STAR OBSERVER WEEKLY NEWS WRAP UP

SPORT: FOOTBALL PEAK BODY SAYS THEY’D SUPPORT A SOCCER PLAYER WHO CAME OUT

ON the eve of the World Cup, Australia’s peak soccer body has told the Star Observer a top flight footballer who came out would be treated with “respect and support.”

However, the president of one of Australia’s most respected LGBTI soccer teams has said the sport is not yet at the stage where a gay player would receive the same adulation as Michael Sam — the first and only out footballer in a major NFL team.

 

The World Cup kicks off in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow at 6am Australian time, with the opening clash between hosts Brazil and Croatia | Read more

 

NATIONAL: GAY MARRIAGE LETTERS BETWEEN SCHOOLBOY AND TONY ABBOTT GOES GLOBAL

NEWCASTLE schoolboy Orlando Burcham’s letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott has reached global media networks this week after Australian Marriage Equality first posted it on Facebook last week.

In Orlando’s letter, he asks the PM why he won’t legalise gay marriage in Australia.

The 11-year-old son of a lesbian couple was eventually answered by the PM, who re-iterated his views on marriage and explains that if there were to be a change in policy it, “would be a matter for the Coalition Party room”.

Burcham’s letter and the PM’s response first surfaced on the Australian Marriage Equality Facebook page | Read more

 

NATIONAL: LATE GAY RIGHTS PIONEER LEX WATSON AWARDED QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY HONOUR

A PIONEER in the Australian gay and lesbian rights movement, Lex Watson, has been made a Member of the Order of Australia on this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Watson (pictured above), who knew about the honour two weeks before he died last month following a struggle with cancer, was listed for “significant service to the community as an advocate for gay and lesbian rights.”

He had been a campaigner for gay and lesbian rights since the late 1960s and was a foundation member, and later co-president, of CAMP, the first gay rights organisation in Australia | Read more

 

HISTORY: CLOVER MOORE’S EARLY CAREER BOOSTED BY GAY AND LESBIAN VOTERS

THIS month, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore celebrated 10 years since she was popularly elected to office as an independent candidate.

A longtime ally of the LGBTI community in Sydney and nationally, before she became the Lord Mayor of one Australia’s richest city councils, Cr Moore already had a burgeoning career in NSW politics.

She was first elected as the independent MP for the seat of Bligh in 1988 and remained in state politics until 2012, when she stepped down due to new laws that prevented NSW MPs from holding positions in councils and state parliament simultaneously | Read more

 

NEW SOUTH WALES: WATCHDOG SLAMS SYDNEY MARDI GRAS FOR “EXPLOITATIVE AND DEGRADING” ADVERT

A POSTCARD produced by Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which featured a naked man sitting on the back of a woman, has been criticised as being exploitative, degrading and highly sexualised by the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB).

The postcard, which was available from cafes and restaurants around the time of Mardi Gras this year, was the work of photographer Elvis di Fazio and featured burlesque performer Lillian Starr.

The image featured a man raising his hand to strike the woman, dressed in fishnet stockings and heels, similar to the action of a jockey whipping a horse.

The ASB said the advert broke several sections of the Advertiser Code of Ethics including using exploitative sexual imagery | Read more

 

NEW SOUTH WALES: LGBTI COMMUNITY ENCOURAGED TO CONFRONT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

TOO few people notice the warning signs of domestic violence from friends and family members, say backers of a new campaign aimed at the LGBTI community.

The initiative, Stand Up Against Domestic Violence, aims to break down the barriers that prevent LGBTI people from talking to those close to them who might be in an abusive relationship.

Health promotion body ACON has produced the campaign which has also found support from the NSW Police, Sydney Council and the federal Department of Social Services.

ACON chief executive Nicolas Parkhill said the initiative would inform, support and empower LGBTI people to act when they see the signs of domestic abuse among friends | Read more

 

QUEENSLAND: BRISBANE SHINES AT QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY BALL AWARDS

ONE of the world’s longest running LGBTI events lit the halls and main auditorium of Brisbane’s City Hall with the glitz and glamour of The Great Gatsby last weekend as Brisbane Pride Festival held its annual Queen’s Birthday Ball Awards.

Marking the 53rd year of the event, the awards that celebrate contributions to the Queensland LGBTI community by outstanding people and organisations, also revelled in a few firsts.

After close and unprecedented cooperation with Brisbane Pride, Brisbane Council offered to host the ceremony in the iconic City Hall’s main auditorium for the first time | Read more

 

WORLD: GAY MARRIAGE FINALLY NOT JUST A FANTASY FOR FINAL FANTASY FANS

BEST-selling Japanese video game franchise Final Fantasy will feature same-sex marriage for the first time in the series’ 14th instalment.

Announced by the game’s director and producer Naoki Yoshida at video games expo E3 over the weekend, a forthcoming update to the game will allow players of the same sex to “pledge their eternal love and or friendship in a ceremony of eternal bonding”.

Speaking through an interpreter at video games expo E3 in Los Angeles, Yoshida said the development team had discussed the issue and realised there was no reason to discriminate against fictional same-sex couples in the game’s imaginary setting of Eorzea | Read more

 

WORLD: TEXAS REPUBLICANS BACK TREATMENTS TO TURN GAY PEOPLE STRAIGHT

REPUBLICAN politicians in the US state of Texas earlier this week officially backed “gay cure” treatments despite some states making the therapy illegal.

Delegates at the Texas Republican Party’s convention in Fort Worth voted to recognise the validity of reparative therapy, essentially treatments to supposedly turn gay people straight.

The Texan wing of the Republican Party now recognises “the legitimacy and efficacy of counselling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle.”

Backers of the measures say it is aimed at giving people a choice | Read more