Stigma and shame leads to tragedy for mentally ill people “sane” people need to “get over it” :*)

An important event in Perth W.A. to discuss ways to reduce shame & stigma

shame kills - help reduce stigma & visit http://www.comicwa.org/

I interviewed Dr Alun Jones using Skype & Call Recorder on  a MacBook.   ( see above for related local forum info)

You are welcome to listen to, download, or better still, link to the audio below. ( click the blue link and the blue link it goes to )

Dr Alun Jones speaks to Tony Serve on the stigma of Mental Illness          *Recorded March 24 2009 for COMIC.org    23 mins 44 secs

Comments, feedback and guest posts on mental health are very welcome –

{ especially you ” Abeeliever”   and all the twitter folk }

Phone or Skype calls are welcome to my auto-recorder which has up to 10 minutes time for your comments, stories, questions.

Skype perthtones or phone +61 8 94672264

Meanwhile…think of the Children

It’s common sense that an ill parent will have an affect on the entire family, but all too often around the world, the children of people being treated are left out in several ways.

There are further complications because it is often the case that genes determining aspects of mental health are shared by some family members

Follow this link to coverage of new research on affected families and suggestions for professionals on more effective, holistic treatments.

Research shows Parents who can’t deal with Gay children create tragedies – so GET OVER IT!

New research outlined in the Scientific American shows that young gays are being driven to despair and even suicide by unaccepting parents.

This is not rocket science, if you didn’t accept your child had red hair  - you would cause problems for them because they HAVE red hair whether you choose to see it or not.

Meanwhile, colouring the hair and pretending it isn’t red doesn’t stop the person being a redhead. So please stop trying to convert or reprogramme people with a gender difference just because you can’t understand a reality more complex than dogma.

In a way it’s a mental health issue because it’s clear that people who don’t accept homosexuality are in denial of the provable facts or simply ignorant.  

Click here for more on the research from Scientific American, and please share the story with anyone you know who is still blind to the realities of gender difference.

Australian Human Rights push for Intersex gender recognition

Hope, Ignorance & Bigotry

The Australian Human Rights Commission is pushing Canberra to offically recognise Intersex people, whether they have had modifying surgery or not.

First news of the move was the Daily Telegraph via news.com.au and it offers some faint hope for people whose physical identity simply doesn’t fit male or female.

Sadly though, the web article’s first 3 respondents were typically ignorant and hateful, probably out of fear of the unknown, but I found it pathetic but fairly typical.

The push also raised the more complex reality of gender differences, suggesting more classifications are needed.

The legal and community status of genders other than male and female heterosexuals has to be addressed and a bit of education for “normal” people might be very useful.

People who still describe these genetic, physiological differences as “lifestyle” choices are part of the many challenges to be overcome for a minority that is every bit as human as the lovely looking people in your clothing catalogues.

What do you think?

Is it time for us to demand equality for those who are different.  Or do we stay scared of diversity and protect the “Adam & Eve” idea despite the facts.

If you say the latter, then maybe you should start building an Ark too.

If you want to make a difference for people whose only sin is being different write/email/hassle your local, state and federal politician. Here in Australia contact the Greens who’ve had their shoulder to this wheel for some time now.

The news.com.au article and the two all-too-predictable comments are pasted below

THE Federal Government’s human rights arm plans to invent a new official status called “intersex” adding it to male and female as a legally recognised gender.

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission wants people to be able to change their gender on their passports and driving licences even if they do not undergo surgery.

And transgender lobby groups say that even this does not go far enough and are demanding a fourth legal gender called “other” for people who feel like their gender is indefinable or changes from day to day.

The extraordinary proposals are contained in a discussion paper quietly issued to transgender and transexual advocates by the commission, a statutory body that advises the Government on such matters.

The paper, entitled “Sex Files – The legal recognition of sex: Proposed reform”, says the introduction of the new “intersex” gender is a “key feature of the reform proposal being developed by the commission”.

 

“Recognition of intersex: Persons who cannot or do not identify as either male or female would be able to choose to be identified on their birth certificate and passport as intersex,” it says.

“A person who cannot or chooses not to undergo surgery would not be automatically ineligible to request a change in their legal sex.”

A response to the report by Sex and Gender Education Australia says there needs to be a fourth legal gender for people who are not even “intersex”.

SAGE spokeswoman Tracie O’Keefe, a sexologist whose doctorate comes from a Californian hypnotherapy institute, is the co-author of the book Transpeople in Love, wrote: “The AHRC proposal does not go far enough in providing legal status and social spaces by only allowing people to be male, female and intersex.”

Dr O’Keefe, who runs the Australian Health and Education Centre and the International Sex, Gender and Sexuality Clinic in Glebe, said cultures such as Native Americans had more than two genders.

via Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission pushes for third ‘intersex’ gender | National News | News.com.au.

 

Martin of York Posted at 11:18am today  

Agree with Robert. Dr.O’Keefe needs immediate treatment.

AJ of null Posted at 9:15am today  

How Pathetic!!!!

Robert of Melbourne Posted at 7:57am today  

We already have a third classification – “it” or “neuter”. to even discuss this is an insult to human intelligence and a waste of taxpayers money.

Geoffrey Robertson QC in Perth for Human Rights, Amnesty International.

This is no “hypothetical”- Geoffrey Robertson QC is coming to Perth on behalf of Amnesty International- see the media release below.  

Indigenous peoples, displaced people, immigrants, gays, political and other prisoners, those dealing with mental illness and many other groups of people have yet to enjoy rights most of us take for granted – and females in all groups are struggling even more than the males. 

This is just one event, so check the Amnesty website for how you can make a difference by thinking globally and acting locally.

Geoffrey Robertson QC

Join Amnesty International and the United Nations Association of Australia at Perth Town Hall on 8 December to celebrate the 60thanniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

 

 

Speaking at the dinner is renowned human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC, who is a distinguished jurist member of the UN’s Internal Justice Council, author, and creator of television show Geoffrey Robertson’s Hypotheticals. Mr Robertson has been counsel in many landmark cases in constitutional, criminal and media law in the courts of Britain and the commonwealth. 

The event will be hosted by media personality Mary Kostakidis. Ms Kostakidis was a member of the management team that developed SBS Television in 1980 and was the first woman appointed to present a national prime time television news bulletin in Australia – SBS flagship World News, which she presented for two decades. 

2008 is a landmark year in the global campaign to make human rights a reality for all people. It marks 60 years since the birth of its guiding document – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

On 10 December 1948, countries around the globe joined together to recognise that ensuring every person’s rights was the key to founding freedom, justice and peace in the world. The Declaration confirms the acceptance of these 30 rights and is the driving force behind all of today’s human rights standards. It is described as the most translated document in the world. 

Human rights are yours to enjoy, yours to protect.  Celebrate with us! 

Date: Monday, 8 December, 2008 

Time: 7.00pm for a 7.30 pm start. 

Venue: Perth Town Hall (corner of Hay and Barrack Streets) 

Tickets: $175 per person or $1,700 per table of 10 (includes dinner and drinks) 
To book, visit www.bocsticketing.com.au or call 08 9484 1133. 
Regards, 
Caroline Shepherd
Media and Public Affairs Coordinator
Amnesty International Australia
Ph:  (+612) 8396 7611
Mobile: (+61) 403 650 226
Fax:  (+612) 8396 7677
Locked bag 23, 
Broadway NSW 2007
Visit http://www.amnesty.org.au/ 

Wikileaks reports on Mormons Vs Gay rights ( human rights that is )

I am and always have been heterosexual, but I can’t believe some people still don’t recognise that homosexuality is NOT a “life choice” or “lifestyle.”

The science is indisputable; gays, lesbians and transgender people are that way because they are born with physiological and brain function differences that are real, as real as the differences between heterosexual men and heterosexual women.

To deny people the right to marry and be “normal” legally is outrageous.

If the reports ( see wikileaks link below ) are right about the Mormon Church’s role in turning back the clock, then God’s punishment is awaiting them.

Anyone from any religion will tell you that the creator made ALL of us, not just the nice appearing young men in white shirts who disturb our peace by visiting our homes uninvited.

Surely the historic experience of Mormons should inform their views on minority groups who are marginalised, villified and ostracized.

see the story below on the link between Mormons and the anti gay rights lobby in the US

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Mormons_tipped_scale_in_ban_on_gay_marriage

WIKILEAKS also has stories other media won’t or can’t print and is well worth a look and possibly your support as a haven for whistle-blowers who risk their lives for truth.