Equal marriage can revolutionise relationships
Thank you for the terrific editorial about gay rights last issue of the Freedom Socialist Bulletin. Having attended the Equal Love rally to start the national year of action on November 28th, I believe we are embarking on exciting times towards both recognising and validating LGBTIs’ right to free expression of their love.
Although I am not necessarily a proponent of marriage as an institution, the entitlement to marry is a civil right enjoyed by most of the population who can wed the person of their choice — as one of the signs I saw at the rally read, “Gays have as much right to be miserable as everyone else.” It is hypocritical for governments to preach equality regardless of race, gender and religion, yet send the message that “a little bit of prejudice is okay” by not sanctioning gay marriage.
I agree with you that recognition of LGBTI relationships enforces economic dependence within a welfare system that is essentially inequitable. I also believe that recognising these relationships by ratifying gay marriage is a stepping-stone to changing this unjust system.
Arguments against gay marriage contend that it would undermine the institution of marriage. Well good! It would directly threaten male-dominated, religious norms for sex and sexuality. Same-sex marriage is a feminist issue. Women have been denied equality for centuries and are still fighting to have society recognise the errors of the status quo. The traditional form of marriage strips women of control over their lives, solely for the benefit of capitalists who use our oppression to produce the next generation of workers.
Yes, we are embarking on exciting times in the cause for equal rights. By breaking down this patriarchal institution, we can revolutionise relationships. This can only be a good thing. Equal love for all!!
S. Mileto
Seddon, Victoria
Disgust at Garrett’s shift right
As a longtime anti-nuclear and anti-uranium campaigner, I am utterly disgusted with Peter Garrett’s decision to open a new uranium mine in South Australia.
I do not accept Minister Garrett’s lame excuses about adherence to the party line, after the ALP discarded its no new mines policy. While Mr. Garrett says he “remains opposed to uranium mining,” he is part of a government and system that encourages it. Just because he has joined a conservative party like the ALP in the vain hope of changing it, does not mean he has to stick with it as it continues its increasingly rightwing shift. As with all of us, he makes moral choices everyday. He has willingly chosen the party over principle. People rightly feel let down by his sellout.
Unlike Garrett, I and many other hundreds of thousands of Australians still oppose the menace of nuclear weapons, nuclear power and uranium mining. There are just too many serious dangers involved in the uranium trade. If Garrett were genuine about his opposition to uranium, he’d be striving to close mines down, not open new ones. As one of Midnight Oil’s songs, Dead Heart, rightly said, “companies…got more say than people.” They certainly have with this pathetic government. We, the people, need to change that, as there is no semblance of hope that Garrett and the ALP ever will.
Steven Katsineris,
Hurstbridge, Victoria
Fighting the same struggles
Receiving a copy of the Australian Freedom Socialist Bulletin brightened up my day and that of the other 42 brothers held hostage by U. S. law in one of America’s many Death Row Units throughout the country.
We were under the impression that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people suffered inequality and persecution — alongside the African Americans and other people of color — only in our country. But, when reading the FSB, we learned that there are so many others fighting the same struggle to be who they are.
You’ve enlightened the brothers on many perspectives, like the deaths of Indigenous Australians when transported as prisoners. Years back we had a few brothers die in the same manner.
My brothers and I would love to read up on the history of the colonizing of Aboriginal people and their land. We’d love to know what happened. Can you forward us something historical from a credible historian? We are not exposed to this history because the prison library seems to deliberately withhold information.
Your brothers in struggle
James Green
Graterford State Correctional Institution,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
If you would like to donate reading material about the Aboriginal struggle to James and his brothers or make a donation to help post materials, contact freedom.socialist.bulletin@ozemail.com.au
