In Brief

ANTI-GAY HOAX IN PENGUIN

Two property developers in the Tasmanian coastal town of Penguin have been subjected to a new campaign of anti-gay attacks. This week, graffiti declaring No Gays appeared on a road underpass and road signs, and leaflets promoting a hoax Good Friday gay pride parade were distributed throughout the town. Businessman Stephen Roche and his partner Keith Westerby are at the centre of a debate regarding a planned apartment development, and were first subjected to anti-gay leaflets in February. Politicians from all Tasmanian parties condemned those attacks, but Rodney Croome, Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesperson, said this latest round showed the problem of homophobia had not been dealt with. This kind of stupid hoax shows how far some people will go to stir up prejudice and divide the community, Croome said.

IAN ROBERTS MOVIE WINS AWARD

Football hero-turned-actor Ian Roberts is the narrator of the movie Transient, which took out the award as Best Independent Work at the Newtown Flicks Festival last weekend. The film, made by Craig Boreham and Genevieve Derwent, is a drama detailing the relationship of two men who fall in love while in Vietnam, but when they return to Sydney, their bond drifts apart. Holding The Man‘s Nicolas Eadie starred in the film Still Life, which won Best Student Work.

PRISCILLA TURNS 200

Wednesday 4 April’s matinee performance of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert marked the 200th performance of the musical, which opened in October. The big-budget stage version of the 1994 Oscar-winning movie has proven to be the biggest hit the Lyric Theatre has hosted in years, earning well over $20 million at the box office.

VICTORIAN MOVES WELCOMED

The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby has called on the NSW government to match the reforms instigated by the Victorian government this week. Under the new proposal being investigated in Victoria, gay and lesbian couples could have access to the same legal rights as heterosexual couples. Premier Steve Bracks has asked attorney-general Rob Hulls for guidance on whether a relationship register open to same-sex couples could be set up. The register would probably be similar to the Tasmanian system. Ghassan Kassisieh, spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, said the Victorian reforms exposed some important issues. NSW is lagging behind on parenting reform, she said. NSW is being left out of the debate on formal recognition. And finally, Australia needs a national system which grants full equality to same-sex couples across federal areas of law, such as superannuation, immigration and taxation.

CHINA GOES GAY ONLINE

A Beijing-based online TV show Tongxing Xianglian (Connecting Homosexuals) is China’s first program to focus exclusively on gay issues and the first with an openly homosexual host, its producer Gang Gang claimed as he prepared for the show to debut this week on www.phoenixtv.com. There are many people in China’s gay community, but people don’t have a deep enough understanding about this community, Gang said. Attitudes towards homosexuals in China have relaxed in recent years, particularly since 2001 when the Chinese Psychiatric Association stopped listing homosexuality as a mental illness.