Letters – issue 1026
OBSERVING SCEPTIC
Seems like a great time to renovate your bedroom, Doug.
Re-orientate your bed so that it鈥檚 better aligned with energy flows; whack in a water feature to calm your seemingly troubled inner voice.
Reflect a little before scribing another in a seemingly endless stream of posts that reveals it鈥檚 a 鈥榞ot out of bed on the wrong side鈥� day.
I prefer to start my days on a more positive and optimistic note.
I鈥檝e just returned from the Wear It With Pride roadshow running across Victoria bringing the GLBT community up to speed on the huge gains made in the short K-Rudd years providing equal rights for all regardless of the sexuality or gender of those who we love. Progress on this had ground to a halt under the Libs/Nats 鈥� the same party the Greens are now wedded to.
And throughout discussions in rural/regional towns and in all the city-based discussions, no one 鈥� none 鈥� felt that giving us information about how our rights have improved in 85 ways was something to be smugly slapped down by a gay media commentator with a cranky outlook on life.
Next time there鈥檚 a roadshow, come for the ride with me and share people鈥檚 experiences, hear their stories and you might be able to dilute the toxic tone of your column.
A re-work may then look like:
Social inclusion: type the word 鈥榟eterosexual鈥� (or straight, etc) into the search field on their website and you get the answer 鈥淣o results matching your search were found鈥�. Looks as if policies addressing social inclusion don鈥檛 discriminate on the basis of sexuality.
DFAT and immigration: work continues behind the scenes keeping homophobic foreign governments aware that our nation and others will continue tackling homophobia and discrimination on the international stage. Foreign minister Stephen Smith and the Rudd Government are quiet achievers supporting GLBT rights internationally whereas the Libs, without ex-PM Fraser or soon-to-retire Petro Georgiou, would turn away and puff on another cigar or drink another scotch provided by the mining billionaires.
We could also celebrate that ours is a nation in which refugees in danger of harm due to their sexuality, if returned home, are supported by an independent High Court of Australia.
As for health and human rights 鈥� by all means have an opinion, but hang up your green jacket on the peg before reaching for rhetoric. Maybe focus-test before rushing to print; caucus outside the paper bag that the Greens like to operate in.
Maybe the next roadshow might be a way to extend your influences from Bob Brown and co to a much broader representation of the GLBT community.
And then you might sleep in one morning and be more relaxed as you start to write your column.
鈥� Greg
