Last Federal election, John Howard lied about “children overboard” and succeeded in whipping up racist panic and hysteria around refugees on board the HMV Tampa, a tactic many commentators think won him the election. As the next election looms, he is up to the same tricks, and this time it is gays and lesbians he… Read more »
LGBTQ
Challenging the last frontier
“I remember the collective meetings organising Stonewall rallies back in the ’80s — it was fabulous! Since Stonewall, lesbians and gays have managed to win important changes in relation to anti-discrimination legislation. But the last frontier is relationships and families. When the government announced its plans to ‘defend marriage’ it also slipped in an announcement… Read more »
Lesbian and gay families are finding a voice!
“I went to New York last year and had the amazing opportunity to see where the Stonewall Riots happened. I want to draw some parallels with the current fight around gay families and Stonewall. Gay and lesbian families have existed for a long time privately. But there is now an increasing amount of public tension… Read more »
Harry Hay 1912 – 2002: Refusing to be a model homo
In 1982, while visiting Los Angeles, I met Harry Hay. I was a young gay liberationist and Marxist feminist and the 70-year-old Hay was a radical icon — Commie, gay pioneer and fearsome critic of gay community sell-outs of every stripe. Harry Hay has left quite a legacy. During the 1940s he reached the bold… Read more »
Catholic Patriarchs Flee from Accountability and Change by Scapegoating Gays
Given its intensely male-dominated hierarchy and extreme anti-woman, anti-sex culture, the sex abuse scandal rocking the American Catholic Church is no surprise. Nor is the church’s record of cover-up, lies, and hypocrisy on the subject, which resembles that of any mega-corporation anxious to avoid prosecution, safeguard its considerable assets, and calm its stockholders. The church’s… Read more »
Review: Gays and Lesbians who changed immigration history
Last February, as part of the Mardi Gras Festival, the Gay and Lesbian Immigration Task Force (GLITF) launched its self-published official history, Lesbians and Gays Changed Australian Immigration History/Herstory. The book is a unique, compelling collection of diverse perspectives in the form of 50 interviews conducted in 2000 by GLITF activist, Peter De Waal. “No… Read more »
Assisted Reproductive Technology: The new pro-choice battleground
It seems the Liberals’ desire for Australian women to have more babies only applies to some women! During the last Federal election campaign, Prime Minister John Howard announced plans to introduce a baby bonus tax incentive to reward women who have a baby and then give up work in order to stay home and look… Read more »
World AIDS care movement wins concessions
Credit goes to the international movement, fighting to win affordable access to HIV medications, for making the biggest dent in the World Trade Organisation’s 2001 agenda. The movement scored three wins. First, the government of the U.S. was forced to drop its charges against Brazil at the WTO, charges which aimed to prevent production and… Read more »
Your Say
An enjoyable radical read I really enjoyed reading Freedom Socialist Bulletin # 24 — some great articles. I particularly enjoyed “I don’t want to let go of my rage” by Maria Mardones and “Loud, Proud and Effective,” the review of Graham Willett’s book, Living Out Loud. I do wish Maria and others the best of… Read more »
Victory for same-sex domestic partnerships: Queers now need economic independence NOT equal dependency
On May 1, the bitter debate in the Victorian Parliament over whether same-sex relationships should have the enjoyed by heterosexuals finally concluded with an overwhelming “yes” vote. Thanks to enormous community pressure, homosexual couples are now equal in a range of matters — from medical decision making to property and state taxes such as stamp… Read more »
