THE AGE HAS SACKED PAST EDITORS - TIME TO SACK THE CURRENT EDITOR!!

On Wednesday 5 May 2010 the following announcement appeared at the end of the letters page - underneath a letter of complaint about Catherine Deveny:

EDITOR'S NOTE: Catherine Deveny's column will no longer appear in The Age.Ms Deveny's comments on other media are not in keeping with the standards we set at this newspaper.

This is an absolute disgrace. Has the editor been approached by the rabid right-wing reactionary religious bigoted establishments to deny Catherine a voice in The Age?

What are the comment on other media to which the editor has taken exception?

We won't get an explanation, but we will be censored because Catherine dares to mock our society and in the process to give us something to think about and to have a laugh.

The Age has became a pathetic shadow of its former self - editors like Michael Gawenda and Andrew Jaspan haven't help lift the standard of what was once a great newspaper.

How art the mighty fallen??

Time to get rid of the current editor and try to restore some balance to this pathetic rag - now only one degree better than the other daily rag, but plumbing the depths of that one by publishing - or not - what it thinks its delicate readers ought to read.

Newspapers are rapidly sinking below the horizon, and it is easy to see why, after this effort to silence one of its better journalists who is not afraid to open her mouth. Pity all those others who have to shut up because their livelihoods depend on working for these disgusting people who control the media.

AND THANK GOODNESS FOR THE WORLD WIDE WEB AND ITS GREAT INVENTOR WHO HAS ENABLED US TO GET WHAT WE NEED IN THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY FROM AROUND THE WORLD!

--------and all this in response to a letter by Nicholas Yallop - who? I hear you ask? Oh, yes, Nicholas's father had some involvement with The Age some time ago. Here is Nicholas's letter:

Calculated to raise a profile - and offend

FOR someone of her experience in the media industry, Catherine Deveny seems quite naive to the power and reach of her insensitive Twitter comments.

The Age may employ her for her controversial and allegedly funny commentary, but I think many readers see her as an intellectual imposter doing nothing more than indulging her warped view of the world.

While she occasionally makes valuable points, Deveny seems intent on making them in the most vulgar manner. Just as with her disgusting attacks on Anzac Day, Deveny's comments regarding Rove McManus and Bindi Irwin were crude, thoughtless and merely said to provoke a reaction.

In her defence, she described Twitter as some form of intimate social networking platform, akin to ''passing notes in class''.

That is rubbish. Politicians and celebrities are using it to shape their brand and Deveny appears to be no different. Every tweet seems to be a calculated attempt to promote her shock-making ways, which are often nothing more than offensive.

Nicholas Yallop, Surrey Hills

RUDD AND ROXON LEAD THE HOMOPHOBIC CHARGE IN THE GOVERNMENT

It is an interesting observation that Kevin Rudd does not seem able to comprehend that gay, lesbian, transgender and HIV/AIDS (GLTH)members of the community are citizens of this country in the same way he and his family are - or maybe they aren't??

He does not utter these words, and his health minister, Nicola Roxon is the same, both not being able to understand or comprehend or unwilling to because of their homophobic disease that GLTH people are human beings and should benefit from the same human rights extended to most - not all people living in this country.

Rudd and Reagan - and Roxon - remember Reagan uttered the word AIDS for the first time 7 years into the epidemic when fellow actor Rock Hudson died of the disease.

Rudd and Roxon suffer from the disease of homophobia but it will not kill them. However it will kill those in our communities who are amongst the most vulnerable in our societies - the elderly, frail, disabled, disadvantaged, the poor, the homosexuals, the Aborigines, the Asylum Seekers.

There will be an election later this year, and neither of the two major parties have shown any willingness to treat GLTH people as voters. Punish them all by voting for those who DO support us, and let there be huge swings away from a two-party ruling system in this country.

Our health, mental and otherwise, doesn't matter to them, but we are alive, we vote and we will remember!

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Article in The Melbourne Times dated 5 May 2010:

LGBT community finds health system lacking for its needs

By Rosemary Bolger

Homosexual or bisexual people are more likely to be smokers and four times more likely to commit suicide or become homeless than heterosexuals, new statistics reveal.

An analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics data by the National LGBT Health Alliance also showed homosexual or bisexual people were twice as likely to be estranged from family and have a high level of psychological distress. The alarming figures have strengthened the alliance’s case for government funding.

President Paul Martin said the national health reforms failed to address the needs of the LGBT community.

Mr Martin believed the first step would be establishing a body to work with the federal government. He said most other special interest groups such as disabled people, women or seniors, had a devoted (sic) minister or parliamentary secretary, and one or more funded non-government organisations.

“We’re probably about 10 or 20 years behind, so there’s a degree of invisibility.”

The alliance is seeking just under $400,000 a year to pay for an office and a few staff.

Money from the alliance’s founding members including Gay and Lesbian Health at La Trobe University, will run out at the end of yhis year forcing it to close without government funding.

Mr Martin said the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender community’s health needs were not met.

“Most people don’t receive outright hostility, it’s just the service assumes everyone’s heterosexual. It’s the assumption that everyone’s the same so the service isn’t targeted to meet our particular needs.”

Health Minister Nicola Roxon’s office did not return TMT’s calls.

--------------------------------------
GLBT health refused federal funding

Written by Brendan Bolger | 03 May 2010 SX - Sydney

Funding requests have been rejected and an invite to work with the recently formed LGBT Health Alliance has been ignored by the federal government at a conference convened to help the health sector deal better with sexuality and gender diverse people.

At the launch of the 7th Health in Difference conference on Thursday, LGBT Health Alliance chair Paul Martin told more than 200 delegates that many other equity groups are acknowledged by the government, except sexuality and gender diverse people.

The federal response to other equity groups he said had resulted in the creation of specific ministerial portfolios, departments and ministerial advisory groups addressing numerous other equity issues.

He said without federal funds future Health in Difference conferences could be placed in doubt, calling on the government to fund the LGBT Health Alliance as it does other non-government organisations.

“The time for not acting is well and truly over,” Martin told conference delegates, adding that the Commonwealth mental health plan to 2014 has “not a single mention” of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people.

“[We] stand ready to work with the government, if only we were funded to do so,” he said.

Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mark Butler opened the conference on behalf of federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon, following Martin’s speech, and from the outset said he had “been asked” to address “health reform in a general sense”.

The federal government has been intensely negotiating health reforms with state governments for the past few weeks and had also been “coming under pressure from a range of directions” such as ageing and chronic diseases, he said.

During his speech, Butler made only one reference to “LGBTI” which drew a pause from him, when a muffled “thanks” was given from one delegate who said it was the only reference the government had made to the conference itself.

The health and well-being of LGBTI people is not on the radar of the federal government, Health Alliance executive director Gabi Rosenstreich said before the conference.

“Hundreds of thousands of LGBTI people live throughout Australia but their health needs are not being adequately met by our health system due to a lack of understanding of LGBTI people and issues and a lack of engagement with the LGBTI community sector,” she said.

Recent approaches for funding had been rejected by the federal government, Rosenstreich said, despite overtures that LGBTI health is an area of its concern.

The conference held every couple of years was presented this year for the first time by the Health Alliance, a peak body of organisations that provide health services, programs and research that targets sexuality and gender diverse people.

The health and well being of indigenous Australians and transgender and intersex people, the impact of social inclusion and exclusion, political activism and the changing nature of diverse communities in a health context were just some of the many issues covered.

Health issues discussed at the conference which ended on Saturday included mental health, ageing, alcohol and drug use, violence, parenting, identity documentation, health service access and health promotion strategies.

ABBOTT, KENNETT, SEARLE, RIGHT WING REACTIONARY HOMOPHOBES

People in public positions need to think more carefully about their utterances in relation to the gay, lesbian, transgender and HIV/AIDS (GLTH) communities.

There are many people in the community at large who hear what they say and act on their homophobia by means of verbal and physical abuse, and sometimes, worse, murder.

Tony Abbott has been a homophobe since his student days and has not changed a bit! To say he feels threatened by our communities and then to explain that he could have chosen his words better shows that his thinking in 2010 is the same as it was in 1978 - read the following story by Andrew Potts in the Sydney Star Observer of 21 April 2010:

Abbott’s Mardi Gras shame

Andrew M Potts Posted: Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Tony Abbott refused to condemn police for their treatment of the first Mardi Gras protesters in 1978, a Sydney Star Observer investigation has found.

Minutes of a 1978 Sydney University student representative council executive meeting show the federal Opposition leader not only refused to condemn the arrest of the 53 protesters, but voted against the council communicating its criticism of police to the then NSW government.

The information comes as Abbott attempts to smooth over his relationship with the gay and lesbian community after claiming last month he felt threatened by homosexuality.

The student council meeting occurred three days after the 1978 protest. The motion put forward by member Lesley Podesta proposed:

“The executive condemns the unprovoked and unnecessary police violence against those involved in the Mardi Gras on June 24th at Kings Cross. That this SRC actively supports and promotes equal rights for all lesbians and male homosexuals.”

Abbott, who participated in other motions during the meeting, left the room for the vote. It was passed unanimously in his absence.

Abbott returned to cast the lone dissenting vote on a subsequent motion, “That this motion be conveyed to the Premier and Attorney-General.”

Of the then executive, a number are deceased while others contacted by SSO are senior public servants and unwilling to make public comment.

SSO put questions to Abbott about his recollections of the meeting, his feelings about the actions of police, and whether the Tony Abbott of 2010 would have acted differently. However, he avoided addressing these directly, simply responding, “I would never support unlawful violence.”

New Mardi Gras co-chair Steph Sands said she hoped Abbott had grown since his university days and invited him to attend next year’s parade.

“Whether Tony Abbott deliberately avoided condemning the police action at the first Mardi Gras or was simply on a toilet break, we cannot say,” Sands said. “However, if he did hesitate in recognising the utter unacceptability of unlawful police violence at the time, I trust he has become more enlightened since then. Otherwise we should be very concerned.”

NO JOKE ON APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!!

Letter in The Age on 1 April 2010 - and it's for real!!!!

It's just unreal

I'M SLIGHTLY discomforted by the fact that our Prime Minister, alternative prime minister and the governor of the Reserve Bank believe in supernatural beings that exert control over their lives (and hence, to some extent, ours). Wouldn't it be better if our top public servants were people with a stronger grip on reality?

Campbell Aitken, Brunswick

Beyondblue 'incredibly neglectful'

This article from The Age newspaper by Jill Stark takes beyondblue to task over its neglect of GLTH communities and then gives beyondblue's contact details for people in trouble - isn't this called tautology??

Beyondblue 'incredibly neglectful' of gay youth
JILL STARK
April 18, 2010



THE national depression initiative beyondblue has been called negligent for ignoring gay and lesbian young people in new guidelines to help doctors diagnose and treat depressed teenagers.

The agency's 127-page document includes just two sentences about gay adolescents, although their rates of self-harm and suicide are up to eight times higher than those of heterosexual teens.

Earlier this year, beyondblue chairman Jeff Kennett told a meeting of gay and lesbian groups the organisation would do more to address concerns it had abandoned them.

In 2008, the organisation commissioned research that found that up to 31 per cent of gay people suffered from anxiety and depression compared with between 4 and 14 per cent of heterosexuals. It also found that 17 per cent of young lesbians had tried to harm or kill themselves, compared with just 2 per cent of young straight women.

But despite the seriousness of the findings, they are not included in the organisation's new treatment guidelines.

Lynne Hillier, from La Trobe University's Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, told The Sunday Age that failing to tackle the unique needs of a group at such high risk was ''incredibly neglectful''.

But beyondblue rejected the claim, with chief executive Leonie Young saying the document - the first national guidelines since 2004, to be used by doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists assessing patients aged 13 to 24 - focused on the best ways to treat depression, rather than risk factors for the illness.

However, it includes extensive information on risk factors such as sexual abuse, family conflict, trouble at school and socio-economic and ethnic background while making only passing reference to sexuality.

Ms Young said the guidelines were based on 57,000 studies from around the world and they had found little evidence to suggest gay and lesbian patients require different treatment for depression to heterosexuals.

Dr Hillier said one in five gay young people would experience homophobic bullying, and 16 per cent would be assaulted because of their sexuality. Of those who were victims of assault, 60 per cent had considered seriously harming themselves.

She said it was vital doctors were given guidance about the problems faced by young gay patients. If depressed young people were to seek advice, then ''if the therapist is basing his work on these guidelines, he's not even going to think that there could be an issue of sexuality there'', Dr Hillier said.

''Young people are not going to volunteer that information because they're living in a homophobic world which punishes them for being who they are.''

Anne Mitchell, director of Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria and lead author of the literature review commissioned by beyondblue, believed the organisation would use the findings to inform their clinical guidelines.

''We took that as goodwill that they would now take this group seriously, but it seems like it was a bit of window dressing,'' Associate Professor Mitchell said.

She added that depression was often preventable in young gay people if they were given appropriate support. But if doctors lacked knowledge on the possible causes - such as homophobia or fear of coming out - it could be hard to detect. ''[Coming out is] something that young people are … incredibly anxious about and if a person in authority, like a healthcare practitioner, names it and destigmatises it a bit, it can make a massive contribution to a young person being able to go forward.

''We hear of suicides all the time and I just get incredibly frustrated to think that something that can be prevented is getting to this stage. [The guidelines are] a real lost opportunity to throw a lifeline to a lot of young people.''

For help or information visit beyondblue.org.au, or call Suicide Helpline on 1300 651 251, or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

MORE HOMOPHOBIC ATTACKS ON MELBOURNE'S JEWISH GAY GROUP

This article was in the Southern Star and is further evidence of attacks on Melbourne's Jewish gay group Aleph. It was somewhat dismaying to read some comments in the article advising Michael Barnett of Aleph to "calm down"! This is just what must NOT be done to a group calling itself the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, because this is just what it isn't!!
"An Aleph member who asked not to be named......" - what on earth are they frightened of??? And if they are embarrassed by someone having the guts to stand up to the bullies of the JCCV they should leave Aleph and start their own splinter group of quiet timid mice who wouldn't say boo to a goose such as John Searle and others.


Jewish gay group splintering
Author:
Scott Abrahams
Posted:
Thursday, 15 April 2010

A growing rift in Melbourne’s Jewish gay community saw a war of words via email last week with members of gay Jewish support group Aleph accusing current convenor Michael Barnett for being too hostile towards the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV).

Barnett told Southern Star he would not comment on the inner workings of Aleph or discuss any leadership challenge. He said he sent emails criticising the JCCV because he believes they are ignoring “intolerant” views on homosexuality in the Jewish community.

“Until the JCCV acknowledges that the real issue is religious intolerance from Orthodox Judaism, they won’t actually make any progress,” he said.
In a public letter to JCCV president John Searle, Barnett describes the JCCV as “the most shameful, leaderless organisation in the Victorian Jewish community”, and accused the organisation of taking a “wanton” approach to tackling homophobia.

Southern Star reported last September on growing discord between Aleph and the JCCV over what Barnett said was a failure by Searle to publicly denounce homophobia. His comments were sparked by the 2009 murder of two people at a Tel Aviv gay and lesbian youth centre. Since then the relationship between the two has progressively soured and Barnett has now been criticised by his own members for sending hostile group emails.

An Aleph member who asked not to be named told Southern Star other members of the 80-strong group had been “embarrassed” by Barnett’s constant “angry” emails and the group is now discussing ways to establish a new executive committee which may or may not include Barnett.

The JCCV set up a Jewish GLBT reference group late last year to tackle homophobia and transphobia in the Jewish community, however, it excluded Aleph.

The JCCV said they have “tried hard” with Barnett, however, his approach had been too aggressive and he misunderstood the “politics” involved.

Jewish GLBT reference group member Sally Goldner told Southern Star she thought Barnett had done a “great job” in the past of discussing homophobia in the Jewish community, however, his current “negative” style was not productive.

“I understand Michael’s angry about this, but you’ve got to calm down and be more constructive,” she said. “I think it is possible to reach an understanding.”
The JCCV last week announced community group Jewish Care and the Australian Jewish Psychologists Group would be represented on the GLBT reference group.

ELDER ABUSE - US STYLE - WRIT LARGE!!

This article arrived on 19 April 2010 from Care2 in the USA:

Elderly Gay Couple Separated by Sonoma County Officials, Ignoring Couple's Express Wishes
posted by: Steve Williams

60 comments

On Thursday, President Obama issued a memorandum that reinforces hospital visitation rights for same-sex couples by threatening federal funding cuts if hospitals discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. As such, the issue of local authorities not adhering to medical directives or power of attorney rights when it comes to same-sex couples has been set firmly in the spotlight.

For obvious reasons, this is an issue of particular concern for many older and elderly LGBTs who may very well depend on established health care directives and the like to ensure that their wishes are adhered to when they are incapable, whether due to infirmity or an unforeseen health emergency, of communicating relevant details for hospital visitation rights and end-of-life decisions.

The following story documents one such incident of discrimination against a same-sex couple from Sonoma, California, who took all the required legal steps to establish their health care directives and power of attorney rights, but whose preparations were allegedly ignored by county officials that, despite the couple's 20 year relationship, considered them nothing more than "roommates" and kept them apart when, after an accident, one of them was hospitalized in 2008.

From the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) case summary:


Clay [Greene] and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place—wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health [but, as this report attests, had been starting to show early signs of cognitive impairment].



One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold’s care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital.

Clay and Harold did not take advantage of California's domestic partnership law and obviously weren't married in the brief time between California's marriage bans.

Instead, and like many older gay and lesbian couples, they relied on having drafted all the other appropriate legal documents naming each other as beneficiaries of their respective estates and agents for medical decisions and the like, so as to protect their wishes and assets in case of an emergency. This should have been enough. Apparently, it wasn't.

The next part of this story is truly heartbreaking and is taken from a separate, more detailed post from the NCLR:

... [While] Harold was hospitalized, Deputy Public Guardians went to the men’s home, took photographs, and commented on the desirability and quality of the furnishings, artwork, and collectibles that the men had collected over their lifetimes.

Ignoring Clay entirely, the County focused on Harold, going so far as to petition the Court for conservatorship of his estate. Outrageously referring to Clay only as a “roommate” and failing to disclose their true relationship, the County continued to treat Harold as if he had no family. The County sought immediate temporary authority to revoke Harold’s powers of attorney, to act without further notice, and to liquidate an investment account to pay for his care.

The court, however, chose to deny that motion, but did grant county officials what the NCLR calls "limited access" to Harold's finances in order to pay for his care. This, it seems, was insufficient. The NCLR goes on:

Then, despite being granted only limited powers and with undue haste, the County arranged for the sale of the men’s personal property, cleaned out their home, terminated their lease, confiscated their truck, and eventually disposed of all of the men’s worldly possessions, including family heirlooms, at a fraction of their value and without any proper inventory or determination of whose property was being sold.

Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Clay from their home and confined him to a nursing home against his will—a different placement from his partner. Clay was kept from seeing Harold during this time, and his telephone calls were limited.

Three months later, Harold died in the nursing home he had been placed in, and Clay, because of the County's actions, could not be at his partner's bedside during those final months. With the exception of but one photo album that Harold had painstakingly put together for Clay during his declining weeks of life, Clay has been left without any of his personal possessions to remind him of the 20-year relationship he shared with Harold as, to date, he has not been able to recover any of the items that were auctioned off.

Clay has reportedly now been released from the nursing home following an appeal by his court-appointed attorney, Anne Dennis. Now, Ms. Dennis along with Stephen O'Neill and Margaret Flynn of Tarkington, O'Neill, Barrack & Chong, will be representing Clay in legal action against the County, the auction company and the nursing home, with technical assistance being provided by the NCLR.
A trial date has been set for July 16, 2010 in the Superior Court for the County of Sonoma.

It is perhaps pertinent to note that Sonoma County voted against Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban, by 66.1 percent in 2008, and that it is largely considered to be a progressive area where LGBT issues are concerned. As such, the emergence of this story serves to highlight the need for Thursday's memorandum, as it demonstrates that instances of discrimination can occur mostly anywhere.

However, President Obama's memorandum grazes only one of the 1138 rights that marriage affords heterosexual couples that are currently denied their same-sex counterparts. As such, the need to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is also brought into stark focus if we are to ensure that same-sex couples are not left vulnerable beyond the narrow focus of Thursday's memorandum.

For more information on end-of-life issues and the legal problems facing older LGBT people, please click here.