Gillard makes deal with Christian Lobby again

The Prime Minister has assured conservative faith-based institutions that they’ll still be able to turn away gays and lesbians under proposed new anti-discrimination laws.

Under current law, government funded religious schools and hospitals have the privilege to turn away teachers and students from their institutions for not sharing their beliefs.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Julia Gillard and her Labor Party cohorts met up with the head of the Australian Christian Lobby, Jim Wallace.

“She has no intention of restricting freedom of religion,” says Wallace in regards to the legal rights of religious groups when hiring and firing.

The PM previously promised Wallace she would protect the institution of marriage as being between a man and a woman, as discovered in a filmed interview prior to her election in 2010.

The NSW Government has made a submission to the Human Rights and Anti-discrimination Bill 2012that proposes that the current law remain intact, continuing to provide a religious exemption for institutions who wish to dismiss staff and students who don’t stand on the same moral ground.

Sydney MP Alex Greenwich has announced that he will write to the PM “seeking her justification for allowing publicly funded religious providers free-range to discriminate against groups including gay and lesbian Australians.”

“The Prime Minister has a duty to protect those affected by discrimination, not those practising it,” he says.

“By allowing hospitals and schools to practice discrimination, the Prime Minister is supporting breeding grounds for homophobia.”

Greenwich will also request that Gillard meet with any who are suffering “as a result of the discriminatory practices of tax-payer funded religious service providers.”

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon released the draft bill late last year and received more than 3,000 submissions in response. The bill will mesh together five separate pieces of legislation into a single Act, aiming to strengthen protections for sexual orientation and gender diversity under federal law.

Openly-gay federal Finance Minister Penny Wong will push the bill through parliament. Once the bill is passed, older LGBTI and gender diverse people will no longer be discriminated against and refused refuge in aged care homes based on their sexuality and gender orientation.

Jim Wallace has made the Australian Christian Lobby’s view clear, but a wide range of other religious denominations have not yet stated their position.

 

Originally posted at SameSame on 16/01/2013

Hating on NOH8

There seems to be an awfully large number of campaigns out there that are pushing for marriage equality and fighting against discrimination. But to me, they’re nowhere near as successful as they could be without whirlwind community action.

Take the internationally recognised NOH8 campaign for example. Featuring a bountiful amount of celebrities and well-known faces, they put on a little light makeup and jump in front of the camera for Adam Bouska. Whether it’s a finger to their lips, or a subtle f**k you stare into your soul, Bouska’s magic always fails to strike a chord here Down Under.

It really is a rarity that they’ll produce a portrait effective enough to move the butterflies that have fluttered together inside my stomach.

Their mission statement says, “The NOH8 Campaign is a charitable organization whose mission is to promote marriage, gender and human equality through education, advocacy, social media, and visual protest.”

Without dissing the tragedy of America’s take on the English language, you’d be pushed to read between the lines that they actually do anything except take a few pretty pictures. Where’s the campaigning that ended in rioting? The protesting that had people physically fighting for what they believe in? People have taken refuge behind their glass computer screens and camera lenses in fear of taking any real action.

That there is where campaigning has gone awry, easily differentiated from those activists and political-shakers of yesteryear. NOH8 pins their breed of activism as a “photographic silent protest”, but please tell me what good being silent was for the community.

It may however have something that’s more to do with America’s shifting technological culture – hiding behind closed study doors as opposed to braving the streets for the good of the people. Thinking about the Rally for Marriage Equality that was held on November 25 at Sydney’s Town Hall, I’m always keen to participate in an event that encourages the use of our voices and marching bodies with the emphasis of the almighty megaphone.

Online petitions, ‘sharing’ a few Facebook photos or retweeting someone has become the nitty gritty of campaigning, though they’re relatively unsuccessful and unnoticeable in my eyes.

Being silent isn’t, and never will be, the key to a successful campaign. That much can be credited to our politicians and the newly elected President of the United States. To act boisterous and confident is definitely an Australian thing though – from the footy fields to the queerest of nightclubs, Aussies are the people that know how to use their tongues for good.

To new technology, I reject you – with the exception of my brand new iPhone 5. It’s all useless when you can always get off your arse and make a serious impact – way better than imprinting a dent on your vintage leather sofa.

Personally, I’m all for the wonders of new technology, but I’ll always prefer seeing a drag queen strut down George St to promote gender equality over photos plastered on the internet any day. That’ll get people talking. That’ll get the ball rolling. 

Queer Vertigo 2012 Preview

Super Awesome! filmmaking duo for marriage equality

It’s not just LGBTI filmmakers getting in on the crowdfunding craze – these two straight guys are hoping their Super Awesome film gets the green light to help promote marriage equality.

With actress Jane Turner of Kath & Kim fame volunteering her time and talents in support of the film project’s trailer, Australian actors Guy Edmonds and Matt Zeremes have come a long way in their ten years of mateship.

The two contemporary thespians first met when they starred in London and Australian productions of Holding the Man together back in 2002, delving into issues surrounding the love and death of two men with HIV, as based on Timothy Conigrave’s memoir.

They’ve dubbed their forthcoming musical comedy film Super Awesome! and have already been noticed in the USA in various media outlets – their trailer containing mock interviews with A-list celebrity interviewers such as Ellen and Graham Norton was an attention-grabber… there’s even Molly Meldrum.

Utilising crowdfunding giant Indie Gogo, they’ve described the film as “being about a couple of down and out buds, Mark and Gary, given one last shot of achieving their dreams.”

The two oddball characters in the movie are aiming to host the opening night of a massive international film festival on a budget of $250,000.

“It’s Rocky meets SuperBad set against the hilarious backdrop of two straight guys doing their best to write a musical about an issue they know nothing about – gay marriage,” they enthuse.

Speaking of something dear to him after he became close with a number of people following Holding the Man, Edmonds was recently interviewed by UK LGBTI news outlet Gay Star News, stating he thinks gay marriage is “one of the last great human rights issues facing the Western world’ but he and Zeremes decided to deal with it through ‘humour and entertainment as opposed to making a hard-hitting documentary.”

The two-person team has set a budget of $50,000 to be raised by December 31 this year so they can fly to England in January 2013 and commence filming of the final scene in London’s West End. Edmonds and Zeremes have already shot all the Australian scenes.

“The film speak about it’s [Marriage Equality’s] suckiness but does it through humour!”

Here’s hoping these two crazy cats have got some avid fans to help them reach their goal on time.

Watch the goofy trailer starring the actress behind your favourite curly-haired Aussie housewife by clicking here.

 

Originally posted at SameSame.com.au on 05/12/2012

The seven deadly things that’ll ruin your summer

If you have a good think, there’s probably a range of things that you could insert into your own list regarding things that always destroy your summer plans. Here’s guessing however that the seven things below have most likely ended up on your own lists at one point. So have a flick through whilst sipping that cocktail- it may very well be your last.

1. Flies

They’re the scum of all insects. At least ants seem cute and live in some sort of a family. Flies insist on buzzing around the barbeque as if you were cooking up roadkill found on a highway strip in Indiana. As one of mother nature’s most deathly creatures, I do wonder their point of existence. They’re the typical summer nuisance and not enough fly spray in the world could get rid of the colony dwelling in my backyard. Not even our dear friend Louie the Fly could be killed with ten tins of Mortein…

2. Bindies

Something resembling a flower with a sting like a bee, these weeds are the dread of shoeless children the country over. More ferocious than a wasp’s point, messing around in the garden was more of a torture than a treasure come summertime. Break out the weedkiller before you dare go barefoot on your own front lawn.

3. Old ‘tin-can’ trains

It’s just a shake, a rattle, a roll. That’s all there is to it for a typical ride on a K, C or V set train carriage on the Cityrail network. Tin cans until they hit the scrapyard or are transformed into a gimmicky tourist attraction in Eveleigh, these trains are noisy, airless time-sucking monsters. The asian megacities Hong Kong and Tokyo look down on Sydney’s train fleet in utter dismay, incredibly confused as to how the Fat Controller running Sydney Trains just can’t place an order for some more air-conditioned people movers. Gladys Berejiklian certainly has her work cut out for her when it comes to “fixing the trains”. Good luck, love, good luck.

4. Mosquitoes

Time to prepare your shopping trolley for copious amounts of Air-raid and anti-itching cream, because as the sun goes down and the moon comes up, so do a million of your worst nightmares en-masse. Mosquitoes are notoriously spiteful the world over. Blood-sucking demons known to spread malaria, they swarm underneath Australian patios and pergolas, waiting to strike with the swiftness of a ninja on steroids. Move over Edward Cullen, it’s time to mesh up the fly screens because these suckers are coming for your delicious blood.

“We’re in the midst of a gayby-boom”

“Kids with gay and lesbian parents are the result of long deliberation, careful planning, a bit of luck, and lots of love,” say Sydney filmmakers Maya Newell and Charlotte McLellan.

“But who are these children? And are they somehow different to other kids?”

Voiceless from the beginning, bar a passionate wail and whinge every now and then as all good babies do, children living in a household with same-sex parents are often left unheard – particularly when it comes to social issues that directly affect them, such as marriage equality and having parents of the same gender.

Over the past 12 months, two young Australians have teamed up with the attempt at providing a vessel through which children like them can finally get a word in.

Their film is to be titled Gayby Baby, a documentary that “will reveal the untold stories of kids in same-sex families and allow the rest of us to understand what it means to be raised culturally queer”.

The Giants Film Review

Think of an ant in an anthill. Or a bee in a beehive. Or better yet, an ice cream hiding at the back of your chock-a-block freezer. This is Belgium in comparison to the world. And despite being able to comfortably squeeze into Australia 250 times, this petite French–speaking nation has just emerged with a new film that idolises the elaborate imaginations and (mis)adventures of youth, The Giants.

With director Bouli Lanner’s cheeky and moving film winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival last year and making the selection in the 2011 London International Film Festival, this film’s clearly one of the contemporary royals of the European film circuit. Starring the surprising talents of Zacharie Chasseriaud, Martin Nissen and Paul Bartel, The Giants invites all young inspiring actors to skip Hollywood and head to Brussels for a decent callback.

Playing across a pasture and lake-filled countryside one sunny summertime (though often wet and gloomy to the cinematographer’s delight), anyone that has lived through a blazing Aussie summer could come to appreciate seeing living grass that hasn’t been destroyed by oafish rugby players who only think about kicking balls and eating meat.

Accompanied with an inept sense of fragility and innocence that comes with the antics of young boys (now I’m sounding like a Vatican padre), the audience journeys alongside a violent black-eye covered voyage that would leave an imprint in the memory of the most nature-hating city-dwellers. It’s an uplifting film, not atypical of the nouveau character of indie films exported by award-winning filmmakers, so two thumbs up to the cinematography.

Music performed by Bram Van Parys almost touches the soul, falling just short of producing acidic tears that occasionally rise up under the spell of my stomach’s crimson-coloured butterflies.

One word of advice before watching this film? Prepare your savings account for a sudden urge to fly off to the cornfields of continental Europe and float down algae-covered riverbeds.

★ ★ ★ ★ ½ Stars
Ryan Auberson-Walsh