. Maybe they could run coach tours? Really Long Link

Don’t Panic! Gay Adoption Arrives in NSW
gay babies

Some people get a fit of the vapours when the subject of gay adoption comes up. If you’re one such, take a deep breath and read this fine piece by Lisa Prior in the National Times. Really Long Link

Doug Pollard - The Rainbow Reporter
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Would you like drag with that, continued.

March 4th 2010 09:59
Leatherman


My previous column, about the tired, tawdry and largely out-of-date nature of what passes for gay ‘culture’, drew a predictably venomous response from defenders of the status quo.

I dared to suggest that drag was no longer particularly daring or radical, that ‘professional’ drag was seldom entertaining and frequently insulting and misogynist , and that the best drag performers had no need of a frock.

Drag performers are often described as ‘courageous’ but isn’t it more like cowardice? The minimally-talented performer who dresses as a woman in order to spew filth and hatred, and then evades the consequences by doffing his disguise offstage, can hardly be called ‘courageous’. It is akin to the trick played on us by mild-mannered ventriloquists and their foul-mouthed dolls.

Despite what some chose to read into my remarks, I said nothing about transvestites and transsexuals. Nothing about people who reject the usual binary division and choose to adopt a persona which can be read as either masculine or feminine or both.

I also said nothing about leather queens. I could have, but there wasn’t room in my 400 word limit. And besides, leather queens are not the first port of call for a mainstream media looking for an image and a quote. Drag queens are.

Leather queens are another largely outmoded and tiresome stereotype playing at the other end of the spectrum. Generalising, one could say that drag queens ape stereotypical (and old-fashioned and misogynist) images of femininity, while leather queens trot out equally absurd and outmoded stereotypical images of masculinity.

It was interesting that many of those who violently disagreed with me, characterised the wearing of drag as a form of play. I agree (and the same is true of leather). My question is why we obstinately cling to this infantile need to play dressups.

Like it or not, it presents an image of the (ugh, I hate the phrase) ‘Gay Lifestyle’ which is frankly repellent, not only to the majority of heterosexuals but also to the majority of men who have sex with men.

It may come as a shock to some people, but the vast majority of men who have sex with men never set foot in the gay scene, and refuse the label ‘gay’, and who can blame them?

When I first ventured through the doors of a gay bar, I was assailed by two conflicting emotions. One – hooray, I am not the only one. Two – if this is what being gay is, I don’t think I like it. I developed my gay pride elsewhere, working in community organisations and gay media.

An older queen took me under her wing during my early forays into ‘the scene’ and tutored me in the ways of this new world. When I protested that I didn’t much care for it, he shrugged and replied, ‘Most of us don’t honey, but it’s all there is for the likes of us - so get used to it.’ I can’t say I didn’t try.

Some years later I was being chatted up by an older man. He ascertained that I didn't care for the bar scene much, didn't go to saunas, didn't do beats, and wouldn't have sex on the first date. "You're not really gay, are you?", he said. "Not if that's the definition," I replied.

Small wonder that most people can only tolerate the scenes vacuity and emptiness with the help of copious quantities of drink and/or drugs. It allows you to overlook its essential emptiness. Small wonder many find it meaningless, and seek healthier climates.

One would have thought that by now we would have learned to grow and develop, that there would have been a blossoming into something we could be genuinely proud to call a culture. Instead we are still telling ourselves that this is all there is for people like us, only now we dress it up with glitter and feathers and pretend it’s wonderful.

Why aren’t we working to build something we can be truly proud of? Why is our 'culture' still mired in this immature adolescent phase? Why has nothing changed, in essence, inside the gay scene, in forty years, while the world outside has moved on in leaps and bounds? Why are we scared to step outside?

I have been accused of being a bitter old man. To the last two I plead guilty, quite happily. However, I am happy and contented with my life, not bitter.

Of course I have every sympathy with 20-somethings who allow their hormones and their drug and alcohol intake to overwhelm their good sense. I wish they wouldn’t, but having been one myself I understand. That's how I coped, too.

But when a rich handsome famous and wealthy man, an icon of our community, continues to behave the same way as he approaches 50, then I think the call to ‘grow up’ , to him and the community as a whole, is not only appropriate, but long overdue.

I am not bitter, but angry, firstly, at mainstream society, that continues to see us as little more than drag, arseless chaps and toilet sex. And secondly, at my own community, for living up to that gutter image, and even glorifying it, when we could be so much better.

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Go Straight to Marriage, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect Civil Unions

November 29th 2009 02:05
Jim Wallace
Ex-SAS Brigadier Jim Wallace, leader of the Australian Christian Lobby


So the Senate enquiry has said no, the ACT ceremonies have been castrated, the Equal Love rallies are over for the time being. But that doesn’t mean equal marriage is off the agenda.

In fact, thanks to the wreck of the Liberals, Labor has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move straight to same-sex marriage, at minimal risk.

The party line used to be that they couldn’t support marriage equality because that would send so many voters rushing to the Coalition, they would lose power and we would get nothing.

That excuse is gone up in smoke with Malcolm Turnbull. Gay marriage won’t spook anyone but diehards into voting for whatever remains of the Liberals for quite a while.

The other reason for opposing equal marriage is that Labor hasn’t the guts for a fight with its own homophobes. The party would rather take the lazy way out and find a comfortable compromise with them.

That means national civil unions (no one in their right minds seriously believes in the ‘nationally consistent system of state-based registers’ any more).

Civil unions, it is argued, are a ‘stepping stone’ to marriage that won’t spook the opposition. But events in the ACT have now destroyed that argument.

Civil partnerships in the ACT satisfy no-one. ACL Brigadier Jim Wallace Lobby says they mimic marriage, and the Rudd Government has betrayed Christians who voted for it. GLBTI campaigners are rejecting them as $2 ‘marriage-lite’ from the Not Quite Right relationship store.

Clearly it’s pointless trying to mollify the anti-marriage brigade with civil unions, they will never be satisfied – and now, thanks to Nick Minchin and friends, no-one need not bother. Their moment is over. Even if they all vote Coalition next time, and the time after that, so many others will be rushing the other way it won’t matter.

The time now is ours. It would be the height of folly at this juncture to settle for civil unions, when we have the best chance in a generation of achieving marriage. Everyone on all sides now sees clearly that civil unions are only an unnecessary temporary fix, so why waste time and energy on them?

They are just a delaying tactic. First we have an almighty fight over what rights a civil union confers. Then every few years, another fight over each additional right. Eventually everyone wakes up and says, “This is just a stupid waste of time and effort – let’s have equal marriage.”

Labor now has a golden opportunity to face down the fundamentalists in its own ranks. Kevin has more than enough political capital in the bank to spend on what is for him a relatively minor issue. And there is no longer any reason not to, if he really wants to.

He needs to find the guts, vision and principle of his Spanish counterparts – who had even more Catholics to contend with than he does – and go straight to marriage. If you’ll pardon the pun.
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Where's MY apology?

November 18th 2009 02:05
sorry
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.

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SHAMESHAME TOP 25 Part II

November 1st 2009 09:05
Portia & Ellen
Ellen & Portia

It’s that time of year again, time to nominate the 25 allegedly most influential fags and dykes in Australia.

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ShameShame: the Top 25 Influential Gays & Lesbians Who Do Nothing for the GLBTI Community

October 30th 2009 04:42
Freeloaders


Every Thursday I now present Freshly Doug on Joy 94.9 from Nine till Noon. And this week we got some lively responses from listeners when I posed the following question


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UK Gay Lord Slams Victoria

October 4th 2009 19:52
Rob Hulls
Rob Hulls


I wouldn't ordinarily post something here I didn't write myself, but I could not possibly put this Really Long Link any better


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A Whole of Government Initiative

August 23rd 2009 07:32
Social Inclusion Board
The Social Inclusion Board

The Rudd government is big on ‘Social Inclusion’. There’s a Minister (Julia Gillard), a Parliamentary Secretary (Ursula Stephens), a Board, a Task Force, and a Social Inclusion Unit in almost every ministry. It’s a ‘whole of government’ priority.

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We're so grateful - not!

August 4th 2009 04:10
Justice


I finally got my hands on some transcripts of ALP conference speeches, so I can dispense with the sleeping pills for a while


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All Over Red Rover

August 2nd 2009 07:07
Doug addressing the Equal Love rally
Emceeing the Equal Love Rally at Federation Square

The honeymoon with Labor is now officially over. Thousands of people thronged the streets of Melbourne calling for equality, but Labor simply applied a thin coat of pinkwash over existing failed policy. No equality from any Rudd government.

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The 3 Most Important things you can do for Marriage - UPDATE

July 29th 2009 02:08
Equal Love


First , tell the Senate you support marriage equality


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Four Weddings And A Rally

July 27th 2009 00:12
Equal Marriage

Sometime next year I’ll be in the UK for my niece’s wedding. She’s been with her partner for six years, and they have three children together. They both work casually or on short term contracts for multiple employers. They’ll get married at a local church, not because they’re religious, but because my niece wants a white wedding with all the trimmings, and churches look so nice in the photos.

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Quick! Send a fridge magnet!

July 15th 2009 02:27
beyondblue
www.beyondblue.org


Ever since he made his major blooper, likening bisexual footy trainers to paedophile priests, I’ve wanted to talk to Jeff Kennett. To find out why a man who, according to all his friends and supporters, didn’t have a homophobic bone in his body, came out with such a dumb, prejudiced piece of stereotyping


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Nationwide Equal Marriage Rallies

July 7th 2009 18:56
marriage equality


Demand Same Sex Marriage Equality August 1st


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