>
>SMALL VICTORIES DEPARTMENT:
>
>The Australian federal cabinet has backed a plan by the Australian Bureau of
>Statistics which will count lesbigay pairs as "families"  in the August 1996
>census.  This decision,  lobbied for by queer activist groups and achieved
>over the opposition of many church and "family" organizations (though with
the
>support of the Anglican Synod), abrogates the former practice by which
>computers had been programmed to list these reported relationships as
>"invalid."
>
>This decision, as Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesman Rodney
>Croome rightly noted, recognizes relationships which remain illegal under
that
>state's  notorious criminal code (upheld by homophonic and homphobic premier
>Ray Groom).
>
>Though the achievement here  is not exactly on par with civil rights
victories
>such as domestic partnership recognition in certain U.S. cities or
>Scandanavian gay marriages, it would be interesting to know the state of the
>field in play in more of the industrialized world.  Census data do have some
>power, I think, in informing academics and policy maker' views of who is out
>there--not to mention politicians' somewhat more self-interested responses
to
>their  constituencies.
>