Katoomba

hosts activists

KATOOMBA: The strains of Thank You Lord For Gay Liberation, sung by 60 political activists are not common at Mount St. Mary's Convent. But the Autumn Activists Camp was not a common event either.

While most of Australia was enjoying Anzac Day Weekend, the Gay Solidarity Group celebrated its 5th Anniversary by holding its first conference for members and friends from Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne. Apart from being residential, the Camp was distinctive in being small-scale with a limited number of non-concurrent workshops.

The sessions covered the history and present situation at the movement in Sydney; the role of activists in the media; the organised left; the functioning of the International Gay Association and its Australian member groups; and National and special conferences.

Three results that emerged from the

Camp were: the setting of parallel collec-

tives in Sydney and Melbourne to organise

a second conference on Socialism, Femin-

ism and Gay Liberation; a call for work with SE Asian groups together with support for Asian gays in Australia; and a proposal for setting up a Media Association. The parallel collectives set up for the planning of the Socialism conference are notable for their majority women partici-

pation. The Camp itself had a large lesbian

attendance.

There was considerable criticism of both the perceived Euro-centrism of the IGA and the failure of some of its projects to reflect the everyday concerns of member groups, particularly those in the Third World.

Public meeting backs Stonewall

SYDNEY: A meeting of the Sydney gay community affirmed its support for the annual Stonewall celebrations and decided to hold a large public meeting around the issues of law reform as a contribution to the celebrations.

Stonewall 1982 led to a great deal of debate within the Oxford St community over the usefulness of holding annual, 'symbolic', celebrations given the lack of support and poor attendance at the Saturday march, in particular.

The then Stonewall collective replied to the criticisms by pointing out the importance of the event internationally and the failure of the community to fully support the events. At that stage it appeared as if the future of Stonewall celebrations was seriously in doubt.

However, in the intervening period the Stonewall collective has undergone a revitalisation and been organising hard around the goal of holding a gay rights march at Parramatta (the demographic centre of Sydney). The excellent response from the petitioning of John Aquilina's electorate at Blacktown was seen as a model for the Parramatta march, com-. bining high media profile with the involvement of suburban gays and an exposure of issues to a usually sheltered population.

Nonetheless, as a result of the poor

NEWS

PARENTS

OF GAYS LOVE THEIR CHILDREN

Ireland

Photo: Gay News

Apart from the gay organisations, The ADB has

there were representatives from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Greenham Common. women, parents of gays, the Union of Students, as well as other politically progressive groups present.

"It is right," said the Irish Council for Civil Liberties who wholeheartedly supported the march, "that gay people come together with other concerned people to express their sense of outrage and to demand from the government that

measures be taken to enforce our laws."

The march was prompted by the much publicised judicial scandal known as the "Fairview Murder" trial. In September of 1982, a 31 year old Dubliner Declan Flynn was beaten to death by 5 youths. The youths admitted that they had been "queer bashing" in Dublin's Fairview Park for several months.

On March 8 this year, the killers received suspended sentences ranging from one to five years. Ironically, the same court recently sentenced a St Ives man to two and a half years jail for buggery. Commented Mr Justice Drake: "The public ought not to have to put up with filthy men like you when they want to use a public toilet".

DUBLIN: Over 700 people marched Radio special

through the streets of Dublin on March 19 to protest against violence directed towards women and gays. The march, which was organised by the Dublin Gay Collective, is reported to be the only successful such event ever to be held in the Catholic republic of Ireland.

The protest comes at a critical time in Ireland for civil rights. Rumors abound that the Irish Constitution is about to be amended to outlaw abortion, and that the Irish Supreme Court is about to deliver a judgement on whether or not the total prohibition. of male homosexuality is legal. The demonstrators called for the repeal of Ireland's anti-gay laws and for statutory protection for gay workers, as well as opposing any amendment to the abortion laws.

publicity that last year's activities had Sheril Berkovitch (left) and Alison Thorne

received, the prospects for a strong StoneRadical women

wall showing from the Oxford St area were not good.

At a public gathering on April 10 it was moved that a large public meeting "to express the size and diversity of our community" be scheduled during Stonewall Week. The motion was passed unanimously after the Gay Defence Campaign explained its intention to fully integrate such a meeting with the plans

of the Stonewall Collective.

Spokersperson for the Collective, Ken Davis, welcomed the iniative and told Campaign he expected this year's celebrations to be the largest for some years.

MELBOURNE: A group of five people will be presenting a Stonewall Special on Melbourne community radio station 3CR from 12.00 Noon to 6.00 pm on Thursday June 23.

Stonewall Day originated in New York and is now traditionally celebrated on June 26. According to Sheril Berkovitch, one of the program's organisers, the 3CR special will be the station's contribution to Melbourne's Stonewall Day events.

The program will include: telephone interviews with Sydney people on local activities; a discussion on the 9th National Gay/Lesbian conference due to be held

in

Melbourne in August, Coming-Out stories; a special lesbian hour; as well as several hours of specially selected music.

Photo: Paul Harris

MELBOURNE: A public forum on the history of Radical Women heard Alison Thorne speak on the longest surviving socialist feminist organisation in the United States, at the Plumbers' Union Building here on April 7.

Alison has only recently returned from a holiday in the US where she held many discussions with Radical Women members about their work over the last ten or so years. She was impressed and decided to try and set up an organisation in Australia.

Judging from the debate that occurred after the opening talk, Alison is not the only friend Radical Women has in Australia. Most of the discussion centred on the short-

comings of the left and labour movement, particularly on the issue of feminism. The meeting seemed to agree that the Australian Labor Party and the socialist parties had not paid sufficient attention to feminist demands.

It was announced at the end of the meeting that a series of meetings would take place contributing to Australian International Year of the Lesbian celebrations on topics such as lesbians in literature and history. Those interested in participating in the forums should contact Radical Women for more information (see Fine Print).

friends

THE PRESIDENT OF THE Gay Legal Rights Coalition, Jamie Gardiner, was last month appointed to the Victorian Equal Opportunity Advisory Council. It is the first such appointment to be made in this country. In NSW the recent amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Act have sparked a liaison group called "Friends of the ADB". The first meeting of the Friends took place last month. JOHN SCHWARTZKOPF at the meeting and prepared this statement. ON Tuesday, April 19, a group of eight lesbian women and gay men met in Sydney with officers of the Anti-Discrimination Board. They discussed a range of issues relating to the recent NSW legislation on discrimination and homosexuality.

was

The meeting arose out of a realisation both by the Anti-Discrimination Board and by a number of gay organisations --that the new law is bound to raise a variety of practical matters best approached on a basis of consultation.

The group, tentatively called "Friends of the ADB", consists of four women and four men. It was founded after discussions among a number of organisations which had expressed interest in the new legislation. It includes representatives of both Lesbian Line and the Gay Counselling Service (which are expected to handle a growing number of relevant enquiries), and people from a range of other groups and backgrounds.

At present it consists of Ed Ashmore, Kathy Hollis, Robyn Davies, Carolyn Kingham, Lex Watson, John Schwartzkopf, Terry Goulden and a representative of the Lesbian Teachers Group.

At the meeting the group was introduced to Carmel Niland, president of the board, and to representatives of the board's small research, conciliation, community education and legal sections., Carmel Niland then explained the various functions and activities of the board in some. detail. It was emphasised that relatively few of the discrimination complaints received by the board actually get to the stage of a hearing before the Tribunal the great majority are dealt with by a process of conciliation.

So far only a small number of complaints have been lodged under the new homosexuality provisions of the AntiDiscrimination Act. Senior conciliation officer Les McGowan said this was not unusual in the early stages: it takes time for people to get used to the idea that they now have legal rights they can act on. Gay people, in particular, needed to look again at many of the actions and situations they were used to putting up with perhaps an approach to the board would now be in order.

The Friends pointed out that the advertisements the board currently runs on radio and television do not refer to its new powers relating to homosexuality and intellectual impairment. It was explained that these ads were made before the relevant amendments were passed, late last year. So far, the board says, there is no money to bring them up-to-date.

A number of possible roles were envisaged for the Friends group in the future, for example:-

Helping to make gay people, in particular, more aware of the new legislation and its possible uses;

Providing an alternative source of information and advice for lesbians or gay men who want to make inquiries or lodge complaints;

Acting as a backup or support group for people who make complaints;

This first discussion between ADB staff and the Friends threw up a number of new questions and ideas about the way the Act can be made to work. Where lesbians are discriminated against, for example, the various implications of the Act's provisions on sex, marital status and homosexuality may need to be thought through. A number of issues were raised, also, about the rights of gay people who live as couples.

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16 CAMPAIGN MAY 1983