New anti-gay threat emerges
| New anti-gay threat emerges |
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Gender Matters, a coalition of seventeen groups and organisations, including the Australian Family Association, the National Alliance for Christian Leaders, Exodus, the Fatherhood Foundation and Salt Shakers, says traditional gender roles are being blurred by “the gay lobby” and that “masculinity and femininity must be celebrated and honoured at all times”. The organisation has released a list of demands on its website, www.gendermatters.org.au, and in a brochure, seen by SX. They include: • That marriage be “forever preserved as the voluntary exclusive union of one man and one woman”; The group also wants homosexuality registered as a medical condition, and wants public funds committed to ‘curing’ homosexuality, which they prefer to call ‘gender disorientation pathology’. Last Thursday, the group flexed its political clout with a submission to the senate hearing on the Family Law Amendment (De Facto Financial Matters and Other Measures) Bill. “Ordinarily, I would dismiss this kind of material as anti-gay hatred at the margins of the political debate,” Croome told SX. “But by framing their rhetoric in terms of gender differentiation, they will strike a chord with more people.” Croome said the group may appeal to people who were not necessarily homophobic. “My fear is that politicians and the wider public, who may not respond to blatant homophobia, may respond to this idea that men and women are fundamentally different.” Australian Marriage Equality (AME) also expressed concern, but said it showed that anti-gay groups were feeling threatened. “It’s always unfortunate when these groups espouse hatred, but in some ways it’s encouraging that they feel the need to band together,” AME spokesperson Alex Greenwich told SX. “It shows that these groups are feeling marginalised.” However, Greenwich said it was important for the gay community to be vigilant, and recommended greater community participation in our own lobby groups. “The best thing we can do is to engage with our own groups such as AME, the Australian Coalition for Equality, the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, ACON, and New Mardi Gras,” he said. Croome agreed, adding that Australia’s feminists should also play a role against Gender Matters. “Any feminist worth their salt can see that the logical conclusion of their rhetoric on traditional gender roles is to hark back to forty years ago, when men were the providers, and women were at home, in the kitchen, and looking after the kids.” Warwick Marsh, the Wollongong-based founder of Gender Matters, refused to answer questions over the phone when contacted by SX.
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Comments (16)
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written by mike26uk , October 27, 2008 i agree with one of the statements... Marriage should be kept between a man an a women it always has been and always should be. Why do we seem so hung up on having everything staight people have??? Back in the Uk there are bars where straight guys are not allowed.. open a bar where gays guys were not allowd in and it would not be acceptable. Iam all for equal OPPORTUNITIES and RIGHTS but we cant have it all our own way. report abuse
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written by colin J , October 27, 2008 I thought mankind would be more enlightened in the 21st century, it seems some are not. What are the young ones who are trying to come to terms with who they are going to think with crap like this getting around. report abuse
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written by larry d , October 26, 2008 "I am what I am and what I am needs no excuses" famous song. As far as these anti-gay people go they can solve the problem very easy by not having children. Seems to me that gay children come from supposedly straight people. report abuse
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written by Chuck , October 26, 2008 Sure, maybe adoption by Gay couples might see a tad odd to someone. Sure, I get that... but study after study after study, shows that children raised in a loving household, Gay or Straight do just fine... and children of Gay households generally have better educations and tend to go on to Uni at a much higher rate. I think it's sad these hate groups would prefer for a child to be without anyone if it meant the child would have to be placed in a loving household. And many of these hate groups profess to be christians... honestly, they're nothing more then the Taliban... and the Australian government needs to crack down on their activities... are we serious about fighting terrorism or not? report abuse
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written by Chuck , October 26, 2008 Who are we kidding here... these HATE groups are nothing but Australia terrorist groups and I would like to know when the Australian Government plans to crack down on such. There is no room in a modern society for hatred. Seriously Australians should demand better, because honestly... this is not about homosexuality, but about a group trying to take away basic human rights and face it, when a single right is taken from just one Australian, it's taken from all of us. When will we demand more from our elected officials? report abuse
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written by Anonymum , October 26, 2008 This is outrageous. These groups obviously are the ones that need help. They target domestic violence victims too. report abuse
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written by Brendan of Wollongong NSW , October 24, 2008 Gender Matters: more grist for the mill? Good, let them bring it on. They are fighting an ageing battle that they will ultimately lose. But God, what is their beef though? What gay man DOESN'T already "celebrate and honour masculinity" -- as often as he can  report abuse
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written by annoyed , October 23, 2008 For crying out loud, how much mor do we have to endure. So typical of the fundo's to come up with this claptrap - as if there were not enough organisations with too much time and far too much money, albeit with fluid or very small member bases championing the queer hatred argument. If these people would concentrate their energy, their time and their money into actually doing something that could be considered remotely christian and not filled with hatred and vitriol, the world might just be a happier place. report abuse
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written by Mark Loasby , October 23, 2008 SIGN THE GETUP PETITION: http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/EqualBeforeTheLaw report abuse
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written by STAND UP FOR EQUALITY , October 23, 2008 Hi, 71% of Australians believe same s-x couples should have the same rights as de facto couples, as does every Australian State and Territory Government. Despite this, in almost 60 pieces of federal legislation, same s-x couples are discriminated against – an affront to our basic values of fairness and justice. Finally, laws to address this discrimination are before Parliament, but some opposed to removing the discrimination are trying to introduce amendments to frustrate and delay the bill. Can you join me in signing this petition today to help finally wipe this discrimination off the books? http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/EqualBeforeTheLaw We all deserve to live our lives free from government discrimination. This petition could be the difference in finally scrapping these laws. Your signature can help start us firmly on the path towards greater equality. We need every last signature to convince the remaining doubters that no excuses remain for not wiping this discrimination off the books. Will you join me and add to the final figure being presented to politicians before they vote? http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/EqualBeforeTheLaw Thanks! report abuse
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written by Hamish McInnes , October 22, 2008 Why do organisations like this still insist on creating this rubbish. Just looking at their www site and seeing the rubbish that is on it is not surprising. I hope that before these organisations place this crap out in the public eye for all to see that all their members have squeaky cleans pasts. I wonder how many of them have skeletons in the closest which could cause quite an bit of embarrassment at some stage in the future. I wonder how many members involved with this group have had wandering hands in the past, if it happens in Church and schools then one asks does it happen here. These groups need to go and clean up their own backyard and keep their nose well and truely out of the private lives of others. If they want to do something good for the community then perhaps they could consider running a soup kitchen from their office for all the homeless and hungry people out there. report abuse
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written by shaynechester , October 22, 2008 The NSW Minister for Community Services, Linda Burney, told Parliament yesterday that almost 12,000 babies under 12 months had been reported to the department's helpline in 2006-07, a 41.2 per increase since 2004-05...The DOCS study showed that more than 286,000 reports were made to the helpline, an increase of 62 per cent in the past five years. http://www.smh.com.au/news/nat...51241.html report abuse
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written by asef , October 22, 2008 This organisation is dangerous. Their wish to prevent any reproduction of people who are homosexual is morally equivalent to genocide or eugenics. They must not be tolerated. report abuse
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written by Jason Yeide , October 22, 2008 Meanwhile, the gay community is becoming more apathetic and we're taking our rights for granted. Not hard to see how things could pan out for us... report abuse
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written by Peace and love rules , October 22, 2008 Yet again religion being exploited for hate. How and when did the church lose its way so badly? report abuse
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written by Panagiotis , October 22, 2008 I encourage everyone to become more involved in the fantastic work done by the Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby, GetUP! and the like! We have come a long way in recent times, but this has obviously lead to reactionary moves by conservative and homophobic organisations, so it is NOW that is so important to push equality reform through! Sign up to GetUp! now and make a difference! report abuse
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A coalition of organisations espousing the interests of ‘natural biological families’ has released a list of anti-gay policy proposals, representing a new threat to GBLTI communities, according to prominent gay activists. 
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