Out in Australia’s armed forces

While the United States only recently ended its Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy on gays in the military, Australia has allowed gay men and lesbians to serve openly since 1992.

Over the years, the Australian Armed Forces are becoming more and more socially accepting of those who are part of the queer community, active service people tell us. A tough battle for acknowledgment and equal treatment has finally resulted in a happier and healthier working environment.

Three service people of the armed forces who are members of DEFGLIS, the Australian Defence Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex information service, were kind enough to open up to Same Same about their time serving the sunburnt country thus far.

Born in Brisbane, Flight Lieutenant Nathan White (pictured above) has been in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) for just under a decade and hasn’t yet reached his highest potential. He tells us he has big plans for the coming years on the job.

White has wanted to fly since childhood, he explains. “I have since I flew the first time when I was seven years old and then I found out about Defence at about age 13 or 14, so I knuckled down, studied hard and got in.

“I did three years at university and then two years of flight training to get my wings. From there, operational conversion is six months. So, total that up and 5 ½ years later and you’re a qualified pilot,” he explains.

“I would like to be a flight commander. I think that would be really rewarding. I guess that’s my goal for the next five years with the next promotion.”

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. 

“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”.

Silly Billy

Those moments when you decide to throw yourself in the deep end for a better outcome in the long run…. Well, Ah McCain, I’ve done it again.

This time however will definitely be advantageous to my future welfare though. I’ve taken on three different editorial positions on top of regular paid work and my university studies, so I’ll be a busy bee this coming semester. I am awfully excited about one of the publications though. It’s titled Querelle and is an annual magazine that coincides with a university-based conference for queer-identifying people called Queer Collaborations. This year at the conference James Wilson and I put in a bid for UTS (my university; University of Technology, Sydney) to run the editing and creative process. Thankfully we won the bid and have now got an opportunity to let our ideas flourish in the public eye!

So, with a fleeting request, I’d love for people to contribute in any way they possibly can. It would be best if you were living in Australia to understand the bulk of content we wish to produce, but we’re looking for international talent as well to provide a voice of what’s happening around the world. 

We’re looking specifically for journalists, writers, artists and photographers to send in their work that is based around queer-identifying people, or illustrates an insight into queer issues. The magazine launch won’t be till July 2013, but we’re hoping to receive timeless submissions within the coming months so the editing process can get underway! If you’re keen and would love to ask any further questions or send in a submission, simply email querellemag@gmail.com

Can’t wait to read some bold and beautiful work focussing on the LGBTIQ community of Australia.

Regards,

Ryan

Those hateful homophobes

Honestly, are there any other words to describe a homophobe?
Yes, there are. But we’ll refrain from using foul language here for fear of which lovely kids may be reading this….

Now let me tell you something ‘revolutionary’:

I’m honestly not too impressed that within todays modern society so many homophobes are still living out there in hatred. What they say isn’t right, even if they claim it’s word from the Lord Almighty.
I’m no religious man,  and that’s why I feel I can safely say, they’re talking bullcrap.

Anyone who reads the Bible or any religious text would [and should] comprehend that such texts are full of messages of love and compassion. Whoever looks past that’s an idiot. And it seems that every conservative religious person I’ve seen in the media’s seriously daft.

You’re reading way into those sentences where it mentions “A man shall not lie with another man. God hates that”…. because he clearly doesn’t say, ‘don’t allow homosexuals to marry’ or ‘condemn all homosexuals to hell’….
So people, what’re you all complaining about? Why on earth would such nut-job groups as the Westboro Baptist Church despise homosexual people when they themselves are just trying to live a life of love, fairness and compassion.

Equality, people, is the message that all those holy texts are trying to get across.
And if you’re not getting the message, have another look.

Perhaps you’re not such a noob after all.

Here‘s the reason for my rant.

It certainly fueled my fire. ;]