Doug PollardThe tipping point
July 5th 2009 21:08
Across Australia it feels as if a tipping point is coming – a moment when immovable barriers, which have seemed so solid for so long, topple like skycrapers in an earthquake.
The AFL is actively addressing discrimination against gays and lesbians. Jeff Kennetts favourite toy, the ‘national depression initiative’, beyondblue, is trying to mend fences with the gay and lesbian community. And now the governments opposition to same sex marriage has developed a little crack.
To date, agitating for marriage equality has been like having sex with a particularly selfish lover: the foreplay seems to go on for ever, you wonder how much longer this p---k-tease will continue, and then suddenly he comes, heads for the shower, and leaves.
Thus the government shot its load of ‘functional equality’, and while some reasoned that this was the best we were going to get and quietly finished off by hand, the Greens and the marriage equality campaigners continue to insist the government returns for a second date to finish what it started.
And, surprise, surprise, this time the government isn’t just turning its back and grunting ‘no, marriage is between a man and a woman’. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Youngs Marriage Equality Bill has not been abandoned and left to die, like all its predecessors: the government has referred it to a Senate committee of enquiry. Could we be heading for same-sex marriage sooner than we expect – IF we keep up the pressure?
That would be good, because while marriage is essential, there are plenty of other pressing issues. Like the appalling toll of self-harm among same-sex attracted youth. Getting a national anti-discrimination law. A Charter of Human Rights. And getting the Ministry for Social Inclusion to include us.
The Ministrys agenda is “to provide opportunities for all Australians to participate in their local community and Australian society”, which “recognises the importance of allowing all Australians the opportunity to work, to access the services they need, to connect with their family and friends, to become involved in their local community, to have the skills to deal with crises when they might arise, and to have the chance to make their voices heard. ”
So you would think there would be programs addressing the exclusion of gays and lesbians. No. The aged, disabled, poor, mentally ill, migrants, jobless, women .. .. . a long list, but we’re not on it.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we’re often ‘socially excluded’: not just from marriage, but from churches, sporting clubs, schools and aged care facilities . . . and, it seems, the ministry charged with addressing the issue. They talk about partnering with community organisations, and indeed their Community Response Task Force is stuffed with them: the Catholic Church, Catholic Social Services, St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army, Anglicare, Uniting Church, Mission Australia, ACOSS, as well as trade union and ethnic community representatives. But no GLBTI charities.
It seems the Minister for Social Inclusion and task force chair, Julia Gillard, has excluded GLBTI organisations from the agenda, and hence from government funding. Time to send in the sappers and bring this skyscraper down. And ask Julia for a date.
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