Date: Tue, 9 May 1995 22:22:47 +1000 (EST) From: Brendon Wickham BROTHER SISTER - QUEER NEWS FROM DOWNUNDER ============================================================= RIGHTS BILL TABLED *The State Government will proceed with its weakened form of legislation protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination, despite strong criticism from gay activists, the Opposition and even some members of Government* The final form of the Government's Bill was passed by Cabinet on Monday, still retaining a number of controversial elements which have come under fire in the speculative weeks leading up to a decision. Under the Bill protection will only be available for discrimination against "lawful sexual activity" rather than on the basis of a person's sexuality as urged by the lobby group Gay Men and Lesbians Against Discrimination (GLAD). The Bill also includes a number of exemptions which will allow discrimination where people "genuinely believe discrimination was necessary to protect the physical, psychological or emotional well-being of their children", according to a spokesperson for the Attorney-General, Jan Wade. GLAD spokesperson, Tamara Arc-Heath said she was "angry" about the form of the Bill. "We don't want this legislation because gay men and lesbians as a group will be worse off. It sends a very clear message to people who work with children that they will have to remain closeted." Arc-Heath said she would prefer the Opposition to vote against the Bill when it is tabled in Parliament (expected today). "If we don't get real rights there is no point having pseudo-rights," she said. Darren Ray, the newly appointed executive officer of Victoria's largest gay and lesbian organisation, the ALSO Foundation said it was disappointing that Jeff Kennet "feels necessary to pander to a fairly loony fringe" within the Coalition. "It concerns me that he feels it necessary to put a different flavour on rights - you either have human rights or you don't." Ray said the Bill perpetuated the myth of gays as "lolly offering, trench coat wearing perverts". Despite this he urged accepting what was on offer in the Bill and working to improve it in the future, possibly through the courts, the United Nations or by pressing for Federal Government protection. "ALSO would be fully supportive of any action taken by GLAD to this end," he said. The ALP's spokesperson on gay and lesbian issues, John Thwaites said the Opposition would be moving amendments to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexuality and to remove the exemptions. He described the current Bill as "insulting and offensive". "It turns back the clock many years and is even worse than the current situation," he said. "The Act is meant to protect people from discrimination and now the Act itself is to be discriminatory. It means people can be denied a job because of prejudices, no matter how misguided. "It implies lesbians and gays are criminals and likely to abuse children which is insulting and untrue." The Liberal Party's Upper House Member for Monash, James Guest defended the exemptions saying they reflected society's attitudes that the protection of children was a very high priority. He said use of the exemptions would only be possible if there was a rational basis for any claim. Guest said the Bill gave gay men and lesbians for the first time the means to fight such claims in the court and fight them successfully. He did however concede that drafting the Bill to give protection on the basis of a person's sexuality would have been his personal preference rather than "lawful sexual activity". "It would have been far tidier and (the phrase lawful sexual activity) does create a tiny loophole for employers," he said. FAIRFIELD FACES NEW THREATS *HIV services at Fairfield Hospital are once again under threat, partly due to an internal proposal to shut down one of its two key Aids wards, and perhaps more fatally due to a major revamp of health administration across Melbourne announced this week by the Health Minister.* According to the nurses' union Fairfield management announced on Tuesday that Ward 4 would be closed next week with 10 of the 15 acute HIV beds moved to Ward 2. Victorian Aids Council president, Bradley Englemann said the plan if implemented would result in the loss of five acute HIV beds. He added that the closure of Ward 4 would also mean the acutely-ill people with Aids would no longer have the choice of single rooms as well as possibly 12 nursing staff facing the axe. "This is a quality of care issue," Engelmann said, "It is standard practice to provide terminally ill patients with private rooms, and with nursing staff currently fairly stretched at the moment we would have concerns over their ability to provide adequate care." Engelmann criticised Fairfield management for failing to consult with the community prior to making its announcement. "They should talk to us about the proposed changes and why they need to do them," he said. "We don't think it is appropriate for the hospital to be downgrading facilities as this stage and want the status quo maintained." Engelmann said the hospital management had subsequently agreed to meet on Friday to discuss the issue, yet he warned that is no "satisfactory outcome" was reached, then the Aids Council would be looking at taking direct protest action. The Royal Australian Nurses Federation has echoed the Council's position. More far reaching is the move this week by Health Minister Marie Tehan to sack Melbourne's 35 public hospital boards on July 1, replacing them with as few as seven management boards with a mandate for closures, drastic cuts and redistribution on services. The Metropolitan Hospitals Planning Board's first report, released at the same time, has options for wither 15 or 7 hospital networks, with each network under one board and one chief executive. The report says the HIV and Aids means that "services need to be available in a number of locations in order to promote community access and consumer choice". "There has been an almost universal trend away from stand alone infectious diseases hospitals because they have great difficulty in providing the range of clinical and investigative services required by seriously ill patients with infectious diseases," it says. Currently Fairfield Hospital provides a range of clinical services and contains the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory and the National HIV Reference Laboratory. The MacFarlane Burnet Research Institute is also located within the Fairfield Hospital grounds. "Many submissions to the Board recommended that the clinical services at Fairfield be integrated into a general hospital," the report says. "The majority of the clinical services and resources should be integrated into the North Eastern Network. Some clinical services and resources will need to be directed to other networks, particularly to provide accessible HIV services." TAS ALERT EXPOSED The Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group has called on Tasmanian MPs and public figures to distance themselves from anti-gay group Tas Alert following last week's revelation regarding Tas Alert's extremist views on the Oklahoma bombing and the United Nations. Rights Group spokesperson, Rodney Croome said that Tas Alert's views will embarrass those Tasmanian politicians who have been associated with the organisation. During an interview on ABC Radio with investigative journalist, David Grearson it was revealed that Tas Alert believes the Oklahoma bombing was a FBI and CIA conspiracy to discredit America's right wing militia groups and that the United Nations plans to eliminate three billion people by the year 2000, in part by using homosexual men to spread HIV/AIDS. TOURISM INDUSTRY BACKS CONFERENCE *Australian representatives to this week's International Gay and Lesbian Tourism Association (IGLTA) conference in Seattle will be backed up by unprecedented support from the mainstream tourist industry.* The team is gearing up to host next year's conference in Sydney, which is the first time in the event's 12 year history that it will be held outside North America. QANTAS has offered IGLTA members a 50 percent discount on flights to next year's conference, while the Australian Tourism Commission (ATC) has part-funded a brochure aimed specifically at the gay and lesbian market. "This support is unprecedented," said Australian national president on IGLTA, Philip Amos. "A lot of IGLTA members are small operators like hotels and guest houses and for them to be supported by QANTAS like this is wonderful." Amos will be attending the conference with Lynne Hocking, of the Sydney travel agency Destination Down Under. It was her work which was largely responsible for the ATC brochure. "It's the first time the ATC has targeted the gay niche market," she said. "It took the past three years of hard work to get them to do it." The brochure was produced with the state tourism offices of Victoria, NSW and Queensland, after the ATC pledged to match other contributions dollar for dollar. Amos said they were going to the conference "to promote Sydney as an exciting city not just at Mardi Gras time, but all year round. I think we can expect to see a big influx of international tour operators into Sydney, as well as an increase in the number of gay and lesbian oriented day trips and tours." He said the big factors which attracted foreign visitors to Sydney, particularly Americans, were the perceived friendliness of the inhabitants, the attractive pricing and the positive reputation of the city. He said at least half of gay and lesbian tourists had either been to Sydney before or had been recommended to the city by friends. SSO ============================================================ BOTTOM LINE MARDI GRAS WIN The Victorian float 'Four Seasons in One Day' (a common phrase used to describe the frustratingly flighty nature of Melbourne weather) has won this year's award for the best out-of-town Mardi Gras parade entry. The Mardi Gras Awards night was staged on Monday at the Sydney Town Hall. *** 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. If you have any contributions, comments or questions, please e-me at leto@werple.mira.net.au. NB: If you are representing overseas media and wish to 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 (NB: This is the first time I have mailed to the list, I also post to the GLB-NEWS list. Please contact me for info on the GLB-NEWS list or my posting. The #79 in the subject line refers to the issue number.) ****************************************************************************** To send a message to the entire list "queerplanet", email queerplanet@abacus.oxy.edu This list is run by the program MAJORDOMO@abacus.oxy.edu. *******************************************************************************