Letters – issue 1049

Letters – issue 1049

ROYAL LOVE

The announcement of Prince William’s marriage to his long-term girlfriend makes for good news copy but I’m really looking forward to Buckingham Palace announcing Prince Harry’s marriage to his long-term boyfriend.

– John

KEEP FIGHTING

In response to the article Marriage Equality ‘inevitable’ (SSO 1047), we at CAAH Sydney disagree.

While it is true that the likelihood of winning equal marriage rights is increasing, we do not feel that it is a guarantee.

If it wasn’t for the grassroots campaigning that has occurred over the last six years and the community being so vocal in support of equal rights during the election, this campaign would not have gotten itself to where it is today.

It must be remembered that we still have a Prime Minister that won’t budge on the issue and that there is much more work to be done to convince a number of MPs and senior leaders in the majority parties to support this basic reform.

We feel it’s not in the best interests of the campaign to assume that will happen anytime soon because historically, this attitude has made it hard to win a civil rights campaign.

We strongly encourage the community to continue to put pressure on the government to give us equal marriage rights because without this pressure, it could be a very long time before we win.

You can do this by attending the next mass rally for equal marriage rights at Sydney Town Hall from 1pm on Saturday, November 27. Hope to see you there.

— Ben Cooper and Cat Rose, CAAH Sydney co-conveners

DISGRACE

The estate taxes demanded by the United States’ Internal Revenue Service against its gay population are a disgrace (“Defence of Marriage Act challenge”, SSO 1048). As such, it would be completely jusitified for gay people to engage in acts of civil disobedience in an effort to bring about an end to that country’s financial abuse and discrimination.

– Stuart

BASHING #1

Good luck guys, I know it wouldn’t be an easy case to win but doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. The police need to be there to protect us no matter our orientation. If this happened to two straight people you can bet they’d  have worked a lot harder.

— Allen

BASHING #2

Aaron and Greg, please go ahead and take legal action against the NSW Police. It will give some comfort to older gays who still remember the ugly, homophobic bashings and jailing dealt out by the Manly Police and corrupt Police Courts under the frightening Askin Government. Many of those gays committed suicide or mysteriously disappeared over the cliffs of Manly.

I still recall those days with horror after seventy years of nervous twitching and nightmares. There was no redress in those days, as the police went about destroying your life and career. We in long-suffering Queensland support you.

— Peter

BASHING #3

Hats off to Aaron and Greg for taking this to the next level. If this was a heterosexual bashing I’m sure the police would’ve established a crime scene and the perpetrator would’ve been found guilty.

I understand the NSW Police are overworked and understaffed, but their job still has to be done and in this case it clearly wasn’t.

Homophobic violence seems to be showing its ugly head again, not just in the Western Suburbs but also in Sydney. If it takes these two young men to sue the police force to get their act together and do their jobs properly, so be it. If the police force treated gay bashings with the respect that the victims deserve, it might send a clear message out to any meat heads that think it’s cool to bash a gay man or lesbian that it’s not cool and they will be punished for it.

— Rusty

Going backwards?

RE: Queer youth at risk (SSO 1048), we seem to be going backwards in LGBT acceptance in this country.

Oxford St isnt safe anymore and neither is our schools. Something seriously needs to be done but there seems to be more apathy within the gay community when you compare now to the 1980s for example.

It’s a real shame that highschools arent safe places for young kids to grow up in and figure out who they are. Being a teenager is hard enough let alone having to deal with your sexuality which is different from everyone else.

— Alex

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