LL:DDN: Protest increasing censorship

[Paul Canning]

Attacks on Australians' freedomSYDNEY rally
of speech have been steadily   Friday May 28th
growing: on the Internet, with 1pm, Hyde Park North
films and television, and in 
other media.  To protest this, Speeches will be followed by a
events are being organised march on the Office of Film and
around Australia on Friday Literature Classification and the 
May 28th.  Australian Broadcasting Authority.

 >> Please forward this to friends and colleagues in <<
 >> the Sydney area who are likely to be interested. <<

Net censorship legislation currently before Parliament is unparalleled
in the Western world -- and more authoritarian than that of Malaysia or
Singapore.  It treats the Internet like television and totally ignores
civil liberties.  It will drastically restrict adult freedoms, by making
material which is legal in other media illegal online; it will increase
costs for all Internet users; and it will damage our economy -- and yet
it will fail dismally at making the Net "safe for children".

For more details, see http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/stop.html

In other media, political interference in the censorship system is
apparent in the attacks on the films Salo and Lolita, the Rabelais
newspaper case, and attempts to stack classification review boards.
And computer games considered unsuitable for children are completely
illegal in Australia -- there is no recognition that adult Australians
play computer games.

  
  Sydney - 1pm Friday May 28th, Hyde Park North  
  Protest increasing censorship

  For events in other cities, see
  http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/may28/index.html
  


LL.NE

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LL:ART:The net closes

[Paul Canning]

n.b. this article will be published in City Hub (May 25) in an edited form.

--

The net closes

Paul Canning

Harradine is a joke; Colston is a big joke. And the fate of the net access we've
grown used to rests in their hands.

At the time of writing it is unclear whether the government will get its
Internet Censorship legislation through before it loses its balance of power in
the Senate at the end of June, though it looks likely.

We face a net censorship regime more restrictive than Malaysia's or Singapore's.
One that has been shown by everyone from the CSIRO to IBM to be unworkable, that
will systematically promote discrimination, that will badly compromise small
Internet Service Providers, place content creators outside the law and is wide
open to mischief makers.

Just one element, the requirement that access to material rated 'R' using the
film and video classifications use adult verification (AVS), not only highlights
the act's absurdities but will make a lot of valuable Australian content harder
to find.

AVS presents an enormous barrier to Internet users leading to huge drop offs in
site visits. Search engines will not index websites using AVS and there are big
privacy concerns.

The R standard is "material considered likely to be harmful to those under 18
years and/or possibly offensive to some sections of the adult community." Some
(non-porn) websites are already considering moving overseas because of this. One
Nation's news site has already gone.

The government says that using offline film ratings is appropriate because
convergence with other mediums will make the Internet more like TV -as Jon
Casimir put it in the Herald, "I reckon TV is more likely to start looking like
the Net than the other way around". But the real reason they were deliberately
picked was to force more restrictive censorship.

The Committee allowed less than seven days for comment on the actual bill, which
was worse than outlined in the initial proposals. There is no doubt that this
has happened at the speed it is happening because of Harradine, but the bill
fits with Alston's moral vision.

The Herald's Alan Ramsey described Alston as a "hard man of cabinet" and we've
seen that throughout the net censorship debate, with a barrage of outrageous
statements against the bill's opponents alongside technobabble about how 'easy'
it is to censor the net.

It's worked. The media has seen the bill as simply about blocking porn to the
kiddies - and who in their right mind opposes that? The 'it won't work' angle,
pushed by the Industry, backfired as Alston appealed to general non-net
community disquiet about 'nasties' and castigated industry whining over the
costs.

Civil liberties and privacy have disappeared as issues. The Select Committee's
report doesn't even bother to mention them.

What has been achieved is a hardening of Labor and Democrat opposition to
typical and world wide, knee-jerk proposals like this bill.

Both now support regulation of filter products, which the gay and lesbian
community pushed for.

Internet service providers (ISPs) are going to put user's net access through
filters on proxy servers to comply with the demand that overseas 'offensive'
material be blocked. Unregulated filters are one of the greatest long-term
threats to online liberty.

Relatively new technology, filters are notorious for their 'collateral damage',
often perceived as a mere by product. Hilarities like the blocking of 'button'
because of that word's first four letters operate alongside systematically
blocking of particular topics.

Impacts like 'over broad blocking', where entire servers like free space
providers Tripod or GeoCities which house many small Australian community groups
are blocked, isn't seen for what it really is; bulldozing a library with a
couple of dirty books on its shelves.

Mainly they're American products and carry American values but if you use the
new Australian 'family friendly' search engine iSEEK, based on American
technology, certain search terms will be blocked - like 'queer', 'heroin',
'bisexual, 'sex education'.

When I tried it a search on 'paedophilia' iSEEK threw up a link to a
pro-paedophilia site.

Within twenty-four hours of my circulation of this information the blocked
search terms had mysteriously changed and 'paedophilia' was blocked. Before it
had blocked 'suicide' and 'rape'.

The producers of iSEEK, Brisbane Company Infopro, say in their PR that the
technology under iSEEK "does not restrict access to any worthwhile sites".

Filters disproportionately effect some groups - like lesbians and gays, and also
feminists and drug educators - but they also diminish the net's educational
value to all. St V

LL:[BBC] Socialists' foot in Holyrood door

[Paul Canning]

BBC News
Friday, May 7, 1999

Socialists' foot in Holyrood door

The regional lists brought victory for Scottish Socialist Party leader Tom=
my
Sheridan, who has campaigned against both Margaret Thatcher's Conservative=
 Party
and Tony Blair's New Labour.

The lists, which operated on a form of proportional representation, also g=
ave
seats to Conservative leader David McLetchie and the UK's first Green
parliamentarian to win outside a by-election.

With all the results declared, the Scottish National Party had won 28 of t=
he 56
top-up seats; the Tories 18; the Lib-Dems five and Labour three.

Tommy Sheridan's party, formed out of the Scottish Socialist Alliance in O=
ctober
last year, has about 1,200 paid-up members.

"From our point of view it is very much the David and Goliath show and Dav=
id
won," he said.

He spearheaded the campaign against the poll tax north of the border - rec=
eiving
masses of support from Glasgow's Pollok area, where he grew up and now
represents in the Scottish Parliament.

He was voted onto Glasgow City Council in 1992 in a show of solidarity fro=
m the
city's working class while serving a six-month prison sentence following a=
 poll
tax protest.

During his time behind bars, he stood under the Scottish Militant Labour b=
anner
and came second in Glasgow Pollok in the 1992 General Election.

The Conservatives have returned 18 candidates from the regional lists, a m=
ajor
step forward from their previous total lack of representation at Westminst=
er.

Mr McLetchie had to wait for more than 17 hours after the count in Lothian
began, before learning he had won a place at Holyrood.

Lib-Dem peer Lord Steel, who is expected to become the parliament's first
presiding officer (speaker), also made it in from the Lothians list.

And the Scottish Greens' Robin Harper made electoral history by securing h=
is
place in the parliament.

[AUDIO] http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/335000/audio/_337628_laura_scot.ram
[AUDIO] http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/335000/audio/_337581_sheridan.ram



|: Paul Canning [EMAIL PROTECTED]
=AE  http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning
>Stop Net Censorship!
| http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/petition.html
>QAnnounce http://announce.queer.org.au/


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LL:DDN: Free Salisbury Road!

[Paul Canning]

Free Salisbury Road!
8:00am Saturday 15 May

Women's Abortion Action Campaign and local residents are combining efforts
to frustrate 35-80 anti-abortion protestors at the Salisbury Road Clinic.

[where] cnr Salisbury Rd and Denison St. Camperdown
[transport] Walk up Australia St. from Newtown Square and turn left at
Salisbury Rd.

[contact] Leah Mason
[email] [EMAIL PROTECTED]

[the full rave] www.nsw.greens.org.au

Members of a group called the Defenders of God's precious Infants meet
every 3rd Saturday, in front of the abortion clinic on Salisbury Rd.
Generally, there are between 35 and 40 people gathered, with some reports
of up to 80 persons present. On the 15th of May there is rumour of an
unprecedented presence, due to the 5 year anniversary of their campaign.
Residents and campaigners from Women's Abortion Action Campaign are calling
for support in their attempt to bring some peace and respect to the hard
decision being made by the patients of the clinic.

The Greens NSW
79 King Street
NEWTOWN NSW 2042

PO Box 1220
SYDNEY NSW 2001

Ph  (02) 9519 0877
Fax (02) 9519 2177
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.nsw.greens.org.au




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LL:[BBC] Marchers show defiance to bombers / EA News Update

[Paul Canning]

BBC News
Saturday, May 1, 1999

Marchers show defiance to bombers

Gay men gather in Soho to show thier defiance

Hundreds of people have joined a march through central London to protest against
the extreme right's nail bomb campaign.

About 1,000 people took part in the march from Brixton, scene of the first
blast, to Downing Street and then onto Trafalgar Square for a rally.

They chanted "Nazi scum off our streets" as they set off.

A letter from the Lambeth branch of the Unison trade union was handed in at
Downing Street for Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Before the march, there were a number of speeches, including some by members of
the Kurdish community and an anti-Pinochet Chilean exile.

Angela Mason, director of the gay rights group Stonewall, told demonstrators the
bombers were revealing how marginalised they were by resorting to violence.

"Their bombing and terrorist campaigns are the campaigns of political
frustration," she said.

"We know in this society that very slowly, and after great struggle, people are
becoming more tolerant and accepting."

The march had been scheduled before the Soho bombing. It was organised by groups
including Unison, the Anti-Nazi League and the Movement for Justice, which was
set up in the aftermath of the bungled police inquiry into Stephen Lawrence
murder.

However, the protesters planned to finish their demonstration by marching
through Soho in a show of solidarity with the gay community.

Movement for Justice spokesman Alex Owolade said: "It is not an accident that
the latest bombing was in Soho, the heart of the lesbian and gay community.

"The racists and fascists are smart. They are trying to build their base on the
backlash against the Stephen Lawrence inquiry."

--

EA News Update
May 1

25,000 people attended a protest march and rally this afternoon following
the nail bomb in Soho last night.

A vigil will be held tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon in Soho Square, London.
The Gay Men's Chorus and other community groups are inviting people to pay
their respects and listen to 'guest speakers'.  For further details contact
Steve Bustin, on 07803 729 208

An on-line condolence book has been set up for people wishing to pay their
respects and give their views (http://www.diversity.org.uk/soho/).  Thanks
to Nigel Whitfield for providing this, and for the other news links he has
provided through Digital Diversity.

Her Majesty the Queen has conveyed her condolences to the victims family,
and the Home Secretary and Party leaders have condemned the bombers.  Their
quotes:  www.diversity.org.uk/eanews/quotes.htm

More details are on the EA News Website, will be continue to be updated.
- www.diversity.org.uk/eanews/hot1.htm



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LL:ART:The strange case of two Australian aid workers detained in=Yugoslavia

[Paul Canning]

World Socialist Web Site
29 April 1999

The strange case of two Australian aid workers detained in Yugoslavia

By Mike Head

When Yugoslav authorities detained two Australian aid workers at the Croat=
ian
border on March 31, on suspicion of spying to aid the NATO bombing blitz, =
the
affair rapidly became the subject of furious denunciations by the media an=
d
politicians in Australia, accompanied by frenzied diplomatic activity to s=
ecure
their release.

Amid headlines such as "Spy outrage: Aussies guilty before a trial," Austr=
alian
Prime Minister John Howard demanded the pair's immediate release. Former p=
rime
minister Malcolm Fraser, now chairman of CARE Australia, the agency that
employed the two, flew to Geneva, Budapest and Moscow and eventually trave=
lled
to Belgrade as a Special Envoy in an effort to secure their return. Every
conceivable dignitary was enlisted to add voices of protest, including UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Australian Governor-General William Deane, G=
reek
government ministers and various Orthodox clergy.

The official and media furore intensified after one of the pair, former Ar=
my
major Steve Pratt appeared on Yugoslav television on April 11 confessing t=
o
supplying intelligence information. "When I came to Yugoslavia I performed=
 some
intelligence tasks in this country, using the cover of CARE Australia. My
concentration was on Kosovo and the effects of the bombing," Pratt said.

"I misused my Yugoslav citizen staff in the acquisition of information. I
realise that damage was done to this country by these actions, for which I=
 am
frankly sorry. I always did and I still do condemn the bombing of this cou=
ntry."

As media reports conceded, Pratt bore no obvious signs of physical mistrea=
tment
and spoke calmly and clearly, beginning by stating his name and citizenshi=
p and
listing the countries he had previously worked in--Yemen, Iraq and Rwanda.

RTS, the Serbian state television, announced: "In a coordinated action, Yu=
goslav
security forces have broken up a network of agents headed by Major Steve P=
ratt.
Under the cover of the humanitarian organisation CARE International, this =
person
collected before [NATO] aggression on our country, intelligence data on mi=
litary
and police movements, and after the aggression, on the effects of the bomb=
ing."

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer described this charge as "sim=
ply
preposterous". Newspaper columnists accused the Belgrade regime of "bully-=
boy
tactics", "ghoulish" behaviour and international lawlessness. Without both=
ering
to offer a skerrick of evidence, the Australian's international editor Gre=
g
Sheridan declared that the duo had suffered "an obviously brutal interroga=
tion,"
adding that this was a "throwback to the crass communist behaviour of the =
Cold
War".

The Milosevic regime was accused of attempting to use the two men as hosta=
ges to
blackmail the Australian government into dropping its support for the NATO=
 air
war.

This week a somewhat different picture began to emerge. With Malcolm Frase=
r in
the lead, the language emanating from official and media sources became le=
ss
categorical. Fraser returned to Australia empty-handed and admitted that P=
ratt
and his assistant, Peter Wallace may have given the Yugoslav administratio=
n
cause for suspecting their bona fides. Fraser claimed that Yugoslav offici=
als
might have misunderstood Pratt's military-style speech mannerisms and the =
extent
of the records that he and Wallace were attempting to take out of the coun=
try.

"Steve has a military background," Fraser said. "Instead of saying, you kn=
ow,
'Is this road clear, can we get our trucks through,' (he might say) 'get m=
e some
intelligence about that road'." Fraser said the CARE workers might have be=
en
"na=EFve" to try to cross the border with CARE's extensive files, includin=
g
"lengthy situation reports". He also admitted that the men, with whom he w=
as
granted a special access meeting in Belgrade, were in reasonable physical
health.

A day after Fraser's comments, CARE Australia and CARE International offic=
ials
effectively downgraded the campaign to end the pair's detention, foreshado=
wing a
new "low-profile" phase. Graham Miller, CARE's chief in Switzerland, who
accompanied Fraser to Belgrade, withdrew to his Geneva office. Antony Robb=
ins of
CARE International returned to London from Budapest, where Pratt's wife li=
ves.

Where this affair will lead over coming weeks and months is not clear. But=
 from
the outset there were numerous inconsistencies in the official Australian =
story
that Pratt and Wallace were purely innocent humanitarian workers assisting
refugees in Serbia and Kosovo.

In the first place, the circumstances of their effort to flee Serbia via L=
ipovic
on the Croatian border were dubious. With them they had a satellite phone =
and
other telecommunications equipment, four laptop computers, extensive repor=
ts on
the situation on the ground in Ser

LL:PR: Australian Youth Policy & Action Coalition to close

[Paul Canning]

Dear Bite backers

It is with regret that AYPAC today announced that it will close its doors
in late May.  AYPAC has survived for the last year without government
funding through project work and financial contributions from our members
and supporters. I would like to thank you all for the support you have
offered over the last year.

But alas, we have concluded that AYPAC is unable to operate across a range
of important policy areas on our current funding base.  The continued
existence of a wounded AYPAC disguised that young people were not been
actively represented across these areas.  The situation was not sustainable.

Despite this being a sad day, the broader battle is not over by a long
shot.  AYPAC members and supporters will be meeting in Canberra on
Wednesday 9 June & Thursday 10 June to strategies for the future.  We have
the continued support of the ALP, Democrats and Greens for the re-funding
of a national youth peak.  A new youth body may emerge from this meeting.
If you are keen on participating, please contact the office (via email) for
further details.

I have attached our press release and an opinion piece on the issues
associated with AYPAC's closure for your information.

Once again, thank you.

David Matthews
Executive Officer


Visit the AYPAC Bites Back Website at http://www.aypac.org.au

AYPAC - Australian Youth Policy & Action Coalition

AYPAC is Australia's peak youth affairs organisation

Tel 02 6247 1666 Fax 02 6247 1799 Email aypac @tpgi.com.au

PO Box 204 Ainslie ACT 2602
Canberra Australia

--

AYPAC
Australian Youth Policy and Action Coalition




Voices straining to be heard


One year after the withdrawal of federal government funding the Australian
Youth
Policy and Action Coalition (AYPAC) has been forced to close its doors.  It is
the latest casualty of the Howard Government's attack on advocacy organisations
which represent minority voices in the political process.

AYPAC is a coalition of diverse youth organisations including the Scouts, YWCA,
Australian Rural Youth and State Youth Affairs Councils.  It has acted as the
primary policy voice for young people since 1991.  AYPAC was defunded due
to its
unwelcome criticism of the government's youth affairs performance.  Most
notably, AYPAC has been critical of the Common Youth Allowance.  This was
introduced on 1 July last year - the date that AYPAC ceased receiving
government
support.

AYPAC's demise reflects the low priority accorded to young people by
politicians.  Successive federal government activities since the International
Year of Youth in 1985, when youth issues were labelled 'priority one', have
failed to address important policy issues.  Despite the appointment of a
Minister for Youth Affairs in Cabinet by the Coalition in 1996 there is little
evidence of increased emphasis on youth issues or a genuine holistic
approach to
youth affairs.  There has been no national youth policy since 1993.  Neither of
the major parties issued a youth policy at the last federal election.

When young people do receive attention, they are increasingly seen as problems
that need to be 'fixed'.  Maturation and skill deficiencies are seen to cause
high youth unemployment, not a lack of job opportunities.  Drug abuse, suicide
and crime are the areas of public policy most often associated with young
people.  The solutions on offer are often laced with negative messages about
youth.  Young people themselves have few opportunities to participate directly
in policy debates and propose their own solutions.

The other prominent view of youth is one of articulate high achievers preparing
to assume future leadership roles.  Not only does this ignore that many young
people are already making an active contribution, it once again locks young
people out of a genuine role in decision making.

Indeed, aside from policy disagreements with the Government, AYPAC's defunding
reflects the reduced importance attached to involving a range of people in the
policy process.  The role of advocates for minority voices has come under
threat.  This is in part due to Howard government's goal of eliminating
'political correctness' where minority interests are seen as coming at the
expense of the greater good.  The government has defunded at least a dozen peak
bodies, each responsible for giving voice to a section of the community or
issue
that would otherwise not be heard.

Representative networks of community organisations have been labelled as out of
touch filtering mechanisms, and many have been frozen out of government
consultative processes or experienced pressure not to speak out against
government policy.  The constructive role they play in working towards a fairer
society is being overlooked.

It appears that dissenting voices are no longer welcome in the political
process.  The community sector's traditional role of monitoring and
reporting on
government performance for the disadvantaged is seen only as a political
management problem.  AYPAC provides an 

LL:DDN:Coffee Talks - Sydney Black gay/ lesb /trans /bi

[Paul Canning]

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Central Sydney Area Sexual Health Service would like to invite you to 
attend;

Coffee Talks - Sydney Black gay/ lesb /trans /bi

Newtown- Coffee Talks is a series of small community (mini) forums
covering issues relevant to local Bi/ Gay/ Lesb/ Trans/ Queer
community members. 

Past forums have included:
The Politics of Shopping - The role of the pink dollar in homosexual
  law reform
Love Lust Power - The way in which we eroticise and
 exoticise people from cultures other than our own. 
Community  Representation - Regarding issues of representation of gay 
  men and  lesbians in social and political arenas. 
Ghetto Bashing -  Oxford St  v's King St, a debate.
Body Image - The beauty myth in gay and  lesbian communities.

To commemorate the third anniversary of the reconciliation process the
next Coffee Talks topic will focus on the role of Aboriginal men and
women in Sydneys gay and lesbian rights movement - an historical as
well as a contemporary perspective.

Coffee Talks - Sydney, Black, gay/lesb/bi/trans will be held at:

Cafe Solea, 182 King St Newtown 
(a few doors down from the Newtown Hotel).
6.30pm to 8.00pm
Sunday, May 2nd

Coffee Talks is a community development initiative of the Central 
Sydney Area Sexual Health Service Gay Mens Health Project.

For more information please contact either;
Neil Poetschka 9515 3137 
Paul Simpson 9515 3318 


LL.NE

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LL:URL:the government's Internet Censorship proposed legislation

[Paul Canning]

Electronic Frontiers Australia has established a web page about the government's
Internet Censorship proposed legislation @
http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/99.html.
The page contains links to the legislation, detailed analysis and comment and
actions you can take.
A development in this which you will not have read in the media is that the
legislation does *not exclude email, so this list is directly affected.
There are a number of other implications, especially for content providers. It
is draconian.
This is all being introduced under the mantle of 'protecting the children' - and
Alston has gone so far as to accuse opponents of the legislation of supporting
criminal behaviour. However, as analysis has shown, it will not even be
successful in preventing access to truly offensive material by minors.
Obviously this is being rushed through to placate Harradine, yet any eventual
law will have implications down the years.

Paul Canning


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LL:ART: Harradine courtship is given top priority

[Paul Canning]

The Australian
23apr99

Harradine courtship is given top priority

By GEORGE MEGALOGENIS and SID MARRIS

THE Howard Government yesterday accelerated its tax and Telstra courtship of
balance-of-power senator Brian Harradine by making its crackdown on Internet
pornography a higher priority for Senate debate than the Kosovo refugees
and the
Budget supply Bills.

The Government spent most of the day considering options to boost compensation
for the goods and services tax in response to concerns the Tasmanian
Independent
outlined in his first Senate speech on the tax package on Wednesday.

It is understood the Government is crunching numbers to see how much more
it can
afford to offer families, pensioners and self-funded retirees, in return for
Senator Harradine passing the GST on food.

But the Government is reluctant to extend any compensation deal to those groups
who are not already covered in the tax package.

The extent to which the business of government is being dictated by the need to
keep Senator Harradine happy was underlined yesterday when the Government
released the list of legislation it wants debated by June 30.

As expected, the GST was ranked first and the sale of Telstra second.

The third matter to be stamped "high priority" was the Government's push to
regulate offensive material on the Internet. This piece of legislation arose
following critical comments by Senator Harradine less than two months ago.

The crackdown was placed ahead of legislation to allow Kosovo refugees to stay
in Australia on a temporary basis, the Budget appropriation Bills and the sale
of the wool stockpile.

The Government is still eager to pass the Migration (temporary safe havens)
Bill, despite the UN placing a freeze on the plan, and might yet have the
legislation passed before the Internet changes.

But the Opposition and Greens senator Bob Brown said the list showed the
Government was hostage to the views of Senator Harradine, whose term as the
pivotal player in the upper house expires on June 30.

The list also showed the Government had effectively given up its campaign to
abolish compulsory student unionism, by relegating the legislation to
third-last
on the "time permitting" list.

The National Farmers Federation yesterday urged Senator Harradine to focus on
better compensation, not the construction of the GST, if he believed the tax
package was unfair. NFF president Ian Donges rejected his claims farmers would
be "shafted" by the GST and said he was missing the "big picture" benefits to
the sector.






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LL:PR:GFI 1st Annual Lobby Days, 25-27 May

[Paul Canning]

ANNOUNCEMENT
For Immediate Release

Please distribute to your members
and/or publish



GENDER  FREEDOM  INTERNATIONAL
First Annual Lobby Days

Washington, DC May 25 - 27, 1999
(Immediately Following GenderPAC Lobby Days)

Contact:

 Sarah Fox, Ph.D.
 President,
 Gender Freedom International
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]

For more details:

 http://www.gender.org/gfi

[Columbus, OH; April 13, 1999]  On Tuesday evening, May
25, a small group of transgender activists will meet in a hotel
room, launching into motion a new organization, Gender
Freedom International (GFI).  GFI is the first US-based
organization dedicated to promoting international
transgender human rights.  GFI's objective is to work
cooperatively with other international human rights
organizations to leverage governmental  reforms abroad by
influencing US foreign policy.

Why should transgender activists in the US be concerned with
conditions abroad?  By most accounts, transgendered people
in the United  States live terrible lives, enjoying basic human
rights in only a few scattered regions.  They are undoubtedly
the most viciously and relentlessly persecuted minority in
American society, living their lives in fear and dealing with
hate crimes, denial of services, and employment
discrimination on a regular and frequent basis.  However life
for a transperson in the US is remarkably good, compared to
life for many transpeople abroad.

Here in the US, transpeople read horrible stories
about how a sister in a far-away state has fallen to another
transgender murder,  and they worry for thier own safety,
suspicious that the police probably will not protect them as well
as they should.  However in Argentina or Honduras, for instance,
a transperson worries about whether she will be beaten and
arrested that night.  When she is beaten and arrested, as is the
case for most "transvestites" on most nights, her friends worry
about whether they will see her again or whether she will be
the next "transvestite" to be "disappeared" by government
forces.

Here in the US, transpeople may worry about
whether they can afford needed medical care (without
employment protections,  insurance coverage, or consumer
protections).  A Columbian transperson must worry about
whether she will have enough money to bribe her  way out of
trumped-up military/police confrontation or whether she will
become one of many thousand murdered each year, perhaps
being gunned down by Army submachine guns.

Here in the US, a transgendered person faces the reality that
she could easily find herself unable to put food on the table
through any other  means than prostitution, and if she is
arrested as a prostitute, she will probably be punished
severely with a long prison term, during which time she will
probably be denied necessary medications.  In Chile, a
transgendered person might be arrested and jailed simply for
being in a night club at the wrong time, and while in prison,
her captors may willfully infect her with HIV using a
hypodermic needle they know is contaminated with the virus,
essentially sentencing her a long, agonizing death for her
"crime."

These sorts of stories have become all too prevalent.  How
many times must we hear stories like those of the Argentinian
transwoman who bled to death from a police officer's gunshot
to her penis or the Brazilian transwomen who were
humiliated, stripped, and ordered to swim to their deaths?

While there are organizations doing a fine job fighting for
human rights abroad, few organizations are devoted to GLBT
human rights  specifically.  Those organizations are
overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem, and while
they are making significant progress, they need help.  Until
now there were no US-based international human rights
organizations dedicated specifically to transgendered
individuals, who are the most visible and therefore the most
ruthlessly persecuted GLBT people by most of the more
oppressive foreign governments.  That is the purpose for
Gender Freedom International.

GFI's war on human rights abuses will be waged
altruistically.  None of GFI's activists will benefit personally,
except from the satisfaction that they are fighting for what is
right.  No US lives will be bettered by GFI efforts, but
conditions for millions of transpeople worldwide may be
improved slightly.  If GFI can save but a single person from
being beaten, raped, and exterminated by government forces,
then our efforts will have paid off well.



STRATEGY:

Every year, by Congressional mandate, the US State
Department submits to the International Affairs Committee of
the House of  Representatives a report on human rights abuses
in 194 foreign countries.  Lawmakers then consult this
document when considering foreign  policy issues, including
foreign aid and trade status.  These factors are often used to
leverage human rights reforms i

LL:Subscribe to QAnnounce

[Paul Canning]

Something which you may not know about ...

QAnnounce is an Australasian mailing list and website which focusses on
information of local interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT)
people and community groups. As well, QAnnounce carries major news or
information from overseas and sometimes entertainment.

The mailing list includes news clippings, press releases, letters,
announcements, event notices and other items of interest to GLBT people and
community groups. It's produced by activists for activists.

QAnnounce is archived so each posting to the list is accessible for research. We
started in June last year.

The list is produced in two versions, lite and Full-On. Lite is the digest
version, it comes out about once a day, and gives you all the clippings and
announcements for that day direct in your email Inbox. Full-On gives you all the
posts to the list in your inbox - please note that some days can have lots of
posts, so if you're subscribd to QAnnounce Full-On and feeling overburdened
switch to QAnnounce lite.

If you don't want to subscribe - but you want to stay in touch with Australasian
GLBT news - bookmark the web site and check the latest posts for current GLBT
Australasian news. Or you can use the search engine to find information of
particular interest in the extensive archives.

Visit the QAnnounce homepage @ http://announce.queer.org.au for more info on the
list and how to subscribe.

QAnnounce is part of the Australian Queer Resources Directory, a community-run
resource for all GLBT Australians.

Acknowledgments: Rainbow.Net; Chris Albone and Wayne Brooks, AusQRD Maintainers;
Graham Underhill, contributor

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LL:ART:[WORKERS ONLINE] Public Speaks: We Are Not Monsters!

[Paul Canning]

Workers Online
16 Apr 1999

Public Speaks: We Are Not Monsters!

Two-thirds of Australians believe unions are good for the country, 
laying down a clear challenge for the movement to intensify 
recruiting.  

The national Newspoll survey, commissioned by [The NSW] Labor 
Council, came up with heartening findings, with support for unionism 
far outstripping actual membership rates.  

The Labor Council executive will restructure its operations to place 
greater empahsis on organising and recruiting. Labor Council 
secretary Michael Costa will chair the high-level committee which 
will co-ordinate organising and recruiting campaigns across the 
affiliates.  

Importantly, the Committee will be given an annual six-figure budget 
generated from income from the Currawong development, should it be 
approved next month. It would work closely with the Trade Union 
Training Authority to develop and implement recruitment strategies.  

Costa says the survey results shows the tremendous opportunity for 
unions, while rebuffing the federal government's anti-union agenda.  

Key finds of the survey were:

- 67 per cent of respondents rejected the proposition that Australia 
would be better off without trade unions.  

- 44 per cent said they'd join a trade union if they were free to 
choose.  

- 53 per cent said management had more power than unions.  

NSW Labor Council secretary Michael Costa said the figures were 
heartening and showed that the blatant attacks on unionism from the 
Howard Government and rogue employers did not have widespread public 
support.  

"What this shows is that the community overwhelmingly supports trade 
unions; it's our job to ensure the unions are effective in organising 
and delivering services," Costa says.  

"It highlights the critical importance of providing training and 
skills for unions officials to meet this challenge.  

"It's also clear from the figures that management hostility is a 
deterrent to many workers who want to join a union and shows the 
Employment Advocate is not doing its job.  

"The Employment Advocate should be focussing on employers who 
discourage or threaten employees who want to be union members rather 
than harassing unions in conducting their legitimate activities.  

"I call on the federal government to alter its industrial relations 
legislation to provide structures that allow the community to fulfil 
its desire to join trade unions."  


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LL:National Anti-Censorship Action

[Paul Canning]

from Danny Yee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

--

Electronic Frontiers Australia
---
| National Anti-Censorship Action |
|  Friday May 28th 1999   |
---

Threats to Australians' freedom of speech are neverending -- in films,
games, art, and other media as well as on the Internet.

Most recently we have seen draconian Internet censorship proposals and
demands that the film Lolita be banned.

In order to protest censorship, we are planning a national day of action
against censorship, with events across the country, to be held on Friday
May 28th.

If you are interested in planning and organising an anti-censorship
event, or in helping out in other ways, please join the stop-censorship
mailing list by sending a message with subject "subscribe" to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Possible events include rallies and stunts, seminars and speeches, and
online events.  Suggestions are welcome!

Danny.

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LL:Internet Censorship: submission to government inquiry: help needed

[Paul Canning]

--please circulate widely--

INTERNET CENSORSHIP

Submission to government inquiry:
Help needed

I am currently putting together a submission for the Australian Council for
Lesbian & Gay  Rights (ACGLR ) to the Senate Select Committee on Information
Technologies appointed earlier this month.
The committee's parameters are to:

. evaluate the development of self-regulatory codes in the information
industries;
. monitor the personal, social and economic impact of continuing
technological change created by industries and services utilising information
technologies;
. examine the Government's decision to establish a regulatory framework
relating to illegal or offensive material published and transmitted through
online services such as the Internet: and
. inquire into and report on such other matters as may be referred to it by
the Senate.

The ACGLR is concerned that the Government's proposals will impact adversely on
gay & lesbian Australian Internet users, in particular that access to websites
and newsgroups will be blocked more extensively than it already is and that
email will be blocked. Further that sites addressing health concerns,
particularly those aimed at gay & lesbian teenagers, are being blocked now and
this will be entrenched by the government's proposals with few if any
safeguards.
For more on the government's proposals see the Senate Committee's page at
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/it_ctte/index.htm
I am seeking information about experiences that Internet users have had with
censorship, especially of the blocking of websites, newsgroups and email.
This can be of gay & lesbian sites or other sites such as breast cancer or
HIV/AIDS information sites.
What I need to know is:

. what was blocked
. a description of the content that was blocked
. what blocked it, do you know which filter it was?
. where you were accessing the Internet from (home, school, office etc.)
. details on any adverse effects on yourself or organisations you represent
as a result of blocking
. where you are (state etc.) and who you are

Such detailed information is vital to the success of the submission.
The deadline for submissions to the Committee is April 30 so I would appreciate
swift responses.
I have a webpage with further information and links on this topic at
http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning/censorship

cheers

Paul Canning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>


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LL:PR:ILGA publishes major survey of the legal and human rights situation of sexual minorities around the world

[Paul Canning]

From: Nigel Warner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>


MEDIA RELEASE - PLEASE POST TO YOUR LOCAL ACTIVIST LIST

The International Lesbian and Gay Association has published a survey of the 
legal and human rights situation of sexual minorities around the world at 
its web site. It is believed to be the most extensive survey of its kind 
ever produced.

The purpose of the survey is to provide a comprehensive, authoritative, 
source of information for all people working to promote the human rights of 
lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people. It will be a "living" 
resource, continually updated to reflect developments in the world wide 
campaign for LGBT rights.

The survey includes a page for each country in a standard format with 
sections covering the sexual offences law, freedom of expression and 
association, anti-discrimination legislation, employment protection 
legislation, recognition of lesbian and gay partnerships, parenting, 
asylum, violence against LGBT people, police harassment, and human rights 
issues affecting transgendered people and people with HIV/AIDS. The country 
pages are linked to other more detailed sources, including legal texts, 
government reports and legal judgements.

There are also some 50 summaries listing everything from countries where 
lesbian and gay relationships are illegal to countries where adoption by 
lesbians and gays is permitted.

Inevitably there are many gaps, and the quality of some of the information 
is uncertain. Indeed, the survey as now published is very much a start 
point. ILGA hopes that individuals and organisations with a good knowledge 
of the legal and human rights situation in their country will join with 
ILGA in working to improve the quality of the information and in keeping it 
up to date. All sources of information will be acknowledged.

If you have a web site, please provide a link to the ILGA web site.

Nigel Warner

Co-ordinator of the ILGA-World web site
ILGA Web Site: http://www.ilga.org

The International Lesbian and Gay Association is a world-wide federation of 
national and local groups dedicated to achieving equal rights for lesbians, 
gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people everywhere.  Founded in 1978, 
it now has more than 350 member organisations. Every continent and around 
80 countries are represented.  


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LL:PR: Serbs Call Western Leaders Gay

[Paul Canning]

Wired Strategies
April 6, 1999

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: John Aravosis
President, Wired Strategies
202/328-5707 tel.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

SERBS CALL WESTERN LEADERS GAY
Yugoslav gay advocate reacts in exclusive online interview

(Washington, DC) - Yugoslav television is demonizing western leaders by
accusing them of being gay, according to an exclusive Wired Strategies
interview with a leading gay rights advocate in Belgrade.

Late last week, Wired Strategies' John Aravosis struck up an online
friendship with Dusan Maljkovic, a 23-year-old openly-gay student,
journalist, and gay rights advocate living in Yugoslavia's capital.  Using
email and an Internet chat program, Aravosis and Maljkovic have held a
series of online discussions on the war and its effect on gay politics in
Serbia.

Maljkovic is on the executive committee of the Campaign Against Homophobia,
an organization reportedly funded by the Soros Foundation, whose mission is
to collect data on gay rights violations in Yugoslavia, and to lobby for
positive social change.

While legislation outlawing homosexual acts was repealed in 1994, much of
Serbia still remains highly homophobic.

According to Maljkovic, there are few openly gay Serbians because "gay
people are here discriminated on all levels of society."  He explains that
discrimination starts "with the families, that usually do not support
gay/lesbian identity."  Employment discrimination is also a paramount
concern: "People can be fired because it is found out that they are gay,
usually with some other explanation."

According to a report issued by the Campaign Against Homophobia, Serbian
police stations "hold files on gays and lesbians, with their photographs
and fingerprints," and often use "illegal methods such as phone tapping,
interceptance of mail etc." to compile lists of suspected homosexuals.

Maljkovic also notes that in contrast to much of the West, Serbia
officially considers homosexuality an illness.  "Serbian psychiatry still
finds homosexuality a disease, and 'treatment' for that is sometimes
electro-shocks," he says.

The situation for people with HIV and AIDS is equally dire.  According to
the Campaign's report, "recently, a man died of AIDS outside the hospital,
just because the ambulance team refused to treat him upon learning of the
nature of his illness."  In another highly-publicized case, a
"seven-year-old boy was unable to attend classes in a Belgrade primary
school because of protests by his fellow-pupils' parents who learned that
the boy was HIV+."

While things were already tough for Gay Yugoslavs, Maljkovic - who does not
support the NATO raids - says things only got worse once the bombs started
falling.

First, the Campaign Against Homophobia had to close its doors last week due
to a lack of funding.  "Since our government stopped all diplomatic
relations with USA, among other NATO countries, all main funders left, and
thus we don't have financial support. We cannot work without it," Maljkovic
says.

Second, Maljkovic and a friend were hoping to soon launch Serbia's first
gay-oriented radio show on B-92, the independent radio station that has
long been at odds with the Milosevic government.  Milosevic last week used
the war to justify closing the station, something he has been unsuccessful
in doing for ten years now.

Third, the Serbian media is now reportedly demonizing gay people at
unprecedented levels.  "The Serbian media, especially Palma Television,
accused the leaders of the West to be gay or lesbian, and presented it as a
'sexual perversion' and 'mental disorder,' so all our efforts to change the
opinion of Serbian population towards accepting homosexuality as a normal
aspect of sexuality are now destroyed," Maljkovic says.

Reportedly, the Serbian government often uses the "gay card" to slur
political opponents.  "In the propaganda war among the republics of the
former Yugoslavia, the Serbian side used homosexuality for making fun of
'the Western republics' of former Yugoslavia.  For example, stories on the
alleged homosexuality of Slovenian prime minister Janez Drnovsek were
published very often," he notes.

Maljkovic worries that gays and lesbians are now in more danger than ever
as a result of the war.  "Since the most radical national homogenization of
Serbia is taking place: anyone that doesn't fit the standard model of the
strong man defending his native land, determined to fight for it until the
last drop of blood, is a possible victim of discrimination, ranging from
verbal insults to physical violence and even murder," he says.

He fears that things will only get worse.  "We expect a greater
discrimination after the war, and banning all gay activism as well as NGO
[non-governmental organization] structures in general."

In spite of the circumstances, Maljkovic maintains his wry sense of humor.
Recently, as he was chatting online with Aravosis, a missile flew over his
Belgrade apartment, exploding nearby.  Maljkovic was asked how things were

LL:ART: Alston's plan for a 'clean universe'

[Paul Canning]

The Sydney Star Observer (largest gay and lesbian newspaper) will be
publishing the following opinion piece in it's edition tomorrow. still
looking for an outlet for a longer piece and would welcome
suggestions/connections.

cheers

paul canning

--

Net censorship:
Alston's plan for a 'clean universe'

Paul Canning

Censorship has been in the news lately - the attempt to ban Lolita that is.
But Federal Communications Minister Richard Alston is pushing a far more
dangerous and insidious threat to our liberties to deafening silence from
Australia's media.

His plan to censor the Internet and, as he told ABC radio, create a "clean
universe" will place Australia in the same league as Singapore and Saudi
Arabia.

Why? Because there's no 'opt-in' feature here.

Your Internet access will no longer be direct but forced through a primitive
software filter. One that blocks access to Rape Crisis Centres and breast
cancer info. Or The NSW Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby, whose site is blocked by
iSEEK, as is Mardi Gras' innocuous (no tits or ass) site.

Alston smiled for the cameras at iSEEK's launch in Brisbane last month.
Other filters he's promoted include CyberPatrol, which blocks Holocaust
information, and NetNanny, which won't let you sign up for a HIV/AIDS or
feminist mailing list.

He's not the first politician to reach for the technobabble. Jeff Shaw
brought Internet users onto the streets in 1996 with far worse proposals.
There has been a steady stream of politicians polishing the sound bites
about 'protecting the children'.

As usual they don't mean gay kids.

The Net is where many young people are finding their feet and connecting
with a community. Works for isolated Muslims. Works for a thirteen-year-old
in Bathurst.

The threat to their access is already real. The NSW Education Department
uses a misnamed filter called SmartFilter. It smartly filters out access to
a NSW Health funded sex and drugs education site aimed at teens. The drugs
campaigner Dr. Alex Wodak is so concerned that he is currently seeking
signatures from prominent Australians for a letter to the press.

There are thousands of other examples of inappropriately blocked sites, the
Industry calls them 'collateral damage'. The software makers don't want you
to know this. Sites that are critical - like Peacefire, which was set up by
kids - are blocked. Critics have been mail bombed, where you get 800 replies
to questions they don't want to hear.  The lists they devise are 'trade
secrets'. And they don't even, according to studies like one for the
Canadian Libraries Association, do their stated task of blocking porn.

Alston calls filters "guessing engines".

The media has portrayed Alston's plan as unfeasible, pushing the Internet
industry's line. Of course some geeks or those with access to International
Corporation's private networks will work around it, as they do in Singapore.
Kids will continue to trade Alston's PIN numbers like they do porn site
passwords now. But for the vast majority going through BigPond or
Rainbow.Net the government will enforce privatised censorship. That's the
plan.

He wants the Australian Broadcasting Authority to 'rate' sites reported to
them. Which sites are likely to be the first reported? Gay sites. It costs
$4000 to get a film rated and for some gay sites it would mean access would
be blocked because they're 'unrated' or they'd be banned. Many local sites
are housed at free space providers like GeoCities or Tripod. These are often
blocked en mass because some member sites are 'pornographic'. This is like
bulldozing a library because it contains a few 'dirty books'.

Filters are also about monitoring people. Whether it's a child in a bedroom
or a worker in an office cubicle. They're like permanent video cameras and
use fear and intimidation. In constructing one Australian site aimed at gay
kids the designer built in these limitations, so it's not easily spotted as
gay-related in the logs.

Net Censorship by countries such as Saudi Arabia and Cuba warns us of the
very real threat of our own government blocking access to information they
don't want us to have

The breaking by Internet 'snoop' Matt Drudge of the Monica Lewinsky story
hardened the desire of American politicians - like Hillary Clinton - to
control the Internet. Appalled by Drudge, much of the mass media has
resisted serious analysis and portrayed the Internet as alternately saviour
and demon.

Corporations stand to make millions from stoking this moral panic, which
greatly exaggerates what amounts to a fear of the unknown, fear of the
digital future.

Some truly bad stuff does lurk on the Internet but there are no easy
technical solutions without us becoming the sacrifice.

The decisions being made now a

LL:PR:[CAMPAIGN AGINST HOMOPHOBIA] Bombs Against...

[Paul Canning]

Campaign Against Homophobia
Belgrade, March 26, 1999

Press Release

Bombs Against the Opponents of the Regime in Serbia

Campaign Against Homophobia (realized by European Youth Association of Serbia, 
Gay Lobby Arcadia and Humanitarian Law Fund) is disgusted at attacks of NATO 
which are taking place during the last few days. By so doing and thinking, NATO 
has created a situation which only empowers Milosevic's communist-fascist regime 
and directly supports further continuation of his terror against both the Kosovo 
Albanians and every genuine, authentic and autochtonous opposition in the 
Republic of Serbia.

The coordinators of the Campaign Against Homophobia are directly endangered by 
these attacks -- both by the NATO bombs and by the revenge of local population, 
as well as of the police, who consider us to be the American "agents" which in 
the Republic of Serbia means people who fight for democratization of the 
country. Because of the NATO attacks every activity toward the democratization 
of the country had to come to halt. Which is to say that bombs falling in 
Federal Republic in Yugoslavia are not directed against the regime, but on the 
contrary -- paradoxically -- against its opponents.

Our activities, due to the NATO attacks, are entirely stopped. While bombing is 
in process it is impossible to fight against the regime of Milosevic and his 
wife or to advocate human rights of sexual minorities, or any other human 
rights.

We resolutely condemn the Serbian regime, the one indeed responsible for the 
current situation which refuses to stop the war by signing the accord. We as 
well condemn NATO which with its attacks directly undermines our activities 
toward the democratization of the Republic of Serbia and endangers our lives.

Until further notice, the representatives of Campaign Against Homophobia 
Coordination Committee from European Youth Association of Serbia and Gay Lobby 
Arcadia are forced to put a halt on any activity and leave the territory 
attacked by NATO. The project is to be continued after the suspension of the 
state of war emergency.

We hope that you will, as always, support our activities on improvement of human 
rights of sexual minorities in the Republic of Serbia, as well as on 
comprehensive democratization of the country which is impossible without the 
departure of the Serbian regime that has brought us to this state where we have 
to fight for our sheer survival and that disables our regular work on monitoring 
homophobia and reacting to it.

Until further notice, the Coordination Committee of the Project could be reached 
at its old phone numbers and e-mail addresses: - -- (381-11) 105-277, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dusan Maljkovic, Vice Chief Executive Coordinator) - -- (381-13) 
515-077, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dejan Nebrigic, Campaign's Chief Executive 
Coordinator)

Campaign Against Homophobia, as always, supports every activity directed toward 
peaceful resolution of the conflict and democratization of the Republic of 
Serbia and Kosovo, but resolutely condemns every act of violence and 
anti-democratic activity -- whether it be committed by Serbian regime or NATO.

For Campaign Against Homophobia Coordination Committee, Dejan Nebrigic, Chief 
Executive Coordinator

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LL: [EFA] Help Stop Censorship

[Paul Canning]

Electronic Frontiers Australia

Help Stop Censorship

Distribute in appropriate places up until April 30th
Last update: 21st March 1999

Internet censorship is back with a vengeance, with new proposals by the
Commonwealth government.  Their rhetoric of 'protecting the children'
and their use of extreme examples can not conceal that these proposals
threaten our freedom to access and publish all kinds of information.

If you want the Internet to remain free, please act immediately to
stop these draconian proposals. The Federal Government is trying to
push through these new laws quickly, so your help is needed to tell the
Coalition loud and clear that the Internet is not to be messed with.

Thank you for reading and thinking - and hopefully acting,

IN BRIEF:

The Australian government has recently announced proposals for
Internet censorship:

http://www.dcita.gov.au/nsapi-graphics/?MIval=dca_dispdoc&ID=3648

These proposals are draconian and unworkable.  

ANALYSIS:

The proposals include:
* A ban on the publication of 'X-rated' material (non-violent erotica).

* A requirement for ISPs to do their best to block access to X- and
RC-rated material from overseas.
+ we get to join the illustrious company of countries such as
China, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore.
+ it is suggested that this be done using an automated
"guessing engine" running on proxy servers.

* A requirement that all 'R-rated' content be protected by "adult
verification mechanisms".
+ no explanation of what 'X-' and 'R-rated' mean for materials
other than videos and films.
+ no explanation of how a content provider will determine the
rating of their content or who will pay for it (the OFLC
charges $4000 for each M/R/X/RC classification).
+ no concern for the privacy issues raised by ID systems.

* A statement that "This regime is consistent with the content
regulation regime for subscription narrowcast services such as
adult pay-TV services"
+ ignoring the fact that the Net is nothing like pay-TV at all.

ACTIONS:

* Sign the Electronic Frontiers Australia petition at:
http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/petition.html

* Contact the minister directly:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
(Phone: 03 9650 0233) (Fax: 02 6273 4154)
you may want to cc his opposition counterpart
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
(Phone: 02 6277 4108) (Fax: 02 6277 8520)

* Write to a newspaper
* Express concern to your local member
* Post information on your website; turn your background black in protest

BACKGROUND:

An EFA press release on this can be found at:
http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/PR990319.html

Information about the accuracy of "guessing engines" can be found at:
http://censorware.org/reports/

An HTML version of this alert
http://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/alert99.html

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LL:ART:Controversy over Oscar for Kazan heats up

[Paul Canning]

CNN
Tuesday, March 16

Controversy over Oscar for Kazan heats up

By Paul Clinton Turner
Entertainment Report Correspondent

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- For many in Hollywood, the seminal issue of the 71st Annual 
Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday won't be which movie is named Best Picture, 
but rather who will and who won't applaud when legendary director Elia Kazan is 
given a Lifetime Achievement Award for his remarkable contribution to the art of 
filmmaking.

Now 89 years old, Kazan's impressive body of work includes such late 1940s and 
early '50s films as "On the Waterfront," "East of Eden," "A Streetcar Named 
Desire," "Gentleman's Agreement," and "A Face in the Crowd."

On the surface, the controversy is straightforward. In 1952, Kazan appeared 
before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and named eight of his old 
friends from the Group Theater who, along with him, had in the 1930s been 
members of the American Communist Party.

Many in Hollywood are still outraged over that time in U.S. history when people 
who were blacklisted by the studios --writers, directors, and actors -- never 
worked again, fled the country, worked under aliases, or even, in extreme cases, 
committed suicide.

'An expression of resistance'

Bernard Gordon, a screenwriter who was blacklisted in the '50s, is co-chair of a 
movement, "The Committee Against Silence," formed to protest the special 
presentation to Kazan at the awards ceremony.

It has been reported, but not confirmed by the Academy, that director Martin 
Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro will be making the presentation.

"We are not going to ask people to disrupt the occasion, but to sit on their 
hands," Gordon says. "Instead of standing up and applauding, we want them to 
keep seated -- we'd like to see the camera pick that up as an expression of 
resistance."

The Committee is also planning a demonstration and press conference on Thursday, 
March 18, in front of the Academy's Los Angeles headquarters. In addition, the 
executive council of the Writer's Guild of America East has voted 11 to 2 to 
protest the Academy's decision to present Kazan with a special Oscar.

Full-page ad blasts Kazan

And in another sign of the controversy, a full-page ad against Kazan's upcoming 
Oscar recognition appeared in the March 15 issue of the Hollywood Reporter. 
Jules Dassin, 87, a former screenwriter and director now living in Greece, was 
blacklisted in the 1952. He paid $2,160 for the advertisement, which read:

"There is the story in our history of a man who was proclaimed a hero of the 
American Revolution. In one of the battles against the British he suffered a 
mutilating leg wound. Sadly, after the revolution he became a traitor. It was 
ruled that for treason he be hanged. But before they hanged him, the leg that 
was wounded was amputated so that the better part of him be not dishonored.

"Elia Kazan too was a traitor. Some of those betrayed were his close friends. 
Their lives and futures were destroyed. He became ally and accomplice to an 
infamous committee which shamed his country. There is no way for the films of 
Kazan to be amputated from the rest of him. Yet, if there were any decency left 
in him he should have refused the award so as not to once again sow discord and 
bitterness among those whose lives and devotion are given to cinema." Signed, 
Jules Dassin.

Dassin directed the 1948 classic "Naked City," and he wrote and directed the 
1960 Greek film that made Melina Mercouri an international star, "Never On 
Sunday." When reached in Greece by phone, Dassin said he placed the ad because 
Kazan "was someone I loved and I never got over it." He added that he would have 
nothing to say to Kazan if given the opportunity. In fact, Dassin says, "He has 
wanted to meet with me for years, but I won't do it. I have nothing to say to 
him, not 'good morning' or 'go away.'"

Stars divided on issue

On March 10 the Writer's Guild Of America restored the names of seven
blacklisted 
screenwriters to the credits of six films. (During the blacklist, many writers 
wrote under assumed names.) Among those writers was Norma Barzman, who wrote the 
1953 film "Luxury Girls."

"I think (Kazan's) art is worthy of recognition," she says, "but I think he has 
received two Oscars for his work and that this Oscar is not really for work, 
it's honoring the man. I think that his lifetime achievement is great films, 
which I admire -- I'm really a great fan of his work -- but his lifetime 
achievement was also the destruction of lives. And I think that is wrong."

Actor James Coburn, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor this year for 
his role in "Affliction," is in favor of Kazan's award, but adds, "It will be 
interesting to find out just what the response will be, whether they'll be 
standing or booing. But I think it's very brave of the Academy to honor him."

Best Director Oscar nominee Steven Spielberg expects the response will be 
positive. "I think you'll unders

LL: Anti-logging protest at Lake Condah

[Paul Canning]

--please circulate--

From: Barbary Cotton Clarke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Hi! 

Today Aunty Betty King and Sandra Onus, the elders who are leading the 
blockade aimed at stopping logging of native forest at Lake Condah (NW of 
Port Fairy), rang to ask for help. They urgently need petrol money to 
cover the 5 far-flung sites where loggers might be going in.

If you or your friends can't make it over there - the preferred option - 
and even if you/they can only spare $ 10, please DO IT NOW! They can 
deposit the money in 
Commonwealth Bank for Betty King, 
branch:3536, 
AC No 10161120

They also need camping supplies for cold weather eg blankets, tarps, gas 
& bottles, shovels, rakes, food (suitable for diabetics) etc etc. If 
anyone can supply any of these, pls contact Friends of the Earth, Fitzroy 
or myself on [EMAIL PROTECTED]

I'll be getting up an email petition shortly

Barbary Clarke


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LL:INFO: 6TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL WORKING CLASS FILM&VIDEO FESTIVAL

[Paul Canning]

6TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL WORKING CLASS FILM&VIDEO FESTIVAL
July 1999 San Francisco

CALL FOR VIDEOS & FILMS


LaborFest is now calling for videos for our annual International
Working Class Film & Video festival. Laborfest which is held in San
Francico every July and is organzied to commemorate the 1934 San
Francisco General Strike through the cultural arts of working people.
Videos and films can include union struggles, political struggles of
labor, locally, nationally and internationally.
The videos should explore the connections between labor and
democracy, race, sex, environment, media, war and the capitalist
economy. We are are looking for videos that challenge practically and
ideologically the thinking of working people. The videos w ill be shown
throughout the month in San Francisco. 

Submit on VHS Or Pal, English Captions Preferred Open To amateurs,
students and professionals, Open format which includes drama, animation
& documentaries. 

Please send the video along with a bio and narrative summary. Please
also send summary & bio electronically if possible. 

Submission Deadline: June 1, 1999, No entry form or fee required

Contact:
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
(415)282-1908 Fax (415)695-1369
P.O.Box 425584
San Francisco,CA 94142
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


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LL:DDV:First Australian Tribunal on Women's Human Rights

[Paul Canning]

From: "Caroline Lambert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>


On Friday 21 May 1999 the Women's Rights Action Network (WRANA) will host
the first Australian Tribunal on Women's Human's Rights at the Melbourne
Town Hall. The Tribunal will bring together a panel of ten to twelve women
who will present their personal stories. These stories will reflect on the
circumstances of some women's lives in Australia today. The testimonies
will be presented to a tribunal panel of three independent Members. In
conjunction with supporting research, the testimonies and panel statements
will form the basis of significant policy recommendations to the Australian
government and civil society and for education in the wider community. The
Tribunal is an opportunity for the Australian community to act together to
protect and promote the human rights of women.

Testimonies will be highlight themes raised in different chapters in the
Platform for Action, including older women, indigenous women, younger
women, refugee women, women workers, lesbian women, women prisoners, women
with disabilities, women and housing/poverty, violence against women and
rural services.

The Tribunal's objectives are to:
Document women's human rights abuses and violations in Australia, and
engage a broad range of women in advocacy for women's human rights; 
Educate participants and the wider community about the human rights
mechanisms available to women in Australia; and
develop recommendations for member organisations, other Non-Government
organisations, human rights bodies, governments in domestic, regional and
international arenas, including recommendations pertaining to the five year
review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, to be held
in New York in June 2000.

If you would like to attend the Tribunal, keep your eyes open for posters.
If you would like to help us advertise the Tribunal please email
[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you would like to find out more about how
to help, please email the above address.

LL.VE

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LL:PR: Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade Netcast Update

[Paul Canning]

N.B. The Reconciliation float is #31. Although the parade order can change,
expect us to be within the first half hour.

cheers

Paul Canning

---

From: "1999 Netcast Mardi Gras Update" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>


24 Hour Count Down

We are entering the 24 hours to go time frame and I hope that you are ready for
a fantastic
parade this year.

G2 Higher Speed Connections

This year we will be offering higher speed connections to our play-on-demand
streams after the
parade has been broadcast live. Within an hour or so of the parade
finishing the
replay system
will be activated and you will be able to watch the parade using the new G2
Player and
SureStream. Vast quality improvements can be expected.

When to Start Connecting 

On the night you should connect onto the Netcast stream around 8.00pm
Australian
Eastern Summer
Time (AEST). You will see a holding pattern broadcast and when you get that,
stay connected. At
around 8.15pm AEST time the live Netcast begins. It will begin with an
introduction and all
this will be live from the streets of Sydney. 

Some Important Points 

Q. What happens if the signal seems to go or I see black?
A. This means we have a technical fault, stay connected and the signal should
resume within a
few minutes. 

Q. What happens if I get disconnected from the stream?
A. Simply click the link buttons again on the web page and re-open your stream
connection. If
this fails, try again at 30 second intervals. We might need a few minutes to
resume the
transmission. 

Q. What happens if I run out of champagne!
A. Good grief girl, what in the hell were you thinking when you ordered? 

Q. I have to leave early or I missed something, can I see it again?
A. Yes. After the live Netcast we will be making the entire show available
to be
viewed again.
This will take about an hour after the Netcast has closed. For a month
after the
Parade, you
will be able to watch the entire show whenever you like by simply visiting the
web site again. 

Q. What happens at the end of the netcast?
A. The stream will completely stop. After this it will take us about 30 minutes
to get the
repeat stream on line. Please reload your netcast web page and follow the new
instructions. 


The Parade

It's the biggest, loudest, brightest celebration of lesbian and gay pride
in the
world. It
brings the biggest city in Australia to complete standstill and attracts a
street audience of
over half a million. Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is rapidly becoming one of
the great
cultural experiences of the world.

The only live coverage of this remarkable event is on this website. Last year
our webcast
attracted a live audience of over 20,000 with 40,000 subsequently logging on to
share the
excitement. This year our coverage will be even bigger, brighter and bolder
than
ever. Our
complete coverage, proudly sponsored by St.George Bank, will be hosted by Bruno
Bouchet and
Gillian Minivini with Kate Monroe and Miss Penny Tration down on the street
interviewing Parade
participants from around the world. Our hosts know their community and Parade
well. You'll
learn what the floats are about, hear background stories about the entrants and
probably who
they've all slept with.

There'll be exclusive coverage from behind the scenes and interviews with some
of the Parade's
unsung heroes. The Netcast goes live on Saturday, 27 February, here in Sydney
around 8:15pm
AEST. Here is a guide to the world times:

New York 4:15am Feb 27 Saturday 
Dallas 3:15am Feb 27 Saturday 
San Francisco 1:15am Feb 27 Saturday 
London 9:15am Feb 27 Saturday 
Tokyo 6:15pm Feb 27 Saturday 
Hong Kong 5:15pm Feb 27 Saturday 
Johannesburg 11:15am Feb 27 Saturday 

Try this if you want to calculate exact times.
http://www.whitepages.com.au/time.shtml

Don't missing being a live part of this phenomenal event. As Bruno's sister in
England said of
last year's coverage, "it was fantastic, like being in the crowd with you
standing next to me".


You will find the parade at htttp://netcast.mardigras.com.au/parade/


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LL:PR:mardi gras build up

[Paul Canning]

+ How to join the reconciliation float
+ how to watch it
+ Corroboree for Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Aboriginal people and our friends
and lovers

back from our first briefing for the black, white + pink (bwp) float 
for reconciliation in the mardi gras. went extremely well. now we're 
all praying, or whatever, that it doesn't rain.  

we had a great turn out and registrations are now almost 400. with 
friends and last minute turn ups we're expecting nearer 500 which 
would by my calculations make us the largest float. the remembrance 
HIV/AIDS float has 1200 but that's different groups.  

we are also getting media attention this year. ICAM and a documentary 
team were there. the documentary footage is being translated to the 
web so our website will have footage from the parade and four 
participants' stories. this should go up within two weeks of the 
parade thanks to the people doing the netcast. I'm hoping we're 
featured strongly in the sunday night replay. certainly we have the 
impression that they're making up for last year, when we were 
effectively ignored.  

the room tonight was welcomed to the land by sylvia scott, a 
wiradjuri elder who lives locally. she has supported bwp events in 
the past. four elders will be leading the float.  

sylvia spoke brilliantly and emphasized that we're struggling for the 
same thing, our right to our identity.  

we have many aboriginal gays and lesbians taking part in the float. a 
strong contingent of aboriginal gay men will be a big highlight, 
throughout and in a group of aboriginal and islander drag queens, 
who'll be accompanied by pauline pantsdown. the story of the 
participation of one of these guys, william, will be part of the 
website video.  

the diversity of people we've managed to attract really struck me as 
I watch people practising carrying the rainbow serpent (all 17m) in 
the street. couldn't have been more diverse: suits, black, hippies, 
white, lesbian, straight, gayboys, asian, older, younger. this whole 
thing is about more than just gay and lesbian, it's about celebrating 
diversity.  

we have 400 wonderfully over decorated hands from the sea of hands. we're asking
all parade participants to not take them so they can go back into the 120,000
strong sea. should have an impact in some of those places those hands visit!
there's photos of the hand making at mardi gras fair day on the website.

remember: everyone who supports reconciliation and the gay and 
lesbian communities is welcome to come march with us. and have fun 
doing it! marching in mardi gras is a wonderful experience.  

how to get in

we will be at the archibald fountain at the northern end of hyde park 
from 4pm. block B. to get in the entry point is at the corner of park 
and elizabeth. sylvia will be welcoming us at 6pm.  

the last time to get in is 7.15pm but if you can't walk quickly 
that'll be pushing it. there are 15,999 others squeezed into quite a 
small area. the build up is also a lot of fun itself. we set off at 
8pm and it should be all over by 10pm.  

the route is 2.5km and half uphill. bring water. mardi gras marshalls 
are there to help with any emergencies or if you want to get out.  

wear black, white or pink, or all three if u can.

the end is at the corner of cleveland st and southern cross drive, at 
moore park. if u can make a donation it would be really appreciated. 
for more info call us via the avp on 02 9360 6687  

website http://reconciliation.queer.org.au/mg99.htm

how to watch it 

the mardi gras is being netcast live, so you can watch it from 
anywhere. it starts at 8pm  

you need a good computer and to have the plug-in real player.
the netcast site is http://netcast.mardigras.com.au/
they'll also have it on demand, i believe, a few hours after the netcast.

Corroboree 
club night for Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Aboriginal people and our friends
and lovers

The Imperial Hotel
35 Erskineville Rd
Erskineville, 2043
from
8pm - 12pm (open as normal after)
$5 entry
[MAP http://sydney.citysearch.com.au/E/V/SYDNE/0023/16/11/cs1.html]
website http://blackout.queer.org.au/

if you're coming say hi.

paul


-- 
|: Paul Canning [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
®  http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning  
>Queers for Reconciliation http://reconciliation.queer.org.au
KLDF http://www.green.net.au/hindmarsh/
>QAnnounce http://announce.queer.org.au/

LL.NB


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LL:DDN: Corroboree 10: Our first anniversary!

[Paul Canning]

Corroboree
A gathering for Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Aboriginal people and our
friends and lovers

Corroboree 10 
Our first anniversary! 
February 26 (Mardi Gras eve!)

@ The Imperial Hotel 
(http://sydney.citysearch.com.au/E/V/SYDNE/0023/16/11/cs1.html for venue 
details)

35 Erskineville Rd Erskineville, 2043 (02) 9519 9899 

8pm - 12pm (open as normal after) 

$5

Look out for the Black Queen's Ball. Coming in July Mark your diaries! 

Send email to find out about the next event
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

See our website for 

Photos online from Corroboree 8 and more
Letter to the Sydney Star Observer about the Black Queen's Ball
We need YOUR help to put on the Ball!

http://blackout.queer.org.au/

__
Corroboree is a series of events organised by and for Aboriginal & Torres
Strait 
Islander people by BlackOUT. In addition to the social events we produce a
newsletter 
and maintain a mailing list. BlackOUT received a 1998 NSW Reconciliation award.

LL.NB

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LL:DDN: Mardi Gras forum to discuss GLBT & QUEER internet

[Paul Canning]

MEDIA ADVISORY 
Wednesday February 17 
Call (+61 2) 9560 3415 or (+61 2) 9310 2101 for further comment


Mardi Gras forum to discuss GLBT & QUEER internet


A public forum has been organised during the Mardi Gras festival 
month as a platform to launch discussion on our communities uses of 
and presences on the Internet.  

A number of speakers representing many years of both mainstream and 
queer net experience as well as various different interests are 
contributing to the forum.  

The GLBT and QUEER communities internationally has always had a 
significant web presence. Many institutions like the giant Queer 
Resources Directory and Australia's own QRD and Pinkboard have 
already been established.  

The recent announcement by the US groups Gay & Lesbian Alliance 
Against Defamation (GLAAD) and Digital Queers that they would be 
combining their resources as part of a refocusing on the net as a 
campaigning tool shows us one way to go. But there are many ways and 
the forum will be an opportunity to explore them.  

Many Sydney based queer netheads have been discussing Internet 
development for our communities both online and off for some time. 
There are already a number of successful community focussed 
initiatives. The forum is aimed at finding how we can collectively 
better use the new hypertextual possibilities.  

SPEAKERS

Jillian Hayden

A founder of the internet content creators 'Multimedia Check Out 
Checks', Hayden is a digital artist. She is the curator of MG99 
exhibition 'soft where hard dither(ing)'.  

Paul Kidd

aka cyberspunk. Paul is the founder of OzPoz, the Australian mailing 
list for HIV+ gay men, and has an enormously popular personal website 
The House of Love.  

Roseanne Bersten

Co-founder of local pioneers Digital Queers. Founding editor of 
internet.au magazine, currently editing Computer Choice magazine  

Larry Singer

Creator of Australia's most popular gay site, Pinkboard (more hits 
than the NSW Government). Larry will be talking about 'community vs 
commerce'.  

Glenn Vassallo

Co-founder of Digital Queers, Glenn is a senior manager at Microsoft 
and most recently known for his rejection for Mardi Gras membership 
as an out and proud bisexual.  

Paul Canning

Paul runs a number of community mailing lists and has designed 
community based web projects with PRIDE, the AVP and reconciliation 
groups amongst others.  

Chris Albone

Co-founder of queer.org.au, hosts of the Australian Queer Resources 
Directory and over 100 mailing lists.  

Thursday February 25 7pm @ Chrissie Cotter Gallery Pidcock St Camperdown
[see http://sydney.citysearch.com.au/E/V/SYDNE//06/82/ for venue details]

for further information email: 
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Call (+61 2) 9560 3415 or (+61 2) 9310 2101 for further comment

LL.NB

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LL:INFO:: mardi gras reconciliation float update

[Paul Canning]

the mardi gras fair day was an enormous success for the reconciliation float.
we got hundreds of signatures for a lesbian+gay petition being presented to the
senate through aiden ridgeway, signed lots up for the float and had lots of
people (mainly but not only kids!) camping up 'hands' for the float with paint
and glitter. we were very prominent and lots saw us. going round personally
with
the petition I was pleasantly surprised how few didn't want to sign it.
we also had a huge panel featuring the story of the rainbow serpent from moree.
a 17m long serpent made by local aboriginal people will be one highlight of the
float, a bus load are coming down to help and it'll be led by traditional
dancers. this continues the mrdi gras/moree connection established last year.
some of the sydney region elders are taking part and they'll be leading us
all -
in a cadillac!
pauline pantsdown is making her final appearance and will be marching with a
local sydney aboriginal drag queen, possibly familiar to those who've been to
'Corroboree' at the imperial hotel as 'Whoopi'.
absolutely everyone on this list: young or old, fat or thin, straight or queer,
whatever you are you're welcome to take part. it's a wonderful experience I
might add! I'm hoping to see sydney region groups supporting reconciliation
come
and support us with their banners!
we are expecting prominent media coverage this year (old timers may
remember how
we were virtually snubbed last year) with some already filed.
there's a website to keep in touch which will feature pix from today and our
preparations at the mardi gras workshop (it's all fun but exhausting) when
they're processed: http://reconciliation.queer.org.au/mg99.htm
if you want to take part please contact us through the AVP, who are the central
registration point so we know you're coming.
tel: (02) 9360 6687 
fax: (02) 9380 5848 
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 

Hope to see you there!

Paul Canning


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LL:DD: Disability and Sexuality: an unsexy subject?

[Paul Canning]

From:  Kali <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Disability and Sexuality: an unsexy  subject?
a public lecture by Dominic Davies
(co-author of The Sexual Politics of Disability (1996,  Cassell).
ANNIE< LISA

Melbourne - Tuesday 16 Feb. 7pm to be held  at The Drummond St Relationship
Centre 195 Drummond St, Carlton.  $20 or  $10 concessions.  Bookings and
enquiries: Tel: 03 9663 6733 Fax: 03 9639  3363

Sydney - Tuesday 2 March. 6 - 9pm.Contact Darren Fittler, People with
Disabilties about  booking and venue (it will be in the City Centre).
Bookings and enquiries: Tel:  02 9319 6622 or
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Please support these events  as both organisations are going out on  a limb
for what will probably be a controversial talk on a subject many would
prefer to go away!!


LL.VB LL.NB

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LL:ART: Bisexuals Given Message to LIE by SGL Mardi Gras

[Paul Canning]

Bisexuals Given Message to LIE


One year away from the new millennium, in the age of HIV/AIDS and safer sex
campaigns, of anti gay violence education programs in schools, of openly
queer politicians in our parliaments and 30 years after Stonewall Riots that
spawned "gay liberation", Bisexual men and women are being given the message
to lie about their bisexual identity and to conceal their bisexuality.

This is not some new campaign strategy of the health professionals or some
plot of the religious right to hide them away from society. Gone are the
cries of "be out and proud" or "stand up and be counted". This message of
deceit comes from within the very heart of Sydney's most out and "in your
face" organisation, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Ltd. (SGLMG).

It is the 21st birthday of Mardi Gras and the theme of the 1999 Mardi Gras
Festival is Diversity. However the ongoing rejection of people who identify
as Bisexual from membership of the SGLMG, can only be viewed as a form of
sexual apartheid. In 1996, SGLMG members attending their AGM voted to only
grant people identifying as Homosexual, Gay, Lesbian or Transgender,
automatic membership. Those membership applicants who ticked the box for
Bisexual, Queer, Heterosexual or Other, faced, at the least, having to prove
their worthiness to be members, and, at the most, be rejected altogether.
This move was suppose to reduce homophobic violence and sexual harassment at
the Mardi Gras and Sleaze Ball parties, from those people who were attending
from outside the Gay and Lesbian Communities.

Since this decision came into force, the Australian Bisexual Network has
been contacted by Bisexual identified people who have been rejected from
membership of the SGLMG. They have been rejected even after submitting
evidence of their involvement in and commitment to the Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual and Transgender Communities. Even when they have taken advantage of
the "Appeal Process" and appeared before the Board of Mardi Gras, their
application for membership has been rejected.

If this is not enough, there is more. The Australian Bisexual Network has
evidence of Bisexual members who joined before the 1996 policy change,
having their membership renewal rejected because they ticked the bisexual
box on the form. There is also evidence of Heterosexual women who have
ticked the "Lesbian" box and been given automatic membership, no questions
asked. One can assume this has also occurred where Straight men have ticked
the "Gay" box and been granted membership.

Most States and Territories have legislation that forbids discrimination on
the grounds of sexuality, sexual orientation or lawful sexual activity
(Western Australia being the exception, which has none). However in New
South Wales, Bisexuals and Heterosexuals are not covered by the existing
legislation which only covers Homosexuality and another Law that covers
Transgender people.

The Australian Bisexual Network is amazed that in 1999, an organisation that
was founded on a desire of a marginalised group in society (we were all gay
in 1978) to fight to achieve the most basic of Human Rights and equality,
now selects their membership solely on a tick in a box for particular sexual
identities and rejects those that do not conform to their ideal. Where is
the social justice in that? Where is the reward to those in the community
that have given of their own free time and out of their own pocket to help
and support the diverse members, groups and businesses of  what makes up the
Gay, Lesbian and Queer Communities in Australia?

The Australian Bisexual Network does not object to Mardi Gras' desire to
make the Parties safe from violence and harassment and to have a membership
policy that would help to achieve this. ABN has continually promoted the
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival and Sleaze Ball and endeavoured
to work with bodies within the Queer Community.

ABN cannot remain silent and see an unjust policy grant memberships to
people who lie about their sexuality and who may have no involvement in the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Communities except at Party time,
while those that are involved and are open and honest are rejected for no
other reason other than their honesty in identifying as Bisexual, Queer or
Heterosexual.

When more and more groups around the World are becoming more inclusive, we
have this situation in Sydney that advocates exclusion based on sexual
identity politics. The current Mardi Gras membership policy only gives the
message to people who identify as Bi, Queer or Straight, to lie on their
application form.

The Australian Bisexual Network welcomes debate on this issue and is happy
to enter into discussions to resolve this matter for the benefit of all
parties concerned.

For more information contact:   Wayne Roberts  0416-068 532


Bi Australian Made
For Qu

LL:PR: Family Drug Support - closure of Caroline Lane service

[Paul Canning]

Family Drug Support
PO Box 226
Willoughby NSW

Telephone  9818 6166 - 1300 368 186 -0412 414 444

Family Drug Support is extremely concerned about the threat to the NSW
needle and syringe program posed by the closure of the Caroline Lane
service.  We do not believe this sort of knee jerk reaction will have any
impact what so ever on drug misuse in the State and will definatly lead to
far greater problems, including sharing of needles and increasing the risk
of HIV and Hep C infection and ultimately more premature deaths.

Further, the community needs to look at why these programs were initiated
in the mid 1980's -which was to prevent the spread of HIV among intravenous
drug users. After 12 years NSW has less than 10% HIV among IDUs, compared
to other parts of the world with  rates of over 70 % where no needle
programmes exist

We are the envy of most countries in this particular aspect of drug policy.

Obviously the  sight of a young person using a needle to inject heroin
causes great distress and we know only too well this is disastrous for the
family involved and agree that our society needs to do more to protect
young people from early entry into drug using.

We welcome the suggestion by Kerry Chickarovski for a bi-partisan approach
and to set up an independent committee to inquire into the effectiveness of
needle and syringe exchange programs.

We believe that committee should be headed by Dr Roger Garcia from the RPA
Hospital - a world-renowned immunologist and our organisation would welcome
a position on that committee.

Tony Trimingham- Family Drug Support <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

LL:DDN: Black Queen's Ball

[Paul Canning]

Sydney Star Observer
January 28

LETTERS

We were extremely pleased to see your leading story in this week's Star. Your 
continued support for reconciliation is welcomed by us.

We would like to take this opportunity to announce through you that we will be 
organising our first Black Queen's Ball. The date is yet to be set.

This will follow our anniversary event on February 26, the night before Mardi 
Gras.

We have been extremely pleased with the sucess of our events but we do need 
support from the wider community.

What we've tried to do is something really basic for aboriginal gay people, 
organise a space where we can simply get together. No surveys or studies,
just a 
disco and ocaasionally some drag shows and lots of black faces. We've had
around 
100 people every time, mainly through word-of-mouth.

The next Corroborree is at The Imperial (downstairs) from 9pm January 29, 
followed by the tenth anniversary Corroboree on February 26 (Mardi Gras eve). 
BlackOUT would also like to be able to organise some day time socials
during the 
summer if we can.

The Ball will be a large party for Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Aboriginal 
people and our friends and lovers with entertainment from aboriginal
people. It 
will be fabulous.

BlackOUT is appealing to the community for practical support in organising the 
Ball. 

So far we have have raised some money through gold coin donations and we 
recently recieved a cheque for $500 which is the remaining money from the 
organisers of last year's Queer for Reconciliation float in the Mardi Gras.
 
However, despite writing to 370 agencies and organisations we haven't had much 
concrete support.

We have recieved some support which we are grateful for, especially from PRIDE,
and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped and
participated. However from our perspective there are many thousands of dollars
being spent on surveys - worthwhile though they are - we would like to see some
support going in at the grassroots.

Anyone wanting to help BlackOUT can contact us at PO Box 57, Darlinghurst 2010 
or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Our website is http://blackout.queer.org.au

G. Lee, T. Creighton, P.Canning

LL.NB

LL:ART: Nazis Creating Chaos on the 'Net

[Paul Canning]

Nazis Creating Chaos on the 'Net

Many institutions world-wide have been affected by a highly organised
hacking spree that culminated in the attack on Connect - Ireland, one of
only two top level domain guardians based in Ireland. The apparent aim of
the attack was to disrupt the East Timorese Internet domain, established
only twelve months ago by the East Timorese Project. 

The East Timor Project, an internet based information project initiated by
Connect - Ireland and the 1996 Nobel Prize winners Ramos Horta and Bishop
Belo, has received two international web awards. Its most note worthy
achievement was to ensure that the ISO recognised East Timor's right to its
own top level Internet domain (.tp). This was despite the fact that the
country is currently occupied by the Indonesian military. The perpetrators
of this attack have not yet been identified, but the Indonesian government
is known to be  extremely antagonistic towards this display of virtual
sovereignty.

Similar attacks have occurred over the past year but have, until now, been
unable to breech the East Timor server's security. Yesterday the hacking
ring, fondly referred to as E-Nazi's, finally succeeded, forcing Connect -
Ireland's staff to physically pull the plug on their servers for
twenty-four hours. In order to prevent a recurrence Connect - Ireland has
decided to take the 'Nuclear Option' of upgrading all of their hardware and
software during this downtime.

Connect - Ireland wishes to apologise for the disruption in service that
this will mean for the many community projects and commercial customers who
use Connect - Ireland's Internet service but believes that this was the
only responsible course of action. As a top-level domain guardian Connect -
Ireland has a special responsibility to ensure that none of its services
are used as a base for attacks on other systems. An international effort to
trace all those responsible has been launched by the system administrators
of the institutions affected, including Connect - Ireland.

Connect - Ireland would like to thank the many people who have volunteered
their assistance at this time, from those who helped man the phones to the
Linux gurus who helped us to ensure that no damage was done to users
accounts. We would also like to thank one of our oldest users, who wishes
to remain anonymous, who came in and made tea, coffee and snacks for the
technical staff.

A formal protest is being lodged with the Indonesian Embassy, London.

LL:QUERY: Social impacts on GLTQs of GL mega events

[Paul Canning]

Social impacts on GLTQs of GL mega events

I am interested in studies about the impact of mega events of a GLTQ
nature, such as pride festivals/parades/games, on GLTQ people's position in
society (representation, violence) and on GLTQ people's lives
(subjectivity), and like matters.  Specifically how those events are
constructed as legitimizing GLTQ people through the spill-over economic
benefits they bring (economic impact assessments), especially when combined
with the ongoing political use of market-research studies on the disposable
incomes of middle class gay men and lesbians.  And how the imaging of gay
men and lesbians as economic producers and valued consumers sits alongside
counter-narratives such as poverty studies among gaylesbis and among people
with HIV/AIDS.  If you can recommend sources on any aspect of this, please
email direct to me at .  Thank you.

25 January - Robert Burns Day
-
"Ye see yon birkie ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an stares, an a that;
Tho hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a that."

LL:URL: active-sydney: new activist website launched today

[Paul Canning]

active-sydney
http://www.active.org.au

MEDIA RELEASE
attention: Technology Writers
contact: Gabrielle Kuiper, 9209 4357

active-sydney: on-line and onto the streets

Sydney's first on-line forum for social change will go live on Tuesday 19
January.

active-sydney (http://www.active.org.au) is an interactive website, a daily
unmoderated email list and a weekly moderated email calendar all with
events, news and humour for inspiring and informing Sydneysiders. It has
been developed by a young spunky group of activists with a passion for
electronic communication.

'We want to encourage people to use the net as a tool for changing the
world' said active-sydney founder Gabrielle Kuiper. 'The on-line campaign
against MAI has already shown how powerful electronic information can be in
mobilising people. We hope people will be inspired from the information
on-line to go onto the streets campaigning for a broad range of issues',
she said.

active-sydney is an electronic 'information central' about talks, actions,
festivals, meetings, films, gigs, fundraisers, court cases, conferences and
the rest! The web site contains information and news about events ranging
from forest blockades to critical mass and reconciliation rallies. It also
contains entertaining alternative news, information on groups and
practical, entertaining advice on how to be active.

'Active-sydney will be a space where people can type, talk and transform'
said active-sydney website designer Matthew Arnison. 'It will also be a
place for journalists and politicians to find out what are issues that
really concern voters, and for adventurous tourists to find out what
electrifying events are happening in the city', he said.

active-sydney will be officially launched at EMU vegan internet cafe, 149
Enmore Road at 7pm on Tuesday 19 January.

For more information and media interviews, contact:
Gabrielle Kuiper, 9209 4357 (wk) 9516 2204 (hm)
Matthew Arnison, 9557 3223 (hm) 9351 6874 (wk, Wed-Fri)

Gabrielle Kuiper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

LL:URL:Hate-Crimes website

[Paul Canning]

--please circulate--

The website for the Hate-Crimes mailing list has now been upgraded.
You can search past messages through the archive and subscribe to the list and
it's digest form from the website.

There are a number of useful links and you can add links to the page.
Please consider adding a link to the website from your homepage.
The address is http://www.queer.org.au/listarchive/hate-crimes/
An animated logo (21k) for the mailing list is at
http://www.queer.org.au/listarchive/hate-crimes/hclogoani.gif

cheers

Paul Canning
[List manager]


  Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
   
http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html
  
   The Year 2000 Bug - An Urgent Sustainability Issue
  http://www.peg.apc.org/~psutton/grin-y2k.htm  

LL:ART:Mobil May Have Aided Indonesiam Army Atrocities

[Paul Canning]

RIGHTS-INDONESIA: Oil Giant Accused of Aiding Army Atrocities

By Pratap Chatterjee

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 29 (IPS) - Mobil, the U.S. oil multinational, is
keeping a low profile as investigators probe allegations that it
helped Indonesia's armed forces in massacres near Mobil drilling sites
in the province of Aceh, northern Sumatra.

Business Week, one of the biggest magazines in the United States, last
week published a six-page feature on the company titled:  "What did
Mobil Know?  Mass graves suggest a brutal war on local Indonesian
guerillas in the oil giant's backyard".

The revelations came shortly after two other U.S. companies - Freeport
McMoRan of New Orleans and CalEnergy of Omaha - were accused of
business malpractices in Indonesia by investigative journalists at the
Wall Street Journal.

All three exposes were published in the last few months since the fall
of General Suharto's 32 year-old regime has allowed new light to be
shed on the roles of foreign multinationals in the south-east Asian
country's affairs.

Mobil owns 35 percent of P.T. Arun, a liquefied natural-gas producer
in Aceh while Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil monopoly, holds
the controlling 55-percent stake.  Aceh provides an estimated 30
percent of Indonesia's total oil and gas exports or 11 percent of the
country's total exports.

Mass killings and disappearances near the Mobil drilling site had been
rumoured for a decade, ever since the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh
Movement), a local separatist group, began to attack Mobil
installations in 1980.

Earlier this year the Human Rights Commission substantiated these
rumours when they began to exhume the bodies of hundreds of people,
who had been tortured and killed, from a dozen graves.

The Business Week article begins with a gruesome picture of an
Indonesian soldier examining a skull dug up from a mass grave.  The
article quotes Mobil's denials but also points out that the company
admitted providing food, fuel and digging equipment for the soldiers
who guarded the region for three decades.

One former Mobil employee told Business Week rumours of massacres and
unconfirmed reports that Mobil equipment was being used to dig graves
were frequently discussed at workplaces and in a company cafeteria.
"Every time I drove out there (Bukit Sentang), the subcontractors
stopped my car.  They said, 'No, don't go out there. Don't you know the
army is killing people and burying them in mass graves with Mobil
equipment?'" he said.

An estimated 39,000 people have disappeared since the region was
placed under military occupation in 1980, according to local
activists.  In Bukit Sentang, after an estimated 150 bodies were found
earlier this year, Baharuddin Lopa, Secretary General of the
Indonesian government-backed National Commission on Human Rights,
said: "This proves that Aceh has been a killing field".

One male whose body was dug up had been blindfolded, dressed only in
underwear, with his arms bound behind his back by an army belt.  The
area of the graves, an expanse of scrub between a forest and an oil
palm plantation, is nicknamed 'Lubang Neraka', meaning the 'Holes of
Hell' by local people.

On Oct. 10, a coalition of 17 Indonesian human rights organizations
issued a statement saying Mobil was "responsible for human rights
abuses" by providing crucial logistic support to the army, including
earth-moving equipment that was used to dig mass graves.

This declaration prompted Business Week to send journalists to do
detailed on-the-spot interviews with local people.

Yusuf Kasim, a local farmer who spoke to Business Week, said the army
paid him four US dollars a night to stand guard over a borrowed
excavator to prevent anyone from siphoning fuel from its tank.  He said
he watched soldiers execute 60 to 70 blindfolded Acehnese men at a
time with M-16 rifles, shooting them in the back so they tumbled
face-first into a mass grave across a rice field from his house.

The publication of the Business Week article caused a stir: the
National Human Rights Commission announced on Christmas Eve that it
would launch an investigation.  "We have to learn whether this
information is accurate and clarify these reports," said Mohammed
Salim, a member of the commission.

Michael Robinson, a press spokesman for Mobil at its Virginia
headquarters, told IPS the company was not willing to discuss the
matter beyond a short official statement.  "Mobil strongly denies the
implications contained in the article, which are based largely on
unsubstantiated allegations, rumours and innuendo about allegations
that took place outside Mobil's operations and control," ran the
statement.

But activists like George Ajitondro, an Indonesian academic who lives
in exile, say Mobil's operations have also devastated local
communities who depend on agriculture and fish farming, through forced
relocations, numerous oil and industrial spills into the rivers, sea
and bay, erosion of their riverside gardens and extreme noise
pol

LL:ART:Mobil May Have Aided Indonesiam Army Atrocities

[Paul Canning]

RIGHTS-INDONESIA: Oil Giant Accused of Aiding Army Atrocities

By Pratap Chatterjee

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 29 (IPS) - Mobil, the U.S. oil multinational, is
keeping a low profile as investigators probe allegations that it
helped Indonesia's armed forces in massacres near Mobil drilling sites
in the province of Aceh, northern Sumatra.

Business Week, one of the biggest magazines in the United States, last
week published a six-page feature on the company titled:  "What did
Mobil Know?  Mass graves suggest a brutal war on local Indonesian
guerillas in the oil giant's backyard".

The revelations came shortly after two other U.S. companies - Freeport
McMoRan of New Orleans and CalEnergy of Omaha - were accused of
business malpractices in Indonesia by investigative journalists at the
Wall Street Journal.

All three exposes were published in the last few months since the fall
of General Suharto's 32 year-old regime has allowed new light to be
shed on the roles of foreign multinationals in the south-east Asian
country's affairs.

Mobil owns 35 percent of P.T. Arun, a liquefied natural-gas producer
in Aceh while Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil monopoly, holds
the controlling 55-percent stake.  Aceh provides an estimated 30
percent of Indonesia's total oil and gas exports or 11 percent of the
country's total exports.

Mass killings and disappearances near the Mobil drilling site had been
rumoured for a decade, ever since the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh
Movement), a local separatist group, began to attack Mobil
installations in 1980.

Earlier this year the Human Rights Commission substantiated these
rumours when they began to exhume the bodies of hundreds of people,
who had been tortured and killed, from a dozen graves.

The Business Week article begins with a gruesome picture of an
Indonesian soldier examining a skull dug up from a mass grave.  The
article quotes Mobil's denials but also points out that the company
admitted providing food, fuel and digging equipment for the soldiers
who guarded the region for three decades.

One former Mobil employee told Business Week rumours of massacres and
unconfirmed reports that Mobil equipment was being used to dig graves
were frequently discussed at workplaces and in a company cafeteria.
"Every time I drove out there (Bukit Sentang), the subcontractors
stopped my car.  They said, 'No, don't go out there. Don't you know the
army is killing people and burying them in mass graves with Mobil
equipment?'" he said.

An estimated 39,000 people have disappeared since the region was
placed under military occupation in 1980, according to local
activists.  In Bukit Sentang, after an estimated 150 bodies were found
earlier this year, Baharuddin Lopa, Secretary General of the
Indonesian government-backed National Commission on Human Rights,
said: "This proves that Aceh has been a killing field".

One male whose body was dug up had been blindfolded, dressed only in
underwear, with his arms bound behind his back by an army belt.  The
area of the graves, an expanse of scrub between a forest and an oil
palm plantation, is nicknamed 'Lubang Neraka', meaning the 'Holes of
Hell' by local people.

On Oct. 10, a coalition of 17 Indonesian human rights organizations
issued a statement saying Mobil was "responsible for human rights
abuses" by providing crucial logistic support to the army, including
earth-moving equipment that was used to dig mass graves.

This declaration prompted Business Week to send journalists to do
detailed on-the-spot interviews with local people.

Yusuf Kasim, a local farmer who spoke to Business Week, said the army
paid him four US dollars a night to stand guard over a borrowed
excavator to prevent anyone from siphoning fuel from its tank.  He said
he watched soldiers execute 60 to 70 blindfolded Acehnese men at a
time with M-16 rifles, shooting them in the back so they tumbled
face-first into a mass grave across a rice field from his house.

The publication of the Business Week article caused a stir: the
National Human Rights Commission announced on Christmas Eve that it
would launch an investigation.  "We have to learn whether this
information is accurate and clarify these reports," said Mohammed
Salim, a member of the commission.

Michael Robinson, a press spokesman for Mobil at its Virginia
headquarters, told IPS the company was not willing to discuss the
matter beyond a short official statement.  "Mobil strongly denies the
implications contained in the article, which are based largely on
unsubstantiated allegations, rumours and innuendo about allegations
that took place outside Mobil's operations and control," ran the
statement.

But activists like George Ajitondro, an Indonesian academic who lives
in exile, say Mobil's operations have also devastated local
communities who depend on agriculture and fish farming, through forced
relocations, numerous oil and industrial spills into the rivers, sea
and bay, erosion of their riverside gardens and extreme noise
pol

LL:ART: McLibel 2: the dogged duo return with 63 objections

[Paul Canning]

The Guardian
Wednesday January 13, 1999

McLibel 2: the dogged duo return with 63 objections

The fast food firm and the anarchists it sued are back in court in a sequel to 
Britain's most gruelling defamation case. John Vidal reports

The scene and cast for McLibel 2 is almost the same as when the epic seemingly 
closed 18 months ago, with fast food multinational McDonald's and penniless 
anarchists Dave Morris and Helen Steel exhausted after seven years litigation 
and 314 days locked together in the high court over a leaflet issued almost 12 
years ago.

In the appeal which started yesterday, the former postman and gardener are 
arguing against many of the 750 pages of judgment which Mr Justice Bell
made in 
July 1996 after six months deliberation following McDonald's libel action.

The years have changed little: the defendants are as dogged as ever, the 
McDonald's legal team still earns thousands of pounds a day and neither
side has 
lost its distaste for the other.

But Mr Justice Bell, one of the most patient of judges, has been replaced by 
three Court of Appeal judges, the venue has moved to Court 1 from Court 35 in 
the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Morris has a new pullover and Ms Steel is even 
more impressive as a self-taught lawyer.

McDonald's won most of the decisions last time, with the judge ruling that it 
had been libelled by allegations including claims that it destroyed the 
environment and poisoned its customers. But it has not appealed against Mr 
Justice Bell's judgment that it does "exploit children", "is cruel to some 
animals" and "pays low wages". It has not tried to extract the #60,000 awarded 
it from the defendants. Ms Steel and Mr Morris are appealing on 63 points of 
principle and fact. They range from freedom of speech, abuse of process and Mr 
Justice Bell's "bias", to many legal errors that they claim he made with 
"extreme and legalistic interpretations".

No one was yesterday guessing how long McLibel 2 will take but the three
judges 
are expected to be strict over court time. Yesterday Ms Steel and Mr Morris
were 
given just two days to make their first seven points and were denied leave by 
the House of Lords to delay the appeal to give them more time to prepare their 
case.

"Two or three months?" suggested Ms Steel and Mr Morris's camp. "Christ
knows," 
Richard Rampton, QC for McDonald's, said privately. In 1993 he had argued that 
the trial would need "three to four weeks", instead of the 2 1/2 years it
took. 
Ms Steel and Mr Morris are considering taking the case to Europe.

Ms Steel and Mr Morris argued yesterday that the libel laws were being used
as a 
form of censorship and that multinational companies were well able to defend 
themselves. They should not be able to sue their critics, Mr Morris said.

"The ever-increasing power of multinational corporations in society and their 
lack of accountability is giving rise to serious public concern and
criticism. A 
whole movement is growing up of people concerned to challenge that power," he 
said.

He called for a change, or reinterpretation, of the libel laws to protect 
campaigning organisations, arguing that the law that bars the police and local 
authorities from suing members of the public should be extended to companies.

Mr Morris said the trial was an abuse of the legal process because he and Ms 
Steel had been forced to represent themselves as legal aid was not
available for 
libel cases.

The two campaigners are also appealing against the finding by the High Court 
that they libelled McDonald's, and claim Mr Justice Bell erred in not clearing 
them completely after he ruled that some of their claims were correct. "These 
findings result in such considerable injury to McDonald's reputation that the 
unproven allegations don't have any further material effect," Mr Morris said.

Ms Steel argued that the leaflet they were handing out should have been
covered 
by qualified privilege, because it was reporting what other environmental 
organisations and health experts - including the World Health Organisation - 
were saying about McDonald's.

"It was reporting on what someone else had said and it would be
unreasonable or 
impossible for us to be able to prove every one of the facts in the leaflet," 
she said.

Neither of them had written or printed the leaflet and the ruling that their 
involvement in London Greenpeace showed "joint enterprise" contravened the 
European Convention of Human Rights.

The hearing was adjourned.

LL:ART:Culture clash: Michael Bronski explores straight Americas love-hate relationship with the Gay community

[Paul Canning]

The Washington Blade
January 1, 1999

Culture clash

Michael Bronski explores straight America’s love-hate relationship with the Gay
community

by George De Stefano

Has the American melting pot frozen over?

Cultural critic Michael Bronski says he wrote The Pleasure Principle: Sex,
Backlash, and the Struggle for Gay Freedom (St. Martin’s Press) to explore why
American culture is still giving Gays the cold shoulder, despite the
increasingly warm reception some aspects of Gay culture have received in recent
years.

"Lots of culture created by Gay and Lesbian people has been crossing over and
has been accepted by straights," Bronski says. "The drag queen movies, like
Birdcage and To Wong Foo, are the most obvious examples, but it’s happening in
many other ways, too."

Bronski notes that Gay culture, in addition to its indisputable impact on the
arts, also has deeply influenced American cultural attitudes towards sexuality,
gender, and social institutions such as marriage and the family.

"I thought that the more Gay culture became assimilated into the dominant
culture, the more Gay people would be accepted," he says. "I bought the classic
myth of American assimilation, in which the Irish or the Italians come to
America, bringing their cultures, which become flavors in the melting pot. They
bring us wonderful gifts, are accepted as Americans, and everybody is happy.

"I used to think this would happen with Gays and Lesbians," he continues. "I
thought we were near the point where straight people enjoyed and wanted our
culture, and that when that happened, they would admit that we are Americans,
too."

But Bronski says that exactly the opposite has happened.

Fantasy and fear

"From the late 1970s onward," Bronski notes, "there has been a whole new wave of
attacks on the political and social advances made after Stonewall. This backlash
has simply gotten worse and worse, to the point where today it is a hallmark of
American conservative politics. So we are faced with a situation where straights
want Gay culture and enjoy it, yet are acting worse toward Gay people."

Bronski claims that although many heterosexuals fear homosexuality, they may
also envy the freedom and pleasure that Gay culture represents. He says that an
early Gay liberation slogan perfectly captures the ambivalent relationship
between the Gay and straight worlds: "We are your worst fear. We are your best
fantasy."

Bronski maintains that this contradiction has its roots in Western culture’s
conflicted attitudes toward pleasure and sexuality. Homosexuality, he observes
in his book, "offers a vision of sexual pleasure completely divorced from the
burden of reproduction: sex for its own sake." Bronski argues that because
homosexuality is by definition non-reproductive and "justified by pleasure
alone," it "strikes at the heart of the organization of Western culture and
societies."

Homosexuality and Gay culture also tap into "heterosexuals’ discontent with
their lives," he writes, "and envy over the perceived freedom of gay people to
organize their lives in ways more fulfilling than traditional ones." In other
words, homosexuality is "at once a threat and a temptation."

The Pleasure Principle ranges far and wide in its exploration of Gay culture’s
relationship to the so-called mainstream. Bronski finds parallels to the Gay
experience in the Jewish ghettos of medieval Venice. He delves into the theories
of Sigmund Freud and of legal theorist Lani Guinier. He draws on the legend of
the Pied Piper, and the contemporary stories of TV star Pee Wee Herman and
Covenant House founder Bruce Ritter, to expose heterosexual hypocrisy
surrounding sexuality and youth.

Bronski says he chose this expansive focus because he wanted "to place Gay and
Lesbian people in a broad panorama of Western and particularly U.S. history and
culture."

"We have tended," he says, "to conceptualize Gay and Lesbian history as a
distinct entity, much the same way people talk about Jewish or Italian American
history. But it became clear to me that this is shortsighted. It doesn’t bring
us far enough."

His reading of American history convinced him that Gay culture was more akin to
that of African Americans than to that of European immigrants. Although the
latter experienced varying degrees of bias and discrimination, he says, most
eventually were accepted as assimilated Americans. But racism, he argues, has
denied African Americans the full rights that citizenship was supposed to
confer. Black culture, therefore, has tended to emphasize racial identity and
resistance to racism.

What comes next?

While noting that "racism and homophobia are structured very differently,"
Bronski argues that homosexuality, like racial difference, is regarded by the
dominant white and straight culture as a barrier to "an authentic American
identity." Gay culture, like black culture, tends to reinforce group identity
while offering a critique of mainstream values. And both minority cultures offer
"enti

LL: ART: Prison overcrowding engineered for profit

[Paul Canning]

ABC News
Wednesday 6 January, 1999

Prison overcrowding engineered for profit: advisory service

The Prison Advisory Support Service has accused the Western
Australian Government of engineering overcrowding in the
prisons system to sell its concept of "prison-for-profit".

Spokesman, Brian Steels, says the planned 750-bed Woorooloo
South Prison will be completed in about two years, and the
Government is keen to ensure that it is viable for a private
operator.

Critics of the Government's tougher sentencing laws have pointed
out that the legislation has been put in place without apparent
thought for the strain being placed on the State's jails.

But Mr Steels says it all makes sense when the Government's
plan to bring private operators into the prisons system is
considered.

He says the intolerable burden that has been placed on Western
Australia's jails is creating the climate for the Government to
more easily sell its concept of prison-for-profit.

The State Government has rejected Mr Steels' comments.

The Acting Justice Minister, Kevin Prince, says it is stupidity to
suggest prisons would be overcrowded deliberately.

He says the Government has accepted that overcrowding
problems need to be addressed, and that is why the new prison
will be built at Woorooloo next year.

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LL:Shell Head Office Occupied

[Paul Canning]

UKOOA (UK Oil Overthrow Association)

News release 9am Monday, January 4, 1999

Shell: Head Office Occupied 
Activists give taste of protests to come

At 9am environmental and human rights protesters began occupying
management
offices in Shell-Mex House, The Strand, London. The activists are
barricaded
into the offices and are refusing to leave. This is in solidarity
with
indigenous resistance to oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria
and to give a
foretaste of direct action to come. 

Today is the first day of work in the last year before the new
Millenium. The
activists have chosen this day to send a message to Shell and
other
transnational corporations that 1999 will be a year of increased
globalisation
of protest, and the turning point that they say will see the end
of corporate
dominance. 

January 4 is also Ogoni Day, celebrated since 1993 when Shell was
forced from
Ogoni in the oil-rich Niger Delta by non-violent mass
mobilisation. Throughout
1997-98, occupations of oil facilities by the Ijaw ethnic group of
southern
Nigeria have grown in number and degree, cutting Nigeria’s oil
output by up to
one third. Now the Ijaws have told Shell and other oil companies
to quit their
land by January 11, 1999 - or face eviction by the people.
Killings by
Shell-backed troops have already claimed the lives of at least 20
Ijaws since
the first deadline expired on 30 December.

The protesters in London are demanding compliance with the Ijaw’s
demands to
leave their traditional lands and for an end to corporate-backed
military
repression. Live footage of the protest will be relayed directly
from Shell’s
own offices to an internet website at
<www.kemptown.org/shell> using a
lap-top
computer
and mobile phone.

A spokesperson said,  “The violent militarisation of the oil
producing
areas in
Nigeria are indicative of the global militarisation of commerce.
Moreover, oil
industry-derived climate change is causing more global disruption,
and
restructuring and oil mergers are causing massive job losses.
Shell and the
other oil transnationals are bad news for everyone  ultimately
even for
shareholders. We call for no more oil.”

Further information is available from (+44) (0171) 561 9146
Video footage of the protest, shot inside the building, may be
available from
(+44) (0) 966 137925. You can also check out the website at
<www.kemptown.org/shell>

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LL:NSW Significant Personal Relationships Bill

[Paul Canning]

From: Larry Galbraith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Greetings.

As you may be aware, Parliament's Social Issues Committee has extended 
its deadline for its enquiry into recognition of same-sex relationships. The
deadline is now Monday, January 18, 1999.

Information about making a submission to this inquiry, and the Significant
Personal Relationships Bill, introduced in September 1997 by Clover Moore MP is
now available on the Web at:

http://www.zed.com.au/~rocky/samesex

The two downloadable packs have been prepared by me. Many thanks to the friend
who has provided the site, written the introduction, and the page in HTML (his
first ever attempt!).

if you need more info, please contact me at mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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LL: Human Rights - Open letter to Northern Territory

[Paul Canning]

Open letter to Northern Territory
Tue, 29 Dec 1998

From:  Donald E Clark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Indigenous Social
Justice
Association


Supreme Court of the Northern Territory
GPO Box 3946
DARWIN  NT  0801
Attention:
Master of the Supreme Court

Office of the Chief Minister
GPO Box 3144
DARWIN  NT  0801
Attention:
Shane Stone, Chief Minister

29 December, 1998


TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

It was with absolute disgust and disbelief that I read of the
inhuman
action taken by the Stone Government of the Northern Territory
against
Letty Scott whose husband was tortured and murdered by custodial
officers of Darwin prison on 5 July 1985.

I have been involved with Letty and her family over the years in
seeking
justice for the death of her husband and the bringing to trial of
the
perpetrators involved with that death.

There can be no justice where there is no truth and the truth of
the
horrific circumstances of this case have yet to be honestly and
openly
examined by the judicial system of this country.

Letty, her now husband and children have lived in fear of their
lives
since 1985 and have moved constantly around Australia to attempt
to stay
alive and free of harassment from police and prison officers.  I
have
witnessed the deterioration of their health but not their will to
fight
a system intent on hiding the truth of what occurred in July
1985.  I
have assisted, as best as possible, to alert those individuals and
organizations both within Australia and overseas to the crime and
cover-up condoned by not only the Northern Territory Government
but also
Federal Governments of the day.

There is currently enough evidence to show that her husband was
tortured
and murdered.  There are witnesses.  There are photographs that
prove
that the murdered man was hung twice.  There is irrefutable proof
as to
the circumstances surrounding the death of Letty’s husband on that
July
day in 1985.

For thirteen odd years there has been nothing but obfuscation and
cover
up from Territory and Federal Governments, police and prison
officers,
ATSIC and others.  It comes as no surprise that the last recorded
massacre of Aborigines occurred in the Northern Territory.  That
massacre of Aborigines continues to this day.  Nothing has
changed.

There are ample opportunities for this infamous case to be
highlighted
to the world, the Games being only one of them.  This Association
will
continue to support the calls for justice for not only Letty’s
case but
other well-documented abuses of Indigenous human rights.

This Association demands of the Government of the Northern
Territory
that the harassment of Letty and her family, both legal and
illegal,
cease immediately and that a full, honest and open enquiry be
entered
into at a Royal Commission level to investigate every facet of
this
notorious case

As noted previously, there can be no justice where there is no
truth.


Ray Jackson
Official Spokesman
Indigenous Social Justice Association
PO Box K555
HAYMARKET  NSW  1240
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

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LL:ART: The AGE, Heather - My story

[Paul Canning]

 support team lodge
papers at the United Nations to address the plight of women like
me. Violence to women and children will not stop until
authorities protect and educate. Police should not leave when a
mother is protecting herself and her children.

I've gone from one type of prison to another. Frank's words -
``you're good for nothing'' - ring true. Do I owe society a debt
because I survived? Have you seen the terror in my eyes, have
you experienced the violence I have, day after day, have you
seen the tears I silently cry? If you have, then you have my
permission to judge. ``He who is without sin cast the first
stone.''

The love of my little dog Bonnie saved my life. I would have
committed suicide - my life was too hard. Frank took great
pleasure in harming and killing our pets. I can still recall the
trauma from watching Frank repetitively belt our German
Shepherd. After the last belting we had have the dog put down.

I cannot forget and I won't begin to forget until I am free. I
take
solace in the belief that what has happened to me has happened
for a reason. The law has to change for the many women who
will find themselves in the same position.

But one day when this nightmare ends, I will decide if my life has
all been worthwhile - then close my eyes to sleep peacefully.

Heather Osland was convicted of the murder of her husband,
Frank, and is serving 141/2 years in the Metropolitan Women's
Correctional Centre. Her son, David, was acquitted of Frank's
murder on the ground of self-defence.

E-mail:mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]


-- 
|: Paul Canning [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
®  http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning  
>Queers for Reconciliation http://reconciliation.queer.org.au
®  *PoliticalGoo http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning/politicalgoo
>QAnnounce http://announce.queer.org.au/


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LL: New Service - ABC Newsmail

[Paul Canning]

ABC NewsMail
http://www.abc.net.au/news/subscribe/
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Precedence: bulk

Welcome to ABC NewsMail, the ABC's e-mail news service. 

NewsMail has developed in response to requests from users for an
e-mail
service to keep them informed of the major events of the day.

With NewsMail, ABC News Online will provide you with news updates
to the
e-mail address you nominate twice a day. The updates will be sent
each
morning and afternoon. 

In the event of a major story, you will receive a special news
update by e-mail.

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LL:INCOME INFLATION: The Myth of Affluence Among Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Americans

[Paul Canning]

INCOME INFLATION:
The Myth of Affluence Among Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Americans

Released Winter '98


A Joint Publication of the

Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
and the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies

By: M.V. Lee Badgett, Ph. D.
Dept. of Economics,
University of Massachusetts at Amherst

With An Introduction By
Suzanne Goldberg, Attorney
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund



Policy Institute reports can be downloaded from the publications section of
the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force website at http://www.ngltf.org


REPORT SUMMARY:

Do gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) Americans earn more money than their
heterosexual counterparts?  Is there an economic dividing line in this
country based on sexual orientation?  Not at all.  In an important new
report released today, Dr. M.V. Lee Badgett establishes that GLB persons
are not, as a class, richer than heterosexuals.  In detailed studies, in
fact, gay men earn less. (The transgender population is among the least
examined by social scientists; because of this lack of data, the inclusive
term GLBT is used only when it is accurate to represent the community as a
whole.)

Income Inflation: The Myth of Affluence Among Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual
Americans, a joint publication of the Policy Institute of the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) and the Institute for Gay and Lesbian
Strategic Studies (IGLSS), is a startling study of the economic status of a
frequently stereotyped population of Americans.  Badgett explores the
pervasive and inaccurate notion that GLB people form an economic elite,
insulated from discrimination by their wealth and disconnected from society
at large by a special, privileged status. Her conclusions are not only
surprising, but they are certain to ignite a new era of debate about and
understanding of the true economic status of the GLB populace.

Badgett, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts,
outlines how the distorted image of high income and wealth among GLB people
has remained in force through the reliance on a limited number of marketing
studies, conducted on behalf of gay publishing concerns about their
readers.  The debate has, till now, ignored the few random sample studies
that allow us to more thoroughly identify a real outline of GLB life. By
examining data sets from seven national studies such as the U.S. Census to
the Voter News Service's exit polls, Badgett begins to fill in the gaps and
establish an empirical rather than a mythological frame of reference.

HIGHLIGHTS

Badgett's report sweeps aside a host of long-standing distortions and
inaccuracies. Income Inflation shows that comparisons of the economic
status of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people with that of heterosexual
people in the United States offer the following very consistent findings:

…   Gay, lesbian, and bisexual people do not earn more than heterosexual
people.
…   Gay, lesbian, and bisexual people do not live in more affluent
households
than heterosexual people.
…   Two studies suggest that gay men earn less than similarly qualified
heterosexual men.
…   Gay, lesbian, and bisexual people are found throughout the spectrum
of
income distribution: some are poor, a few are rich, and most are somewhere
in the middle, along with most heterosexual people.

ANALYSIS

Badgett mounts a critique of the handful of marketing surveys frequently
used to characterize GLB economic status, surveys conducted by
organizations such as the Simmons Market Research Bureau and Overlooked
Opinions. She concludes that, while useful for some purposes, these surveys
continue to be used inaccurately to represent the economic status of wide
range of very diverse GLBT populations. Through her provocative report,
Badgett proves that any picture of the GLBT community must rely on the
results from more accurate general studies.

Badgett shows how the misuse of these statistics is not only pervasive,
but that it has, ironically, allowed organized political forces of the
extreme Right, who have frequently cited these marketing figures when
arguing that GLBT people do not experience discrimination, to increase
their power base. The recent Supreme Court battle over Colorado's anti-gay
Amendment 2 was a particularly noteworthy example of the distortion caused
by such marketing numbers. In a dissent which argued that the amendment
should be upheld, Justice Scalia opined that "high disposable income" gave
gay and lesbian people "disproportionate political power."

By uncovering and explaining a number of existing data sets that survey a
broader cross-section of the GLB population, both individual and household
income numbers are put under t

LL:NSW Relationships Inquiry: dealine extended

[Paul Canning]

NSW Relationships Inquiry

Deadline extended to Monday 18 January, 1999

The deadline for submissions to the relationships inquiry being conducted by
the Social Issues Committee of the Legislative Council has been extended. It
is now Monday, 18 January 1999.

This is your chance to tell the Parliament not only WHY you want your
relationships legally recognised (if you do), but HOW you want your
relationships legally recognised.

Although the Terms of Reference specifically refer to the De Facto
Relationships Amendment Bill (The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby's Bill) your
submission need not be restricted to discussing or supporting this Bill. You
may suggest improvements to the Bill, or even propose alternatives. One such
alternative is the Significant Personal Relationships Bill, introduced by
Clover Moore MP into the NSW Parliament in September, 1997.

If you want information about the Significant Personal Relationships Bill,
email mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] for the SPR Bill Info Pack.

This Pack contains:

A guide to the Significant Personal Relationships Bill;
Information about what is happening regarding the Bill in Victoria and
Tasmania;
A comparison between the Significant Personal Relationships Bill and the De
Facto Relationships Amendment Bill.

If you want information about making a submission in support of the SPR
Bill, or aspects of this approach which appeals to you, email
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] for the SPR Bill Submission Pack.

This pack contains:

Announcement of Inquiry including the Terms of Reference and Social Issues
Committee contact details;
Information about making a Submission to a Legislative Council Committee;
A guide to making a submission in support of the Significant Personal
Relationships Bill.

Both packs are available in three formats: Acrobat (PDF file), Word 6/7 for
Windows 95 and WordPerfect. If the format you have received does not meet
your needs, please email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] and specify the format
you require.

Information about the De Facto Relationships Amendment Bill may be obtained
from the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby's website:
http://www.rainbow.net.au/~glrl/

If you want further information about the SPR Bill, or assistance with
writing a submission, contact Larry Galbraith ph +61 2 9550 5591, fax +61 2
9519 9627 email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Larry Galbraith

Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
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LL:MR: Sydney Water

[Paul Canning]

Public Interest Advocacy Centre
Level 1, 46 - 48 York Street, Sydney  NSW  2000
Phone:02 9299 7833 
Fax:  02 9299 7855  


MEDIA RELEASE   MEDIA RELEASE   MEDIA RELEASE


Inquiry Report vindicates criticism of Sydney Water and NSW Health

The Report of the Sydney Water Inquiry has found that there should
be a
permanent boil water alert in relation to people with compromised
immune
systems  including those with aids or HIV.

The Report also found that the New South Wales Department of
Health issued
conflicting and misleading advice to people living with HIV and
aids during
the crisis. The Report stated that advice should be issued by NSW
Health,
making clear the potential risks from Cryptosporidium in water and
from
other sources. Cryptosporidium has potentially fatal effects for
people with
compromised immune systems. The report said that the advice should
be that "
all tap water that might be consumed by immuno-compromised persons
should be
brought to the boil and allowed to cool before use".

The Report also calls for an education campaign specifically
targeted to the
immuno-compromised community and those providing health advice and
services
to them.

Paul Canning who has been campaigning on the issue for four years,
welcomed
the Report's findings. The criticism we have been making of the
past
approach of Sydney Water and NSW Health has been totally
vindicated. We have
long been calling for adequate warnings. Cryptosporidium can be
life
threatening to people with HIV and aids. People have died in mass
contamination episodes overseas. We have been trying to ensure
that that
does not happen in Sydney."

Greg Kirk of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), which has
been
advising groups concerned on the issue, said "this is an important
victory
for the community. Clear and accurate information has not been
provided in
the past. Such information is essential to ensure that the very
real risks
that  cryptosporidium poses are minimised.

Paul Canning, Andy Farmer, PIAC and PLWHA (NSW) Inc all put
submissions to
the  inquiry calling for adequate health warnings.


CONTACTS

Greg Kirk, PIAC Ph:-92997833
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Paul CanningPh:-93323391
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

For more information on the submission by Paul Canning and Andy
Farmer see
http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning/water.htm
The Report can be found at the NSW Premier's Department website
http://www.premiers.nsw.gov.au/pubs.htm


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LL: ART: You can stick your justice

[Paul Canning]

Sunday Mirror
December 13

You Can Stick Your Justice 

FORMER dictator Augusto Pinochet was wheeled into
court to face extradition proceedings yesterday. He
showed no humility and precious little grace. 

Power may have been handed to others in his native
Chile, but his arrogance remained. 

The 83-year-old general refused to recognise the
jurisdiction of an English court. He used a formal
request to identify himself as an opportunity to vaunt his
titles. 

And he denounced his accusers - people wanting to try
him for torture, attempted murder and hostage taking -
as liars. 

It was Pinochet's first public appearance since his arrest
on October 16 - a skinny, frail old man sitting
expressionless in a black wheelchair, his hands cradling
a redundant walking stick. 

His suit, a faded brown pinstripe, seemed to match his
age. A yellow tie offered the only splash of colour. But
the voice, a rough, rasping monotone hard as nails, cut
through the years. 

It was the voice of a hardman. 

Speaking in Spanish through an interpreter, he said: "I
am Augusto Pinochet Ugarte," as if that alone were a
boast. "I was Commander in Chief of the Army, Captain
General of Chile, President of the republic. And actually
I am at the moment a senator of the republic." 

Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary magistrate Graham
Parkinson thanked the General for so informing him.
Then he spelt out the reasons for setting a date for
Pinochet's extradition to face charges in Spain. 

Charges for "torture, conspiracy to torture, attempted
murder, conspiracy to murder, hostage-taking and
conspiracy to take hostages". Sitting in Belmarsh top
security court, in south east London, the general
listened closely to the interpreter whispering into his
right ear. 

But he said nothing. He was saving his words for later. 

English justice, as ever, was politeness itself. General
Pinochet's lawyers asked permission for the old man to
be allowed to sit throughout the hearing. "Of course,"
agreed Mr Parkinson. 

The magistrate then stopped proceedings to make sure
the people in the public gallery, screened by bullet-proof
glass, could hear properly. He was at pains to do
everything by the book. This case was, in his words, "an
important matter". 

"And," he said, "as Chief Magistrate, I must decide it.
The responsibility must be taken by me and not passed
off to one of my colleagues." 

Mr Parkinson described the decision to set a date for
the extradition hearing as a "very responsible and
difficult one". 

And, as he did so, the drumbeats pounded by
anti-Pinochet protesters outside carried into the quiet
courtroom. 

The crowd had come early. Three coachloads of the
general's supporters separated by barriers and a road
from 200 demonstrators demanding justice for the 3,000
and more who disappeared during the Pinochet's 17
years in power. 

I watched as a black man from Uruguay walked to join
the anti-Pinochet crowd. The general's fans threw coins
at him. One supporter, a heavily made-up blonde, swore
at him. 

"It's a good thing we don't have blacks in Chile," she
said. "We're right not to mix our race." She said she
believed in "the Fatherland". She said she believed in
Pinochet. 

And, inside the court, the little man smiled for just a
moment as the lawyers and magistrate discussed
different dates for the planned hearing. It all seemed so
trivial. Just mere details. 

Pinochet showed no emotion when Mr Parkinson said it
would be inhumane to restrict him from walking in the
garden of his £3,000-a-week, five-bedroom rented house
on the luxury Wentworth Estate, in Surrey. 

It is a condition of bail that he stays there under
circumstances best described as house arrest. Now, at
least Pinochet can be wheeled around his one green
acre. 

And so they fixed a time and place - 10.30 am, Monday,
January 18 at Bow Street Magistrates' Court - to begin
the process which seeks to have the man answer for his
alleged crimes before Spanish judges. "Until then you
will remain at the address specified," said Mr Parkinson.
"You will be guarded by officers of the Metropolitan
Police or other police forces. 

"You will be allowed to exercise in the garden with the
permission of the senior police officer present. And such
permission may be withheld on the grounds of security
or other operational reasons." It was then that the
general opened his mouth once more. 

"May I have permission to make a statement?" he said.
"With respect to Your Honour, I don't recognise the
jurisdiction of any other court except that of my country
to try me against all the lies of Spain." Now it was Mr
Parkinson who remained emotionless. 

"I hear what he is saying," he said. "My duty is to
conduct matters in accordance with the Extradition Act
passed in this country. I do not take any disrespect to
the court in what he says." 

Pinochet's face was a blank. Just a stiff man with
thinning, steel grey hair staring straight ahead. 

It was the same impassive expression that he wore on
the 60-mile d

LL: AVP News

[Paul Canning]

AVP NEWS
DECEMBER


The Lesbian and Gay Anti Violence Project wishes all a safe and
Merry
Christmas.

THE HAD REPORT
--

The Homosexual Advance Defence (HAD) Report has finally been
released by the
NSW 
Attorney Generals Department.

http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/clrd.nsf/pages/had

PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS ON STREET SAFETY


The AVP is currently organising public meetings around public
safety to be
held 
in:
Redfern
Leichhardt
Surry Hills
Newtown

These meetings will be for community consultation around issues of
safety in 
these areas. The AVP will be inviting area Gay and Lesbian Police
Liason 
Officers, Department for Women and community leaders to
participate in the 
consultations.These consultations are being organised very early
in the new
year 
and are in direct response to safety issues resulting from the
recent
bashings 
in these areas. For more information call us on:
9360 6687 or email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] .

Self Defense Classes for 1999


Gay Men: 20th, 21st March 1999
Lesbians: 27th,28th March 1999
Mixed/ Queer 3rd April 1999
more on the website at
http://maya.eagles.bbs.net.au/~avp/self-defence.htm

WEBSITE
--

A number of pages at the website have been updated including: the
emergency
page: counselling: sexual assault; domestic violence; information,
advocacy
& referral service; lesbians and community safety; reports &
policy; our 'Be
Streetsmart' Leaflet and 'Be proud of who you are' campaign;
reconciliation;
interview with Irene Moss; people with a disability & community
safety and
'Accesss Plus'; the Oxford St Chamber of Commerce; and more about
who we
are, our history, mission and awards.
http://maya.eagles.bbs.net.au/~avp/
We welcome your feedback about the website email:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] .

HATE-CRIMES LIST


The Hate-Crimes mailing list, established to promote the Amsterdam
consultation for a proposed international hate-crimes conference
in Sydney
in 2002, now has over 150 members.
Most are overseas and debate has been wide, particularly,
post-Matthew
Shepard, on possible correlations between the religious right and
hate-crimes. The list keeps members up to date on news about
hate-crimes and
has sparked activist action both on and offline.
The impact of cyber-activism has been shown thrugh the current
campaign for
Shepard to be Time Magazine's 'Man of the Year'. Within a matter
of hours
Shepard gained an enormous lead and has kept it.
See http://cgi.pathfinder.com/cgi-bin/time/osform/gdml3
Find out more at the Matthew Shepard Online Resource center, where
a
collection of anti-gay hate speech has just been set up @
http://www.wiredstrategies.com/hate.html
Amd joining the list is the best way to stay up to date with
what's
happening @ the AVP!


Lesbian & Gay Anti-Violence Project  
P. O. Box 1178,  
Darlinghurst, NSW 2010  
Phone +61 (02) 9360 6687  
FREE CALL 1 800 637 360 (NSW Non-metro Only) 
Fax +61 (02) 9380 5848  
e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
http://maya.eagles.bbs.net.au/~avp/

end
==
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LL: MR:Australia's best bay laws

[Paul Canning]

TASMANIAN GAY AND LESBIAN RIGHTS GROUP

MEDIA RELEASE
Wednesday December 9th 1998

TAS PARLIAMENT PASSES HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
TAS GAY LAWS "AUSTRALIA'S BEST"

The Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group's ten year campaign for
anti-discrimination legislation ended today with the passage of
what it
describes as one of the country's best Anti-discrimination Acts.

Rights Group spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said that the passage of
the Act
should be a source of immense pride for all Tasmanians.

"This is one of the best pieces of anti-discrimination legislation
in the
country and its passage through Parliament reflects and enshrines
the
tolerant, inclusive and diverse society which Tasmania has
become", Mr
Croome said.

"It allows lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people to
participate
fully in Tasmanian society without fear of exclusion and unfair
treatment."

"For Tasmania's sexual minorities the passage of this legislation
is cause
for particular pride and celebration because, together with the
equality we
achieved last year under the criminal law, this Act allow us to
live under
what is arguably the most favourable legal regime enjoyed by
lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgendered people anywhere in Australia."

The Anti-discrimination Act makes it unlawful to discriminate or
incite
hatred on the ground of sexual orientation. There are no
exemptions.

The legislation was passed but amended slightly by the Upper House
last
night. The amendments were accepted by the Lower House early this
afternoon.

Until the passage of the Anti-discrimination Act Tasmania was the
only
state without broad-based anti-discrimination legislation. Four
Anti-discrimination Bills were unsuccessfully put before the
Parliament
before the passage of the current Act.

The passage of the Anti-discrimination Bill through the Upper
House
coincides with the tenth anniversary of the end of the arrests at
Salamanca
Market in 1988, as well as the fiftieth anniversary of the
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.

For further information contact the TGLRG office on
(03) 6224 3556 BH, (03) 6223 2309 AH, (03) 6223 6136 Fax.
You can also page us on (03) 6223 3866 quoting 37294.
Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

end
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No Subject

[Paul Canning]

Queer Collaborations <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Subject:LL:Vice Chancellor loots student funds
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Precedence: bulk


--please circulate--

From: "Peter Tremain" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>


Please Help

Vice Chancellor of Charles Sturt University, Cliff Blake has 
appropriated $153,000 from the total pool of $253,000 allocated by 
DETYA to CSU for Aboriginal Teaching Support.

The Aboriginal Education Unit of CSU allocates this money to 
faculties on the basis of merit for initiatives supporting 
Indigenous students. The money goes to undergrad and 
postgrad scholarships for students, guest  ATSI speakers to subjects 
related to Aboriginal issues, support for Koori Academics to assist 
ATSI students etc, etc.

The AEU has expended around 90 irreplacable  working days as staff 
prioritised bids from Faculties for this money, only to be told that 
we could only allocate $100,000. This has meant that we have lost all 
of our funds for scholarships, excursions, guest speakers, and so on.

We had $105,000 swiped off us about 2 years 
ago, only to be 'given back' as funding for a proposed research 
centre at Dubbo. I should point out that seed funding for new 
research centres is not support for students.

Last year we had $53,000 pinched from the same funding allocation 
from DETYA. We were told that this went to "repay an over allocation 
from DETYA the previous year". By our calculations we should have had 
an increase in funding.

Its interesting that CSU has asked its Aboriginal Education Unit to 
be involved in formulating a Policy of Reconciliation with 
Aboriginal people, while at the same time it is ripping as much money 
as possible from funds earmarked for support of Aboriginal students. 
It is also interesting that CSU received recognition as 'University 
of the Year' for 1997 based on its high proportion of first 
generation students. The high number of Aboriginal students enroled 
at CSU, the majority of whom are first generation uni students, 
played a significant roll in gaining this recognition.

The problem is that Universities are unaccountable to DETYA for the 
way they dispose of these funds. At a recent meeting in Canberra, 
DETYA consultants were told by ATSI support Centre staff from many 
universities about this problem and were asked to set guidelines for 
the disposal of these funds to ensure accountability.

If the university were Black organisations they would be under 
scrutiny from ICAC. But universities remain totally unaccountable to 
the government or to the communities they are meant to serve for the 
manner in which they dispose of Indigenous Support Funds: Black money 
is 'funny money'.

I believe that this is a very news worthy and topical story, and yet, 
because these are White organisations appropriating Aboriginal 
funds, no news organisation is willing to look at the case. 
Aboriginal students and their support staff are constantly being 
criticised by non-Aboriginal students and staff who believe that 
Aboriginal students are getting a Rolls-Royce ride through tertiary 
education. I believe that the public would be truly shocked at the 
way universities are riding the gravy train at the expense of the 
Aboriginal community, the most disadvantaged section of Australian 
society.

This matter should be taken up immediately by ATSIC (which has no 
education policy), the Reconciliation Council, etc. But nothing is 
being done. Workers in Higher Education Support Centres are being 
worked till they drop, trying to stretch the miserably  few crumbs 
that fall from the Vice Chancellors' banquet tables, to do the jobs 
that need to be done.

Where are the activists when we need them? We are all activists in 
the AEU's; its the nature of the job. But we need support outside the 
universities. There are plenty of people who will jump up and down 
about Hanson, Jabiluka, Deaths in Custody etc, but nobody is 
taking up this cause. 

The genocide is still being perpetrated by stealing Educational 
opportunities from Aboriginal people.


Please circulate to all mailing lists

Peter Tremain
Winan-Gidyal Aboriginal Education Centre
Charles Sturt University Murray
Ph  060 516706
Fax 060 516865

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LL:PR: ILGA Proclamation of Human Rights

[Paul Canning]

Press Release for Prompt Distribution to the Media on December 8, 1998 
(spanish version follows)

Hundreds Of NGO´S And Celebrities Around The World Proclaim That Lesbian
And Gay Rights Are Human Rights.

December 10 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
HumanRights. To celebrate and mark this occasion, signatures and letters
ofsupporthave been flooding in from NGO´s and celebrities from around
the world whosubscribe to the Manifesto of the International Lesbian and
Gay Association(ILGA), ¨Lesbian and Gay Rights are Human Rights¨. ILGA
Co-Secretaries General, Jennifer Wilson in Sydney and Jordi Petit
inBarcelona declare: 
 ¨It is an honor and a privilege for us to publicly present our list of
signatures in support of ILGA on the occasion the 50th Anniversary ofthe
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year also marks the 20th
Anniversary of our federation and in January this year, ILGA attained
NGO consultative status at the Council of Europe. We wish to thank all
the NGO´s and individuals who have signed ILGA´s Manifesto - The Rights
of Lesbians and Gays are Human Rights - . 
Among all the signatures that we have received, we are thrilled to count
amongsth our supporters Amnesty International (AI), the World
Association for Sexology (WAS), LACCASO (Latin America AIDS Network), as
well as famous Latin entertainers such as Ana Belén and Joan Manuel
Serrat, the Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr. Manuel Marín,
European Parliament Vice-President Mr. Antonio Gutierrez, Spanish trade
unions CCOO and UGT, Italy´s CGIL and the trade union for Brazilian
journalists... 
We live in a world where homosexuality remains illegal in 80 countries,
with capital punishment still practised by some of those countries
against their lesbian and gay citizens. Today we proclaim more than ever
that the rights of Lesbians, Gay men, Bisexuals and Transgender
individuals are Human Rights.¨
 The support for the manifesto was wide and incredibly diverse. 
Signatures were received from all over the world. Some of the more
notable ones were:


   European Parliament Deputies (Centrist Parties, Greens, Socialists
and
   Left-Wing)
   Ma Lou Lindholm (MEP), Jens-Peter Bonde, Anna Terrón, Patricia
McKenna
   (MEP),
   Dell´Alba Gianfranco (MEP), Carole Tongue...
   Senator Ingrid Stahmer from Berlin , the German Deputy Wolker Becla
and
   the Mexican Federal Deputy Patria Jiménez ...


CIENTOS DE ONG´S Y PERSONALIDADES DE TODO EL MUNDO PROCLAMAN QUE LOS
DERECHOS DE LAS LESBIANAS Y DE LOS GAYS SON DERECHOS HUMANOS

El 10 de diciembre próximo celebramos el 50 aniversario de la
Delclaración
Universal de los Derechos Humanos.En ocasión de este evento, nos han
llegado numerosas muestras de apoyo, firmas y cartas de adhesión por
parte
de ONG´s y personalidades de todo el mundo al manifiesto de la
Asociación
Internacional de Lesbianas y Gays (ILGA), titulado "Los derechos de
lesbianas y gays son Derechos Humanos".
Los co-secretarios generales de ILGA, Jennifer Wilson en Sidney y Jordi
Petit en Barcelona, declaran:

"Es un honor y un privilegio presentar públicamente nuestra lista de
firmas
en apoyo de ILGA en ocasión del 50 aniversario de la Declaración
Universal
de los Derechos Humanos. Este año también coincide con el 20 aniversario
de
nuestra federación y en enero ILGA obtuvo el estatus consultivo en el
Consejo de Europa.

Deseamos agradecer a todas las ONG´s y personas que nos han apoyado
suscribiendo el manifiesto "Los derechos de lesbianas y gays son
Derechos
Humanos".
Entre todas las firmas que hemos recibido nos complace contar con el
apoyo
de Amnistía Internacional (AI),de la WAS (Asociación Mundial de
Sexología),
LACCASO (Red Latinoamericana de lucha contra el sida), así como
famosos artistas latinos como Ana Belén y Joan Manuel Serrat, el
Vice-Presidente de la Comisión Europea Sr. Manuel Marín, el
Vice-Presidente
del Parlamento Europeo Sr. Antonio Gutiérrez, los sindicatos españoles
CCOO
y UGT, el sindicato italiano CGIL y el sindicatos de los periodistas de
Brasil..
Vivimos en un mundo donde la homosexualidad todavía es ilegal en 80
países,
algunos de los cuales aún aplican la pena de muerte. Hoy proclamamos más
que nunca que los derechos de lesbianas, gays, bisexuales y transgénero
son
Derechos Humanos."
El apoyo al manifiesto ha sido extenso y muy diverso, se recibieron
firmas
de todas partes. De entre las más destacadas cabe mencionar:

Diputados y diputadas del Parlamento Europeo (grupos de centro, verdes,
socialistas e izquierda): Ma Lou Lindholm (MEP),Jens-Peter Bonde, Anna
Terrón, Patricia McKenna (MEP), Dell´Alba Gianfranco (MEP),Carole
Tongue..
Ingrid Stahmer, senadora por Berlín (Alemania), el diputado alemán
Wolker
Becla y la diputada federal mejicana Patria Jiménez ... 

   and according to alphabetical order by country: 
   y en orden alfabético por países:

   
   Argentina   - ACT UP, Buenos Aires
   Australia   - Human Rights Council of Australia
   Brazil  - Programa Integrad

LL:DDN Invitation -White Nation -Book Launch 8 Dec

[Paul Canning]

INVITATION 
To a Pluto Press Book Launch. 

Join well-known public intellectual Meaghan Morris, 
as she launches the controversial new book that challenges 
how we think about multiculturalism and racism. 

WHITE NATION 
 
Fantasies of White Supremacy in a Multicultural Society 

by Ghassan Hage 

___ 

7.00 p.m on Tuesday 8 December. 

In the Jurox Foyer, 
Veterinary Science Conference Centre, 
Regimental Crescent 
University of Sydney 
(use the Ross St Entrance, Parramatta Road) 

Part of the Future of Multiculturalism Conference 

Refreshments served 

rsvp Amanda Perram, Pluto Press on 95193299 
or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
___ 

The controversial new book that challenges 
Australia's multicultural policies. 
= 

Hage uses the on-going immigration debates in Australia to argue that
both
White racists and 'tolerant' White multiculturalists share a concept of
themselves as masters of a nation structured around a White culture,
with
'ethnics' and Aborigines as exotic objects. 

Hage draws on the theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu and Jacques Lacan
to
show how White fantasies of national supremacy lurk in the most
cherished of
liberal ideals. 

"I love reading Ghassan Hage. Not only is he brilliant, brave and
irascibly
original (he is, as he says, an intellectual), but he knows how to share
with the reader his own joy in thinking; the result is a compassionate,
sociable ethics of understanding which powerfully radiates hope".  -
Meaghan
Morris 

"White Nation is quite brilliant... While engaging with sophisticated
sociological and psychoanalytic theory... often, it reads like a novel,
where large historical themes are illuminatingly related to intimate
details
of daily life and perception... It lifts intellectual discussion of
issues
of ethnicity and identity to new levels"  - John Docker 

Pluto Press Australia 
$24.95 

ISBN 1 86403 056 9 

--- 

Three easy ways to order: 

1. PRINT THIS FORM OUT and fax to : +61 2 9519 8940, 
or mail to Pluto Press, Locked bag 199, Annandale NSW 2038 

2. PHONE Pluto on +61 2 9519 3299 

3. EMAIL this form back to Amanda Perram : [EMAIL PROTECTED] 

Books are $24.95. 
Postage FREE (usually $4) only for this Special Pre-Christmas Offer. 

--- 
ORDER FORM 

Yes, please send . copies of White Nation @ $24.95 per copy for a
total
of $... (I understand that postage is FREE for this special
pre-Christmas offer.) 

Enclosed is a cheque, or please debit my credit card: 

<> Mastercard <> Visa <> Bankcard <> Amex 


Card number 

Expiry date 

Signature (if faxing or mailing) 

 

Name 

Address 

Postcode 

Phone number Fax number 

--- 
Fax +61 2 9519 8940 or 
Phone +61 2 9519 3299 
Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] 

___ 
Sean Kidney, [EMAIL PROTECTED] 

Social Change Australia +612 9519 3299 
Social Change Online http://socialchange.net.au 
Pluto Press Australia 

Check out Pluto Press's online catalog at
http://socialchange.net.au/pluto 
-- 
|: Paul Canning [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
®  http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning  
>Queers for Reconciliation http://reconciliation.queer.org.au
®  *PoliticalGoo http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning/politicalgoo
>QAnnounce http://announce.queer.org.au/

LL.NL

LL:AA:Amazon.com

[Paul Canning]

--PLEASE CIRCULATE--

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

thought I would pass this along

Amazon.com supports Bob Enyart and his homophobic message

Jen and I have received information that Amazon.com is advertising on a
site that promotes homophobia, sexism and racism. Both Jen and I have
checked it out and it's true.

Bob Enyart does, in no uncertain terms, feel that homosexuals should be
barred from almost every aspect of life from relationships to having
families to employment.  Unfortunately, "Amazon.com is pleased to have
Bob Enyart Live in the family of Amazon.com associates."  I will no longer
do
business with Amazon.com and I encourage you to evaluate the information
and draw your own conclusions.

I have included a copy of the note Amazon.com includes on the Enyart
Website at the bottom of the page.

Kyla

--

Before today, I was a regular customer of Amazon.com, reported to be the
largest retailer on the Internet, but I just sent them e-mail telling
them that they will get no more of my business until they stop advertising
on homophobic web sites-in particular (http://enyart.com).

Here's what happened, Tracy Ore, a colleague of mine at St. Cloud State,
put out a message on campus e-mail describing the rabidly homophobic
contents of a so-called Christian radio program (her message is
attached).

The program has a companion web site http://enyart.com. The site is full
of homophobic, sexist, and implicitly racist statements and distortions.
Wanting to know where this guy was getting his ideas from I went to a
page marked "Bob's Reading List" (http://www.enyart.com/books/index.html).
 
You can check out what the religious right is reading on your own.

The point of this message is to let you know that I found on that bottom
of that page an advertisement for Amazon.Com, including a direct link to the
Amazon.com
search engine.

I wonder who buys more books, the so-called Christian right or the rest
of
us?

The consumer boycott is a fine part of the American tradition-right up
there with freedom of speech--and I intend to practice both.   I'm not
giving Amazon.com any more of my money and I have e-mailed them to tell
them so (a copy follows).  I hope you will do the same.


E-MAIL to AMAZON.COM

TO: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
SUBJECT:  I am boycotting your business until you cancel your affiliation
with Bob Enyart
ATTENTION: Jeffrey P. Bezos C.E.O

I was a customer of yours but today I found out that www.enyart.com is an
affiliated web site. The content of that site promotes homophobia, racism
and sexism.  Among other things Enyart advocates turning into capital
offenses both abortion services and providing contraceptives, the
immediate
execution of all convicted murders (including abortion providers), and
firing all government employees who aren't heterosexual.

I intend to boycott your service until you remove your presence from the
Enyart site.

As a college professor, I am part of the reading public and I buy a lot
of
books.  But not from you.  Further, I plan contact every discussion
group, list and person I know.

Art Jipson
Department of Sociology, Gerontology, and Anthropology Upham Hall, Miami
University, Oxford, Ohio 45056
513-529-2637 (o)  513-529-8525 (f)  [EMAIL PROTECTED] (e) 513-523-7604
(home)
Me:  http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~ajjipson
Connells:  http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~ajjipson/connells.htmlx
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Note from Amazon.com

Amazon.com is pleased to have Bob Enyart Live in the family of Amazon.com
associates. We've agreed to ship products and provide customer service
for
orders we receive through special links on Enyart.com.

Amazon.com associates list selected books and music in an editorial
context
that helps you make the right choice. We encourage you to visit
Enyart.com
often to see what new items they've selected for you.

Thank you for shopping with an Amazon.com associate.

Sincerely,

Jeff Bezos
President
Amazon.com

P.S. We guarantee you the same high level of customer service you would
receive at Amazon.com. If you have a question about an order you've
placed,
please don't hesitate to contact us.

_-_-_-_-_-__-_-_-_-_---_--_

If the above hasn't made you sick, try this enyart link:
http://www.enyart.com/writings/homoadopt.html .Contact Amazon
immediately!


-- 
|: Paul Canning [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
®  http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning  
>Queers for Reconciliation http://reconciliation.queer.org.au
®  *PoliticalGoo http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning/politicalgoo
>QAnnounce http://announce.queer.org.au/

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LL:DDN:human rights events next week

[Paul Canning]

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) is organising a
number of events next week to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Further information about all of the following events can be obtained from
the Commission's Public Affairs Unit on (02) 9284 9675 and from their
website at http://www.hreoc.gov.au/news_info/conference/index.html 



Public Lecture (entrance is free)

"The Universal Declaration: a common standard of achievement for all
peoples and nations"

Speakers:
Rt Hon Sir Zelman Cowan, Governor-General Australia 1977-1982
Mr Noel Pearson, Advisor on Native Title, Arnold Block Leibler and Co.
Ms Mischa Schubert, Journalist, Youth Delegate to the Constitutional
Convention

Chair:
Mr Chris Sodoti, Human Rights Commissioner (HREOC)

Venue:
Darling 2 and Quay 1
Dockside Conference Centre (between the Sydney Aquarium and Imax Theatre)
Cockle Bay Wharf at Darling Harbour
201 Sussex St, Sydney

When:
Tuesday 8 December 1998, 7.30-8.30pm


- Film evening (entrance is free)

A selection of international films from Human Rights Watch USA examining
human rights issues from around the globe.

Venue:
Quay Room
Dockside Conference Centre (between the Sydney Aquarium and Imax Theatre)
Cockle Bay Wharf at Darling Harbour
201 Sussex St,  Sydney

When:
Wednesday 9 December 1998, 7.30-8.30pm


- Human Rights Medal and Awards Luncheon - tickets $50

The Human Rights Medal and Awards are presented annually to individuals and
groups who have made a significant contribution to the promotion and
protection of human rights in Australia.

His Excellency the Governor-General Sir William Deane will present the
Human Rights Medal and popular television personality John Doyle will host
the lunch with entertainment provided by the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir.

The ceremony will also recognise the contribution of 50 great Australian
individuals or organisations to human rights protection and awareness.

Venue:
Dockside Conference Centre (between the Sydney Aquarium and Imax Theatre)
Cockle Bay Wharf at Darling Harbour
201 Sussex Street, Sydney

When:
Thursday 10 October 1998 1-3pm


- 50th Anniversary National Conference - registration is $350

"Human Rights, Human Values: What do we think now?"

The 50th Anniversary National Conference will celebrate and reinforce the
fundamental, core ideals expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, stressing the indivisibility of human rights for all Australians.

Venue:
Dockside Conference Centre (between the Sydney Aquarium and Imax Theatre)
Cockle Bay Wharf at Darling Harbour
201 Sussex Street, Sydney

When:
9-10 December 1998


-- 
|: Paul Canning [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
®  http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning  
>Queers for Reconciliation http://reconciliation.queer.org.au
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>QAnnounce http://announce.queer.org.au/

LL.NL

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LL:INFO:[AI] Australia: Government Threat To Gag Amnesty International

[Paul Canning]

AUSTRALIA: GOVERNMENT THREAT TO GAG AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
News Service 233/98
AI INDEX: ASA 12/11/98

AUSTRALIA

GOVERNMENT THREAT TO GAG AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Amnesty International is outraged at the Australian government's warning
that the organization could face "serious consequences" should it
continue to name or publish information identifying a Somali asylum
seeker whom the government has repeatedly tried to deport to Mogadishu,
where he could be tortured or killed. The man himself has agreed to be
named.

"This move effectively amounts to censorship. It is completely
unacceptable as it is not for governments to decide whether reporting
the case of someone facing torture or death upon deportation is in that
person's interest. It is for governments to honour their treaty
obligations not to deport people to face serious human rights abuses,"
Amnesty International said. "If the Australian government was genuinely
concerned about the man's safety on his return to Mogadishu, it should
not have tried three times to return him there".

Amnesty International first took action to protect the Somali asylum
seeker by writing to the Australian government on 28 October 1998, one
day before he was due to be deported. The Australian High Court halted
his deportation the following day. The government then sought a court
order suppressing the publication of any identifying information
regarding his case. No such steps were taken in other recent cases of
Somali asylum seekers facing deportation.

On 18 November, one day before the asylum seeker again faced
deportation, Amnesty International issued an "Urgent Action" (UA)
appeal, alerting its international membership to the imminent
deportation of the Somali man, naming him with his consent. Hours later,
10 government and security officials took him to a plane in a
restraining belt and forced him to board a flight to Mogadishu.

However, during a stop-over in Perth -- following urgent interventions
by the United Nations (UN) Committee against Torture, the UN Special
Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, as well as
Amnesty International and an Australian transport union, which took
action to prevent the man's connecting flight leaving Perth -- the man
was given a last-minute reprieve and permission to stay in Australia
temporarily.

The Australian government allowed the asylum seeker to stay while his
case is being examined by the UN Committee against Torture, on the
condition that he is detained 4,000 kilometres -- and three time zones
-- away from Melbourne, where his lawyer is based. The authorities have
however offered no guarantee that he will not be deported in the
meantime, only that he will be given 48 hours' notice.

On 19 November, the Australian government solicitor, "on behalf of the
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs", wrote to Amnesty
International's Australian section, referring to the UA and warning the
organization to "be aware that serious consequences could flow" from
breaching a Federal Court publication suppression order made that
afternoon at the Minister's request.

Without giving any reasons for the government's move to suppress
publicity on the case, the letter quoted the court order, under which
the man's name and "any information which might identify" him cannot be
published in Australia.

It is a fundamental principle of international law that all court
proceedings should be open to the public and to the media as a safeguard
of the integrity of proceedings. The International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights -- ratified by Australia -- provides that in "the
determination of [...] his rights and obligations in a suit at law,
everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent,
independent and impartial tribunal established by law".

Under Article 14 (1) of the Covenant, the media and the public may not
be excluded even from part of a proceedings, except for specific,
narrowly-defined exceptions, including "when the interest of the private
lives of the parties so requires, or to the extent strictly necessary in
the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would
prejudice the interests of justice". The suppression of the name or
identifying information of the man concerned -- who wishes the public to
know about his case -- does not fall within any of these exceptions.

Proceedings to lift court orders prohibiting publication on the case are
set to continue on 8 December.

"The Australian government's attempts at censoring this case are utterly
deplorable. We cannot -- and will not -- stop campaigning against the
deportation of an individual to somewhere where he could face serious
human rights violations, or even death."

ENDS...

LL:Reply from Amazon.com

[Paul Canning]

--forward--

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry

Greetings from Amazon.com, and thank you for your feedback regarding
our association with Bob Enyart.

This is the twenty-fifth letter I have answered today regarding Mr. Enyart's 
site.  Let me assure you that your note could not have fallen on a more 
sympathetic ear.  Also, please allow me to share with you what I have found and 
what actions have been taken.  I think you will be pleased.  

I, of course, immediately, visited www.enyart.com. I figured, "better informed 
than simply reactionary."  After some searching I was eventually able to locate 
his link to our site.  While the content of his site certainly is 
controversial, my initial reaction was "isn't everyone entitled to an opinion, 
no matter how uninformed."  

Nonetheless, the language on the site is disturbing, especially to those of us 
at whom it is directed (and especially in light of the recent Matthew Shephard 
tragedy).  I do not for a minute deny the damage this type of thought can 
generate.  Nor do I deny amazon.com's responsibility to its customers.  

What I found most ironic was the following quote:

"Warning:  The library can be hazardous to your child.  [It] can be one of the 
most dangerous places for your child to visit this summer."  

We respect your decision to not support Mr. Enyart.  And we hope you'll 
understand that our goal in working with an Associate is not to provide support 
to their point of view, but simply to provide interested readers with access to 
all the books in our catalog.  

While we understand that some people find portions of www.enyart.com 
objectionable, it is nonetheless a popular forum.  

I can also comment directly on titles to which Mr. Enyart provides links; 
titles including C. S. Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters."  

One of our goals as a retailer is to offer our customers access to every item 
in print, as well as to many out-of-print items.  With 3 million books, videos, 
and CDs in our catalog, it is unfortunate but inevitable that a few titles may 
offend some of our customers.  

We hope you will understand that our goal of universal access makes it 
impossible for us to remove items from our catalog--including of course any 
items which we as individuals dislike.  

You will be glad to know that after investigating this matter further, we have 
discontinued our relationship with this site, and Bob Enyart is no longer a 
part of our Associates Program.  It will take a few days for this process to be 
completed.  Thank you for your patience.  

Amazon.com's policy on racism, sexism, homophobia and censorship is very clear 
and we have taken action in accordance with this policy.  

I am very sorry that you were offended by this.  We truly value your opinion 
and appreciate your business, as our quick actions should prove.  

Please let me know if I can answer any further questions.  I'd be glad to hear 
from you.  

Best regards,

Rob Allen
Amazon.com
Books, Music and More
http://www.amazon.com/


-- 
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>Queers for Reconciliation http://reconciliation.queer.org.au
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>QAnnounce http://announce.queer.org.au/

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LL:URL:PoliticalGoo

[Paul Canning]

*New*

:|:PoliticalGoo

Goo Natasha! Goo Amanda! Goo Gareth!

PoliticalGoo allows you to push Australian politicians around like you have
always wanted to ...

no, really ..

Goo is a cute program than lets you create instant plastic surgery.

Choose from Natasha Stott-Despoja, Amanda Vanstone, Gareth Evans, Bronwyn
Bishop, Janice Crosio, Tony Abbott, Richard Alston, De-Anne Kelly, Kym
Beazley, and Brian Harradine.

And using the wonders of Pick-a-Goo you can help choose who gets gooed next.

http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning/politicalgoo/


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LL:ART:Bobs best wishes: Carr supports Mardi Gras but stalls on equal

[Paul Canning]

rights
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Precedence: bulk

Sydney Star Observer
November 19 1998 

Bob’s best wishes: Carr supports Mardi Gras … but stalls on equal rights

Brendan Bolger

NSW Premier Bob Carr has been labelled a hypocrite for lending his
support to the 1999 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival but
not recognising same sex couples in law.

"… I am pleased to offer a message of support for the Sydney Gay and
Lesbian Mardi Gras,"Carr writes in the 1999 Mardi Gras festival guide, to be
launched next Tues-day. 

"Its origins lie in the struggle for rights and acceptance that saw people
take
to the streets in protest 21 years ago.

"Since then Mardi Gras has become part of Sydney life, reflecting our
cultural
diversity and our city’s basic good humour. It also reflects a sense of fun.
Mardi Gras sends a message of defiance to the puritans, the wowsers and
the naysayers. Best wishes."

The guide carries messages of support from numerous politicians, including
federal opposition leader Kim Beazley. Prime Minister John Howard did not
respond to Mardi Gras’ request for a message, for the third year
running.Former Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby relationships campaign
coordinator Tim Young this week said
Premier Carr’s message in the Mardi Gras guide was hypocritical.

"[The premier has] the audacity to say Mardi Gras’ ‘origins lie in a
struggle for rights and acceptance that saw people take to the streets in
protest 21 years ago’, and yet people have been taking to the streets in
protest and he’s ignored it," Young said.

Young said he was saddened by Mardi Gras not taking a stronger political
stand.

Last month, Young and his partner Matthew McCrory wrote to Mardi Gras
requesting the organisation not obtain
a message of support from the Premier because of his inaction on recognition
of same sex relationships.

Mardi Gras president David McLachlan said Young and McCrory’s letter was
received after a message of
support was requested from the Premier.

Withdrawing the message would have been inappropriate, McLachlan said,
"particularly because we invited" his
message.

He acknowledged Mardi Gras had changed over the years but did not believe
Mardi Gras had lost its political
origins.

McLachlan said former president Bev Lange constantly called for the
government to equalise laws that
discriminated against gays and lesbians. He said political messages are
evident in the 1999 guide and festival, and were evident in previous
festivals and guides.

Recently elected Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby co-convenor Kathy Sant said
she hoped Carr had not joined the
ranks of the "puritans, the wowsers and the naysayers".

"Mr Carr has an obligation to govern on behalf of the whole community,
including gay men and lesbians.

"No other community would accept a message of support, without more, as
discharging that obligation. We won’t
either," Sant said.

Prior to being elected in 1995, Carr committed to reforming legislation in
regards to hospital visiting rights, wills, and family provisions. However,
the NSW Democrats De Facto Relationships Amendment Bill, which seeks to
recognise same sex relationships, was recently referred to a parliamentary
Standing Committee on Social Issues.

The committee have called for public submissions by December 11, but is not
expected to report back to
Parliament until after the State election next March.

Likewise, debate over independent Bligh MP Clover Moore’s Significant
Personal Relationships Bill has been
"stalled" in the lower house because the Government has cancelled private
member’s mornings.

Other politicians who sent messages of support for the 1999 Mardi Gras
festival include Democrats leader Meg
Lees, Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, NSW opposition leader Peter
Collins, NSW Democrats leader
Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, Bligh MP Clover Moore, Sydney Lord Mayor Frank
Sartor and South Sydney Mayor
Vic Smith.



-- 
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>Queers for Reconciliation http://reconciliation.queer.org.au
®  *GooGallery http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning/goo
>: "Graphic depictions of homosexual acts and sexual violence by weapon-wielding, 
>leather-clad men.
" The Age describes Tom of Finland

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LL:ART: Terror in Small Town Melbourne

[Paul Canning]

Farrago 
[Melbourne University students paper]

Terror in Small Town Melbourne 
by Aizura Hankin, Melbourne University 

Matthew Shepard was a university student in Laramie, Wyoming. On October
12th 1998 he was picked up by two young men then taken to the outskirts of
town, tortured, murdered and then impaled on a barbed wire fence. Photos of
a smiling Shepard, blurry and ill-reproduced, were reprinted in newspapers
next to startlingly clear images of the two men charged with his murder.
While one bows his head, the other stares resentfully at the camera. They
both look scared out of their wits, and so they should.

Shepard's funeral was picketed by a group of homophobic protesters called
'God Hates Fags'. They held signs saying 'No fags in heaven and 'AIDS = GAY
CURE'. This kind of stunt happens all the time in 'small town America'. This
killing is the latest reminder of a culture of homophobia that the popular
imagination almost always forgets. 

'Small town America' is the catch-cry you hear most under these kinds of
circumstances. In that distant, imaginary world of guns, fundamentalist
Christian cults and entrenched, traditional hatred, the newest folk hero is
Eric Rudolph, wanted for the bombings of several abortion clinics and at
least one gay bar. Incidentally, he is also wanted for the Atlanta Olympics
bombing, for which he has finally gotten put on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted
list. 

Watching the news about Shepard's death explode into a furore over how 'out
of hand homophobic violence has gotten' (as if it was never this bad in the
first place) you might thank your lucky stars how far removed we are from
that culture. Melbourne is a big city. It has a huge, loud queer community.
Melbourne Uni has a Queer Lounge, Queer Officers and at least some
curriculum which deals with sexuality, even if it's only in Arts or Law.
Compared to 'small town America', a phrase I have read a hundred times in
connection with the Shepard killing, around here is practically Rainbow
Land. Right? Wrong 

During the annual Student Union Elections six weeks ago some things
happened that, while they seem small in comparison to the murder of Matthew
Shepard, are nonetheless related. A campaigner for the Bloody Feminists and
Left Focus was told she'd never get any votes 'because she looked like a
lesbian'. One of the campaigners for Tropic, next year's Farrago editors,
told voters that the opposing team were unsuitable 'because they are all
gays and lesbians' (a statement which is incidentally untrue). He
elaborated that he thought this would introduce 'bias' such as 'too much
lesbian poetry'. 

This was on Monday of Election Week. On Tuesday a Liberal campaigner did a
lecture bash in Engineering. He asked students to 'raise their hands if they
used the Queer Department'. Students were being routinely asked by Liberals
if they used the Women's Room, the Environment Department, and anything else
which that party thought was the turf of 'minorities': this was pretty much
the only Liberal Club campaign strategy. The expected response for an Eng.
lecture, stereotypically dominated by straight macho sporty males, would
have been shrugs and murmurs. But when two women actually raised their
hands, they were verbally abused by other students. 

By Wednesday lunchtime, a group of men from a Melbourne University college
had marched onto campus to vote as part of their annual college name day
festivities, armed with a megaphone, shouting 'Left Focus takes it up the
Arse' and 'Vote Tropic Farrago'. A witness says she also heard them
shouting 'Get the queers out of Farrago' and 'In-flight Farrago takes it up
the arse'. They were greeted at Union House by Tropic Farrago candidates, who
hugged them and thanked them for coming to vote.  It is significant that
most of the comments made about particular candidates' sexualities were
accompanied by the statement, 'I'm not homophobic, but' 

You could see these events in any number of ways. The sexuality of a
candidate might be like any other 'attribute' of a candidate. For example
'lesbian poetry bias' might be likened to including too much postmodernist
poetry, taking the Tropic Farrago campaigner's argument into the realm of
the intellectual/aesthetic. Asking students whether they use Student Union
services could be seen as valid. After all, the Student Union is meant to
represent 'all students'. But sexuality is bound up in an individual's
private sense of identity. It is not aesthetic or intellectual.  

It could be argued that by the blokey, traditional laws of 'fair play' which
abound on this campus, even running for office is putting yourself in danger
of having smear campaigns run against you. Hell, for some political hacks,
dirt is what elections are all about. 

But discrimination on the basis of sexuality, like discrimination on the
basis of gender or race, is illegal in this country. Thankfully, after some
years of Labor Governments we have Anti-Discrimination legislation

LL:ART:Activists Seek Aid Post-Mitch

[Paul Canning]

--please circulate--

NewsPlanet Staff 
Thursday, November 12

Activists Seek Aid Post-Mitch 

SUMMARY: A cry for help from the people who survived Hurricane Mitch, but
who still have AIDS to contend with.

IGLHRC, the San Francisco-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Commission, has translated urgent calls for help from groups in Nicaragua,
El Salvador and Honduras to deal with the devastation wrought by Hurricane
Mitch. 

In Honduras, a group of people with HIV/AIDS who have not previously been
in contact with IGLHRC approached United Nations Development Program
officer Rocio Tabora to share with the international community the
life-threatening situation they face. Even before the hurricane, it had
been difficult for them to obtain their medications, which they had
purchased at great sacrifice in U.S. dollars from Guatemala, where there
had already been some shortage. Their small supplies of medication are
running out, and they anticipate a currency crisis that will make replacing
them even more difficult, at a time when their government is unable to help
them. They are also desperate for nutritious food, and in many cases have
been exposed to the elements and to numerous infections. In addition to HIV
drugs, antibiotics, and medications for colds and diarrhea, they need such
basics as mats, bedding, shoes, clothes, and cooking utensils. To help the
group Personas Viviendo con VIH/SIDA, contact:
Rocio Tabora
Oficial de Programa PNUD Honduras
Phone: (504) 231-0216
Fax: (504) 232-8716
Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or Rosa Gonzalez, phone (504) 554-1581; Padre Alfonso Molina, phone (504)
557-2920; or Dr. Luis Enrique Jovel (who treats HIV+ children and their
families), de la Mision de los Padres Dominicos, phone (504) 557-4222. 

In El Salvador, the staff and volunteers of Asociacion Entre Amigos, which
works to ensure respect for the human rights of homosexuals, lesbians,
transsexuals, bisexuals, and persons living with HIV/AIDS, have joined
forces with the Red Cross of San Salvador to assist people in many
different parts of the country. They are seeking funds for medications and
medical services, food, transportation, and the daily living costs of the
"emergency health brigades" they work in. Entre Amigo is a group with which
IGLHRC has had prior contact. To contribute, transfer money to
"International Bank of Miami, N.A." ABA- 067001699, Account Number
990003624-06 Account Casa de Cambio Desarrollo S.A. de C.V. (Entre Amigos'
bank in El Salvador), and include in your transaction that the transfer in
question is to benefit William Vladimir Hernandez Valenzuela (Asociacion
Entre Amigos) Account Number: 3165000256-4. Asociacion Entre Amigos can be
contacted at:
Av. y Colonia Santa Victoria
#50 Final del Boulevard de los Heroes
San Salvador, El Salvador
Phone/Fax: 503- 225-4213
Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

In Nicaragua, believed to be the country suffering the worst loss of life
to the hurricane, Fundacion Xochiquetzal, a group with which IGLHRC has had
prior contact, is trying to do what it can to alleviate not only the
immediate desperate need for medicines, but looking ahead to severely
depleted food supplies from damage to crops and herds. To contribute, send
funds to Banco del Sur, account # 10300339. Money can also be sent by bank
transfer through Citibank New York, ABA #02189, to be credited to
account #36020142 of Banco del Sur, which will in turn deposit it to the
account of Xochiquetzal. Xochiquetzal can be contacted at:
Fundacion Xochiquetzal
Apartado Num. 112
Managua, Nicaragua
Phone: 505-2-490-585
Fax: 505-2-491-346
Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

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LL:ART: [SSO] ACON stack

[Paul Canning]

Sydney Star Observer
November 5 1998 

ACON stack

‘Power grab’ sees membership soar

Ruth Pollard

Political machinations have begun in earnest in the lead-up to the AIDS
Council of NSW’s (ACON) annual general meeting, with a Liberal Party
"stack" of the organisation’s membership rumoured to have been under way
since August.
ACON president Chris Gration would not comment on the stacking allegations
levelled against a board member, although he said the board had watched the
membership grow from a core financial membership of around 250 to around
800 in the past six months.
At the organisation’s October board meeting a further 296 new members were
signed up ­ the last before the postal ballot to fill five general
positions, plus the treasurer’s position on the board. The postal ballot
opened today.
An ACON board member, David Buchanan, SC, told the Star Observer he was
aware of a person who had brought up to 300 new members into the organisation.
"They started in the winter, and there has been nothing to indicate that
they are people who would otherwise have joined ACON and wanted to
participate in the work of the organisation," Buchanan said.
"My own impression has been that some new members have been Liberal Party
members, and the person who has been doing this has got a strong connection
with the Liberal Party and has been previously employed by a Liberal Party
politician.
"What has been disappointing is that ACON is being treated as some sort of
political plaything and … I am extremely concerned about the unhealthy
consequences for ACON."
Buchanan said that ACON had recently undertaken the widest consultation
process it had ever engaged in in order to set the future direction of the
organisation.
"That is the way ACON should work out what it’s going to do in the future
and how it will do it, rather than someone engaging in a grubby exercise in
political stacking.
"I think it is unhealthy for people to threaten the fate of a community
organisation for the sake of an excessive power grab."
Buchanan said that he wished he knew why someone would be motivated to
"stack" ACON’s membership. 
"It is very frightening ­ I have absolutely no idea what is to be gained
from it."
Andrew Kirk, PLWHA representative on ACON board and president-elect of
National Association of People With AIDS, said on Tuesday he was concerned
that since Senator Marise Payne (Lib) left the board there has been no
representation from "the other side of politics".
Kirk denied he had signed up hundreds of new members since August this
year. But he did say he joined up "a few friends, eight or nine, who were
also members of the Liberal Party", including NSW Liberal MLC Brian Pezzutti.
"I didn’t sign up anything like 300 members," Kirk said. "They are not
there ­ try to find them."
However in a subsequent conversation, Kirk told the Star Observer in the
last few months he had signed up "about 20 personal friends" from the
Liberal Party and had delivered up to 75 other membership forms to ACON.
"I knew when Brian [Pezzutti] joined in August people would suddenly feel
threatened … I was testing their commitment to bipartisanship," said Kirk,
a former member of the Liberal Party.
"Of course I started the rumour [about a Liberal Party stack] ­ I wanted to
tell who was trustworthy and who wasn’t ­ who was prejudicial against
Liberal Party members and who was not."
Kirk said nearly all the Liberal Party members he had joined up to ACON
were gay men: "It’s not like we are joining up the right wing of the
Liberal Party here."
He told the Star Observer two NSW Upper House Labor backbenchers, Dr
Meredith Burgmann and Jan Burnswoods, had since been admitted as new ACON
members.
But Buchanan said: "I am not at all surprised that there would be a
response to try and counteract the effect of what is looking like a Liberal
Party stack."
Kirk said he was motivated by a desire to have more positive people elected
to the ACON board, and to continue ACON’s bipartisan approach to its work.
"I am not convinced that bipartisanship is out the door ­ we will have to
wait and see what the outcome of the election is."
‘It is unhealthy to threaten the fate of a community organisation for the
sake of an excessive power grab.’
­ David Buchanan, SC
ACON’s chief executive officer Robert Griew said he was now doing a random
check of names and addresses of ACON members against the electoral role.
"If I found anything distinctly unlikely [in the list of members] then I
would alert the returning officer and the current board," Griew said.
Part of the membership increase could be put down to a concerted membership
drive over the last six months, and because Community Support Network
volunteers had been offered free ACON membership, he said.
However, concerns remain about the sudden influx of new members.
"The flood of membership in the last few months may well be something the
incoming board wants to review," Gration said.
"While it is good to have a large and vital membership

LL:ART: Internet threat to privacy: judge

[Paul Canning]

The Australian
11nov98 

Internet threat to privacy: judge
By High Court correspondent BERNARD LANE 

WHEN people enter the cyberspace of the Internet, they often make the
mistake of assuming they become anonymous and their privacy is protected,
Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court says. 
In an article on the Web, Justice Kirby warns privacy is increasingly at
risk in the ever-expanding Internet, since national regulators are mostly
powerless and new global rules are yet to be devised. 
"Users commonly think that because they do not enter their names or other
details to gain access to Web pages, this means that there is a high degree
of privacy in their use of the Internet; in other words, that it is
virtually anonymous," he says. 
The judge, whose interest in privacy and information technology follows
work with the OECD 20 years ago, canvassed the many Internet tools that
collect information, including browsers, crawlers and spiders; search
engines, robots and indexes. 
"It is not often appreciated by users of the Web that, without specific
initiatives on their own part, their visits to particular Web sites can
usually be resurrected: presenting a profile of their minds," he says.
"Their visits may illustrate the subjects in which they are interested:
their inclinations, political, social, sexual and otherwise." 
Justice Kirby acknowledged that regulatory impotence enhanced freedom of
speech over the Net but said other human rights, such as privacy, also had
to be given protection. 
He cited "strong resistance" to the US Government's proposed "clipper
chip", intended to allow the State to override individual encryption as
part of a campaign against crime and terrorism. 
"Whilst society needs to be shielded from clearly anti-social conduct,
there are strong arguments for permitting, and protecting the anonymity of
most Web site visits and providing 'dungeons' and 'chat rooms' in the Web,
where people can communicate without fear that their interests, attitudes,
beliefs and concerns will be monitored either by public or private sector
snoops," he said. 
Justice Kirby's article for the University of NSW Law Journal is posted on
the Australasian Legal Information Institute site, at
http://www.law.unsw.edu.au/publications/journals/unswlj/ecommerce/kirby.html

LL:PR: Call for new guidelines on gay and lesbian refugees

[Paul Canning]

AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR LESBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS 
Media Release 
Tuesday November 10th 1998

CALL FOR NEW GUIDELINES ON GAY AND LESBIAN REFUGEES

The Australian Council for Lesbian and Gay Rights has written to 
Immigration Minister Philip Rudduck calling for Australia's refugee policy 
to recognise all persecution on the grounds of sexuality.
The ACLRG's call comes in the wake of a recent decision by the Refugee 
Review Tribunal rejecting a Sri Lankan gay man's application for refugee 
status.
According to RRT representative, Dr Rory Hudson, the Sri Lankan man could 
avoid persecution "by refraining from making his sexuality widely known, by 
not saying that he is homosexual and not engaging in public displays of 
affection". 
ACLGR spokespeople, Jennifer Wilson and Rodney Croome, poured scorn on Dr 
Hudson's comments likening them to telling an aboriginal person to act more 
European in order to qualify for equal rights. 
"It is morally wrong to expect homosexual people to remain silent about 
their sexuality, and pretend to be heterosexual to avoid persecution", Ms 
Wilson said. 
"Dr Hudson has also missed the point that consenting private gay sex is 
illegal in Sri Lanka, something which the UN Human Rights Committee, in the 
Tasmanian gay law reform case, found to be a form of persecution in and of 
itself." 
According to Mr Croome the ACLGR wants the formulation of guidelines which 
stress the fact that the criminalisation of homosexual activity, as well as 
the failure of the state to protect lesbians and gay men against systematic 
violence, amount to persecution within the terms of the Refugee Convention. 
"If sexuality persecution is to be treated in the same way by the Refugee 
Review Tribunal as persecution on other grounds, it is vital that the 
definition of sexuality persecution be expanded." 
A copy of the letter to Philip Ruddock and the legal paper backing up the 
letter will follow. 
For more information contact Jennifer Wilson on 0414 595 857 or page Rodney 
Croome on (03) 6223 3866 quoting 37294.
***
Rodney Croome and Jennifer Wilson 
Co-convenors 
GPO Box 1733 
Hobart, 7001 
(03) 6224 3556 Ph 
(03) 6223 6136 Fax

***
Hon Philip Ruddock MHR 
Minister for Immigration 
C/o Parliament House 
Canberra, 2600 
(02) 6277 7860 Ph 
(02) 6273 4144 Fax
re: recent Refugee Review Tribunal decision
Dear Mr Ruddock, 
The Australian Council for Lesbian and Gay Rights is concerned about 
reports that Dr Rory Hudson of the Refugee Review Tribunal recently refused 
refugee status to a 27 year old Sri Lankan gay man partly on the basis that 
the applicant "could avoid a real chance of serious harm simply by 
refraining from making his sexuality widely known - by not saying that he 
is homosexual and not engaging in public displays of affection towards 
other men". 
According to Dr Hudson gay men and lesbians do not have "any inalienable 
human rights relating to their sexuality which extends beyond the right to 
private consensual adult sex". 
Dr Hudson's remarks are objectionable for several reasons. Firstly, Sri 
Lankan law criminalises the private consensual sexual activity of adult gay 
men, and thereby subjects them to persecution regardless of how open they 
are about their sexuality. The fact that such laws are inherently a form of 
persecution, and foster the conditions for persecution, regardless of their 
enforcement was established by the UN Human Rights Committee in Toonen v 
Australia. 
Secondly, Dr Hudson is wrong when he says that inalienable human rights 
relating to sexuality do not extend beyond private consensual adult gay 
sex. Again, Toonen v Australia established that lesbians and gay men enjoy 
all the rights and freedoms enshrined in the International Covenant on 
Civil and Political Rights regardless of how open we are about our 
sexuality. 
Finally, it is morally unfair to expect homosexual people to remain silent 
about their sexuality, and pretend to be heterosexual, to avoid 
persecution. Such an attitude blames the victim for the abuse they 
experience and fails to address the true cause of the prejudice in 
question. It is similar to telling aboriginal people that they must pretend 
to be of European origin if they want to enjoy equal civil rights. 
We urge you to put in place guidlelines which ensure that such ill-informed 
opinions can no longer form the bases for RRT decision. 
In particular we urge you to formulate guidelines which 
1. stress the fact that criminalisation of homosexual activity clearly 
involves a violation of the rights of privacy and equality and amounts to 
persecution within the terms of the Refugee Convention, and 
2. recognise that a state's failure to protect lesbians and gay men against 
systematic violence may also amount to persecution within the terms of the 
Convention. 
We have enclosed a paper prepared by Melbourne University Sexuality Law 
lecturer, Kris Walker, expanding on these points and outlining the legal 
issues involved. 
Thank you f

LL:URL: National AIDS Bulletin: Indigenous People and HIV

[Paul Canning]

Via: "Garry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 

n.b. more to be added
---

National AIDS Bulletin v12n3 1998 

EVERYONE'S BUSINESS 
Love, magic, and the art of resistance 
There is a wealth of Indigenous art dealing with issues of sex, sexuality, 
health and HIV. And a radical forthcoming exhibition, Love Magic will take 
up the theme of Aboriginal erotica. Maurice O'Riordan explores the art of 
resistance.
http://reconciliation.queer.org.au/nab_everyone.htm 

AMONG, WITHIN AND BETWEEN 
Interview: Sue Fowles and Chris Lawrence, AIDS Council of NSW 
When Sue Fowles took the reins as the first Aboriginal women's project 
officer within the state AIDS council, she had to hit the ground running. 
She describes her time as a steep learning curve, not just for herself, but 
for those in the communities who are her "target groups". Sue and her 
counterpart, gay men's project officer Chris Lawrence, have had to become 
virtual cultural acrobats, challenging and confronting cultural differences 
at every level. Without the comfort of clearly identified 'target groups' 
who fall politiely into categories, they have necessarily had to reinvent 
how HIV education "gets done". They talk with Kirsty Machon.
http://reconciliation.queer.org.au/nab_acon.htm 

FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS? 
In a time when many are hailing advances in HIV/AIDS treatments, and lauding 
Australia's response to HIV as exemplary, just how proud of our record 
should we be? Gay, Indigenous and HIV positive, Rodney Junga-Williams tells 
a different story. For Aboriginal Australians, he writes, it's a question of: 
What access? Whose equality?
http://reconciliation.queer.org.au/nab_australians.htm 


Garry


-- 
|: Paul Canning [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
® http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning 
>Queers for Reconciliation http://reconciliation.queer.org.au
® Jan Kneen-McDaid http://www.rainbow.net.au/~canning/jan.htm
>: "I consider this a very serious incident. It is a pie, but it could have
caused injuries." 
San Francisco Police Chief Fred Lau after the mayor was 'pied'.