Letters – issue 1038

DEAR PENNY
Dear the Hon Penny Wong,
I am writing to you about changes I believe need to occur so the stigma is removed from society about homosexuality.
I migrated from New Zealand at the age of 13. I had already came to the conclusion that I was gay and was dealing with this with the help of teachers at the Catholic school I was attending. This may be a shock to you but even a Catholic school in New Zealand has support for gays and lesbians.
I started attending a high school in Sydney’s south west. By Year 10 (15 years old) I had attempted suicide three times and began drug abuse due to the verbal, mental and physical abuse I was getting from students at that school.
By the end of Year 10, I was nearly putting myself in a grave so I decided to leave the school and go to TAFE which even the principal of the school said I would “suit better” and the school could not offer me any “protection” from the abuse.
My parents were no better at protecting me. I lost all my chances of gaining a higher education due to the lack of support gays and lesbians receive in Australia. I would like to bring your attention to a study that Wesley Mission Australia conducted.
“Suicide is the leading cause of death among gay male, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual youth… Gay males were six times more likely to make an attempt than heterosexual males. Lesbians were more than twice more likely to commit suicide than the heterosexual women in the study. A majority of the suicide attempts by homosexuals took place at age 20 or younger, with nearly one third occurring before age 17.”
Penny, if you can read that statement and not feel gays and lesbians need more support at high school, open your eyes.
We need a LGBT and straight education group in every high school so we can get support and so straight students find a better understanding of who we are, and if they have problems dealing with the LGBT community, how to better deal with that.
We need to get stigma removed from our society. We need a federally-funded hotline for the LGBT community, with people on hand to deal with problems LGBT youth are dealing with and the LGBT society as a whole.
Penny, I am not asking for much. I’m not even asking for gay marriage even though it’s a fundamental human right. I am asking you to be our mouth in Parliament and ask for more support for LGBT youth, because if we don’t, it may be too late and more youth will become figures in studies like the one above.
— RL

UNFAITHFUL
In negotiations with the Labor Party, Greens leader Bob Brown has offered his party’s support in return for a list of demands that include climate change and indigenous rights. Conspicuously absent from the negotiations was same-sex marriage.
With the Greens riding high on the pink vote and sidelining gay marriage as a secondary issue, it’s clear Bob Brown is turning his back on his own community in preference for his party’s own political interests.
— Stuart

THUMBS UP, IMPY
As a recent arrival in Sydney, I had little knowledge of the Imperial before I went this past weekend.
I’d heard a few misty-eyed stories from friends about how a few years back, it was the place to be on the scene, but I must admit I dismissed their tales as nostalgia. After all, a pub’s a pub, right?
But what a sensational night I had at the opening on Saturday. Sure, some of the atmosphere was no doubt due to the excitement of opening night, but the excitement wasn’t just confined to those patrons who already had fond memories of the ‘Impy’, as I heard it called a few times. I met plenty of fellow newbies who were, like me, enjoying a roomy, clean, well-appointed — and most importantly, attitude-free — venue.
Some friends who used to practically live at the place said the revamp left many parts virtually unrecognisable — but in a good way!
Let’s hope the staff can keep up the high standard they set for themselves this weekend. If so, I know we’re I’ll be spending a good part of my summer.
— Dan

IMPERIAL FLOAT
Like being gulped into the underbelly of the most uproariously overstated Mardi Gras float, the Imperial Hotel makeover is too busy, too cheap, too loud, too much!
A veritable glitz and glam burp. Every interior designer’s worst nightmare! A bunch of out-of-control queens, trannys or party dykes, whoever zooshed Impy have a lot to answer for. The bizarrely handled art deco features, so much colour, they must have thought they were building Mardi Gras’ lead float.
I’m sorry to say they’ve made some monumental oversights. Even on wheels as a Mardi Gras float the Imperial Hotel could never squeeze her way up Oxford St. Cornering through Taylor Square she’d end up jammed on Arq.
There isn’t enough space to park Impy outside the party. And for god’s sake, imagine getting her back home afterwards, especially now the dizzy thing lost her stiletto!
Love it.
— Jamie

COMPASSION?
I commiserate with William (Letters, 1037) and his former prostate. I had a similar experience, although not with ACON but with BGF.
I’ve always maintained part-time employment since being diagnosed with HIV in 1992 because I felt it was important for me to maintain a sense of normality. But part-time employment means a lower income, no luxuries, and struggling from week to week — I haven’t even used a heater this winter because I can’t afford the power bills.
So when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007 I couldn’t afford the treatment I needed. I met with a BGF counsellor to ask if they could assist in any way (all? some? anything!) toward the cost of life-saving surgery, but my request was dismissed on the grounds that I didn’t fall under their required minimum income level.
Because I worked part-time and had struggled to support myself these past 20 years, I was considered unsuitable for their largesse.
I was shocked and disappointed, but also confused as it was coming from an organisation that promotes itself loudly in the community as a primary supporter of HIV positive people who are struggling financially, and also one that isn’t shy in regularly ‘begging’ for donations itself.
I was forced to make a humiliating appeal on compassionate grounds to the federal government (including statutory declarations about my HIV status) to release most of my meagre superannuation (built up part-time over 20 years, so there wasn’t much), and I paid for the entire operation myself, leaving nothing in the bank for the next emergency.
Pity BGF couldn’t show the same ‘compassion’.
— Patrick