Letters to the Editor

Populist policy
And so it continues. The 2am lock-out, much maligned by responsible drinkers and much adored by party poopers, just isn’t going away.
The issue that I see now is how will the state Government assess the 3 month trial period once it’s over? In regards to this Government, I must say the cynic and the realist in me have merged.
I’m sure many of us who have been going out would have noticed the heightened police presence on the strip since the laws came into effect.
I have no problem with more cops on the strip. That’s what we’ve been asking for, for years. My issue is that you can see where this is inevitably headed.
Come February, there’ll be an announcement by the Government that the lock-out has been a rousing success! Why? Well, take a look at the much vaunted figures, my friend! Assaults down, drunken violence down… it must be working!
What? There has been a massive police presence on the strip every weekend since it began (and barely anything before it)? Ssssh! Don’t tell them that! How are we supposed to make a populist policy work if you interrupt it with … the facts!
If it worked for George Dubya, then it’ll work for you … wait … never mind.
-” James

NSW REFORMS
In the retrospectives of 2008, it appears that former columnist Manoj Dias-Abey (SSO 949) was surprisingly unaware of the significant gay and lesbian law reforms of 2008 put in place by the NSW Labor Government.
By the end of 2008, the NSW Labor Government had amended the final 48 pieces of legislation. These changes ensure that same-sex couples are treated equally as straight de factos in all areas of NSW law.
For the first time our families with two Mums and kids were recognised under the law.
There is now only one exception and that is in the area of adoption. The government has sent a reference to an upper house committee to look into adoption for same-sex couples and will report this year. Submissions to the committee close 13 February and can be sent to [email protected]
There is a raft of other initiatives that have been implemented by the Labor Government including equal age of consent of men and women, a cross-government plan to tackle homophobic violence, funding for same-sex domestic violence programs, the most significant funding for HIV/AIDS in Australia and events funding for Mardi Gras.
Labor has worked closely with the GLBT community to make these reforms a reality and will continue to do so in 2009 and beyond.
-” Penny Sharpe, Labor member, NSW Legislative Council

BEATS
I am not a beat user, but have been following the debate on these places with interest.
Recently I was chatting to a man who went to one of them. At the same time, unfortunately for him, so did members of the NSW police.
He had to provide his driver’s licence, which was taken back to the police vehicle for a time and then returned. He was alone, clothed, and not partaking in any activity that could remotely be described as lewd. There were no toilets, or indeed any buildings, just trees and shrubs.
In some overseas countries where things are a bit more progressive such as Denmark, these areas are patrolled by police, but to watch out for any thuggery, as opposed to that other word.
In Australia, a gay man is treated like a criminal. Some police will retort that they are just doing their jobs. This suggests they have no skills in negotiation and are inflexible. They too can make choices. Applying the law punitively suggests that all laws are right and just. A short walk through history will show this is not the case.
Treatment like this does nothing but raises the ire of a public that is becoming increasingly jaded.
The chap I met described the law enforcers he met using the C word.
Being a teen in the ’80s, I have seen our society in some respects become more formal and intolerant. Common sense and a genuine concern for public safety have disappeared from the radar. My hope is that they’ll become like a great ’80s record and make a bit of a comeback.
-” Andy

WORSE OFF
A year after Australians voted for change, the racist NT intervention continues, refugees are still being stranded on island detention centres, and our response to climate change is as beholden to corporate interests as it was under Howard.
For gay people things are worse under Rudd. Howard wouldn’t let us marry, and didn’t recognise our relationships at all. Rudd won’t let us marry, but recognises our relationships if it costs us a pension.
Straight pensioners may see Rudd as Santa, but there’s a already the nasty reek of a cruel party hangover.
-” norrie mAy-welby

INTIMACY
I’d like to set Bill (SSO 949) straight on a few comments he made on my Exploring Intimacy article.
Bill assumes that I am an exact copy of his cheating boyfriend because I used the words: I wanted to explore new relationships with other men.
Firstly, Bill, saying that you want to explore relationships doesn’t mean you want to sleep with every Tom, Dick and Harry you stumble across in a dark bar late on a Saturday night.
For the record I didn’t see the need to get so intimate with my fellow intimacy group members that I slept with one, or indeed all, of them -” not that there’s anything wrong with that, to quote Seinfeld.
What I wanted to achieve from the workshop was to make emotional connections with other gay men.
This succeeded well beyond my wildest dreams because I now have five wonderful friends who I meet almost each week to chat over coffee, see movies, party with and even plan a camping trip.
They are all incredibly supportive, caring and honest men who I feel privileged to know, just not in the biblical sense.
Secondly, Bill, you say that most of us know what intimacy is based on.
Does that mean you think individual partners in relationships are interchangeable and should never have the chance to develop and grow?
There are lots of gay men in long-term relationships who no longer have any sense of intimacy or depth precisely because of the assumption that they think they know it all.
Why slam the door on any further self-development or indeed connections with other men just because you are coupled? As Auntie Mame says, Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!
Incidentally, my partner thanks you for your selfless and heartfelt warning but says that, as I am not a mirror of your last relationship, you should really save such advice for someone who actually needs it.
Perhaps you should do the Exploring Intimacy workshop yourself? I’m sure it would open your eyes to what intimacy means beyond the purely physical.
-” Paul Purcell