Marriage equality: we need a ‘yes’ vote to push back the bigots
“If you don’t like same-sex marriage, vote ‘no’. If you’re worried about religious freedom and freedom of speech, vote ‘no’, and if you don’t like political correctness, vote ‘no’ because voting ‘no’ will help stop it in its tracks.” With those words, conservative former PM Tony Abbott fir...CONTINUE READING
You can’t take the politics out of Safe Schools
What happens when a ragtag team of do-gooder celebrity gays and their allies get together to lobby for a new, moderate, “politics and controversy free” version of the Safe Schools program? Well, politics and controversy, of course. The proposal, brainchild of former Fairfax journalist Ben...CONTINUE READING
Election highlights political polarisation in France
The presidential elections have exposed the political polarisation of French society. For the first time in the post-war period, the two major establishment parties have been left out of the second round of the country’s elections. And for the second time, the fascist National Front (FN) h...CONTINUE READING
We don’t need a plebiscite, we need equality now
“There is something about being forced to the catacombs that electrifies the atmosphere. A movement to advocate for the good of man-woman marriage was forged that night in secret in Sydney.” Lyle Shelton, director of the Australian Christian Lobby, has been reflecting on his organisation h...CONTINUE READING
We shouldn’t be afraid of a fight for marriage equality
“But this entertainment will not only ruin young lives … it will end some of them.” No, that’s not the tagline to 2012’s summer blockbuster The hunger games . Nor is it from the internal monologue I had each year the morning of my high school swimming carnival. It is about Malcolm Turnbull...CONTINUE READING
Remembering the Tasty nightclub raid 20 years on
“There was an escalating feeling that the police weren’t finding what they were looking for. They knew they couldn’t find anything. They were getting angry.” In the early hours of 7 August 1994, Victoria Police raided Tasty, a nightclub in Melbourne’s CBD with a predominately queer cliente...CONTINUE READING
One Bean we cannot count on
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That’s certainly the case when it comes to the changing of the guard at the top of our universities. RMIT University vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner is leaving. Her belligerence toward the staff union and penchant for property developme...CONTINUE READING
NT teachers give government an F
Teachers in the Northern Territory are locked in a battle with the conservative state government over savage cuts to education. The Country Liberal Party is axing 71 positions, including English as a second language teachers and behavioural support staff, “regionalising” a further 85 posit...CONTINUE READING