Ten years ago, Tasmania had just decriminalised male homosexuality (1997) after an epic struggle between the Tasmanian Lesbian/Gay Rights Group, the Tasmanian Greens and ALP on the one hand, and the hidebound Legislative Council and Tasmania’s Christian Right on the other. On July 1, the Tasmanian Greens are about to introduce same-sex marriage legislation in their […]

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In Australia, the Mercy Ministries saga continues. As regular readers of this blog will remember, several angry former young female clients of Mercy Ministries Australia, a fundamentalist ‘residential counselling service’ for young women, were led to believe that they would obtain professional assistance for issues like eating disorders, depression, past sexual abuse, substance abuse and […]

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According to Toronto’s Globe and Mail, the Senate Banking Committee is about to report back to the rest of Canada’s federal Parliament about the contentious Income Tax Amendment Bill C-10.
It will be remembered that after the House of Commons passed the draft legislation unamended, a furore blew up over the existence of a contentious, potentially draconian […]

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Despite having almost achieved total legislative equality in most western nations, we remain bedevilled by the consequences of responses to innocent, innocuous public displays of affection.
Why shouldn’t we be allowed to hold hands, kiss and display other signs of intimacy that straight couples take for granted? Well, there’s always the risk of homophobic violence from […]

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Magnificent UK gay journalist Johann Hari has published his reminiscences about Section 28 of the UK Local Government Bill 1988. It’s now over two decades since the iniquitous Thatcher era homophobic legislation was passed, only to be overturned in 2003 after the Blair administration reversed the policies of the Tory dark ages.
Clause 28 marked the […]

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Some time ago, I wrote a blog about John Heard, an Australian gay conservative Catholic opposed to civil unions and same-sex marriage, who believes that gay sexual orientation is “objectively disordered” due to his subscription to Catholic Church dogma about its ‘aberrant’ nature. He’s not alone.
John McKellar is a Canadian, who runs an organisation entitled […]

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While they watched the coverage of California’s first same-sex weddings on Australian television, my parents noticed two elderly women in particular. They watched, fascinated, as the commentator briefly described the lives of the remarkable Del Martin (87) and Phyllis Lyon (83), who had been together since 1953.
This struck a chord with both of them, as they […]

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When the abortion debate abruptly thundered back into life after decades of quiescence in New Zealand last week, I was reminded of how ‘residual politics’ usually operate.
All right, what is probably about to happen in this context? While it would be nice to envisage a situation where Labour had an attack of the machiavellis and […]

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I was privileged to receive an inspiring song from some hard rocking womyn to the lyrics from that old ballad “We Ain’t Gonna Take It!” , referring to Ken Orr and Right to Life New Zealand’s attitude toward New Zealand women’s reproductive freedom. The link to this emphatic rejection of the anti-abortion lobby is below […]

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Why is it that lesbians tend to be much better writers than gay men, with the exception of our own much-beloved Peter Wells and Witi Ihamaera? Case in point: these two spellbinding pieces of work from old and new talents.
Pam Harrison’s House of the Muses: The Latter Days of Sappho of Lesbos (Labyris and Sword […]

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