Date: Sun, 25 Aug 1996 22:08:33 +1000 From: leto@rabbit.com.au (Brendon Wickham) Subject: (Australia) Brother Sister News - 22/8/96 BROTHER SISTER - QUEER NEWS FROM DOWNUNDER Issue #113 - 22/8/96 Including: 1. Budget cuts hit services 2. Drug dependents not out 3. Criminal code upset 4. Men only club 5. Briefs, including ; Church sex, Ruxton attacks, Cops watch beat This and previous postings are archived for the QRD. Point your URL to http://werple.net.au/~leto/news - or go through the Pacific Region of the QRD at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/world/pacific/ =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ BUDGET CUTS HIT SERVICES *Federal Treasurer Peter Costello brought down the first Coalition budget in 13 years last Tuesday, cutting Government spending by $4.4 billion. The Government also announced funding cuts to states giving greater discretion to state governments to set their own priorities.* The cost of delivering election promises to low and middle income families and small businesses has been at the expense of health, legal aid and welfare. Also affected have been the ABC, SBS and ATSIC. Although Medicare and bulk billing remain unchanged, pharmaceutical subsidies are to be withdrawn, the tax rebate for those spending more than $1,000 per year on pharmaceuticals is to be scrapped, and a higher Medicare levy will be introduced for high income earners without private medical insurance. Equal access for lesbian and gay couples to private medical insurance is also under question, with Federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge leaving it up to private insurers to make such a decision. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy received $44.7 million and has been expanded to tackle the growing threat of hepatitis C. Legal aid funding faces a $75.2 million cut over the next three years. From 30 June 1997, funding to states and territories will be cut. It is anticipated that the cut to legal aid funding will see a reduction in the number of discrimination cases taken on by legal aid centres. Federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams did announce a $6.1 million initiative in strengthening relationships and improving community safety. However, with the priority on supporting Australian families in their marriages, there is little recognition of lesbian and gay relationships. There is also a move "requiring users of expensive government-provided services to make a more appropriate contribution to their cost" according to Williams, implying a user-pays system for legal aid. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission alters with hearings of discrimination complaints shifted to the Federal Court. A drop in funding to the commission is expected to follow. The commission has a solid history of hearing cases of human rights abuses against lesbians and gay men. Plans to merge the Commonwealth Employment Service and the Department of Social Security crack down on welfare fraud, and introduce a Youth Allowance aim to save the Government $2.6 billion. The sickness allowance will now be paid at the same payment rate and means test as other allowances. Chargn Keenan DRUG DEPENDENTS NOT OUT *Peer acceptance of recreational drug use within the gay and lesbian community has left those with drug- dependency problems afraid to come forward, claims one of the speakers at next week's Drug Dependency Forum.* Aaron Stowe of the Turning Point Drug Agency says that whereas members of the community may accept casual drug use they still look down on those that are habitual drug users. "Dependent drug-users have been stigmatised," says Stowe, "and people are discriminated against and so may be reluctant to come forward and express a need for help amongst their peers. "While there is an acceptance of recreational drug use in the community people are reluctant to come forward and admit that they are having problems. There's an important need to raise these issues in the community but these do exist and we should not hide it." Although Stowe says that there is obviously widespread drug use within the community it is difficult to tell how ingrained it has become. Stowe: "There aren't any specific indicators that can be called upon to assess any levels of misuse in the community. "I do think that within certain sections of the gay community there is an acceptance of drug use, given the venues, the parties and the cultural celebrations almost always involve some sort of chemical enhancement." Stowe believes though that there has been substantial drug education accessible to gays and lesbians, "People are reasonably well-educated, whether that's through just talking to each other or accessing information from places like the VAC and at the dance parties. People are aware of the dangers of drugs and how to use them safely." He also denies the myth that the gay and lesbian community as a whole condones drug-taking. "I don't think that there is one voice representing the whole of the community that condones drug use," says Stowe, "because there is a diversity of voices and experiences within the gay and lesbian community." Stowe also scoffs at suggestions that studying the extent of drug use within the community would be much help. Stowe: "I think it's more important to raise the awareness the problems that may emerge from drug- taking. "I don't know whether research in the community would indicate anything other than that drug use does occur. Whereas more education would empower people to make higher quality decisions about drug-taking." Andrew Mast Aaron Stowe will speak at the forum Dependent Drug Use...Too Much Of A Good Thing at the Builders Arms Hotel, 211 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy on August 27 alongside Dr Ron McCoy and Oxide. CRIMINAL CODE UPSET *A recently released draft review of Queensland's Criminal Code is already stirring up controversy in the sunshine state.* The redefinition of rape has been applauded whilst changes in criteria for the grevious bodily harm charge to include transmission of diseases such as HIV and gonorrhea has been slammed by community groups. The draft, detailing a response to over eighty questions proposed by the Coalition Government, is not a wholesale revision of the Code that has its origins in the early 1900's Criminal Code developed by Samuel Griffith, Chief Justice of Queensland from 1893-1903. Earlier revisions happened in 1992 and 1995. Attorney General and Minister for Justice Denver Beanland said the Code Advisory Working Group, chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Peter Connolly, QC, was charged with the task of "urgently considering a number of options for reform...and consequential amendments to other legislation governing the criminal law". Secretary of the Queensland AIDS Council, Adrian Lovney, said, "at ths stage we've only had a brief opportunity to examine the recommendations contained in the report, so we're still working through the implications. Whilst we welcome some of the recommendations, particularly the removal of reference to gender in the current rape provisons, we are concerned about others." The new definition of rape includes anal intercourse, thus acknowledging the existence of male rape, and further emphasises the compexities of rape stating the penetration "without consent...or obtained by force...to any extent" is criminal. Spokesperson for the Attorney General and Minister for Justice said, "if the recommendations are adopted, the law on grievous bodily harm will be extended to cover diseases such as HIV and gonorrhea, where transmission of the disease is 'likely, if untreated, to cause permanent injury to health', may have consequences for the gay community as interpretation of such a law lies in the discretion of the courts." This is one of the AIDS Council's major concerns. "This 'criminalisation' of transmission seems to be a recurring theme of late," said Lovney, who is also the convenor of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations National Legal Working Group. "Only last week we saw the release of a separate report regarding the drafting of a proposed national uniform Criminal Code which recommended that the deliberate or reckless transmission of a serious disease be made a criminal offence, even if the risk of contracting the disease is low." "It seems to be fairly common ground that 'transmission offences' are about public health, not crime, and should therefore be contained within such acts as the Health Act 1937," Lovney said. Rea Dennis MEN ONLY CLUB *A sister company of 3 Faces, Soreni Holdings, is planning a luxury club for gay men only. The proposed centre will include a gym, bar, conference room and sauna facilities.* The venue has already faced a negative public reaction on the grounds that it discriminates against women. A spokesperson for Soreni says that "it is important to give Melbourne's gay male community exclusive venues. Gay men require the option of having male only environments. Today there are authorised exclusive facilities for women. Currently in certain districts around Melbourne there are ample mixed venues for example in Commercial Road, Collingwood, Abbotsford and other parts of Melbourne. There are no male only spaces." The venue's proposed location in St Kilda is aimed at catering to the area's reputation as a centre for the gay community. The directors of Soreni claim they want to create a venue to service the needs for the gay male market and believe it is in the best long term interest of the gay market to provide both mixed and exclusive venues. BRIEFS CHURCH SEX Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics and more will be surveyed about their sex lives. Churchgoers will be asked to rank their sex lives from "delightful to terrible" and queried about issues such as homosexuality, gun control, abortion, drug addiction, sex before marriage and the death penalty. Parish leaders recognise that the survey could be embarrassing, but defend it and stress its importance. "The purpose of it is to make the church more effective," said Anglican church spokesman Greg Jones. RUXTON ATTACKS Victorian RSL president Bruce Ruxton has again made attacks on the local gay and lesbian community. In an open letter to the Victorian Parliament, Ruxton described Kennett's decision to back Midsumma (identified as the "homosexual lobby's Midsummer festival") as "midsummer madness". GLAD co-convenor Anthony Shaw described Ruxton's outburst as "unfortunate, inaccurate and paranoid", and finds the idea that Kennett is a supporter of gay and lesbian rights laughable. COPS WATCH BEAT Police will be conducting a uniform operation at the Canterbury Gardens beat in Canterbury Road, Canterbury. Neighbours had made complaints about the beat and some had expressed concern about its close proximity to a creche and the number of used condoms that had washed up to it from the gardens in recent rain storms. =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ BOTTOM LINE Smartarse, by Jeffrey Smart LIKE A VIRGIN How does a simple fag know when he's going out too much? At what point should a dotty dyke hang up her dancing shoes and learn to snuggle up on the couch, wrapped in her doona, with a remote control and a copy of the weekend TV Guide? Are you going out too much if you don't see the sun between Friday night and Monday morning? Are you overdoing it if you call the Peel to see if it's open at lunchtime on a Tuesday? Have you gone troppo if you break your lease and offer to pay rent on a space beneath the bar at Virgin Mary's? Look, apologies to the Catholic and Greek Apostolic Churches; I think I'm in love with Virgin Mary's. Rather than offending me, the name sends a little frisson of glee up my knobbly old spine. If I can't go there on a Friday night I come over a bit peculiar. When I was in Sydney recently I almost called Qantas at 10.00pm to enquire about mercy flights to Commercial Road. Not everyone agrees with me, of course. When I crow "I went to Virgin Moira's!" in answer to the question "What did you do on the weekend?" I am greeted with weary groans half the time. "Oh that," cry the cynics, "it's soooo pretentious." More than any other Melbourne venue, with the exception of the shabbily venerable Prince of Wales, Virgin's has polarised gay opinion. Detractors point their wizened, accusatory fingers at the attitude of the crowd (which attitude?), the size of the dancefloor ("Where's the dancefloor?" they wheeze; if you want wide open spaces, go to the Peel at 10.30pm for heaven's sake), or the way the doorpeople let some leopard-skin clad or muscle-bound things jump the queue (well, if the gorgeous ones weren't in there, the rest of us wouldn't want to be either, would we?). Anyway, piss off and leave the door things alone; I think they're divine. Brett's cute smile and the way he rubs those big gloved hands together could melt anyone's heart. And the inscrutable Chrissy is so mightily gorgeous that I'm surprised the Ab Fab casting people didn't pass Joanna Lumley over in her favour. I did a clandestine little interview with Brett the other night as I waited in the queue. "Do you get cold doing this?" I simpered, obviously. "It's not too bad," he grinned winningly, "it's only 6 and a half hours." God bless ya Brett! Inside there's something for everyone-exotic hula hoop wielding drag queens and acrobats, the two most gorgeous bartenderesses you ever saw in your life (these girls are spunky!), a glamorous little blond number who collects the empties in her frivolous vinyl bra and faux shorts ensemble, and representatives from every ethnic group in Melbourne. I'm in love about a million times over with some of them. When I told Claire at work that only virgins go to Virgin Mary's, she instantaneously quipped, "Oh, have you got a fake id?" Bitch. 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