Letters to the Editor

MIRACLE OVER
Our miracle didn’t last long.
All night outside Kinselas and the Courthouse Hotel the crowds in the square (a no alcohol zone??) were drinking, shouting, screeching, arguing very noisily, using the lanes behind the square for all types of toileting etc. and making an unwanted return.
Sunday 14 December from 6am on the hellhole of Taylor Sq was back. At 8am the police were trying to get the drunks to move on, not with a lot of success.
Several friends and I did a walk down Oxford St late into Sunday morning. It really hadn’t changed. The lock-out affected some venues.
However, the unlocked clubs take the spaces from locked ones to create havoc on Oxford St. A suggestion -” perhaps all venues should be locked down. I am sure the residents who live in the immediate area around Oxford St would appreciate and benefit from this lock-out.
-” Fred, Surry Hills

INTIMACY
It was interesting reading another committed gay man’s take on intimacy and what it means to us as gay men and our relationships (SSO 948).
Most of us in committed domestic bliss long-term relationships (especially after 15 years) know what intimacy is and the truth that it is based on.
I couldn’t help but wonder what PP [Paul Purcell] really meant by wanting to explore new relationships with other men. This was not very clear.
I wonder also, as an ex-long-term partner of someone who went off to explore an intimate relationship with another man, what PP’s partner has in store for him.
I don’t mean to sound critical, just put another point of view on behalf of the partners who may feel a little devalued here. Intimacy and honesty start at home ?? I say look out doubting Thomas. This story is a reflection of one man, hopefully not of our community.
-” Bill, Elizabeth Bay

COUPLES CONFUSION
Dear Prime Minister
I’m not sure I understand the new government’s new stance on marriage … It seems that little old ladies are going to be interrogated by Centrelink about their sex life, deemed as couples, and lose their pensions, while young out gay couples who just want to marry are still not allowed to. That can’t be right, can it?
-” norrie mAy-welby, Redfern

CONCERN FOR GHANA
I am genuinely concerned for gay and lesbian rights in British West Africa especially Ghana.
I would like to know what the gay community in Australia plans to do about helping free our gay and lesbian people from torture, violence, and serious cases of subtle and direct discrimination in the above-mentioned region.
I have been looking on Wikipedia for information about gay life in West Africa. I have come up with Gully magazine online, www.thegullyonline.com.
I would like you to rally the gay community in Australia to help our gay brothers and sisters in British West Africa.
After all, Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria are all part of the British Commonwealth.
To reach the Gay and Lesbian Association of Ghana, email: [email protected] or [email protected]
-” Mathew, Palmerston North, New Zealand

HEALTH AMBASSADORS
To Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Subject: Roxon’s health ambassadors
Comment: Health Minister Roxon appointed six men as health ambassadors, showing yet again her misjudgement in her portfolio.
Two of the men are known notorious homophobes, one of whom has used an expression used by anti-semites who pretend to like Jews by saying some of my best friends are Jews. He has said, some of my best friends are gays.
Homophobia is rampant in our communities leading to abuse, violence and murder of gays, lesbians, transgenders and people living with HIV/AIDS (GLTH communities).
Two of these six men belong to a group called the Fatherhood Foundation which published a paper entitled 21 Reasons Why Gender Matters.
While the ALP works on futile attempts at net censorship, this sort of hate preaching on the web will continue unabated. The ALP is not known for its friendship with the GLTH communities and the support it showed for the Howard marriage bill in 2004 is an indication of its approach. Discrimination against these communities is writ large and continues unabated.
Not only should Roxon be removed from the ministry, but the second of the homophobes whom she has left as one of her ambassadors must be removed immediately.
-” Mannie, Melbourne

GOODWILL?
Maybe I’m just an incurable romantic, but I always felt the association of gay and shithouse did little to promote our image. But following the recent beat queen vigil, it seems others disagree.
Now, while we stick our cocks up each other (illegally) in public places, the police are to undergo special training in sensitivity, to deal with us. Not bad for a marginalised community of persecuted victims.
And it’s comforting to know that should some Dad from the real world take his little boy into a public toilet and be confronted by a couple of queens masturbating at the urinal, and a floor strewn with used condoms, then that homophobic Dad had better watch his tongue, because if he dares to blaspheme our Holy Name the Anti-Discrimination Board is there for us, obediently bending over backwards to avenge our hurt feelings.
The suggestion that community goodwill is a two-way street is deeply offensive to the gay attitude, so it’s important that we punish all those who have a negative perception of us until their perceptions are corrected, and only then will peace, joy and love descend upon the kingdom.
-” Allan, Bondi Junction

CRAZY LAWS
I have to totally agree with Maxi (SSO 948). I, like a lot of your readers, work shift work and going home from work Saturday night round 2.30am was like a living hell.
I’ve lived in the Darlinghurst area for nearly 15 years and have never seen it so bad on Oxford St. Violence and broken bottles all the way down Darlinghurst Rd to William St -” a usually reasonably quiet area around 3am when everyone is having fun in clubs. What if I wanted to have a quick drink at a pub to wind down from work? Forget it! Too scared to walk home afterwards anyway now and I have never felt scared to walk home from Oxford St.
I feel for security -” they are put in place to take care of the patrons inside but now have to turn most of them onto the streets.
And what of the owners of the hotels affected? Most readers would be surpris-ed to know that the lock-out is every day. I went with a friend to the Oxford on Monday night round 1.30am -” usually full of hospitality people having a good time. I have never once had a problem before there. There was a lock-out at 2am as required and my friend and I were the only people in the place. How ridiculous -” Oxford St was dead and it’s summer.
What are tourists who come for Mardi Gras going to make of it? How venues are going to pay staff or for that matter keep them working there is a wonder to me!
I’m not suggesting that the idea behind the laws is a bad thing but, Nathan Rees, have a walk down Oxford St now with Clover Moore and see what these laws are doing to Oxford St. I’m sure this is being repeated everywhere where lock-outs are required.
It’s only a matter of time before someone is killed in the area if the violence I saw was any indication and Maxi will agree after her campaign to make the streets safer -” it is 100 percent worse now. God only knows what New Year’s Eve will be like!
Write, like my friends and I are doing, to the Premier and get these ridiculous laws overturned before it is too late!
-” Michael, Darlinghurst

SHOUT OUT
Last weekend I attended the anti-censorship rally outside Town Hall and was truly saddened by the lack of turn-out from the GLBT community.
We are one of the groups who will be most vulnerable if these changes come through, so I was honestly hoping to see a mass turn-out from the GLBT community.
But alas, I was only surrounded by nerdy men carrying copies of their Linux manual, when I should have been surrounded by rainbow flags.
All I can say now is that no one from this community will have the right to complain when in the future they can’t log on to their favourite porn site, or access certain community groups because the government’s filter has gone too far.
Making a stand before the fact is so much easier than whining after.
-” Robert, Glebe

SAYING THANKS
Before the year ends, let’s thank the volunteer groups that keep our community going for nothing more than the love of their fellow men, women, and everyone in between.
The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby had a fantastic year getting us more than we expected as part of the gay law changes. Mardi Gras’s 30th anniversary told the world that Sydney’s party ain’t over yet. Queer Screen put on another great couple of festivals. Twenty10 and the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service made sure the next generation knows that the community belongs to them too. Sporting teams and religious groups and HIV services gave people a reason to get involved and stay connected.
If you had contact with any of those volunteer groups this year, why not send them an email or a call to let them know they’re appreciated.
-” Claire, Chippendale