Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

FORGET ABBOTT
If you’re a gay Aboriginal man, Asian, or from another country in a boat, I am sure Tony Abbott will a policy ready for us all.
Probably a nice seven-gauge shotgun to make sure we keep our mouths shut.
And remember his good friend Barnaby Joyce — what a creepy person he is, like Mr Slimy all over again.
National Party — no way.
This is Little Johnny Howard all over again, hiding behind a veil of good Christianity.
Forget about Abbott, and let him self-destruct, like all good Liberals do eventually.
— Anthony
Don’t be fooled
I am writing in response to a letter in SSO 1016 by Simon who suggests we give Tony Abbott a break.
I would strongly suggest that Simon and any other gay or lesbian out there who thinks along these lines that they need to absolutely consider educating themselves with the facts. Don’t be fooled by the hype — learn by watching and reading non-biased media. Remember outside of an election year what who said and what their policies were/are.
As others have said, Abbott is like a snake, not to be trusted at all as his only agenda is self-promotion at any cost. Don’t be naive, get from under the mirror ball and find out what’s happening out there.
Rudd might not have met with us, why should he? He has done more for us than any other leader. Remember he has made us ‘legal’ where as the Liberals rammed home the ‘illegal’ marriage.
— Mark
POWERFUL TOOL
I feel the need to raise an issue, after reading the phrase ‘coming to terms with your sexuality’ in the gay and lesbian media and hearing a number of activists of late use this term.
‘Coming to terms’ and ‘embracing your sexuality’ are two very different phrases with two very different meanings.
We need to make sure that we speak in an accurate way, which shows that we do see ourselves as equal, normal and natural — not as someone suffering from a medical condition/defect.
Leaving people with the impression that we see ourselves as abnormal and suffering is extremely harmful to the equal rights campaign and is also medically inaccurate.
Words are a very powerful tool in the struggle for equality and acceptance. Please choose your words wisely.
By and large the medical community regards homosexuality and bisexuality as normal variations of human sexuality.
— Ben
NMG #1
How far we have sunk? The sad part is that these people running the show take us for fools, like we as a community have no say in the matter.
We all get that the biggest sponsor calls the shots. I don’t think you have to explain events to any gay person.
We can see a flop when we see one. For that matter, most of us know or work in an allied field and we get that there are compensations for sponsors in commercial ventures.
However, I can’t help but think that our community venture is being forced to comply with what straight people think is okay for gay people. It seems that the help comes with the control and PR wheel of Team NSW that screams CONFORM or die.
Sponsors have realised what a cash cow the gay market is to them, so let them support our version of what gay represents, not what they think it should be. We are all creative enough to find a balance here.
If Virgin want in, they do so on our terms, A double-decker bus with your name on it does not represent support.
If the police want to participate, fine, but do so without your shirts on. Same goes for the firemen and the other endless government agencies forced to participate. Walking in uniform is not what we represent. “We are all the same gay or straight.” Er, I don’t think so.
It’s our diversity that defines us. Since everyone including Ricky Martin is now giving us their version of gay I decided I’m no longer GAY. I’m changing to being and living FANTASTIC. I’m now a FANTASTIC. And I’m starting my own parade.
— Azhar
NMG #2
It seems that there is no making anyone happy — for NMG to survive it has to have corporate sponsors.
I appreciate the effort and fight that the ’78ers went through for me to be able to walk down the street holding my partner’s hand and while they are some of the custodians of our history, times have changed and we need to move with the times.
NMG is a company with financial responsibility and reporting requirements. NMG has bills to pay and has to survive. The organisation can be run as either a political organisation or a strong corporate business.
The reality is that without sponsors NMG will not be around in five years. Then the ’78ers will have nothing to complain about as the organisation will not exist.
Stop complaining and get involved in the NMG and support what the people who give up their time and effort to keep the organisation running.
’78ers, while we appreciate you, stop with the anger and hostility.
I wonder if the EGM has been called because a number of the ’78ers know how to play the consitutional game — hoping to gain their own advantage.
— Left wondering
NMG #3
How can the board and CEO of NMG reasonably expect members to engage in discussion about the 2010 season without the benefit of financial data?
Are these guardians of Mardi Gras saying they are such poor managers that they don’t know the financial result, or do they know the financial result but choose to keep it secret?
Either way, it’s unacceptable.
This secrecy, poor management, alienation of community groups, rash last-minute decisions, commercialisation and general arrogance of NMG honchos reeks of the lead-up to the 2002 collapse.
— Alex
NMG #4
You may as well call off the meeting. There is no point discussing the pros and cons of the split and all the other guff without the $$$ info to back it up.
All this will be is another committee vent slagfest with whingers whinging and good people avoiding topics because they really can’t talk about things with valid proof.
Please don’t do a disservice to Mardi Gras by putting on a farcical meeting. Get the financials in order, and then sort it out! It needs to be quick though, otherwise you will stuff up another year for international and interstate visitors. And you can plainly see they had a massive impact on the events.
— Sean

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