11th October 2007 14:35
PinkNews.co.uk writer
The leader of the Australian Green Party has launched an attack on the attitude of the Prime Minister, John Howard, to gay rights.
Senator Bob Brown has spoken out against what he sees as the incumbent government’s use of issues such as same-sex marriage to win votes.
Mr Howard, the leader of the Liberal party, has been Prime Minister since 1996.
It is thought he will choose not to reconvene Parliament next week and instead ask the Governor General to call a general election.
“I think he panders to homophobia in our society because he thinks it’s been a vote winner and I think he’s wrong,” Senator Brown told reporters, according to AAP.
“We’re way behind a whole raft of other countries. This is not a light matter, this is about people legally deprived, defrauded of their rights. It’s very, very wrong.”
Senator Brown called on Mr Howard to enact new legislation to end discrimination against same-sex couples.
An audit of federal laws and their impact on same-sex couples and their children was undertaken by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and presented to the federal parliament in June.
It found that same-sex couples and families get fewer leave entitlements, less workers’ compensation, fewer tax concessions, fewer veterans’ entitlements, fewer health care subsidies, less superannuation and pay more for residential aged care than opposite-sex couples in the same circumstances.
The report traced this pervasive inequality back to how lesbian and gay couples are excluded from federal law’s definitions of couples, partners and spouses.
It listed the 58 laws that need to be changed to grant gay, bisexual and lesbian Australians equal rights.
Prime Minister John Howard said that despite a new opinion poll showing 71% of Australians favouring equal rights for gay people, he is still opposed.
“We are not in favour of discrimination, but of course our views on the nature of marriage in our community are very well known and they won’t be changing,” Mr Howard said in an interview with Sky television.
In 2004 he passed federal legislation banning same-sex marriage and earlier this year said that HIV positive immigrants should not be allowed into the country.
Other politicians welcomed the recommendations to equalise treatment for an estimated 20,000 same-sex couples in tax, pensions, old age care, health benefits and insurance.
Mr Howard’s Cabinet were reportedly split on whether or not to remove the inequalities against same-sex couples especially just before an election.
In August Mr Howard and the leader of the main opposition Labour party, Kevin Rudd, made their pitch for Christian support in a webcast streamed live to more than 700 churches across the country.
During the session, which was also broadcast on Australia’s ABC Local Radio, Mr Rudd was asked about his views on gay marriage by a Christian leader.
“I have a pretty basic view on this, as reflected in the position adopted by our party, and that is, that marriage is between a man and a woman,” he replied.
Mr Rudd ruled out recognising same sex marriage or civil unions.
Under a Federal Labour government, gay couples might be allowed to “register” their relationships.
A recent Reuters Poll Trend showed the Liberal party trailing Labour by more than 13%, with a Liberal/National Party coalition supported by 43% compared to 56% for Labour.
Gay news for the Queer Australian
Written by TechStickle on October 12th, 2007 with no comments.
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LONDON, England (Reuters)
Sweeping gay rights laws have been upheld in Britain despite protests by faith groups. A bid to block the rules in Northern Ireland, where they are already in place, failed in the upper house of parliament, the House of Lords, by a majority of three to one, the BBC reported. Faith groups, which say the legislation will force them to act against their religious beliefs, earlier delivered a petition to Queen Elizabeth, while about 1,000 demonstrators staged a torch-lit protest outside parliament.
“Most of the people here are standing for freedom of conscience in the sense of ‘if you believe something is wrong the law shouldn’t make you do it,’” one protester, who asked to not to be named, told Reuters.
The legislation, a cornerstone of Britain’s efforts to promote equal rights, would ban discrimination in the provision of goods and services on the basis of sexuality in a similar way to laws banning sex and race discrimination.
Christian opponents argue the laws are a major threat to their freedom of conscience and that they should not be penalized for acting according to their beliefs. Gay rights campaigners say the proposals would simply extend existing anti-discrimination laws to homosexuals. “It would not be acceptable in the areas of race, disability, age or religion or belief, and is not acceptable here. Either we hold human rights to be universal or we do not,” said Andrew Copson, of the British Humanist Association.
Written by TechStickle on January 11th, 2007 with no comments.
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Spanish Gays Abused During Franco Regime Could Get Monetary Compensation
Spain is considering financially compensating gay men who suffered years of abuse due to their sexual orientation.
The Washington Times reports that men like Antoni Ruiz, who was imprisoned after revealing he was gay, may soon be awarded a one-time payment of nearly $16,000 and receive a monthly pension.
“I spent three months in prison,” Ruiz said of the abuse he suffered due to his sexual orientation, reports the Times. “I was raped there and in the police cells and psychologically tortured by both the guards and the prison doctor.”
In order to garner compensation for himself and others like him who suffered through abuse and were unable to work during dictator Francisco Franco’s rule, Ruiz became president of the Association of Ex-Social Prisoners, The Independent said.
The Times reports that Ruiz said the possible approval of the compensation, that would include a pension of more than $1,000 a month, could mark an official recognition of the atrocities.
“This is not just about economic compensation but remembering homosexuals who suffered under unjust and dictatorial laws,” he said, reports the Times.
During Franco’s homophobic dictatorship, gays were jailed or locked up in sinister mental institutions known as “correction camps”. With echoes of the Nazi atrocities against gays, they were given electric shocks in the belief that this would rid them of their homosexual urges. Inmates were forced to watch pornographic films featuring women in an effort to show them a sex life that was deemed “natural” by the conservative authorities.
As part of their nationalist, Catholic ideals, the Franco regime and its Falangist supporters considered homosexuals a threat to the “macho” Spanish male.
General Queipo del Llano, who broadcast to the nation, once said: “Any effeminate or introvert who insults the movement will be killed like a dog.”
The most famous gay man killed by the regime was the poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, who wrote Blood Wedding and The House of Bernarda Alba. Considered a subversive, he was executed by a Nationalist firing squad in Granada in 1936.
Homosexuality was designated as an offence under the “law against delinquency and criminals” introduced in 1954. But towards the end of Franco’s regime, it was increasingly viewed as an illness rather than a crime. According to the Independent, in 1968, the psychologist Lopez Ibor said: “Homosexuals should be seen more as sick people than as criminals. But the law should still prevent them proselytising in schools, sports clubs and army barracks.” Jail terms of up to three years were imposed under laws covering “public scandal” or “social danger”.
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Written by TechStickle on December 31st, 2006 with comments disabled.
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Anti-gay bishops vote to split the evangelical church in two - World - Times Online
Anti-gay bishops vote to split the evangelical church in two
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
LEADERS of the Anglican Church’s conservative wing took the first steps yesterday in creating formally a new Church structure for anti-gay evangelicals in the United States.
After meeting in Rwanda, archbishops from the 20 African and Asian provinces in the Anglican “Global South� grouping said that they understood the “serious implications� of their decision.
But they added: “We believe that we would be failing in our apostolic witness if we do not make this provision for those who hold firmly to a commitment to historic Anglican faith.�
The primates will now push for a two-Church solution in the US. This could serve as a model for Anglican provinces elsewhere with liberal majorities and strong conservative minorities, such as in England, Wales and Scotland.
They are to develop an alternative Anglican structure in the US for the seven episcopal dioceses who appealed this year to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for alternative primatial oversight.
Their appeal came after the general convention of the Episcopal Church, when a female and pro-gay primate, Bishop Katharine Schori, was elected to succeed Frank Griswold as leader of the Episcopal Church. The conservatives are also angry that the Episcopal Church has stood by the election of the openly gay Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.
Written by TechStickle on September 23rd, 2006 with 1 comment.
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Entsch demands legal rights for gay couples
Samantha Maiden, Political correspondent
August 14, 2006
QUEENSLAND Liberal backbencher Warren Entsch is set to reignite the debate over legal discrimination against gays and lesbians after finalising draft legislation to deliver equality to same-sex couples.
Challenging John Howard to remove all forms of legal discrimination over welfare, superannuation and Medicare, Mr Entsch confirmed yesterday he would consult Coalition MPs this week over his private member’s bill.
A former crocodile farmer, Mr Entsch remains an unlikely warrior for gay rights, but has secured the support of MPs on both sides of politics including rebel Liberal backbenchers Petro Georgiou and Judi Moylan.
He said yesterday a “Russian bride” procured over the internet would have more rights to welfare and superannuation than a long-term gay partner.
“At this point I am wanting to remove all legal discriminations,” he said yesterday.
“For example, if I am a veteran and come back from Iraq or Afghanistan and am suffering from a range of battlefield-related disorders, my wife is entitled to a pension. If I decided I wanted to invest in a wife from Russia, she would be entitled to my pension. However, if I had a homosexual partner for 15 years, I would come back having served with distinction and when I did he wouldn’t be entitled to a cracker.”
Mr Entsch said gay couples encountered discrimination over eligibility for the Medicare safety net, superannuation and welfare.
“But this is not about looking for extra financial benefits for same-sex couples,” he said. “If you go to Centrelink in a same-sex relationship they will only pay you as a single. In that respect, those in same-sex relationships are worse off.”
Mr Entsch has written to all federal MPs saying he was “alarmed to discover the extent of the discrimination that exists in federal government legislation”.
His campaign for an end to legal discrimination against gays and lesbians has secured the support of Treasurer Peter Costello, who remains an opponent of gay marriage.
The Prime Minister confirmed the Government’s decision in June to overrule the ACT’s civil unions for same-sex couples, but said he would support moves to remove legal discrimination.
In Perth, gay and lesbian protesters yesterday urged Mr Howard to remove discrimination against same-sex couples.
Written by TechStickle on August 14th, 2006 with no comments.
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