Letters – issue 1033

Letters – issue 1033

WONG AND MARRIAGE
I agree with others that Penny Wong’s reasons for not supporting gay marriage are absurd. I accept that she is not likely to rock the boat on this issue in an election year, and that’s all she had to say.
But, equally I think your depiction of her stance as ‘betrayal’ (SSO 1032) is absurd. She may be an out lesbian but that does not make her beholden to anyone on any issue, and she must be free to make her own decisions without being accused of treachery.
And, again, we must conider that there is an election coming up and no party apart from the Greens will touch this issue with a bargepole. In a tight contest the matter is electoral poison.
The sooner we accept the reality here, and the sooner we stop making threats to vote against Labor in retaliation for Wong’s stance, the better.
Before people rush out and try to punish Labor they should consider the alternative. Do they really think that a Liberal government, with the Catholic throwback, Tony Abbott, as prime minister, will be any more sympathetic on gay issues?
I would suggest that he would be much worse than any Labor government, and the cause of gay rights would be set back for years, if not decades. I say this not as a Labor supporter (I walked out of the party way back in 1983 disgusted by the actions of Sussex St) but as one who votes for the best of a bad lot.
If people wish to make a protest, the obvious way is to vote for the Greens, knowing that unless they take the time to fill out every square on the ballot papers their preference will then go to Labor. We could do worse.
— Noel
OUTDATED CUSTOM
A bride wears white to symbolise sexual purity with a veil over the face for modesty — much like the oft-debated Muslim attire … but let’s not go there!
Seriously though, how many white-clad, veiled brides are virgins in this day and age?
Marriage has become something of a parody but it survives for ‘cultural, religious and historic’ reasons. Why then the public outcry over the ALP stating the bleeding obvious?
On the other hand, same-sex relationships should be recognised and celebrated because they are same-sex relationships. Compromising the already outdated heterosexual custom to accommodate homosexuals only emphasises the travesty marriage has become.
For how much longer do we have to have our intelligence — not to mention sexuality — insulted by claims that marriage will mean ‘equality’? Or worse, it’s a ‘human rights issue’, even comparing it to slavery! Blacks and whites were never equal under slavery, it was abolished altogether.
Human rights are fundamentally about freedom. Anyone who has to consider marriage in order to gain a measure of legal, financial or personal security, is not exercising personal freedom.
Since the 2007 federal election almost every remaining piece of discriminatory legislation has been amended in favour of same-sex couples by the ALP Government of which Senator Wong has been a member. If marriage is the last law standing then there’s a good reason for it: it’s the least relevant law for relationships in the 21st century.
— Barrie

AKERMANIS QUESTION
Is Jason Akermanis gay? With his two-tone hair and talk of what he does in the change room, to me he is trying so hard to be butch.
Sorry, but he wouldn’t look out of place at the Shift.
— Kimmi

SHIFTING TIME
I can’t understand Clarence Cruz’s battle calls to ‘rally the community’ for the court hearing.
It’s a private business matter, why the hell does the community care? We have bigger battles to fight and win rather than turning up to a court to stand on the steps to watch two businesses battle out lease agreements.
Shadd Danesi is straight and has successfully run and supported gay venues (although there is one starting with ‘I’ that still remains off the radar!) If the Shift’s owners have broken the lease agreement then face to the music without the drama.
The venue has remained gay, still has the same stuck-up bar staff who are rude and obnoxious, so what’s the problem?
Perhaps front page reports by this very paper isn’t enough attention.
— Justin
CLOVER CULT
Since the early ’80s, watching the affair between the gay community and Clover Moore evolve into an almost cult-like marriage has invoked mixed feelings.
There’s no denying both parties have benefited enormously from the association. Since then, we ‘suburban gays’ have watched almost bemused at our city brothers and sisters feeding the ever growing ‘cult of Clover’ to the point where it has almost become sacrilege to question anything surrounding this person or the offices she holds.
This blind faith seemed to hardly raise an eyebrow when, in 2004, Moore sought and was given the keys to the City as Lord Mayor of Sydney due to the support of the substantial ‘gay vote’.
If there was any concern about one person bridging two roles or issues pertaining to conflict of interest it was hardly heard in the community.
These days, as an occasional visitor to Taylor Square to see my doctor, I can hardly believe my eyes at the wanton destruction of the roadways, parking spaces, businesses and sheer visual aesthetics of Surry Hills and other inner-city areas, due to Moore’s insane idea to turn Sydney into a European-type city.
While this travesty is being rolled out, the near silence from the inner-city gay community has been deafening. I’m told most residents don’t know it is happening until they come home from work and find the machinery and concrete fences outside their homes.
I believe there is a court challenge in the form of a class action about to happen (based on lack of diligence to environmental requirements) and there is always the hope the NSW Government will fulfil its duty by sacking the Sydney City Council.
As an older gay man and one-time activist, I can only hope the community learns a few lessons.  We are grateful for the support Moore has given us over many years, but that gratitude does not extend to being taken for granted or used as a rubber stamp on wild theories, absence of proper consultation and due process.
Indeed, I’m one of many who thinks it’s time for the gay community to say thank you, Ms Moore, and ‘cut the cord’, ‘declare decree nisi’ or ‘cut the head off the Medusa’.  As the song says, “It was a fine affair but now it’s over!”
— Daniel

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3 responses to “Letters – issue 1033”

  1. In response to Daniel in “Clover Cult”

    Who said anything about turning Sydney into a European-style city? Anyone who thinks that’s what the cycleway is about has completely missed the point. Sydney’s population is set to explode in the next ten years. Our city already can’t cope with current traffic congestion and it is seriously lacking in any infrastructure that will allow it to grow without becoming unmanageable. And let’s not get into how dangerous it is to be a cyclist in this city, with the attitudes of motorists and lack of bike lanes. Clover Moore is the only politician we have whose vision that extends beyond her next term in office. She is doing everything she can with the materials she has to make Darlinghurst a cleaner, more accessable and more sustainable environment for everyone. People in this city talk about sustainability this and accountability that, but when asked to walk the walk for a little while, no one wants to be inconvenienced. I think the “wanton destruction” you refer to is called a construction site, which will always be ugly. But at the end of the day, businesses along Bourke St are only set to benefit from greater accessibility, and there will be as much parking in the area as there ever was. So as a member of the inner city gay community, a Bourke St resident and a cyclist, I’ll break this “deafening silence” and say settle petal – we are lucky to have a politician who still has such clear vision after all these years.

  2. We are not the same.
    Why try to be the same as str8’s with absolutely everything?
    We are different.

  3. The sooner we accept the reality here, and the sooner we stop making threats to vote against Labor in retaliation for Wong’s stance, the better”

    You, like Wong, are dead wrong. I will not be voting labor. I will be voting for the Greens.

    Wong should have not touched the issue – she should have kept her mouth shut if that is all she had to say. Better to be thought evasive than to be found to be self serving.

    Wong needs to apologize. That she doesn’t want to marry or not is her personal decision. Her decision to stop others from having that choice is NOT her decision. She is an elected official and as such is beholden to us. That she is a lesbian makes what she has done even worse.