Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 08:25:48 +1000 From: leto@rabbit.com.au (Brendon Wickham) Subject: (Australia) - Brother Sister News - 11/7/96 BROTHER SISTER - QUEER NEWS FROM DOWNUNDER Issue #110 - 11/7/96 Including: 1. Brumby attacks Kennett's pink hyprocrisy 2. Hospital loses records 3. Fertility team taken to tribunal 4. MP prefers guns to anal sex 5. Briefs, including : Boy group folds, Census time, Award for activist, Anti-bias proposal in Tasmania, RSL President calls army personnel "fairies", Church pursues Virgin This and previous postings are archived for the QRD. Point your URL to http://werple.net.au/~leto/news - or go through the Pacific Region of the QRD at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/world/pacific/ =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ BRUMBY ATTACKS KENNETT'S PINK HYPOCRISY *State Opposition Leader John Brumby has attacked Premier Jeff Kennett's push for the pink dollar as "tokenistic".* Brumby, who was launching a fundraising campaign for OUT-FM on Monday, said "The Premier's interest in making Melbourne the gay capital of Australia is just about money". He said the Premier's professed support of gay and lesbian business and tourism did not stand up against his Government's record on gay and lesbian issues, such as: * the strong anti-gay and lesbian changes to the Equal Opportunity Act; * its lack of response to the conduct of police at the Tasty nightclub raid; * the break-up and dismantling of Fairfield Hospital. He told Brother Sister "Labor supports gay and lesbian business, including promoting Melbourne as a tourist destination, and I would commend such action. But Mr Kennett is on the one hand saying he supports the gay and lesbian community and on the other hand he is supporting the Tasmanian Government's side in the High Court Action against Tasmania's discriminatory gay laws". "It's not what you say, it's what you do." Brumby's comments are the latest in a backlash from several quarters over the Premier's meeting with representatives from three gay and lesbian bodies, followed by Kennett's comment in Parliament: "If the gay and lesbian movement require funding, assistance or access, they will get it from this Government". GLAD co-convenor Anthony Shaw described the Premier's support as hypocritical and a money grab, while Government backbenchers are angry about the proffered support. Kennett had met with ALSO chief executive officer Darren Ray, Victorian AIDS Council president Barry Janes and Midsumma Festival president Claire Beckwith to discuss the economic benefits of pink tourism and other issues. Ray defended the meeting, telling Brother Sister: "You can't have the proper dialogue without the good and the bad. People have been ringing up to say why have we had anything to do with him. But Government is Government. "Some say we should stay away (from the Coalition Government) on principle's sake, but in the 1990s, principle crucifies and paralyses. "Do we just take our bat and ball and go home? Do we condemn ourselves to Coventry for eight years?" Ray said specific proposals will be drawn up within the next month, not only for Kennett but other Government departments. Beckwith said: "It's great that the debate has continues (in the community and the media). It has opened up a dialogue. We told Mr Kennett about what the gay and lesbian community has achieved and hopes to achieve, and that we are self-sufficient, proficient and professional. "With some of his backbenchers, I think Mr Kennett has an educative role to inform them about the community." Kennett has appointed Tourism Minister Louise Asher as an informal contact point between the government and the gay and lesbian community. Petrina Dakin HOSPITAL LOSES RECORDS *The partner of an AIDS patient claims the Alfred Hospital's HIV/AIDS support services are "diabolical" and driving people to consider going interstate for treatment.* Peter Devereaux of Beat Bookshop in Commercial Road, said the Alfred Hospital had "lost" the records of his lover of 24 years, Mike Richards, who has had the AIDS virus since 1984. "They found his records after five weeks-they'd been there all the time. It's a disaster without records. One man was shot full of penicillin and he's allergic to it. He's refusing to go back there-he's going to buy a plane ticket and go to St Vincent's in Sydney." He also claimed that the hospital was 14 beds short and three people last week were turned away because non- AIDS patients were filling the beds. But hospital public relations manager Sue Driscoll said there were no problems with bed availability. "The only reason someone would be turned away is if they don't have to be admitted, based on a clinical decision." The hospital admits there has been a problem with records, but blamed delays on Fairfield Hospital "finding" and sending the information. Driscoll said there had been some teething problems in taking over the AIDS/HIV treatment service, partly because the Alfred had accepted Fairfield patients before the contract was due to start on June 30. "We took patients six weeks early because of the problems they were experiencing at Fairfield. We're really only into the second week, and perhaps we took patients a bit too early before we had time to have facilities ready. "But we've done a lot of work to ease the transition from Fairfield to the Alfred. "The 7 West area, which will be motel style and unlike anything you expect a hospital ward to be, will be ready about the middle or end of September, according to schedule, and other building works are moving quickly. This is an interim period while we upgrade." However, Devereaux scoffed at the "teething problems" explanation. He said the Alfred Hospital service was lacking in many areas which were standard practice at Fairfield, including a dietician to check weight loss and food intake, a phone in the day care area, the promised clerk to ensure speedy admission rather than hours of waiting, a patient advocate and a smoking room. Driscoll said the smoking room would be reading within a few weeks, on the ground floor in an outdoor, enclosed area, with access by a back lift. It was hospital policy to have no smoking in the wards, and all patients including cancer, cystic fibrosis and AIDS patients, had to go outside. However, Devereaux claimed the hospital had gone back on a promise to have a smoking room on the AIDS ward. "The whole reason Fairfield had a smoking room on the ward was for staff to keep an eye on everyone, and not be tied up taking people on drips to the outdoor area, which had been needed because some drug users had gone for a smoke with friends and been mainlining drugs into their drips when unsupervised. There is no protocol at the Alfred about drug users leaving the ward." Petrina Dakin FERTILITY TEAM TAKEN TO TRIBUNAL *In a first for Australia, a Queensland medical team is being taken before the anti-discrimination tribunal for refusing to help a lesbian couple with a donor sperm pregnancy.* Queensland government policies on the issue will also face the tribunal. Dr Douglas Keeping, a Brisbane obstetrician and gynaecologist, said "we didn't do it because we're following the guidelines set down 12 years ago". Keeping was referring to the National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines drawn up in 1982, which refer to donor sperm being used "in appropriate cases". Applications from lesbians for assisted reproductive technology (ART) are described as "grey areas" under revised draft guidelines just released for discussion. They state that "the techniques of ART may be used when proper attention has been given to the ability of the prospective parents to provide a stable and supportive environment for any child. "It is argued that the best interests of children can be served through the identification of who will or will not be 'proper parents'". Chargn Keenan MP PREFERS GUNS TO ANAL SEX *Gay and lesbian groups have demanded that the Prime Minister censure one of his MPs who told a shooters' rally that outlawing homosexuality would save more lives than banning guns.* The MP, Wilson Tuckey, told the Perth rally of about 3500 people he found it remarkable that politicians who were fighting for a ban on guns could endorse the act of anal intercourse which, he claimed, had the same ability to kill and maim. He also said that the Port Arthur gunman would have been more "effective" if he had used explosives. However, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister John Howard refused to address calls for Tuckey's censure. Initially the spokesperson claimed it was not an issue for the Prime Minister but rather for the Minister for Health, Michael Woolridge, or the Attorney-General Darryl Williams, who has been overseeing the proposed new gun laws. Later, he released a brief comment: "Over recent weeks Mr Howard has not been disposed to comment on every utterance from Mr Tuckey and this occasion is no different." Tuckey told the pro-gun rally that HIV/AIDS killed 550 Australians a year, at least 30 more than were killed by guns. "Legislation to outlaw anal intercourse, if it received 100 percent compliance-which like guns it will not-would directly reduce HIV/AIDS by about 95 percent. "It is further worthy of note that while the Federal Government now demands Tasmania upgrade its gun laws, it was not long ago that we also demanded that it downgrade its laws relating to homosexual activity. It just depends on what sort of weapon you want to use to kill someone." Tuckey's comments outraged gay and lesbian groups, who called on the Government to publicly distance itself from his claims. The co-convenor of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Stevie Clayton, described Tuckey's comments as "vile", and said they could incite those who shared his views to greater vilification of homosexuals. "All he does by making these comments is prove that he and people who share these thoughts are not fit to have guns." Clayton said the "loony" fringe of the gun lobby had already shown themselves to be homophobic but that the gun debate had allowed them to have a higher public profile. She said it was dangerous and irresponsible for those views to now be pushed by a Government MP. "He is a Liberal MP and the Government should be dealing with him. To allow him to be making these comments is outrageous-they should be silencing him." Rodney Croome from the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group accused the gun lobby of "fanning the flames of anti-gay prejudice in the community for its own political purposes". "We believe Liberal leaders have a responsibility not to allow their party to be drawn into the politics of hate and we call on the Federal Government to publicly distance itself from Wilson Tuckey's comments." Alison Church, SSO BRIEFS Boy group folds Victorian Network will cease to offer a drop-in group for guys. The change is effective immediately and does not interfere with the ongoing future for the girls' drop-in group. The girls' drop-in group continues to meet from 2pm on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of every month at the ALSO Foundation office, 35 Cato Street, Prahran. Census first For the first time, gay and lesbian couples living together will be counted in Australia's national Census of Population and Housing on Tuesday, August 6. Previously, same-sex couples living together were recorded as two unrelated adults in a household. In the 1996 Census, if same-sex couples indicate they are living together in a defacto relationship, the information will be recorded as such. For people worried about confidentiality, the Australian Bureau of Statistics says names and addresses are not stored on any computer record and as soon as processing is completed, the forms are pulped for recycling. Award for activist Australian Democrats' Senator Cheryl Kernot presented the Chris Carter Memorial Award to human rights activist, Shayne Wilde, in Brisbane on July 9, for outstanding work in protecting the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered workers. Anti-bias proposal The Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group has rejected a proposal by Attorney-General, Ray Groom, to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of lawful sexual activity as a part of broad based anti-discrimination legislation. Group spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said that the proposal is legally flawed and would not provide homosexual people with adequate protection from discrimination. Croome: "Those lesbians and gay men who are not sexually active, or who cannot show a direct link between their sexual activity and the discrimination they experience, would not be protected under Ray Groom's proposal." Ruxton mouths off RSL president Bruce Ruxton called gay servicemen fairies at the RSL State Conference. He said it was "unbelievable" that Australian Defence Force allowed an army float in this year's Mardi Gras. Ruxton added, "The big bronzed Anzac is now turning into a fairy". Church pursues virgin The Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches will be continuing their battle with the gay and lesbian venue Virgin Mary's in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal later in July. The churches are attempting to revoke the bar's name, claiming it is offensive and causing stress. The bar's neon sign is currently veiled in black cloth and some church members are reported to be harrassing staff members. =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ BOTTOM LINE Smartarse by Jeffrey Smart To piss or pick up My odyssey began last Wednesday at Spencer Street Station. Nature called, as it will, in the ticket queue. I darted off downstairs to the public facilities in search of relief. A paunchy crew of fellows were slicking their hair in front of the mirrors, flossing their teeth or posing suggestively at the urinals. A frisson of excitement electrified me as I imagined cheap thrills in starkly-lit toilet cubicles. The glamour! The heady freedom of giving in to my primitive masculine urges! Of course, being the nervous nellie I am, I scurried into the nearest stall with nary a winsome glance at the men behind me, locked the door and pushed my bag up against it for good measure. As I squatted primly over the grimy toilet seat I considered the tokenistic significance of Comfort Stations in gay male sexual encounters. Tea-rooms, cottages, beats; for as long as there have been pissoirs men have used them for sex. They've never done much for me. With their wet cement floors, ghastly things in unscrubbed s-bends and the scent of hideous air-fresheners in the urinals, public toilets flush the lerv-thing right out of me. A startling piece of erotic literature decorated the door of my cubicle. "Hot Asian cock wanted. Make appointment." This bald statement conjured up images of Javanese students, Hong Kong financiers and Singaporean Change Management Consultants clambering over each other to find a free space in their Filofaxes. I mean, who responds to these things? Someone does, obviously. Over the next three days I wended my way up the Newell Highway into northern New South Wales. I saw similar blunt yet plaintive calls for same-sex coupling scribbled on the walls of loos in pubs, public toilets and the seedy conveniences at truck stops and picnic rest areas. "I want big this" and "I want to suck large that" adorned the cubicles and whimsical brick fretwork of these establishments. Pictures of penises, claims about the stretchability of the author's orifices and so on often emphasised the point. At a toilet in a park at Mullaley, NSW, I saw many of these lusty declarations, and the frantically written, "Don't men fuck WOMEN around here?" Indeed! Almost every toilet I went to had a tin sign riveted to a wall urging the use of condoms and warning against sharing needles. The signs are a credit to progressive AIDS educators. These were more or less vandalised, some with peculiar messages about AIDS being God's revenge and all that. Well, I guess it is the country after all. As I left the Mullaley loo, blushing from the number of invitations to meet and screw, an old man hobbled over from his caravan (and his very Presbyterian wife), said good afternoon, and took my place in the cubicle. I wondered about the man, his old haunches warming the toilet seat, reading these messages. What does he think about it all? Probably reads the walls, thinks "Hideous homosexuals" and looks up the number of the nearest gun lobby outlet. Then again, maybe he shivers with illicit pleasure and takes out his texta. Appearances can be deceptive. Jeffrey Smart =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Brother Sister is a fortnightly newspaper published in Melbourne, VIC and Brisbane, QLD, Australia. I have selected the main news stories as well as items of interest. Overseas media who utilise any or all of the above material please credit Brother Sister as your source (and by-line if it is listed). Thank you. Brendon Wickham