BY NOREEN FAGAN – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard seems to be in favour of ending discrimination against gays, except when it comes to same-sex marriage.

 

Gillard is quoted in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald: “My position flows from my strong conviction that the institution of marriage has come to have a particular meaning and standing in our culture and nation and that should continue unchanged,” she says.

Gillard’s statement comes a month before the Australian Labor Party’s national conference, where the issue will be addressed. Her announcement is intended to diffuse tensions around the debate at the conference and to garner support for her position, which contrasts party policy. Given her opposition to gay marriage, she would likely vote against it if the Labor Party adopted a conscience vote and a bill were brought before Parliament. 

Opposition to same-sex marriage appears to come from politicians and not from voters. Another article in the Herald states that a recent poll shows 62 percent of voters support gay marriage. 

It is interesting to know that Gillard is the only Labour leader who is against full equality. According to the Green Left, “every current Labor state premier or state opposition leader supports an end to second-class citizenship for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people.”

   

BY NOREEN FAGAN – Human rights be damned is the message from Malaysia.

Two states in the country are making moves to change their laws to further punish Muslims who engage in homosexual behaviour.

Homosexuality is already illegal in Malaysia and punishable by caning and up to 20 years in prison. But Associated Press reports that the new amendments proposed by the Pahang and Malacca religious authorities would give those states' governments additional powers.

What this means is that if you are a gay Muslim living in Malaysia, you could be punished twice: state and federal jail terms would run consecutively.

Mohd Ali Rustam, Malacca’s chief minister, said that under the new laws, Muslim gays and lesbians would be tried in court and punished by a prison sentence or fine.

“So many people like to promote human rights, even up to the point they want to allow lesbian activities and homosexuality. In Islam, we cannot do all this. It is against Islamic law," Rustam said, adding that gay Muslims would also be required to receive counselling.

Rustam said the proposed penalties would also apply to any supporters of homosexuality.

In Pahang, cleric leader Abdul Rahman Osman echoed Rustam’s sentiments, saying that Islam prohibits any “deviant sexual orientation or behaviour” and that he feared this “abnormal behaviour will be regarded as a norm.”

The states do not need approval from the federal government to effect the changes, as religion falls under state control.

The anti-gay sentiment seems to be spreading: last week an annual sexuality festival held in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, was cancelled after police threatened to crack down on it.

Human rights violations seem to be spreading like wildfire in the country, and I am not looking forward to seeing what happens next.

  

BY NOREEN FAGAN - A former soccer player has scored a big goal in the fight against homophobia in professional sports by coming out, saying his only regret is that he didn't do it earlier.

David Testo started playing with Montreal Impact in 2007. He was MVP in 2009 and last month ended his contract with the team.

In an interview with CBC Radio-Canada, he said, “I’m gay. I didn’t choose this. This is who I am.”

He went on to talk about the difficulties he faced by staying in the closet. “I really do regret not having come out publicly earlier. It’s something I struggled with my whole life and whole career.”

It’s pretty gutsy of Testo to stand up -- he is one of the few sports stars who have. I wish more athletes would get out onto the field and wave the rainbow flag.

It is interesting that Testo is from North Carolina, the next US state to become embroiled in the same-sex marriage debate. I wonder if Testo will return home and join in the fight for equality?

That would be a great goal.

   

BY NOREEN FAGAN – It seems pretty absurd that a burly rugby player can have a stroke, slip into a coma and wake up gay.

But that’s what happened to Chris Birch, he told the Daily Mail. By his own account, Birch was a rugby-playing, beer-swilling skinhead before he attempted to do a back flip in front of his friends. The flip failed, Birch broke his neck, suffered a stroke and fell into a coma. At that time, he was 19 years old, weighed 120 kilos and worked in a bank.

When Birch came out of the coma, he said, he woke up as a gay man.

“It sounds strange, but when I came round I immediately felt different. I wasn’t interested in women any more. I was definitely gay. I had never been attracted to a man before – I’d never even had any gay friends.”

Birch embraced his new persona: he left banking to become a hairdresser, got a fancy haircut, dropped all his mates, lost 50 kilos and now, at 26, is happily living with his boyfriend.

That’s pretty radical and a little cliché – did he really have to wake up and want to be a hairdresser?

Birch said his neurologist told him that the stroke might have triggered something in his brain.

According to the Daily Telegraph, UK Stroke Association spokesman Joe Korner said, “During recovery the brain makes new neural connections, which can trigger things people weren't aware of, such as accent, language or perhaps a different sexuality.”

 

    

BY NOREEN FAGAN - Who knew there was an Australian soap opera on YouTube starring four gay guys from Melbourne?

I certainly didn’t, and I don’t think I would ever have found out about it if I had not been perusing the Australian website Same Same.

Queer as F**k caught my eye for one reason: multi-award-winning actor Geoffrey Rush stars in the show’s latest episode.

So what’s the lowdown on Queer as F**k?

The series follows the lives of four gay housemates, through the dramas they encounter as they meet guys, hook up and negotiate relationships.

The show is not all about sex. Well it is, but it serves a purpose, which is to deliver information to gay men about their sexual health.

That’s pretty sexy.

The show is a collaboration between the Burnet Institute, the University of Melbourne, the Victorian Aids Council Gay Men's Health Council (VAC/GMHC) and X:Machine Productions.

Colin Batrouney, manager of health promotion at VAC/GMHC, says the series is a huge success and proves that common methods of health promotion are not always the most effective way to convey messages to the gay community.

"We've found that social media tools and a funny, well-written soap opera is the best way of generating this vital conversation about safe sex and respect in the gay community," Batrouney says.

It really is a great awareness campaign.

A new episode of Queer as F**k is uploaded to YouTube every two weeks. If you are lazy and don’t want to scroll through the website, you can go to their Facebook page — each episode is there.

The latest episode on the Facebook page is the one that stars Rush as a horny doctor. My dilemma: do I watch it and then go back to the beginning of the show, or do I start from the very beginning?