Intersex insights

As many people are aware I am a member and Branch President in the ALP. It came as some surprise to me when my Federal member John Reid invited all in the party, who supported marriage equality, which includes me, to join the Greens. I have dined with John and campaigned on his behalf, organising polling booths and handing out party material. I had thought I had good relations with him. His invitation to leave the party was insultingly shocking.

John is aware that I am both Intersex and in an apparently same-sex relationship. I was unaware John took a dim view of my domestic situation and thought he was pleased to see an effective and active member in the party working for him and the Labor value of a fair go for all.

My branch has always accepted me and supported me and likes me enough to vote me as Branch President and to a number of other positions within the ALP system.

On Monday my branch moved and passed a motion supporting marriage equality and distancing it from the comments of our Federal member. The motion was debated and passed unanimously in the presence of John Murphy.

During the discussions with John Murphy that followed he indicated that up to sixty percent of his electorate was against marriage equality. He then acknowledged he was unaware of other polling that showed at least 48 percent of electors in Reid supported it. His feeling and numbers rested wholly on e-mails, community consultation with such groups as Rotary, his church, and Probus and the like. He confessed he had not acted on the Greens motion to canvass the electorate, insisting that it was insulting as he already had widespread community contact. John Murphy speaks with less than one percent of his constituency face to face each year and has never formally surveyed them to discover their feelings about marriage equality.

He went on to speak to the carbon tax debate, saying that it showed Labor values to “pursue a policy even though it was unpopular because it was right.”

“It showed labor was the party of change and progress … it demonstrated leadership on difficult but necessary social policy”. Somehow to Murphy these are principles that do not apply when considering marriage.

ILGA is holding an Intersex forum in Brussels during September of this year. This is a ground breaking event that promises to see the largest group of Intersex individuals in one place at one time ever.

This is one of the most significant developments in the Intersex rights movement so far.

OII Australia has engaged with ILGA for some years on the basis of Intersex being subjected to homophobic oppression, shared objectives and the possibility of support for our individual Intersex objectives.  ILGA has supported OII and encouraged us to educate and collaborate with the LGBT membership through their extensive network.

By GINA WILSON, OII Australia