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Ellen DeGeneres shares throwback snap to mark special milestone

<p dir="ltr">Ellen DeGeneres shared a sweet throwback snap of her August 2008 wedding with Portia de Rossi, to mark a very special milestone for LGBTQIA+ love.</p> <p dir="ltr">The 65-year-old comedian took to Instagram to honour the eight anniversary of the Supreme Court legalising same-sex marriages in the United States.</p> <p dir="ltr">"8 years ago today marks an important moment. It's when the Supreme Court said "yes" to letting everyone feel the same joy I got to feel in this moment," she wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">Ellen shared a black-and-white snap of her embracing Portia during their 2008 nuptials.</p> <p dir="ltr">It’s been almost 15 years since the pair got married, and they previously celebrated their love in February 2023, when they <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/ellen-degeneres-surprise-wedding-news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">renewed their vows</a> at their California home.</p> <p dir="ltr">Portia even wore the same wedding dress she wore in their 2008 wedding when surprised Ellen with a double celebration - her own birthday party and their vow renewal ceremony.</p> <p dir="ltr">The pair have been head over heels for each other since they first met in the early 2000s, and they continue to choose each other.</p> <p dir="ltr">Many fans took to the comment section to share their love and gratitude towards the couple.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Love you and thanks for all your work for the LGBTQIA community. One love 😍” wrote one fan.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This was a defining moment for Ellen and Portia! Congratulations to you both!” commented another.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Love will always win!!🙌🏽✨” wrote a third.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Thank you for making a difference in the world!" commented a fourth.</p> <p><em>Image: Instagram</em></p>

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Calling drag queens ‘groomers’ and ‘pedophiles’ is the latest in a long history of weaponising those terms against the LGBTIQA community

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/timothy-w-jones-11557">Timothy W. Jones</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/la-trobe-university-842">La Trobe University</a></em></p> <p>Drag queens around the world are currently being accused of “grooming children” through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_Queen_Story_Hour">drag storytime events</a>. These accusations curiously associate public book reading with child sex offending.</p> <p>We know from <a href="https://publishing.monash.edu/product/the-sexual-abuse-of-children/">decades of research and inquiries</a> the places that young people are most at risk of sexual victimisation are their home or an institution of care (such as a school, orphanage or church). The people that most often offend against children are family members and care providers.</p> <p>However, this recent panic about drag queens reading in public libraries is actually typical in the history of child sexual abuse. This history has involved repeated moral panics that distract from the alarming data regarding child sexual abuse in the home. Instead, these narratives locate the threat to children outside of the home - to gay men, “stranger danger” and even satanic ritual abuse - rather than confronting the situations and protecting children where they are most at risk.</p> <h2>Moral panic</h2> <p>In the 1970s, feminist attention to domestic violence, sexual assault and the patriarchy created the conditions that enabled the sexual assault of children in the home to be put in the spotlight.</p> <p>It wasn’t long, however, before attention was shifted elsewhere. In the 1980s, fears about a new form of abuse spread. <a href="https://theconversation.com/satanic-worship-sodomy-and-even-murder-how-stranger-things-revived-the-american-satanic-panic-of-the-80s-186292">Satanic ritual abuse</a> was thought to involve large numbers of victims and perpetrators, but was <a href="https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/pdf/10.1521/jscp.1997.16.2.112">“so cloaked in secrecy and involve such precise concealment of evidence that almost no one knew about it”</a>.</p> <p>Satanic ritual abuse captured headlines and people’s imaginations with tales of particularly painful, depraved and degrading practices. Research has shown that reports of abuse initially came from adults who “regained memories” of experiences of satanic abuse in their childhoods. Additional reports clustered in the periods after media attention on initial cases.</p> <p>The consensus in medical literature that emerged in the 1990s was there was a tendency of some individuals, especially clients of particular psychotherapists, to manufacture memories of abuse which never occurred. Corroborating evidence of abuse was not found, leading sceptics to account for these <a href="https://journals-sagepub-com.ez.library.latrobe.edu.au/doi/epdf/10.2466/pms.1994.78.3c.1376">“pseudomemories” through “misdiagnosis, and the misapplication of hypnosis, dreamwork, or regressive therapies”</a>.</p> <p>Subsequently, the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Organised-Sexual-Abuse/Salter/p/book/9781138789159?gclid=CjwKCAjwjYKjBhB5EiwAiFdSflzGRpk-QL7yO8HrAOZbbtD-okQbGIOYC47WI3m-obre71DXVhs7_hoCfwcQAvD_BwE">satanic ritual abuse controversy</a> and “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924933816020824">false memory syndrome</a>” have been used to discredit hard-fought feminist recognition of the gravity of child sex offending</p> <h2>A deviant lifestyle</h2> <p>There is also a long history of using paedophilia and ideas about child grooming in homophobic and transphobic ways to oppose the recognition of the civil rights of LGBTIQA people.</p> <p>Campaigns to decriminalise homosexuality often struggled against attempts to impose unequal ages of consent in reform legislation. In 1967, for example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_Offences_Act_1967">homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales</a>, but men had to wait until they were 21 to legally consummate their love, five years longer than straight lovers.</p> <p>In Tasmania, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Pink_Triangle.html?id=Wp6cPAAACAAJ&amp;redir_esc=y">the last Australian state to decriminalise sex between men</a> (in 1997), a heated public debate frequently raised issues of child protection. Letters to newspapers claimed that decriminalisation “would only open the floodgates and allow the very young to become prey to those who have chosen to lead this deviant lifestyle”.</p> <p>The idea was that young people are vulnerable to becoming homosexual and shouldn’t be allowed to consent to sexual activity until they were much older than their heterosexual peers.</p> <p>Sitting behind this notion of the vulnerability of young queer people is the <a href="https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/orientation">false idea</a> that LGBTIQA status is a sign of moral failing, illness or perversion.</p> <p>Further, it perpetuates the myth that queerness or transness is somehow transmissible. This is the somewhat fantastical idea that everybody has the latent potential to become queer or trans, and all that is needed to convert is exposure to a queer or trans person.</p> <p>These fears have fuelled repressive legislation, such as the notorious <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/27/section-28-protesters-30-years-on-we-were-arrested-and-put-in-a-cell-up-by-big-ben">Section 28</a> in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/UGANDA-LGBT/movakykrjva/">Ugandan</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_gay_propaganda_law">Russian</a> laws banning the promotion of homosexuality, and the “<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/02/17/florida-advances-dont-say-gay-bill?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsIejBhDOARIsANYqkD1-IyOtYIl1WefomHHCyNZ0t88GRQTVciS7iJFoUslPSu4In5ayS3IaAqadEALw_wcB">don’t say gay</a>” laws in the United States.</p> <p>Ironically, these strange and harmful ideas are also behind the ineffective, discredited and dangerous attempts to change or suppress LGBTIQA people’s sexuality or gender identity.</p> <p>In these instances of so-called “conversion therapy”, it is <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/SexualOrientation/IESOGI/Academics/Equality_Australia_LGBTconversiontherapyinAustraliav2.pdf">often religious conservatives</a> who <a href="https://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1201588/Healing-spiritual-harms-Supporting-recovery-from-LGBTQA-change-and-suppression-practices.pdf">“groom” young LGBTIQA people</a> in attempts to make them straight and cisgendered.</p> <p>Such change and suppression practices are now thankfully <a href="https://www.humanrights.vic.gov.au/change-or-suppression-practices/about-the-csp-act/#:%7E:text=Practices%20that%20seek%20to%20change,preventing%20and%20responding%20to%20them.">against the law</a> in many jurisdictions around the world.</p> <h2>A kinder and gentler future</h2> <p>Despite periodic moral panics, the history of gender and sexuality since 1970 tends towards a kinder, gentler future. People have generally become more accepting of LGBTIQA people’s human rights, and are more welcoming and celebrating of sexual and gender diversity.</p> <p>The pace of change has been fast, however, and some groups of people haven’t gotten used to contemporary community standards of acceptance, such as the move towards marriage equality around the world.</p> <p>Because of this history of growing acceptance, young people are feeling more comfortable and safer to explore their identities at younger ages. They are thus more visible than they used to be in the past.</p> <p>However, they’re also more vulnerable as they explore sensitive aspects of their inner selves at younger and potentially less resilient ages. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-021-00615-5">Research shows</a> the impacts that homophobic and transphobic messaging can have on young people, proving they need to be protected from this harmful rhetoric – not from drag queens.</p> <p>Drag storytime events are an age-appropriate way to celebrate diversity. They benefit all children – gay, straight, transgender and cisgender – with education about consent, human dignity, self determination and human rights.</p> <p>This <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14681811.2021.1978964">knowledge is one of the best protective factors</a> against child victimisation.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205648/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/timothy-w-jones-11557">Timothy W. Jones</a>, Associate Professor in History, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/la-trobe-university-842">La Trobe University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/calling-drag-queens-groomers-and-pedophiles-is-the-latest-in-a-long-history-of-weaponising-those-terms-against-the-lgbtiqa-community-205648">original article</a>.</em></p>

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There’s a growing gap between countries advancing LGBTQ+ rights, and those going backwards

<p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong joined 50,000 people to march in support of queer rights across the Sydney Harbour Bridge for World Pride in early March. A week earlier, Albanese became the first sitting prime minister to march in Sydney’s Mardi Gras, something he’s done over several decades.</p> <p>And yet at the same time, in another part of the world, Uganda’s parliament passed <a href="https://theconversation.com/ugandas-new-anti-lgbtq-law-could-lead-to-death-penalty-for-same-sex-offences-202376">a string of draconian measures</a> against homosexuality, including possible death sentences for “aggravated homosexuality”. Any “promotion” of homosexuality is also outlawed.</p> <p>Seven years ago, I co-wrote a book with Jonathan Symons called Queer Wars. Back then, we suggested there was <a href="https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/queer-wars-the-new-global-polarization-over-gay-rights">a growing gap </a>between countries in which sexual and gender diversity was becoming more acceptable, and those where repression was increasing. </p> <p>Sadly, that analysis seems even more relevant today.</p> <h2>A growing gap</h2> <p>Some countries have been unwinding criminal sanctions around homosexuality, which are often the legacy of colonialism. This includes, in recent years, former British colonies <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/22/singapore-decriminalize-gay-sex">Singapore</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/06/indian-supreme-court-decriminalises-homosexuality">India</a>.</p> <p>But others have been imposing new and more vicious penalties for any deviation from stereotypical assumptions of heterosexual masculine superiority (what Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243205278639">terms</a> “hegemonic masculinity”).</p> <p>Anti-gay legislation is currently pending in Ghana, which led US Vice President Kamala Harris to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43822234">express concerns</a> on a recent visit.</p> <p>These moves echo the deep homophobia of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has <a href="https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/putins-anti-gay-war-on-ukraine/">bizarrely linked</a> intervention in Ukraine to protecting traditional values against LGBTQ+ infiltration.</p> <p>Meanwhile, reports from Afghanistan suggest that anyone identified as “LGBT” is <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/26/afghanistan-taliban-target-lgbt-afghans">in danger of being killed</a>.</p> <p>Indonesia recently passed legislation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/06/indonesia-passes-legislation-banning-sex-outside-marriage">penalising all sex outside marriage</a>. This follows <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13639811.2022.2038871">years of anti-queer rhetoric</a> from Indonesian leaders and crackdowns in regional areas.</p> <p>And while the Biden administration is supportive of queer rights globally, the extraordinary hysteria <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/07/cpac-anti-trans-rhetoric">around trans issues in the Republican Party</a> reminds us the West has no inherent claim to moral superiority.</p> <h2>Where to next?</h2> <p>Speaking at the World Pride Human Rights Conference, both Wong and Attorney General Mark Dreyfus made it clear Australia would press for recognition of sexuality and gender identity as deserving protection, as part of <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/speech/sydney-worldpride-human-rights-conference-opening-statement">our commitment to human rights</a>.</p> <p>Wong also announced a <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/213443-wong-announces-international-fund-for-lgbt-rights/">new Inclusion and Equality Fund</a> to support queer community organisations within our region.</p> <p>Australian governments have usually been wary of loud assertions of support for queer rights. This is partly due to a reasonable fear this merely reinforces the perception that such language reflects <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/abs/locating-neocolonialism-tradition-and-human-rights-in-ugandas-gay-death-penalty/33A06F4F33CF586E20E208BE790E71E0">a sense of Western superiority</a>, unwilling to acknowledge other societies may have very different attitudes towards gender and sexuality.</p> <p>Australia is part of the Equal Rights Coalition, an intergovernmental body of 42 countries dedicated to the protection of the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and has supported sexual and gender rights in the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/rights-and-freedoms/australias-second-universal-periodic-review-human-rights">country reviews</a> undertaken by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.</p> <p>Australia has a minimal presence in Uganda, and direct representations are unlikely to have much effect. Uganda is a member of the Commonwealth, as are Ghana, Kenya and Zambia, where official homophobia appears to be increasing. But there’s little evidence the Australian government sees this as a significant foreign policy forum, or is prepared to push for sexual rights through its institutions.</p> <p>As persecution on the basis of sexuality and gender identity increases, more people will seek to flee their countries. Queer refugees face double jeopardy: they’re not safe at home, but they’re often equally unsafe in their diasporic communities, which have inherited the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/lgbt-refugees-untold-story/">deep prejudices of their homelands</a>.</p> <p>The UN’s refugee agency <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/lgbtiq-persons.html">reports</a> that most people seeking asylum because of their sexuality are unwilling to disclose this, because of discrimination within their own ethnic communities. This makes it impossible to have accurate numbers. But a clear signal from Australia would be a powerful statement of support – that it understands the situation and welcomes people who need flee because of their sexuality or gender expression.</p> <p>An official Canadian government document <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/canada-role/2slgbtqi-plus.html">states</a>: "Canada has a proud history of providing protection to and helping to resettle the world’s most vulnerable groups. That includes those in the Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional sexually and gender diverse community."</p> <p>Theirs is a model worth following.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-a-growing-gap-between-countries-advancing-lgbtq-rights-and-those-going-backwards-203329" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

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For some LGBTQ+ older people, events like World Pride can be isolating – we need to better understand how to support them

<p><a href="https://sydneyworldpride.com/">World Pride</a> has come to Sydney, with the annual <a href="https://sydneyworldpride.com/events/mardi-gras-parade/">Mardi Gras Parade</a> on Saturday having returned to its Oxford Street home for the first time in three years.</p> <p>The 17-day festival is expected to host 500,000 participants over more than 300 events. It is an opportunity to celebrate all things queer, and a good time to take stock of the changes LGBTQ+ older people have experienced, and the challenges they continue to face.</p> <p>LGBTQ+ people aged in their 70s, 80s and 90s have witnessed extraordinary social change regarding gender and sexual diversity. For example, in Australia, same-sex marriage is now legal, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/where-transgender-is-no-longer-a-diagnosis/">Gender Identity Disorder</a> has been removed as a clinical diagnosis, and all states have an equal age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sex.</p> <p>These have been hard-fought gains after many years of adversity and advocacy on the part of LGBTQ+ older people, among others.</p> <p>Each year, the <a href="https://www.78ers.org.au/">78ers</a> – who were involved in the Sydney marches and protests between June and August 1978 – take pride of place towards the front of the parade.</p> <h2>Loneliness and social isolation</h2> <p>Despite these achievements, the consequences of living most of one’s life in a homophobic and transphobic society have been considerable, particularly in terms of mental illness and social isolation.</p> <p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00918369.2021.2005999?journalCode=wjhm20">Australian</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34326557/">US</a> research indicates loneliness is more common among lesbian, gay and bisexual older people than the general population. This is particularly so for those who live alone and are not in a relationship. Similar findings are reported in relation to <a href="https://www.lgbtagingcenter.org/resources/pdfs/LGBT%20Aging%20and%20Health%20Report_final.pdf">transgender older people</a>, although more research is needed.</p> <p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00918369.2021.2005999?journalCode=wjhm20">Loneliness</a> is also more common among lesbian and gay older people who are disconnected from LGBTQ+ communities and who hold negative attitudes towards their own same-sex attraction.</p> <p>For LGBTQ+ older people experiencing social isolation and loneliness, what might be their experience of watching World Pride from a distance? What might it be like navigating rainbow paraphernalia while shopping at <a href="https://www.coles.com.au/about/sustainability/better-together/our-team/pride">Coles</a> (a World Pride partner)? How might they perceive the glitz and glamour of the Mardi Gras Parade?</p> <p>World Pride may be challenging for those who don’t feel an attachment to LGBTQ+ communities or who feel negative about their own sexuality. And this may reinforce a sense of disconnection.</p> <p>But some may gain comfort from witnessing the sense of community on display. It may even strengthen their perceived connection to other LGBTQ+ people. And, for those who are not open about their sexuality or authentic gender, it may support their journey to “come out” later in life.</p> <h2>The impact of discrimination</h2> <p>For many LGBTQ+ older people, the experience of discrimination remains very real in their lives. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33770516/">Past and recent discrimination</a> leads to delays seeking treatment and support, simply because people expect to be discriminated against when accessing services.</p> <p>In Australia, previous discrimination has been found to predict <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00918369.2021.2005999?journalCode=wjhm20">loneliness</a> and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ageing-and-society/article/abs/recent-versus-lifetime-experiences-of-discrimination-and-the-mental-and-physical-health-of-older-lesbian-women-and-gay-men/90988215582414EA0AB7936B6384FC97">lower mental health</a> among older lesbian and gay people. In the US, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6779303/">microaggressions</a> – small everyday interactions that reinforce the experience of being “other” – have predicted greater impairment, higher rates of depression and lower quality of life among LGBTQ+ people aged 80 and over.</p> <p>There remain major gaps in evidence on the issues faced by LGBTQ+ older people, particularly for bisexual, queer, transgender and nonbinary older people. This is mainly due to the failure to systematically collect inclusive data on gender and sexual diversity, through variables such as those recommended by the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/standard-sex-gender-variations-sex-characteristics-and-sexual-orientation-variables/latest-release">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a>.</p> <h2>Strengths and resilience</h2> <p>This year, older people seemed to occupy a more prominent place in the Mardi Gras Parade. Perhaps this is because of the natural ageing of our community activists. Older people were also represented in the wider World Pride festival, such as in the theatre production <a href="https://sydneyworldpride.com/events/all-the-sex-ive-ever-had/">All the Sex I’ve Ever Had</a>, in which older Sydney residents reflect on the evolution of their sexuality over the course of their lives.</p> <p>A festival like World Pride showcases the strengths and resilience of LGBTQ+ people and communities. The organisation of such an event should not be underestimated. This reflects LGBTQ+ people’s high level of civic engagement and commitment to giving back to society, as demonstrated by their greater likelihood of being <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0312407X.2021.1899256">volunteers</a> and <a href="https://www.caregiving.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2015_CaregivingintheUS_Final-Report-June-4_WEB.pdf">caregivers</a>. And the contribution of volunteers and caregivers during the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and ‘90s is not forgotten.</p> <p>LGBTQ+ older people generally are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5241752/">resilient and maintain good health</a>. Many report increased <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-021-00653-z">confidence and self-esteem</a>, compared with when they were younger. And many have created their own families – their families of choice – to support each other in later life.</p> <p>But we don’t know enough about their needs and how to provide them with inclusive services as they get older. World Pride is an opportunity to reflect on the hard-won gains but not ignore the challenges ahead.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-some-lgbtq-older-people-events-like-world-pride-can-be-isolating-we-need-to-better-understand-how-to-support-them-200533" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

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Nation split over Lidia Thorpe’s Mardi Gras protest

<p>Australians everywhere, from TV personalities to politicians and the public, have seized the opportunity to weigh in on Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe’s decision to temporarily halt Sydney’s 2023 Mardi Gras parade. </p> <p>Thorpe, who parted ways with the Greens party early in February, was - in her own words - protesting for “#NoPrideInGenocide, #NoPrideInPrisons, and #NoCopsInPride” when her actions caught the attention of the gathered crowds, with footage uploaded to social media showing her on her back in front of a parade float. </p> <p>In the clip, NSW police officers can be seen addressing Thorpe, and eventually she was moved on. Reports have stated that earlier, she could be seen walking backwards in front of an Australian Federal Police officer while waving a small rainbow flag. </p> <p>A statement from NSW Police claimed she was removed “at the request of organisers for breaching the terms of her participation”. They have since confirmed that the senator was not arrested and will not be charged over the incident. </p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Lidia Thorpe gonna Lidia Thorpe. <a href="https://t.co/879xXgA4LX">pic.twitter.com/879xXgA4LX</a></p> <p>— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) <a href="https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/1629673736273293312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p>As with all acts deemed controversial by social media, the video blew up, and the story reached the eyes and ears of people all across the country. </p> <p>Thorpe attempted to get ahead of the discussion and set the record straight, tweeting that she was proud to have joined the Pride in Protest with their No Pride in Genocide float, as “Black and brown trans women started the first pride march as a protest against police violence. Today, we still face violence from [the] police.” </p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Black and brown trans women started the first pride march as a protest against police violence. Today, we still face violence from police. Proud to have joined the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PrideInProtest?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PrideInProtest</a> float in Sydney to say <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoPrideInGenocide?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoPrideInGenocide</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoPrideInPrisons?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoPrideInPrisons</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoCopsInPride?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoCopsInPride</a></p> <p>— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorThorpe/status/1629609463396302848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p>When Thorpe’s attendance was first announced, No Pride in Genocide’s spokesperson Mikhael Burnard stated that “the oppression of queer people and the oppression of Indigenous people and refugees are one and the same fight.”</p> <p>And while many raced to Lidia’s comment section to declare her a “legend” for their movement, just as many have been loud about their distaste for the senator’s actions. </p> <p>“Lidia Thorpe did the queerest thing out of anyone at that co-opted, corporatised, pinkwashed excuse for a Pride march, &amp; it aligns with the sentiments/needs of the most vulnerable members of the LGBTIQA+ community - &amp; marginalised communities at large,” wrote one supporter. </p> <p>“God it's funny how people don't understand that the entire point of protest is to be disruptive,” tweeted another, “that's why it's effective. Lidia Thorpe could write a polite letter to the king of the police that will do nothing, or she can actually centre cops at pride as part of the conversation.”</p> <p>“Rusted on supporters of Lidia Thorpe who said yesterday it was ‘important context’ that she stopped a ‘police float’ now say it doesn't matter which float she stopped after learning last night it was a float for youth mental health services,” wrote a critic. </p> <p>And now, radio’s Ben Fordham and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet have seen fit to offer their opinion. Notably, neither figure was in attendance at the Mardi Gras celebration, although <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/anthony-albanese-makes-history-at-mardi-gras" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made history</a> with his march in support of Australia’s thriving LGBTQIA+ community. </p> <p><em>2GB</em>’s Ben Fordham labelled Lidia a “rogue”, calling her protest “a whole new low.” </p> <p>“Once again she has proven she is unfit for public office,” Ben, who has never held a position in office himself, went on, “that’s the reality.”</p> <p>The debate over having police officers at Pride events has been around for a long time, and many came to Lidia’s defence citing the history of police repression with the LGBTQIA+ community - including but not limited to police brutality towards organisers, advocates, and participants alike. </p> <p>In New South Wales, where Mardi Gras was held this year with WorldPride, the failure of authorities to investigate murders of a homophobic nature across three decades is never far from the minds of many. Ben, however, had his own take on the matter. </p> <p>“Even though you’ve got police officers who for decades now have been part of the Mardi Gras trying to send a message to the gay and lesbian community that they’re on their side,” he said, “Lidia Thorpe doesn’t want them there.”</p> <p>“It’s just typical Lidia Thorpe. It’s a disgrace,” Premier Dominic Perrottet agreed. </p> <p>“As a society, we need to respect different views and not just tolerate it, but celebrate different perspectives,” Perrottet went on as he continued to condemn Thorpe’s standpoint, “and what we see from Lidia Thorpe and the Greens is this negativity and worse than that, this divisive nature of their politics.”</p> <p><em>Images: Twitter</em></p>

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Reviled, reclaimed and respected: the history of the word ‘queer’

<p>Recently, a number of people have questioned or critiqued the use of the word “queer” to describe LGBTIQA+ folk. One <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/13/please-dont-use-the-q-word?utm_term=Autofeed&amp;CMP=twt_gu&amp;utm_medium&amp;utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1673635001">writer to the Guardian</a> claimed that the “q-word” was as derogatory and offensive as the “n-word”, and should not be used.</p> <p>While there is a clear history of the word being used in aggressive and insulting ways, the meaning(s) and uses of queer have never been singular, simple or stable.</p> <h2>The origin of the word ‘queer’</h2> <p>Queer is a word of uncertain origin that had entered the English language by the early 16th century, when it was primarily used to mean strange, odd, peculiar or eccentric. By the late 19th century it was <a href="https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2019/may/queer-history/#:%7E:text=Up%20through%20the%20nineteenth%20century,columns%20to%20private%20epistolary%20speculation.">being used</a> colloquially to refer to same-sex attracted men. While this usage was frequently derogatory, queer was simultaneously used in neutral and affirming ways.</p> <p>The examples <a href="https://www-oed-com.ez.library.latrobe.edu.au/view/Entry/156235">provided in the Oxford English Dictionary</a> show this semantic range, including instances of homosexual men using queer as a positive self-description at the same time as it was being used in the most insulting terms.</p> <p>Compare the neutral:“Fourteen young men were invited […] with the premise that they would have the opportunity of meeting some of the prominent ‘queers’” (1914); the insulting: “fairies, pansies, and queers conducted […] lewd practices” (1936); and self-affirmed uses: “young men who call themselves ‘queers’” (1952).</p> <p>In the 1960s and 1970s, as sexual and gender minorities fought for civil rights and promoted new ways of being in society, we also sought new names for ourselves. Gay liberationists began to reclaim queer from its earlier hurtful usages, <a href="https://outhistory.org/files/original/f6d46c5d90761e3a66edcd4fe32a6785.pdf">chanting</a> “out of the closets, into the streets” and singing “we’re here because we’re queer”. </p> <p>Their <a href="https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/come-out-magazine-1969-1972/the-come-out-archive">newsletters from the time</a> reveal sustained questioning of the words, labels and politics of naming that lesbian and gay people could and should use about themselves. Some gay libbers even wanted to <a href="https://outhistory.org/files/original/3809edc277d5dbfd51f8883422e761b7.pdf">cancel the word homosexual</a> because they felt it limited their potential and “prescribes a whole system of behaviour […] which has nothing to do with my day-to-day living”.</p> <p>In Australia, camp was briefly the most common label that lesbian women and gay men used to describe themselves, before gay became more prominent, used at that time by both homosexual men and women.</p> <h2>The evolving use of the word queer</h2> <p>In the early 1990s, gay had come to be used more typically to refer to gay men. Respectful and inclusive standards of language evolved to “lesbian and gay”, and then “LGBT”, as bisexuals and transgender people sought greater recognition. </p> <p>Queer began to be used in a different way again: not as a synonym for gay, but as a critical and political identity that challenged normative ideas about sexuality and gender.</p> <p><a href="https://guides.libraries.indiana.edu/c.php?g=995240&amp;p=8361766">Queer theory</a> drew on <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/social-constructionism-4586374">social constructionism</a> – the theory that people develop knowledge of the world in a social context – to critique the idea any sexuality or gender identity was normal or natural. This showed how particular norms of sexuality and gender were historically contingent.</p> <p>Thinkers such as Michel Foucault, Michael Warner, Judith Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick and Lauren Berlant were enormously influential in the development of this new idea of queer. Some people began to identify as queer in the critical sense, not as a synonym for a stable gender or sexual identity, but to indicate a non-conforming gender or sexual identity. </p> <p>Activists in groups such as <a href="http://queernation.org/">Queer Nation</a> also used queer in this critical sense as part of their more assertive, anti-assimilationist political actions.</p> <h2>Queer as an umbrella term</h2> <p>From the early 2000s, it became more common to use queer as an umbrella term that was inclusive of the spectrum of sexual and gender identities represented in the LGBTIQA+ acronym.</p> <p>Today, queer is included among the terms lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender diverse, intersex, asexual, <a href="https://junkee.com/brotherboy-sistergirl-decolonise-gender/262222">brotherboy and sistergirl</a>, <a href="https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/accessible-and-inclusive-content/inclusive-language/gender-and-sexual-diversity">recognised in style guides</a> as the most respectful and inclusive way to refer to people with diverse sexualities and genders.</p> <p>Of course, the different usages and meaning of words such as queer have often overlapped and have been hotly contested. Historical usages and associations persist and can sit uncomfortably next to contemporary reclamations.</p> <h2>Queer as a slur?</h2> <p>Contemporary concerns with queer’s historical use as a slur seem odd to me. The heritage report <a href="https://queerarchives.org.au/heritage-100/">A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects</a> (which I co-authored), surveys the complexity of language use in historical and contemporary society.</p> <p>It is notable that almost all of the words that LGBTIQA+ people use to describe ourselves today have been reclaimed from homophobic or transphobic origins.</p> <p>In fact, it could be said that liberating words from non-affirming religious, clinical or colloquial contexts and giving them our own meanings is one of the defining characteristics of LGBTIQA+ history.</p> <p>While queer does have a history of being used as an insult, that has never been its sole meaning. Same-sex attracted and gender diverse folks have taken the word and have been ascribing it with better meanings for at least the past 50 years. </p> <p>Queer’s predominant use today is as an affirming term that is inclusive of all people in the rainbow acronym. </p> <p>At a time when trans and gender diverse folk are facing particularly harsh attacks, I’m all for efforts to promote inclusion and solidarity. Respectful language use doesn’t require us to cancel queer, but rather to be mindful of its history and how that history is experienced by our readers and listeners.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/reviled-reclaimed-and-respected-the-history-of-the-word-queer-197533" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

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Sydney decorated with rainbows ahead of WorldPride 2023

<p dir="ltr">WorldPride 2023 has kicked off in Sydney, with the city being decorated with rainbows in celebration of the LGBTQIA+ event. </p> <p dir="ltr">The New South Wales capital was chosen to host the annual event, which is hosted in a different city around the world each year, with the two week celebration coinciding with the Mardi Gras parade on February 25th.</p> <p dir="ltr">For the first time since 2019, the parade will be back on Oxford Street after being forced into the SCG to comply with Covid-19 restrictions. </p> <p dir="ltr">Celebrations for WorldPride officially kicked off in Sydney on Sunday with Fair Day in Victoria Park boasting performances, stalls, food, and pageants. </p> <p dir="ltr">To celebrate the LGBTQIA+ events, landmarks around Sydney have been adorned with rainbows, pride flags, feathers and sequins to share their solidarity and support for equality. </p> <p dir="ltr">The Sydney Opera House has been lit up with the rainbow colours of the pride flag, as well as the pink, blue and white colours for the trans flag and brown and black colours for queer people of colour, otherwise collectively known as the Progress Pride Flag. </p> <p dir="ltr">Rainbows have also appeared at Manly Wharf, Coogee Beach, Pitt Street Mall, The Star Casino, Sydney Airport, and in shop fronts across the city. </p> <p dir="ltr"><a href="https://sydneyworldpride.com/">WorldPride</a> events will be happening across Sydney until March 5th.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

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Historic change made for transgender swimmers

<p dir="ltr">The swimming world will be the first sport to allow transgender athletes to compete at an elite level separate to men’s and women’s competitions, after the International Swimming Federation (FINA)’s president Husain Al-Mussallam announced the new category on Monday.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I do not want any athlete to be told they cannot compete at the highest level,” Mr Al-Mussallam told the FINA Extraordinary Congress in Budapest, Hungary, per <em><a href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/more-sports/swimming-makes-historic-decision-to-segregate-transgender-athletes/news-story/3832900944e167a1b19c817f35dfb7be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news.com.au</a></em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I will set up a working group to set up an open category at our meets. We will be the first federation to do that.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Al-Mussallam announced the change after FINA unveiled an inclusivity policy which was then approved by members.</p> <p dir="ltr">Brent Nowicki, the CEO of FINA, said the organisation was determined to maintain separate competitions for men and women.</p> <p dir="ltr">“(FINA) recognises that certain individuals may not be able to compete in the category that best aligns with their legal gender alignment or gender identity,” he added.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Nowicki explained that under the rules, the male competition would be open to everyone. However, “male-to-female” and intersex athletes would only be allowed to compete in the women’s competition or set a world record “if they can prove they have not experienced any element of male puberty”.</p> <p dir="ltr">This prompted immediate backlash from some sections of the swimming world, with Dr Christer Magnusson, a member of FINA’s medical committee, among those complaining that it implied that boys as young as 10 would have to decide to start transitioning to compete as female athletes.</p> <p dir="ltr">David Gerrard, a fellow member of the medical committee and an Emeritus Professor at the University of Otago, New Zealand, also criticised the policy.</p> <p dir="ltr">“To ask or expect an 11, 12-year-old boy to make a decision that will affect the rest of his life is a big ask,” Professor Gerrard said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Others were more receptive to the decision. American swimmer Alex Walsh cautiously welcomed it after she won the women’s 200m medley at the world championships on Monday morning.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’m happy that FINA are … re-evaluating the rules,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I am not really sure what the answer is to keep things fair but obviously I hope that everyone is able to compete and as long as they are finding a way to do that then I am happy.”</p> <p dir="ltr">FINA’s decision and policy come after the International Olympic Committee asked sports federations to create their own “sport-specific” rules about transgender athletes last year.</p> <p dir="ltr">FINA created three committees - one legal, one medical, and one of athletes - to consider the issue, with the medical committee finding that transgender women retained some advantages from being assigned male at birth.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Some of the advantages males acquire in puberty are structural and are not lost with hormone suppression,” said Dr Sandra Hunter of Milwaukee’s Marquette University.</p> <p dir="ltr">“These include larger lungs and hearts, longer bones, bigger feet and hands.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, the legal experts found that the policy of excluding most transgender swimmers would be legal.</p> <p dir="ltr">“(It is) necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate objective,” London-based barrister James Drake said.</p> <p dir="ltr">The new gender inclusion policy will come into effect on June 20, 2022, according to the <a href="https://www.fina.org/news/2649715/press-release-fina-announces-new-policy-on-gender-inclusion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FINA website</a>.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-0046eca1-7fff-fd6e-1c04-a0526785f8d0"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @fina1908 (Instagram)</em></p>

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P&O Cruises celebrates diversity

<p dir="ltr">As cruises make their way back to Australia, P&amp;O Cruises is celebrating with a weekend at sea for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, their friends, family and supporters. </p> <p dir="ltr">The ship will set sail on November 4 from Sydney and is a three-night event to allow Aussies from all walks of life to celebrate diversity and inclusion.</p> <p dir="ltr">The celebrations won’t stop there though, with a Pride Cruise departing from Melbourne on December 9, as well as another three cruises in 2023. </p> <p dir="ltr">P&amp;O Cruises Australia’s Partnership Manager Chris Rich said the cruise line was excited to return to service and offer guests its first dedicated Pride sailing.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Guests on the Pride cruise will be able to celebrate the themes of love, compassion, respect and understanding through lectures, educational and spiritual events, same sex marriages and renewal of vows,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The cruise will welcome everyone who is a member or supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community – as well as the unique blend of love and laughter that makes the LGBTQIA+ spectrum so special.”</p> <p dir="ltr">LGBTQIA+ community organisations such as Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Harbour City Bears and Queer Screen have helped P&amp;O Cruises make this possible. </p> <p dir="ltr">The cruise line has gone a step further to include some of “the best names in the Australian entertainment business” to make the three nights memorable. </p> <p dir="ltr">Some names dropped by the cruise include international superstar Hans the German, Simon Dunn - the first openly gay male to represent any country in the sport of bobsled – P&amp;O Cruises Queensland Rugby League ambassador Meg Ward and ex-Rabbitohs rugby star Ian Roberts.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: P&amp;O Cruises</em></p>

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Religious freedom bill falls at second hurdle

<p dir="ltr">The Australian federal government’s bid to overhaul religious freedom laws has been shelved indefinitely, after a failed motion to bring the matter on for debate in the Senate.</p><p dir="ltr">After the laws were passed in the House of Representatives in the early hours on Thursday morning, the bill was due to enter a second round of discussions and votes during the Senate.</p><p dir="ltr">However, the failure to bring it on for debate has meant it will likely be shelved indefinitely, with coalition sources confirming the government is highly unlikely to bring it back for debate when the Senate sits again in March.</p><p dir="ltr">According to the <em><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-10/government-consults-religious-groups-discrimination-bill/100818568" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a></em>, this is because the government doesn’t want debates about religious freedoms to affect its chances of selling a pre-election budget.</p><p dir="ltr">The proposed law has been the subject of intense criticism in recent days due to the introduction of new amendments to protect gay students from discrimination by religious schools which wouldn’t extend to transgender school students.</p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ff1d6b5-7fff-3c88-6926-5c3cc535a8ba"></span></p><p dir="ltr">Though it was a more watered-down version of the bill the government initially proposed, several moderate Liberals were concerned about the amendment as well as other parts which remained from the original bill.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Liberal MP Bridget Archer has rejected her own party's religious discrimination bill, saying she is "horrified" that trans kids aren't protected, and "in 2022, I can't believe that we are even having this conversation"<br /><br />Neither can we<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/auspol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#auspol</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CallTheElectionDickhead?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CallTheElectionDickhead</a> <a href="https://t.co/qequTAhHqT">pic.twitter.com/qequTAhHqT</a></p>— Media Analyst (@MediaAnalystOz) <a href="https://twitter.com/MediaAnalystOz/status/1490952870992412674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2022</a></blockquote><p dir="ltr">This prompted five Liberal MPs to cross the floor and vote with Labor and the crossbench against the government in order to extend protections for transgender students.</p><p dir="ltr">Following that defeat, the government consulted with religious groups on the future of the laws.</p><p dir="ltr">Some of these groups have expressed that they are adamantly against supporting the protections for transgener students that now came with the bill.</p><p dir="ltr">Assistant Attorney-General Amanda Stoker said the amended bill was flawed and that “it’s not what the government designed”.</p><p dir="ltr">“It’s not what we thought had got the balance right,” she said.</p><p dir="ltr">The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) has also advocated for the bill to be dumped, claiming that removing exemptions allowing schools to discriminate against trans students “completely undermined” the bill.</p><p dir="ltr">“[The exemptions] have enabled faith-based schools to teach their religion and conduct their school according to their faith values,” ACL director Wendy Francis said.</p><p dir="ltr">“The loss of this protection would outweigh any benefits that could be obtained by the religious discrimination bill.</p><p dir="ltr">“With the amendments so damaging to religious freedom, the government should immediately withdraw the bills.”</p><p dir="ltr">Conservative government members have also called for the bill to be dumped.</p><p dir="ltr">When the government proposed to strike out existing laws allowing students to be expelled due to their sexuality, the move was supported by groups such as the Christian Schools Association (CSA).</p><p dir="ltr">But Christian schools and the government argued that extending those protections to gender identity created additional complications, with the CSA fearing protections for transgender staff and students could hinder the teaching of the school’s faith.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fe804c25-7fff-58f9-f9e2-b4e18b375bf7"></span></p><p dir="ltr">In a moving speech prior to the bill passing in the House of Representatives, Shadow Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones spoke about his son Paddy, the unique risks LGBTQIA+ children experience in the community and his anxiety as a parent of a child within that community.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">I spoke on the Morrison Government's religious discrimination bill and the message we want to send our kids. (1/2) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/auspol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#auspol</a> <a href="https://t.co/7FOW2XEJKj">pic.twitter.com/7FOW2XEJKj</a></p>— Stephen Jones MP (@StephenJonesMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenJonesMP/status/1491131692345532420?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2022</a></blockquote><p dir="ltr">“I worry myself sick every time he leaves the house. I think to myself, ‘You look beautiful, but do you have to go out looking like that?’ I know that the love and protection that he enjoys with his mother and his friends and his family is very different to the reception that he may receive in the outside world,” Mr Jones said.</p><p dir="ltr">In response to his dad’s speech, Paddy said he became overwhelmed with emotion.</p><p dir="ltr">“I cried for the first time I saw it. It was a really beautiful speech,” Paddy told the <em><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-10/paddy-stephen-jones-son-speech/100819064" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a></em>.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-7d73f1e3-7fff-8666-8bf3-ba451131050e"></span></p><p dir="ltr">“I didn’t know what was going to happen after that speech but I told (my dad), yes, I think it is important for you to make this speech because it’s more important for young children who are gay, trans, they need to know that there are people out there that are just like them and who are supporting and loving them.”</p><p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

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