glbt – Page 11 – mikeybear

Davenport Underwear. You will be dying to wear it

Congratulations to Rob Mitchell for taking an important stand yet again in fighting intolerance and the tide of suicide victims.

If you’re not speaking out, you’re part of the problem.

Michael.

From: Rob Mitchell <rob@rjm.it>
Date: 8 September 2010 20:11
Subject: Stephanie Rice
To: customerservice@davenportunderwear.com.au

Hi,

Can I suggest you check out

www.davenportsucks.com

It is a web site I have set up highlighting the link between the systemic vilification peddled by your ‘star’ and the inevitable result is has on the mental health of the 10 % of young people in this country who are not straight.

For years Davenport has banked great wads of money from the gay community by flogging it their expensive underwear, but when the time comes to discipline one of your ‘ambassadors’ for vilifying that community, you are missing in action.

It’s not good enough, and we are not going to put up with it.

Starting tomorrow (Thursday) we are going to be hitting the GLBTI and metro media with the website, and that is just the start. If you google ‘Davenport’ and ‘suicide’ you will see we are already at number six out of 360,000.

You should ditch Stephanie as an ambassador, as Jaguar have done. To do anything less is to simply profit from hatred and vilification.

Stephanie Rice can burst into tears as often as she likes but I can see no concrete offers of help, monetary or otherwise, to genuinely assist the GLBTI community deal with the vilification related rates of suicide and depression that are endemic in our communities.

If it’s one thing we’ve learnt fighting HIV / AIDS over the last quarter of a century, it is that persistence works. Sooner or later, the broader community are going to associate Davenport underwear with bad corporate governance, and you don’t have to be clairvoyant to work out what that will mean for your bottom line.

It’s unfortunate it’s come to this, but for too long sport has been a ‘safe harbour’ for behaviour that would be unacceptable in any other context, and too often companies that profit from the sporting world won’t step up when required.

Those days are gone.

Rob Mitchell

Member Governance & Inclusion Project, Vic Dept. Sport

Member Integrity In Sport Committee, Australian Sports Commission

My Jewish New Year message

My Jewish New Year message is that I will be fighting intolerance of homosexuality by Jewish religious bigots in the new year. Spread the love.

It’s the eve of the Jewish New Year. The Jewish world moves from 5770 to 5771.

My message for the Jewish New Year is that I am going to continue to fight the hate and bigotry perpetrated by the religious bigots in the Jewish community. I’m going to fight the attitudes that contribute to the atrocious levels of youth suicide, self harm and mental health issues.

Organisations such as the Jewish Community Council of Victoria will remain my key targets. Whilst they remain adamant that it’s ok for segments of the Jewish community to remain intolerant of homosexuality, I will fight them. They will be shown up for the narrow-minded bigots, haters and fools that they are.

Intolerance is unacceptable.

Bring on 5771. Bring on the fight.

Sending sweet wishes of New Year love.

Michael.

In Australia it’s ok to fuck the faggots over

[SOURCE]

Last week the NSW government passed a bill allowing same-sex couples the right to adopt children. There was a concession made though that Christian adoption agencies could refuse services to gay and lesbian couples.

Ms Moore had agreed to amend her private member’s bill, calling for same-sex couples to be allowed to adopt, to give church adoption agencies the right to refuse services to gay and lesbian couples without fear they will breach anti-discrimination laws by doing so.

Take a step back and look at this. Let’s change the words “gay and lesbian” to “black”.

Ms Moore had agreed to amend her private member’s bill, calling for black couples to be allowed to adopt, to give church adoption agencies the right to refuse services to black couples without fear they will breach anti-discrimination laws by doing so.

or we could try again and use the word “disabilities”

Ms Moore had agreed to amend her private member’s bill, calling for couples with disabilities to be allowed to adopt, to give church adoption agencies the right to refuse services to couples with disabilities without fear they will breach anti-discrimination laws by doing so.

Do you think in 2010 that either of these statements would be possible? Yet it’s ok to allow the government to make concessions to Christian about gay and lesbian couples.

I’m a gay man in a relationship. It’s outrageous and embarrassing that my government treats me worse than blacks or disabled people.

Worse than this though is that no one is getting upset or angry about this obscene discrimination. The marginalised GLBT community is sitting back and copping it fair and square. The rest of society who aren’t bigots are just sitting back and letting the politicians and fundamentalists ride rough-shod over us. What is wrong? Australia is supposed to be a civilised country that is supposed to treat all its citizens equally.

Clearly in Australia it’s ok to fuck the faggots over.

Michael.

Remembering the 2009 Tel Aviv Agudah (gay centre) shooting

Watch this video and remember Liz Troubishi and Nir Katz, two young people murdered in the Tel Aviv Agudah (gay centre) shooting on August 1 2009. Other victims of the shooting escaped with their lives, but will be scarred forever. They were all victims of a terrible hate crime. The perpetrator remains on the run.

Fight hate. Fight bigotry. Fight intolerance. Promote unconditional love.

Michael.

Hit Labor in the hip pocket with your vote

[SOURCE]

Read the following sage advice from Rod Swift. On top of this, I would encourage you to vote [1] Secular Party in the Senate and also if there’s a candidate in your seat.

Michael.

Remember that every time you place a 1 in a box marked GREEN or Australian Sex Party, they get $2.31 of your taxpayer money.

Labor deserves to be financially punished for taking us for granted.

A vote for ANY minor party is not a wasted vote if they poll 4% — they get electoral funding. Funding that Labor will NOT get.

Come on, GLBTI Australians. You can give up to $4.62 to a minor party of your choice. Every 10 voters that change their vote to a minor deprives Labor of $46.

Every 1000 deprives them of $4,600.

Enjoy tomorrow. I think it’s time to hit Labor in the hip pocket.

Danby Silent on Anti-Israel Anti-Gay Extremist Jewish Filth Web-site

In September 2009 Michael Danby and I had a brief email exchange. He told me he was criticising the “dark and ugly recesses of the Internet”. I wrote back to him and advised him that his concern lacked credibility because he was ignoring dark and ugly recesses of the Internet on his very doorstep.

Wind back one month prior to August 1 2009, now just over a year ago.

In Tel Aviv, Israel, there was a horrific shooting that left two young Jewish Israelis dead. They happened to be in a gay community centre at the time. I appealed to many people in the Melbourne Jewish community to speak out against this shooting, to speak out against hate and intolerance of homosexuality, especially from within the Jewish community, and to stand up for the vulnerable and marginalised people in our society. Amongst these many people was Michael Danby.

I didn’t write just one letter. I wrote many letters. I wanted people to hear me, to sit up and to take notice. I included Michael Danby on every one of these letters.

This is the letter Michael Danby wrote to me on September 17 2009:

From: Michael Danby MHR <michael.danby.mp@aph.gov.au>
Date: 17 September 2009 12:06
Subject: Tova from Parliament House in Canberra
To: Michael Barnett <contact@aleph.org.au>

Dear Michael,

Thankfully this year Rosh Ha’shana this year does not occur during the parliamentary week. Like you, I will be cosseted with family and attending my local shule.

I wish you and your family a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous new year, and well over the fast.

As you might expect I have been strongly advocating issues that I believe will be of interest to you.

In order to understand where this country is going it is important to remember where we have come from. Therefore I wrote, and I hope you will be interested in, an article on the 70^th anniversary of the beginning of the second world war. Click here.

You will be pleased to know that my strong criticisms – ‘The Dark and Ugly Recesses of the Internet‘ of two online publications crikey.com.au and newmatilda resulted in newmatilda changing its moderation policy for comments on articles regarding the middle east, while crikey.com.au Eric Beecher conceded that crikey.com.au editing and moderation of its comments on its website during the first 3 months of 2009.

Finally, in Parliament I noted the 20 years that Genia Janover has been Bialek’s Principal extraordinaire. Click here.

Wishing you and your family a gute and gebensched yohr

Michael Danby

This was my reply:

From: Michael Barnett <michael@aleph.org.au>
Date: 17 September 2009 10:29
Subject: Re: Tova from Parliament House in Canberra
To: Michael Danby MHR <michael.danby.mp@aph.gov.au>Dear Michael,

Thank you for your well-wishes.

In response to this email I would like to say that there are ‘dark and ugly recesses of the Internet’ here in Melbourne that I have brought to your attention recently via email that are as dark and as ugly as anything you may have commented on today.

Right now the only issues that are of interest to me are 1) the implementation of hate crimes to deal with vilification based on sexual orientation and 2) the insubstantial response by the leaders of every Jewish community in Australia to the hate and intolerance of gay people in the Jewish community in Australia and Israel.

You deal with Jews. You deal with gay people. You deal with issues in Australia. What are you doing to ensure a safe place for GLBT Jews in Australia?

I’ve heard less from you, Michael Danby MP, on this matter than anyone else to date, yet your seat of Melbourne Ports sits across both the Jewish and gay communities. I call on you to speak out about the intolerance and persecution of gay Jews in Australia. Can you rise to the challenge?

I sincerely hope you care about us because right now, very few people are standing up for the most marginalised and vulnerable people in the Jewish community in Australia.

Sincerely,
Michael Barnett.

Aleph Melbourne

My letter refers to a Melbourne blog “AJN Watch” which describes itself as:

AJN WATCH – the on-line voice of Australian Orthodox Jewry observes and comments on matters of interest to that community. We particularly monitor prejudice and monopolistic abuse of influence in the pages of the Australian Jewish News – the main source of information to and about Australian Jewry. We spotlight errors, expose misrepresentations and vigorously advocate our community’s positions.

AJN Watch specialises in filth, intolerance and hate. On August 7 2009 it published a piece entitled “Australian Jewish News, Australian Goyish News or Australian Gayish News?” In it they wrote:

The last thing their readers are interested in is what is happening in Tel Aviv snakepits of dreck and perversion.

and

Your comment that “Israel is one of the more gay-friendly countries in the world and you don’t have to spend too much time in the more vibrant sections of Tel Aviv to become aware of a strong and tolerant gay culture” indeed nauseates, depresses and disgusts not only Hamodia readers, but all decent, civilized and moral people – of all religious beliefs. Your pride and delight that Israel has become a world-leader in depravity and debasement says much about you and your publication.

Michael Danby ignored my letter. He did not speak out. He turned his back on this sinister and vile web site based in his electorate of Melbourne Ports. Michael Danby turned his back on gay people, on Jews, on Israel, on the memory of Liz Troubishi and Nir Katz, on the people in his electorate, on Melbourne, on Victoria, on Australia and on all of humanity.

Michael Danby wants you to vote for him on Saturday August 21. He wants you to put your faith in his ability to represent you in the government and in his ability to govern for all of you. He wants you to trust him. Michael Danby cannot be trusted on these matters. He claims to care about gay people. He claims to care for the Jewish community. He claims to care for Israel. The only proven issue that Michael Danby actually cares about is himself and his career. The rest is just lip-service and pandering.

If there’s one person you should not vote for this election it’s Michael Danby. If there’s one party you should not vote for it’s the Australian Labor Party.

Michael Danby has let everyone down and he does not deserve reelection. Tell Michael Danby he should not be reelected to government. Do this by voting for a party that really cares about human rights and justice. In Melbourne Ports, this leaves three real options: the Australian Greens, the Secular Party of Australia and the Australian Sex Party.

A vote for Danby and the Australian Labor Party is a vote for intolerance, bigotry, vilification, suffering and persecution.

Think about who you are voting for and why you are voting for them on Saturday August 21, 2010. If you vote for Michael Danby, you will have it on your conscience.

Michael Barnett.
Ashwood, Victoria.

A Secular solution for Marriage Equality for Australia’s second-class citizens

On August 14 the Equal Love people put on another rally in Melbourne. It started on the steps of the State Library of Victoria and ended on the steps of the Marriage Registry in Spring Street.

It was a lovely afternoon for a rally to protest the unnecessary discrimination that same-sex couples face in Australia. There is absolutely no justification for this appalling situation.

I have documented the event using photos, and uploaded them to Google Photos and Facebook, as I have done in the past. Please take a moment to look at the photos and understand that the people you see who are not allowed to get married by the Australian government are all second-class citizens. Australia is a better place than that. It’s citizens deserve full equality in all aspects of life.

There is a federal election less than a week away. One way you can send a message to the politicians who legislated this hateful situation and also to the politicians who have not promised to overturn it is to vote for a party that promises full equality in marriage.

I will be voting for the Secular Party of Australia. They promise 100% marriage equality and will fight to overturn every piece of legislation that denies full equality to Australia’s GLBT citizens. So committed to marriage equality are the Secular Party that they have undertaken a commitment to guarantee full marriage equality in advance of a nationwide relationship register. I understand this is an undertaking the Australian Greens refuse to commit to. The Secular Party will ensure marriage equality is a priority. Equality must be 100%.

You can help make a positive change this election by voting Secular in the Senate, and if you have a candidate in your electorate, also for the house of reps.

If you want full equality in marriage, you have the power to make a difference. Use it wisely.

Michael.

GLBTI, Jewish and enrolled to vote in Melbourne Ports or Wentworth?

With the federal election looming, there are a number of political parties offering to fight for increased rights and equality of GLBTI people and families. The key parties offering this are the Greens, the Australian Sex Party and the Secular Party of Australia. The Liberal Party offers no hope for advancing the rights of GLBTI people and families in Australia. The Australian Labor Party has previously advanced the rights for GLBTI people and removed a lot of the discrimination that we had been facing, however it is currently not prepared to turn around any significant existing discrimination facing GLBTI people, most notably in the area of marriage.

The Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group (TGLRG) has set up a web site “Moving Forward“. They have surveyed a number of political parties and posted their responses online. Take some time to read these survey responses. TGLRG will post responses from other political parties as they are received.

The electorates of Melbourne Ports (VIC) and Wentworth (NSW) contain the largest Jewish populations in the country. They both also contain significant gay, lesbian and bisexual populations.

The Greens’ Sue Plowright, the Australian Sex Party’s Christian Vega and the Secular Party’s Gregory Storer are candidates in Melbourne Ports. The Greens’ Matthew Robertson and the Secular Party’s John August are candidates in Wentworth. [I have provided links here for candidate’s web sites that I am aware of. I will post others if they are brought to my attention.]

If you are in Melbourne Ports, LIVE are running a candidates forum on August 10. Click here^* for details and to RSVP. You can also send a question to the candidates via the web site.

If you are in Wentworth, Network (for Jewish young adults who are searching for, questioning and celebrating their Jewish identity) are running a pre-election candidate forum on August 11. Click here for details and to register.

As I become aware of further such meetings or supportive candidate details prior to the election I will post them to my blog. If you have any relevant details feel free to post a comment below. Thanks.

Michael.

* http://live.org.au/community-events/candidates-forum

What sort of people don’t take youth suicide seriously?

I asked the question on my Facebook profile:

What sort of people don’t take youth suicide seriously?

The responses so far:

Luke: people who put their own self interests ahead of the safety and well-being of vulnerable, young Australians…evil, hateful people…
Leigh: The Victorian labor party! We campaigned for YEARS and they were not interested! 13 young people in our tiny area (6 country towns) died in one year and they didn’t think it was a problem.
Jason: The church
Elvira: People who don’t see youth suicide as having any correlation with glbti community. People stuck in the middle ages.
Tony: People who don’t take GLBT youth suicide, or any youth suicide seriously have their head in the sand, and it is just an ignorant, disgusting and narrow-minded stance to take.
Gregory: Amazing comments Michael – good to see some people have an idea about what’s going on!

I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine where the real problem is.

Shoshana Silcove: “I am against gay marriage”

Shoshana Silcove posted a comment on Mark Baker’s blog on Galus Australis telling the world she is against gay marriage. That would make her a party pooper and a homophobic bigot, for starters.

Shoshana writes (her spelling errors are included):

I am against gay marriage but, that does not mean I would in any way supoort slaughtering people for being gay. One can see homsexuality as immoral yet, not be in any manner or form a proponent of persecution or genocide of gays. Persecuting or genociding any one group for any reason is horrifc and immoral too. I take umbrage with Mr. Baker’s implication (read between the lines) that those who do not want to see gay marriage legalised are inclined to be immoral persecutors or murderous beasts.

Let’s play a game here. I think I’ll call it ‘swapsies’. It goes like this. Take a word out of a sentence and swap it with one or more other words. It’s very simple. We’ll play the game using Shoshana’s statement:

I am against gay inter-racial marriage
I am against gay Jewish marriage
I am against gay Progressive-Jewish-is-not-really-Jewish marriage
I am against gay Muslim marriage
I am against gay Christian marriage
I am against gay indigenous marriage
I am against gay secular marriage
I am against gay religious marriage
I am against gay fat-person marriage
I am against gay really-ugly-person marriage
I am against gay disabled-person marriage
I am against gay marriage-of-convenience marriage
I am against gay marriage

That was fun. I’m sure I could play the game for hours on end. Will they bring it our for Xbox or as an Android/iPhone App? But what would Shoshana Silcove have to say about these? Would she approve or disapprove of any of them? Shoshana? Do any of them appeal to you? Send me your preferences. I’d like to hear them.

Dear Shoshana, who gives you the authority to determine which two consenting adults can or can’t get married? If same-sex marriage doesn’t please you, kindly refrain from commenting. I don’t care who you marry. It’s none of your business to make judgement calls about who I can marry. I may disapprove of your choice in marital partner, if anyone would want to marry you, but to be honest, I don’t give a rats arse.

Michael.