Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 16:54:40 +1100 (EST) From: leto@werple.net.au (Brendon Wickham) Subject: (Australia) Brother Sister News - 11/1/96 BROTHER SISTER - QUEER NEWS FROM DOWNUNDER Issue 97 - 11/1/96 Including: 1. Graffiti clean up 2. Port Phillip plans for wide support 3. MP, Paul O'Grady resigns 4. Cops at ALSO party 5. Tasmanian reform debate stifled 6. AIDS Trust suffers loss This and previous postings are archived for the QRD. Point your URL to http://werple.net.au/~leto/news/index - or go through the Pacific Region of the QRD at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/world/pacific/ =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ GRAFFITI BUSTERS CLEAN-UP *The City of Melbourne has implemented a system that guarantees gay hate graffiti is removed within 24 hours of it being reported.* Melbourne's graffiti busting team sprung into action last week when four sites of gay hate slogans were reported in just one day. Less than 24 hours later, and at a cost of $1,000, the graffiti had been steam-cleaned from all sites reported. Melbourne City and its neighbouring, inner city municipalities have suffered from an increase in gay hate crimes in recent months. From Fairfield to South Yarra and St Kilda a spate of "No gays" slogans sprang up on billboards, footpaths, toilet blocks and signs. In the past week more sinister graffiti appeared near beats in the vicinity of the Alexandra Gardens (site of the forthcoming Midsumma Carnival), with "The only good homo is a dead homo" being daubed on the Morell Bridge. The graffiti appeared near a beat that had recently been closed by council workers - bushes were cut down and a glory hole covered. Summer in Melbourne always sparks an increase in anti-gay violence and Brother Sister has received reports that egging sprees have already started in the gay strip along Commercial Road. While some bashings have also been reported at beats in Melbourne, the city's gay liaison officer, Chief Inspector John Winther said he is not aware of any increase in reports of bashings so far this summer. Winther added that crimes such as the gay hate graffiti "will not be tolerated in this city" and urges people to report any such criminal activity that they are aware of. The Victorian AIDS Council's beats officer, Mark Riley, fears that victims of gay bashings are still reticent in reporting attacks at beats to the police. "The gay and lesbian community in Melbourne does not have a system to report such crimes," says Riley "and are still quite reluctant to have anything to do with the police because they feel that support for them will not be there." Victims of gay hate crimes are being encouraged to report their crimes to Inspector Winther on 9247 5244 or the Police Lesbian & Gay Liaison Committee on 9521 1012 or 9458 3367. PORT PHILLIP PLANS FOR WIDE SUPPORT *The City of Port Phillip's chief executive officer, Jon Hickman has announced the formation of three working groups to examine issues relevant to the gay and lesbian community.* The announcement followed a meeting between Hickman and the City's senior management along with the representatives of the community. The working groups will be under the jurisdiction of Mandy Press, the manager of the Central Districts Community Planning Division. Press told Brother Sister she hoped to set up further meetings in regards to the setting up of the working groups within the next fortnight. "We intend to look at the extent to which council services are gay-friendly and whether or not they respond to particular gay and lesbian issues," says Press about one of three main areas she intends the working groups tackle. Other areas of interest are community and cultural development in Port Phillip and the potential impact of the gay and lesbian community on the local economy. Press: "We need to look into the way the city supports gay and lesbian services and community activities. "There is also scope for us to act as strong advocates for community groups when they are seeking funding from the state." On the economic front Press is going to set up meetings between various gay and lesbian trading groups with the city's business support person, Anthony Jacobs. Press is unaware of any other city management liaising this closely with the gay and lesbian community and says that Port Phillip have been keen to pursue this avenue for some time. "We've been doing a lot of thinking about the nature of our population," says Press, "and realised that gays and lesbians play a significant role in the cultural and economic aspects of Port Phillip." Although Press admits the city does not have exact numbers on how big a percentage of the Port Phillip population is gay and lesbian she says that estimates from community groups in the area have figured it to be as high as thirty percent. Press hopes that the inclusion of questions about sexual orientation on the next census will give them a more accurate idea on the number of gays and lesbians in the city. Port Phillip has already liaised with gay community groups on other issues, including discussions with the Positive Living Centre to find out the needs of the community in the compulsory tendering of the city's library services. O'GRADY RESIGNS *Paul O'Grady, the first openly gay member of any Australian parliament, announced last week he would be resigning his seat in the NSW Legislative Council "forthwith". The Labor-left stalwart, who entered State Parliament in 1988, has been troubled with increasing ill-health. O'Grady seized the headlines in June 1990 when the media picked up on his sexuality for the first time. Although ALP insiders say that his sexuality had always been known among friends and colleagues, national attention made him a figurehead for lesbian and gay rights. In 1992 he sparked controversy by demanding that his lover, Murray Ward, be extended the same travel benefits as other parliamentarians' heterosexual partners. The pair came under media scrutiny once again when Ward died suddenly in May 1994. O'Grady found his lover, aged 26, dead from a drug overdose in his Paddington flat. O'Grady, 35, wrote to Premier Bob Carr outlining his desire to reduce his work load due to ill health. Currently in Europe, Carr is understood to have accepted O'Grady's resignation. O'Grady's departure brings into question the fate of the euthanasia legislation he had been expected to introduce into Parliament later this year. ALP sources said yesterday that the planned Private Member's Bill would be almost certainly be tabled by another parliamentarian. COPS AT ALSO PARTY Under cover police charged 5 people for drug-related matters at ALSO's New Years Eve party on the docks. Police are promising a further presence at the Red Raw Party later this month. The police numbers are expected to be down though, seeing as so few, and such minor, charges were laid on New Years Eve. TASSIE REFORM DEBATE STIFLED *Tasmanian Premier Ray Groom has stifled moves to debate the recognition of same sex relationships in the State Public Service.* On 8 Jan, Groom issued a statement in which he said there would be no discussion of the issue by the Liberal Party. The announcement follows support for recognition by Public Service Minister John Barker and a commitment by him to raise the issue in the Liberal Party Room. Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesperson , Lavinia Savell, said Groom's opposition to any discussion of the issue was "mean spirited". "Despite the best intentions of reformist MPs like John Barker, it's clear that the Groom Government is still dominated by right wing members who shudder at the though of homosexual people and will mindlessly block any gay and lesbian related legal reform no matter how moderate and necessary," Savell said. "Homosexual and heterosexual Tasmanians who hoped that Government consideration of this issue may signal a more tolerant and inclusive State Liberal Party have been bitterly disappointed by Ray Groom's intransigence. "Groom's statement has set the tone for the election campaign and unfortunately it looks like the politics of confrontation is set to continue." Savell said Groom was wrong to claim there would be very little support for Barker's proposal in the Parliamentary Liberal Party. "We understand that there would be several members who would argue strongly for reform, but Ray Groom has now robbed them of that opportunity." AIDS TRUST SUFFERS LOSS *The AIDS Trust of Australia dug its heels in this week despite a storm over its newly released annual report which shows HIV/AIDS projects received just 20 cents in every dollar collected last year.* AIDS Fundraising Management Ltd (AFML), the company established to raise money for the Trust, will be dissolved after it announced an operating loss of over $50,000 for the financial year ending June 30, 1995. Less than $123,000 of the $593,000 raised that year found its was to community organisations. Acting AIDS Trust chair, Chris Puplick, said AFML will be replaced by National AIDS Fundraising Ltd which will then become the Trust's sole trustee. While some former directors of AFML are saying privately the Trust cannot be salvaged, Puplick pointed to $330,000 already raised in the current financial year, and said "I have little or no regard to criticism which is of ancient historical value, as distinct from what the Trust is doing at the moment." The latest result is more than $710,000 down from the year before, when the Trust recorded a surplus in excess of $650,000. The AIDS Trust benefited that year from a substantial one-off bequest, as well as proceeds from a compact disc released in cooperation with Sony Music. AFML made another highly publicised loss of $750,000 in '92/'93, however, which increased fourfold when the company had to break into it's reserves to help the Trust with an additional $150,000. Figures reveal the Trust spent $218,000, before administration costs, to raise nearly $1.2 million in '93/'94, yet out laid $288,000 to raise just $570,000 in '94/'95. The remaining $23,000 came from interest payments and government subsidies. Salaries, legal fees and office expenses at the AIDS Trust all rose sharply in the last financial year. Puplick said that the December co-location of the Trust offices with the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, as well as reduction in staff numbers, were measures taken to bring administration costs in hand. The high-profile AIDS trustees, who include Melbourne publicist Annette Allison and lawyer Peter Grogan, released the figures two weeks prior to the Trust's Annual General Meeting on December 29. Puplick released a statement that day saying: "All trustees acknowledge that this was a very poor operating result, however a whole series of positive steps have been put in place to overcome past difficulties." Ben Widdicombe, SSO =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ BOTTOM LINE Too Much Diversity It's Faggot Festival and Dyke Display time in Australia,, quivering reader, as Melbourne heads towards Midsumma and Sydney goes to Mardi Gras-hype. I myself am all a-jitter and can, quite simply, hardly wait for the fun to begin. Ah, the incredible highs of last year's Midsumma - soaked in sweat whilst watching Wigstock in all the horrid humidity, drenched in lube as the ample (!) Lucy Loosebox belly- flopped in the wading pool during the drag wrestling play- offs. And wasn't the Brunswick Street Party a whizz with Tex McKenzie removing his dentures and clacking them at me as he tore past in the motorcade, and horrified tourists from Doncaster becoming more pissed and more belligerent by the hour. What do Midsumma and Mardi Gras promise in 1996, festive fellows and gogo girls? Diversity! Ugh, I hear you groan, how PC. How early 90's. But NO! It's true. I have scoured the programs of these queer festivals, like the diligent columnist extraordinaire I am, and have counted in the introductions a combined total of 14 references to the diversity of our community, our nation, and our abilities. What does it mean, this diverting little diversity-fetish? It has been used by politicians in the Mardi Gras Guide: the Mardi Gras "marks the . . . diversity of Australian society" (Paul Keating); Carmen Lawrence (bless her soul) speaks of "the cultural diversity . . . of the . . . lesbian and gay community"; Christabel Charmarette (what a mouthful) trumpets that the Mardi Gras is a "time to celebrate diversity". Hip hip hooray! Our own Claire Beckwith, Midsumma Pres. (looks gorgeous in a suit and dark glasses), tells us that our festival in the south will help us celebrate "our diversity and strength", and Leo Schofield of the Melbourne International Festival pontificates that Midsumma "deserves the support of all who are interested in diversity and creativity". I don't know, with all these references to 'diversity' I'm beginning to see it as a dirty word. Certainly there are a range of activities and events planned for two festivals. At Midsumma you can catch new episodes of a theatrical queer soap opera at the Continental every week, or you can attend the annual Midsumma Jack Off (why doesn't that appeal to me - am I a prude?). You can catch an exhibition of "intimate B & W infra-red portraits that show lesbian and gay siblings on their own terms". My favourite, though, has to be an exhibition called 'The Cleft In Words, The Words As Flesh', which is described thus: "Within an installation of constructed pathways, sequences of photographs will be maps drawn for journeys to accessible but frequently untravelled places, each illuminating different states of being, sex, wonder, death and desire." Wow! If you're going up to Mardi Gras you can experience the weird and the wonderful, from Muff Divas and Drag Queens, "a history of gays and lesbian lives in NSW on radio', to a tour of Taronga Park Zoo with the Order of Perpetual Indulgence. OK OK OK - we're a diverse little bunch of fags and dykes with a wide range of cultural, sexual and political interests (plus a little sport thrown in). I just think some of the people who eulogised Midsumma and Mardi Gras could have looked up 'diversity' in the thesaurus. A diverse vocabulary is a glorious thing. Jeffrey Smart =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Brother Sister is a fortnightly newspaper published in Melbourne, VIC and Brisbane, QLD, Australia. I have selected the main news stories as well as items of interest. Overseas media who utilise any or all of the above material please credit Brother Sister as your source (and by-line if it is listed). Thank you. Brendon Wickham