Great news on equality in Australia – Federal Govt steps back on opposing Greens move to allow Gay “Civil Partnerships” #GLBTI see below for – ABC News Article link.

Commonwealth to allow gay ceremonies: Corbell

Thursday, November 26, 2009

The ACT Government is claiming a victory in its bid to allow gay couples to have legally binding civil partnership ceremonies.

The ACT Legislative Assembly passed a Greens bill earlier this month allowing same-sex couples to recognise their relationships with a legally binding ceremony.

To view on a PC/Mac please use this link

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/26/2754283.htm

To view on a mobile please use this link

http://m.abc.net.au/browse?page=11144&articleid=2754283&cat=Justin

from @perthtones’ iPhone

It’s still not OK for Aussie stars to be gay, even with an Olympic Gold

Sad story but true from news.com.au

check it out below and please comment whether you agree or not.

It’s still not OK for Aussie stars to be gay | Celebrity | News.com.au.

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.

Honour for 2 prominent Gay West Australians

As I continue to wonder why people  who are Gay can’t marry and have the same rights as Heterosexuals – I am happily distracted by national honours being given to 2 amazing women last night.

Click here for WAtoday’s coverage of the awards to Channel 10 WA Newsreader Narelda Jacobs and to that amazing person Giz Watson MLC of the Greens WA.

I have worked with Narelda in the past on a project to prepare outstanding indigenous youth for leadership roles in the media and community and have been mightily impressed by her heart, mind and commitment. Well done.

As for Giz, the sheer weight of her work and commitment make her gender completely irrelevant – even gender bigots in WA hold her in high esteem.

Giz has been an energetic and effective campaigner  for social justice and the environment since before we had desktop computers, let alone Blogs. Visit her website here for a look around, or even get involved with the great work being done.

I worked with Giz ahead of the last 2 WA elections and I note that while the Greens don’t actually have leaders, Giz inspires consensus in a way big-titled leaders elsewhere can only envy. The Honourable Giz Watson is one of the rare MPs who in decades of service has not tarnished the honorific.

Congratulations to both of them for doing so much through their courage and commitment to absorb pressure so those who follow don’t have to.

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.

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.