Posts Tagged ‘australia’
Boost for same-sex military couples from the Australian Defense Force
SAME-SEX relationships in the Australian Defence Force have moved a step closer to formal recognition following the introduction of commonwealth laws ensuring equal treatment of financial benefits and superannuation payments to personnel regardless of sexual preference.
The laws, to be introduced on January 1, mark a significant step forward in the recognition of same-sex relationships for ADF members, Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said yesterday.
The Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws — Superannuation) Act 2008 ensures same-sex couples are treated the same as heterosexual couples for the purposes of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948 and the Defence Force Retirement and Deaths Benefits Act 1973.
“Same-sex partners of ADF members will no longer be denied the payment of death benefits from superannuation schemes,” Mr Snowdon said.
“What these laws do, is they’re a continuation of our election commitment to remove same-sex discrimination from a broad range of commonwealth laws. Defence is encouraging a fair, safe and very inclusive workplace where we respect all persons regardless of their sexual inclination.”
ADF service members in same-sex relationships would now receive exactly the same conditions of service as those in married or de facto relationships, he added.
The tax concessions on death benefits, which are currently available only to heterosexual couples, will from January 1 be available to same-sex couples.
“These changes further reinforce the ADF’s commitment to recognition of same-sex relationships, seen in areas such as the Defence Home Owners Scheme and access to Royal Australian Air Force veterans’ residences,” Mr Snowdon said.
In 1992, under pressure from the Keating Labor government, the ADF lifted its ban on openly gay and lesbian soldiers.
At the time, the change in policy met strong resistance from service chiefs and defence service organisations, but the issue has since faded from the public stage, after it failed to fulfil warnings it would damage defence recruitment and combat-effectiveness.
Experts say evidence of the lifting of the gay ban on ADF members is scarce, but indicates there has been no decline in operational effectiveness.
The latest changes come in the wake of significant and continuing reforms to the national military justice system.
Australian Gay Basher Ordered to Pay $40k
“A Cairns District Court judge ordered Daniel Leigh Proud, 23, to pay compensation for the bashing, which left Gary Michael Jamieson, 53, with serious brain injuries. The court was told Proud repeatedly kicked and punched Jamieson after he made advances during a fireworks display on the Cairns Esplanade in the early hours of January 1, 2006.
In June 2006, Proud was jailed for 42 months, to be released after 14 months, after he pleaded guilty to assaulting Jamieson and causing him grievous bodily harm. Then acting Chief Judge Tony Skoien was told that after the attack, Proud told police he hated homosexuals.
The court was told Jamieson suffered a seizure and arterial bleeding to the brain. Prosecutor Sussann Bell told the court Jamieson was openly gay and a neighbour of Proud.
Proud told police Jamieson was “hitting” on him sexually during the New Year celebrations and that he “got up and snapped”. Judge William Everson last week granted Jamieson a total of $38,250 in compensation for the physical and psychological injuries he suffered in the attack.”
Gay activist urged to get a sense of humour over Telstra ad
Read the article & watch the video: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,27574,24804194-5006009,00.html
Australia mulls official ‘intersex’ gender
CANBERRA, Australia, Dec. 6 (UPI) — The Australian government’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission is pushing for “intersex” to become an officially recognized gender.
The commission distributed a paper entitled “Sex Files — The legal recognition of sex: Proposed reform” among transgender and transsexual advocates that supports adding “intersex” to the recognized genders of male and female for use on passports and driver’s licenses, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported Friday.
“Recognition of intersex: Persons who cannot or do not identify as either male or female would be able to choose to be identified on their birth certificate and passport as intersex,” the paper reads. “A person who cannot or chooses not to undergo surgery would not be automatically ineligible to request a change in their legal sex.”
However, some transgender lobby groups said the proposed move would not go far enough and requested a fourth option, “other,” be made available for those who would not fall under the “intersex” label because they believe their gender is indefinable or constantly changing.
“The AHRC proposal does not go far enough in providing legal status and social spaces by only allowing people to be male, female and intersex,” said Sex and Gender Education Australia spokeswoman Tracie O’Keefe.
Australia: Relationships register begins for unmarried/gay couples
Read the article: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24732293-661,00.html
And in Australia… Another sacking demanded over ‘anti-gay’ document
A gay rights group is calling on the Federal Government to sack both of the men’s health ambassadors who have been linked to a document criticising homosexuality.
Barry Williams from the Lone Fathers group and the Fatherhood Foundation’s Warwick Marsh are listed as authors of a publication that says homosexuality is a disorder. The publication was published by Mr Marsh’s organisation.
The Government has dismissed Mr Marsh but has retained Mr Williams, who has distanced himself from the document.
“I don’t even know the words and I had nothing to do with it,” he told ABC Radio’s AM program.
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the document’s statements on homosexuality are “quite abhorrent” but she is prepared to accept Mr Williams’s explanation about why his name appeared on the document.
“Look, it is very strong stuff but I think that this is a document that was authored by 34 people. I think that Mr Williams’ sins are not having read and taken care what he put his name to,” she said.
“He has publicly and expressly disassociated himself from any of these comments and I am prepared to accept that explanation.”
But Rodney Croome from the Coalition for Equality says Mr Williams should be sacked too.
“Even though he’s repudiated the anti-gay manifesto he originally signed, Barry Williams has repeatedly lobbied and advocated against the legal recognition and protection for same-sex couples and their families,” he said.
“It’s exactly these kind of discriminatory attitudes which undermine better health outcomes for gay men by stigmatising them as unfit parents.”
’21 Reasons’
The publication, titled 21 Reasons Why Gender Matters, refers to homosexuality as “gender disorientation pathology”, and says it will lead to increased levels of drug abuse and partner violence, will increase the risk of communicable disease and the likelihood of suffering bad health, and is often a “symptom of family dysfunction, personality disorder, father absence, health malfunction or sexual abuse”.
It also says gay people are more likely than straight people to abuse children, saying that homosexuality “encourages the sexual and psychological exploitation of children.
“Homosexual abuse of children is proportionately higher than heterosexual abuse of children. It must be stressed that most homosexuals do not abuse children, and most are not paedophiles, but it seems a significant number do, and are.”
Another section says infidelity “and the like” are more pronounced in homosexual relationships: “Faithfulness within a same-sex relationship is extremely difficult to maintain”, it says.
‘Heterophobia’
Mr Marsh has released a statement saying he has been vilified because he believes every child has the right to a mother and a father.
“If I am attacked it is because I believe that our children matter,” he said in the statement.
“If I am attacked it is because I believe every child has the right to a mother and a father. Children need a mother and a father, not two mummies or two daddies.”
Mr Marsh said certain journalists had claimed he was “homophobic” and he was baffled by “this sort of heterophobia”.
The sacking is the latest snag for the Government’s attempts to advance the men’s health agenda; another of the ambassadorial appointments came under fire earlier this week.
Hairdresser Tim Mathieson, partner of Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, is one of the six men originally selected to help develop Australia’s first men’s health policy.
Mr Mathieson says he is qualified for the role.
“Being a hairdresser and having the background I’ve got is pretty good to put me in a great position to understand the needs of men and their health issues and I think any sort of controversy is pretty overblown I think,” he said.
But Ms Roxon admits the controversy surrounding the men’s health panel is a setback and says she takes full responsibility for the application process.
Courtesy of ABC
Australia moves to give rights to gay couples
SYDNEY: Australian lawmakers have passed new laws giving gay and lesbian couples many of the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts but have ruled out legalizing same-sex marriages.
After a low-key debate late Monday, the Senate passed amendments to around 100 family, health and taxation laws that give same-sex couples access to the same services as opposite-sex couples living together in “de facto,” or common law, relationships.
Among the major changes, gays and lesbians will be allowed to get family benefits under the state-run health care program and to leave their retirement benefits to their partners if they die. The changes also confer parental rights on gay and lesbian couples with children.
While the laws give same-sex partners many of the same rights and protections as married couples, they stop short of allowing gays and lesbians to wed under the Marriage Act, which was redrawn by the last conservative government to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
When the governing Labor Party unseated its conservative rivals in 2007, it did so in part on a promise to end discrimination against gays and lesbians. But party leaders have said that pledge does not include a push to legalize same-sex marriages.
“It won’t be part of this government’s agenda,” Attorney General Robert McClelland told the national broadcaster on Tuesday. “The Labor Party policy is firm that marriage is between a man and a woman.”
Only a handful of countries recognize same-sex marriages, including Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa and Spain. Around 20 other countries recognize some form of civil union for same-sex partners.
In Australia, civil unions are recognized in only two states – Victoria and Tasmania – and the Australian Capital Territory, the area around Canberra.
The introduction of the new laws provoked little dissent in Australia, where discrimination against gays and lesbians is generally low. The debate Monday was opened by the minister for climate change and water, Senator Penny Wong, who is openly gay.
The changes passed without opposition through the Senate, with support from both major parties. The laws now go before the Labor-controlled House of Representatives, where they are expected to pass without controversy.
“I think the most successful aspect of the passage of the legislation is just how noncontroversial it’s been,” McClelland said. “I think the Australian community thinks it’s something that should have been done – and should have been done a long time ago.”
Kicking A Lion 
