Welcome to the third issue of the OGT for 2007. It’s hard to believe that we’re more than half way through the year, but it’s nice that it’s no longer dark by 5pm and I’m hoping that the worst of the winter weather is now behind us.

This issue of the OGT includes a tribute to Heather Martin, a member of our community who passed away recently. Heather was a very talented mental health nurse, scholar, artist, partner and friend. The OGT extends its deepest sympathy to Heather’s family and friends, especially her partner Pat.

There’s quite a focus here on youth within our community. PFLAG South has recently established a support group for queer/LGBT and questioning youth under 18 years of age. The group meets monthly and is supervised by PFLAG members. There’s more information about this on Page 5 of the paper.  At the same time a new position working with and for queer youth has been established by UniQ Otago - Queer Youth Community Liaison – and this role is being filled by Dougal Herd (see Page 5 for Dougal’s introduction and more details about the focus and responsibilities of this new role).

In addition, one of the OGT’s feature writers, Anna Chinn, has researched and written an extensive article about high schools and their attitudes towards the welfare of their LGBT/queer students. As you’ll read, this piece was sparked by an interest in .nding out whether or not local schools have policies in relation to taking someone of the same-sex to the school formal, but Anna decided to dig a bit deeper and ask a few more questions. Anna’s findings are extremely interesting and the OGT would welcome responses to this article from readers. Sometimes of.cial policy and reality match up and sometimes they don’t, so now that we’ve heard from the "top", so to speak, it would be wonderful to hear from those at the "cliff face", those who are personally affected by the policies and whether or not they’re implemented and supported. The full article can be read on Page 6 and there’s also details there about how to submit a response or personal experience.

The second week of September will provide us with the opportunity to celebrate our community and who we are. Pride Week Dunedin will take place during 8-16 September and promises to offer a wide range of activities. Page 8 outlines some of the events that are already con.rmed, as well as those that were still being worked on at the time that the paper went to print, so check it out and mark the week on your social calendar. There’s also details there about where and when to look out for Pride Week programmes and contact details for more information. Organising events always takes lots of time and energy so let’s get out there and show our support for those who are making Pride Week happen.

Until the next issue, stay safe and happy, and be proud of who you are.

Tor Devereux, Editor

There were so many facets to Heather; she was like a kaleidoscope. You never knew which pattern you would see on any given day. She had a way of relating to people that suited their need.  To us she was our friend, our playmate, someone we could share our inner child with.

We first met Heather and Pat in 1998, not long after arriving from London. We were living in Hamilton, and Pat and Heather had just moved up to Whakatane from Dunedin. Cath Seeley took us to meet them - two cool dykes up for a bit of fishing, she said. We drove there with windscreen wipers on full in a wind that pushed the car over the centre line. The fishing wasn’t up to much but a pattern had been set. From then on, every time we drove to Whakatane Heather and Pat would watch the sky darken and get the washing in and our first evening together would be spent sitting in the lounge, huddled under colourful crochet blankets crafted by a resident from Cherry Farm, watching the thunder and lightning roll in over the Rangitaiki Plains. The following day, however, would always be fine and Heather would have dreamed up a variety of things we could do.

One day she asked if we would mind helping the family move the cows from the farm to the run off, some 15km away. We have to cross a railway line and SH8, she said, and the more hands the merrier. Ignorance is bliss, and we readily agreed. Within hours we were dropped off at a junction somewhere on the outskirts of Whakatane with instructions to not let the cows pass at any cost. When we urbanites asked how to stop cows they said just wave your arms up and down and say tsk tsk tsk, it’s easy. We stood there for some time, enjoying the sun on our backs, listening to the cicadas. When we heard the low rumble of hooves upon metal we searched the sky for clouds but there were none. When we saw the dark cloud of dust speeding towards us we thought it was a swarm of bees and did nothing. Then, to our horror, around the corner of the road came several hundred tons of dairy stock stampeding towards us. And it wasn’t bravery that made us stand transfixed, waving our arms in the air. Just as we were about to abandon pride and throw ourselves into a ditch, Heather’s brother appeared on his motorbike and brought the herd to a halt, just yards from where we stood. It was a memorable moment and a task we never volunteered for again.

But most of the time we would go fishing.  Well, Pat and I would. We’d work out the tides, pack our gear and head off to the harbour. There we would stand, hour after hour, drawing on our rollups, seldom catching anything more exciting than a suntan and a stingray. Just as we were about to wilt we’d hear a chatter of voices and Heather and Annie would appear, resplendent in enormous sun hats Heather had dug out from who knows where, with the Sunday papers, an egg and bacon pie and some of her Mum’s home baking. On one such afternoon Heather told us that she had been informed that there was a dearth of children’s entertainers in the Bay of Plenty and that, as a consequence, she and Annie had decided to take up clowning. So began the short but glorious career of the famous clowning duo "Nurse Egg-matic" and "Bumble". Pat and I would drive two colourful, if slightly nervous, clowns to a gig, wave them goodbye and go and spend a happy hour in the nearest fishing tackle shop. Returning we would .nd two triumphant if bedraggled clowns waving three $20 bills at us and demanding a milkshake to celebrate.

Their most memorable gig was at Rotorua.  We had two cars with us that day and when they had finished Heather and Annie got into the front car while Pat and I followed, watching the other motorists double-take as two clowns sped towards them, leaning into the bend as they drove around corners and throwing lollies at small children.  Unknown to us, the circus was in town that weekend and there, in the middle of the domain, was the Big Top. It was a relatively small affair being surrounded by a handful of shady stalls selling kites and silly hats, but to Heather and Annie it was the highlight of their career. They spent a wonderful afternoon strolling around arm in arm, peering into rubbish bins, gathering a small trail of children and feeding on looks of disbelief from the bemused stallholders.

Heather always had a well developed sense of occasion and her spirituality was so natural it was infectious. One day she was feeling sad because the persimmon tree in the garden was going to have to be chopped down. The men were coming with the chainsaws in the morning, so that evening she decided that something had to be done. Hearing her call out, we walked into the garden and found her standing with an armful of silk scarves and tinsel. We needed to apologise to the spirit of the tree, she explained, for what we were about to do and to give thanks. So we spent the evening holding hands and dancing around a tree decorated in a multitude of colour, giving thanks for the shade it had protected us with and the fruit it had provided us with. And that night we hugged a tree for the first time.

With Christmas just gone, the four of us agreed to rendezvous back in Whakatane for the last time. Mouse caught up with us on New Year’s Eve and played the bagpipes and we arranged to meet on Ohope beach the following morning for a New Year’s Day surf, just like we had done five years before when we thought we were invincible and had all the time in the world. The morning was grey and bleak and we told Heather she shouldn’t come, but she understood our need for the benediction of a surf on New Year’s Day. So, as Annie, Mouse and I caught a few glorious waves Heather watched patiently from the back of Mouse’s converted meat truck and prepared hot chocolate and pancakes for us.

If there is one thing I learned from spending time with Heather it is how important it is to celebrate life, no matter how difficult or sad things are. You could rarely walk anywhere with Heather without her spotting something amazing. Whether it was a feather, a pebble, a sweet wrapper, a child’s lost shoe, or some tatty piece of kitsch in an op-shop window, she’d stop, hold it up to the light and find beauty in it. And that’s what she did with people, all the strange and wonderful people she came across in her life, and that’s why so many of us hold her so dear.

Since the late 90s the Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) has provided a paid coordinator for UniQ (the organisation for queer* and questioning tertiary students in Dunedin).  This position has undergone many changes over the years and a move into the OUSA Student Support Centre in 2003 saw the position becoming a lot more support based while still putting on social events and running political campaigns. In 2004, as there were (and still are) no queer positions on the OUSA Executive, a UniQ "collective" was formed. This group of elected students become the governance of the UniQ Coordinator to ensure that the employed coordinator was addressing students’ needs and following their directive.

At the end of the academic year in 2006 the UniQ Coordinator’s tasks were split into three areas: support, events and politics.This was because the workload was too much for a part-time employee! OUSA then employed someone to coordinate the events FUNQ and the Queerest T Party. The UniQ position was renamed the UniQ Support Coordinator. However, still not all support tasks were being carried out as the coordinator spent time on UniQ administrative activities. This became an employment issue for OUSA and the UniQ Collective (who were both the employers). If an employee signs a contract to do a job and then is not able to do it, this is a breach of employment law. To reduce the Collective’s liability, they were aksed to relinquish their employment responsibilities.

NOW ... The UniQ Support Coordinator is simply a "Tertiary Queer Support Coordinator" and the position is independent of UniQ. This means the position will run in consultation with UniQ, rather than be governed by it.

Queer support has become a pastoral care service of the OUSA Student Support Centre running:

So … watch this space as UniQ and the OUSA Student Support Centre work together to make life free ‘n easy for all our queer tertiary students and the wider queer community!

* Queer is a reclaimed word arising from the student movement that acknowledges both gender and sex diversity. It is used as a collective term that is inclusive and not exclusive to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, takataapui, fa’afa.ne, intersex and asexual identities.

Gay Ski Week NZ will celebrate its fifth birthday in the aptly named Queenstown during the first week in September 2007.

Established in 2003 by Queenstown resident Mike Sanford, Gay Ski Week NZ 2007 hosts an array of on and off mountain events with an accent on après ski.

Gay Ski Week NZ is the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest gay and lesbian alpine party and opens with a 5th Birthday Welcome Party on September 1. Over the next 8 days the event features 5 ski days around the Queenstown region, a dinner and cruise, several après ski parties, a retro dress up bowls evening, a Central Otago wine tour and Queenstown’s biggest gay and lesbian gig, the White Out Dance Party.

Each ski day, the Pink Bus will transport skiers and snowboarders to and from the Crowne Plaza Queenstown (the official home of the event) to the skifield of the day.

For more information check out the website at: www.gayskiweeknz.com

by Dougal Herd (Queer Youth Community Liaison)

Over the weekend of the 7th and 8th of July around 100 people of all ages, from all walks of life and from all over our country came together in Wellington for the second annual SS4Q (Safety In Schools For Queers) Conference. The conference was held at the lovely marae on the grounds of Wellington High School, which many of us from out of town were calling home for the weekend.

The SS4Q Committee had a wide range of workshops, speakers and panels lined up for us throughout the weekend which were intended to arm us with knowledge and skills to take back to our regions to help provide a safer school environment for queer students.  Things kicked into action on Saturday morning with everyone being formally welcomed onto the marae. This was followed by an introductory speech from Nathan Brown (the Out There! Coordinator). After a discussion of issues and obstacles currently facing us in our regions we broke for lunch.

The afternoon saw the conference move up a gear as we had our first workshop choice.  We were presented with a selection of workshops and were asked to pick two for the weekend. Workshop topics included "Making Our Voices Heard", "Starting A Queer Youth Group – Our Journey", "Supporting Queer Teachers", "Queer Youth Activism", as well as many more.  After our first workshop choice we were treated to our first panel - "Trans Youth In Schools". Three excellent speakers shared their stories with us and this was followed by us asking questions. This panel was most valuable and it was wonderful to learn from the experience of the speakers.

As the afternoon moved on we had our second workshop choice, followed by a guest speaker - Louisa Wall. Louisa has accomplished many great things in her life so far such as working in mental health and human rights, representing New Zealand in netball and she is actively involved in the New Zealand Labour Party. It was a pleasure to listen to her experiences and wise words.

Saturday ended with a SS4Q party hosted by the glamorous Ellie Kat who currently holds the title of Miss Drag Wellington. There was an open mic section during the night with drag performances galore (my drag personality Miss D made an appearance), as well as an excellent violin number.

Sunday saw a reflection of the previous day followed by another panel - "Successful Regional Initiatives". Three speakers, including myself, spoke about our individual successes in our regions and how that came about. We were then asked to get into our regions and develop action plans and then report back to everyone with how we plan to implement them.

It was then time to get together one last time and each say a few quick works about our experience at the 2007 SS4Q Conference in the form of a large circle outside in the sun.  I must say that this was a weekend I will always remember. I was able to learn and share so much that I do not think I could have otherwise. The SS4Q Conference was an incredible experience that allowed me to meet a bunch of truly beautiful, incredible and amazing people. I simply cannot wait until next year!

From Small Beginnings…

A gathering in February inaugurated a new venture by PFLAG South (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) aimed at providing support for younger members of Dunedin’s queer community. Following correspondence with principals, counsellors and boards of trustees, high school students were invited to meet together to plan the establishment of a drop-in centre where GLBT students, their friends and supporters can gather regularly for friendship, information and recreation.

After discussion it was decided to begin by holding regular gatherings from 5pm to 7.30pm on the last Friday of each month. Numbers, though still small, have grown steadily and activities have been varied. We’ve watched a movie, gone ten-pin bowling together and enjoyed an evening of creative art under the guidance of Lesley Hirst and Janet Downes.

Safety and supervision is provided by members of PFLAG South which has also sourced funding from COGS and the Lotteries Grants Board. The group is also grateful for the support of Out There!, the queer youth development project of the NZ AIDS Foundation, which contributed the airfare for one of our members to attend the national Safety In Schools For Queers (SS4Q) Conference in Wellington over the weekend of 7-8 July.

The group is looking forward to support from Dougal Herd, who was recently appointed to the position of Queer Youth Community Liaison. Entry to the youth group is free and not restricted to high school students, but you must be aged 18 or under. For further information phone PFLAG on 027-686-9304 or email [email protected]

Hello Everyone!

My name is Dougal Herd and I am the newly appointed Queer Youth Community Liaison for Otago.

You may remember the incredible Daniel Larson who was UniQ Community Liaison last year.  Well, I’m the new Daniel with a twist! UniQ saw the need for a paid queer youth worker and therefore decided to tailor the community liaison position so that its focus would cater to the needs of our queer youth.

In my 10 hours a week I am starting to help out with PFLAG South’s new youth group, attending SHIP (Sexual Health Information Providers) meetings, attending the Working Together group meetings, as well as attending training and workshops. It is also in my job description to form a good working relationship with schools, which I plan to start as soon as I have a couple more resources at hand.

It is a pleasure to be in this position and to be working with such wonderful people. Hopefully you will be hearing more from me soon. Please feel free to contact me or pop on in and see me at any time:

Dougal Herd Queer Youth Community Liaison Student Support Centre, OUSA, University of Otago, Cumberland Street, Dunedin

Phone: (03) 479-5445

Mobile: 027-330-3366

Email: [email protected]

Not Achieved = School demonstrates homophobia by requiring students to sign weird form before they may attend school formal with same-sex partner.

Achieved = School pays lip service to diversity and to safety for all students, but specific discussion of GLBTI students’ welfare avoided. Weird form not present.

Merit = School goes beyond lip service to acknowledge existence of GLBTI students specifically and demonstrate some understanding of the issues faced by such students. Same-sex partners at school formal not ruled out and weird form not present.

Excellence = School acknowledges existence of GLBTI students specifically; demonstrates clear understanding of, and has some systems in place to deal with, issues faced by such students; and same-sex partners at school formal clearly permitted, with weird form condemned.

It is pleasing to report that no schools were graded "not achieved", since none were found to have extreme discriminatory practices such as asking students to declare their sexual orientation and sign a form.

So let’s begin with those schools given an excellence grade.

It was put to her that some school officials appeared to be sweeping gay and lesbian students under the proverbial rug, out of a fear of parental hysteria and allegations of "promoting a gay lifestyle". When asked whether she felt confident about challenging such hysteria, she said her response would be: "Who a person is on the inside is their private business and it’s their decision about whether they choose to reveal information about that. As a school, we invite students to take on the values of tolerance and being open-minded, and appreciating and celebrating diversity. So that’s where we’re at."

by Jane E Libeau

The night disturbed

By a silent word

"Get up before the morn."

The silent breath

Upon my chest

Whispers

"Get up and face the dawn."

Words lifting me

For me to see the day

That was the night

"Grasp the day

In a different way

Open vision to new insight."

The voice I heard

That silent word

From my self

To urge me on

From complacency

From day to day

To embrace now

Before it’s gone.

So much of now

We chew

And devour

And neglect to taste life’s .avours

Overwhelming days

Has its way

We shrink back in our cave

To shelter us.

Listening to that voice

Of con.dence and choice

Self supporting our willingness to explore

A stepping stone to adventures unknown

Soothing and warming the human core.

by Andrew Metcalfe

I was coming back from a day in Glasgow catching up with a friend and seeing a movie. The train was rather noisy due to football fans of St Johnston (in Perth) who had been to a Scottish Cup semi final match with Celtic. The thing with football supporters who have been on the bevy is that they can be either funny, seriously scary, or a combination of both. This is often in direct relation to the amount of alcohol consumed.

Sitting near to me was a guy and his friend who were travelling further north. Most Scottish males would not set the world on fire with their good looks and sartorial elegance, but this man was truly stunning. In my sober state I was happy to enjoy the view, but a very drunk St Johnston supporter coming up the aisle had other ideas. He plonked himself next to a woman (who handled him very well - I suspect that in New Zealand he would have got a clip around the ear!), but then his eyes lighted on the Glorious Vision, and off he went. At great length (and for the amusement of all the passengers around) he loudly proclaimed, "Ooooh, you are a good looking man! Isn’t he handsome? How old are you? (27) Where are you from? (Aberdeen) You weren’t born there though (no, Stonehaven). You’re far too good looking to come from Aberdeen!"

It was starting to verge into somewhat homoerotic territory, but the 27 year old vision from the Granite City made light of it, retorting that he had presumed the drunk was a heterosexual trying to chat up a lady, but was starting to wonder. Eventually the Vision shook the hand of the drunk (who had also been cheerily proclaiming that he wasn’t known as the sharpest tool in the tool box) and the latter staggered off. I couldn’t resist commenting to the Vision on my way out of the train that it was just as well he hadn’t been asked for his phone number!

I don’t know if you ever have a chance encounter with someone, perhaps an occasion when you don’t even get to have a conversation, but when you are so impressed and thought, "That seems like a really beautiful person." I suspect that most of the time the fantasy is better than the reality. At the end of the trip I was left with the picture of someone that probably has no connection with what he was really like. It also poses the question, what is real beauty all about? The friend I was talking to in Glasgow earlier in the day had relayed the story of a guy at work that she had a wee crush on, until he started opening his mouth and showing what was really inside his head. The fantasy crashed, leaving yet another "disappointment".

In a funny way, perhaps the most beautiful person on the train was actually the St Johnston’s supporter. He didn’t have the looks, was obviously from the wrong side of the tracks and he appeared not to be able to say what he really thought without quite a few drinks. But he was brave enough to come out loud with what the rest of us kept to ourselves. Perhaps he was trapped in his own life, not able to tell another man he was gorgeous unless fuelled by alcohol (or is that just wishful thinking on my behalf?), but the fact was that he did, and he made a few people’s day. Maybe he was the most beautiful part of the whole journey.

by Anna Chinn

The play has already been staged in Dunedin, in May 2006, as part of the University postgraduate programme. It was held in the Fortune Studio theatre and I played the part of Willa. I know some of the gay community were able to attend and I thank them for their support.

I’d written the play before I saw the tagline for the competition. By writing the play, I was trying to explore my imagination and challenge myself.  I thought there didn’t seem to be much lesbian theatre out there and there was something I could do about that. I wanted to open people’s minds and stir their emotions. I wanted to create a text that the gay community could relate to and appreciate.

People in the world need to work towards becoming more loving and patient. People need to create a greater respect for one another regardless of job, race or sexuality. There is too much hierarchy and love of materialism, which leaves so many people without bare necessities and others with too much. If I were boss I would ask people to take better care of their environment and others around them. I would ask each individual to follow their passion, to explore and to remember to take the time to learn about who you are.

Sure, releasing the play shows that I have gay pride, but in truth I was initially very shy to have people read it. The play is fictitious but incorporates a lot from my own life. I gained the con.dence to share it with people because I didn’t want it sitting in a drawer. It had taken hours to write after all! I am proud to be who I am, and also proud of others out there who are doing wonderful things for the community.

I’ve been travelling for a few months now, starting off in Australia. My girlfriend Fi and I travelled across the Nullarbor to Perth. I had a great time there but being away made me homesick for beautiful New Zealand. Fi won an environmental award and so we took the hint that New Zealand was calling us back – due to her award I was lucky enough to stand in the Grand Hall of Parliament! We’re working in Ohakune now for the ski season and our house looks out to Mt Ruapehu. A few years ago I travelled around Southeast Asia and I hope to return there soon. Fi and I plan to teach English in Korea in November after the ski season.

That’s right folks and it’s going to be HUGE … as well as diverse, entertaining and informative!

Opening with the 3rd annual Lavender Globe Awards and After Party, Pride Week will include a week-long Queer Seminar Series at the University (with lecturers and postgrad students presenting topics of queer interest over the lunch break), Rainbow Day in the Octagon, Camp Karaoke, Dance Classes, a Queer Book Exchange, the annual Queer Art Exhibition, the Spectrum Dance Party, a Family Fun Day – and there’s heaps of other events in the pipeline as well!

Keep your queer eye out for Pride Week Dunedin 07 posters and programmes in local cafes in late August or send an email to [email protected]  to be kept in the loop via email.

Look forward to seeing you all out and about in the very near future!!!

Pride Week Dunedin xx

Hosted by UniQ Otago, the 3rd annual Lavender Globe Awards will be a glitzy celebration of the queer and queer-friendly community in Dunedin. It’s a great chance to acknowledge all those individuals, organisations and businesses that have made a positive contribution to the queer experience - as well as the opportunity to enjoy a night of fun, food and performances.

Nominations open on 1 August with the winners being decided by voting on the night. To nominate an individual, organisation or business, keep an eye out for nomination forms which will be available via the UniQ mailing list (email UniQ at [email protected]  to go on the email list) or from the OUSA Student Support Centre, the Otago Polytech Students’ Association and Bronx Bagels (Stuart St).

Categories for this year’s Lavender Globe Awards are:

Queer of the Year

Queer Young Person of the Year

Queer Avenger

Queer Organisation

Queer-Friendly Business

Queer Sports Person/Team

by Sarah Loftus

The 24th annual Candlelight Memorial service for those who have died of AIDS took place on Sunday 20th May. There were approximately 40 people of all ages and stages there, perhaps fewer than previous years but then it is not the numbers that count but the experiences and feelings of those who take part. They listened to readings, opinions, personal experiences, letters from politicians and poems including a very touching poem by Elizabeth Brooke-Carr. Participants spent time looking at some AIDS quilts and then lit candles and sat with them in the dark contemplating, remembering and praying for those they and the community have lost.

Everyone walked around to the front of the Cathedral where previously balloons have been released to the sky. This year, so that the balloons could not land in the sea and be a risk to wildlife, they were tied to the railings in a spectacular show of remembrance. People sang "Don’t Dream It’s Over" accompanied by Bridget Ellis. The song seems to have appropriate and different meanings for everyone. Afterwards people enjoyed a superb supper put on by members of UniQ and a social time.

Having the memorial at St Paul’s Cathedral lends a serene and serious tone and for many people provides a positive experience of being in a church and taking part in a service that is spiritual but not church-based. The Dean David Rice’s commitment to and passionate support of the Candlelight Memorial is much appreciated by all.

If you could not make it to this year’s Candlelight Memorial you may like to keep it in mind for next year. It is always on the third Sunday in May. There is no requirement that participants have lost people to AIDS or are involved in HIV/AIDS prevention or anything else. People come along from all walks of life for all sorts of reasons and in talking to some who have been there I have found that everyone has a different experience but that everyone feels touched and satisfied by it. It is always amazing to think we are a small group in a small community, but we are part of thousands and thousands of people meeting together in the same way in over 93 countries on that day to remember the millions who have died of AIDS.

Sources: www.365Gay.com , www.pinknews.co.uk , www.rainbownetwork.com 

Ten marchers were injured when about 200 people protested against discrimination and the physical and verbal abuse Croatian LGBT people suffer. Police arrested eight of the 20 or so young men taunting and abusing march participants.  Some of those arrested were reported to be armed with petrol bombs. Despite homosexuality being legal since 1977, the age of consent being equalised in 1998 and the government recently granting limited partnership rights for gay and lesbian couples, homophobia remains rife in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country. Croatia has applied to join the European Union, but the homophobic attitude that pervades society is an issue. In May, a Croatian sex education programme was criticised by the European Parliament because it encourages homophobia.

Two gay men have survived kidnapping and beating by the violently homophobic Mahdi Army, the militia of firebrand fundamentalist Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who is fighting to establish an Islamist dictatorship in Iraq. The two men were lured to a meeting after entering a gay chat room, but were badly beaten, bound and forced into the boot of a car. They do not know why they were not killed like other kidnap victims. Iraqi LGBT people are trying to raise international awareness and highlight the suffering of lesbian and gay people in Iraq. "Iraq is one of the most homophobic and dangerous places on the face of the earth. It is a deadly place for anyone who is found out to be homosexual or who is even suspected of being one," said a spokesperson for a London-based Iraqi LGBT group.

The expanding economy of India and an increasingly liberal attitude has created the climate for a growing and visible community of homosexuals and transgender people. Support groups are emerging and the gay scene in larger cities such as Delhi is increasingly vibrant. Hundreds united in Delhi recently for the Nigah QueerFest, a media event of features, documentaries and short films about homosexuality and transgender experiences.  Many are defying the law against homosexuality in India, and recent years have seen a .ght for acceptance, tolerance and equality of LGBT issues. However, lesbian and bisexual women are especially disadvantaged, having fewer support places available than gay men.

Human rights activist Joe Solomnese and gay performer Melissa Etheridge will question Democratic candidates for President of the United States in the first televised debate for the gay community. The hour-long event will take place on 9 August, and broadcast live on gay network LOGO and through live streaming at LOGOonline.com.  Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have con.rmed they will participate, while Republican hopefuls have also been invited. Issues to be covered include relationship recognition, marriage equality, workplace fairness, military, hate crimes and HIV/AIDS.

Several hundred skinheads and right-wing activists threw rotten eggs and smoke bombs at people participating in a recent gay rights parade. Police detained several of the protesters and tried to disperse the rest, some of whom threw beer bottles at police. No injuries were reported. The protesters said they were angry about two developments prior to the parade: the coming out of a state secretary in the prime minister’s office and the announcement by a small party in the Socialist-led ruling coalition that it would seek to legalise gay marriages. Some 2000 people participated in the march, which took place over several kilometres starting from Heroes Square.

Citizens Advice has produced new online fact sheets explaining what protection people have against sexual discrimination with regard to the sale and provision of goods and services. Since May of this year it has been against the law for businesses, charities and public bodies (such as government agencies, local authorities, education and health facilities) to use someone’s sexuality as a reason to refuse to sell something, to refuse a service, to provide worse or more expensive goods or services and to behave in a rude or hostile way. The law also covers advertising. A company cannot advertise its goods or services are available only to heterosexuals. Equally, a gay business cannot exclude heterosexual people, although it can say it is a "gay-friendly" business.

Press Release

Current health policy and practices do not take into account the requirements of the gay community, research suggests. PhD student Jeff Adams and Dr Virginia Braun from The University of Auckland, along with Dr Tim McCreanor, Te Ropu Whariki, Massey University, have published research which has identi.ed a vacuum in current decisions re.ecting a negative positioning of gay populations with policy makers.

"Internationally, gay men’s health issues, beyond HIV/AIDS, are increasingly being considered by gay community and mainstream agencies, but there seems to be much less interest in New Zealand," says Mr Adams of the Department of Psychology. "In our research we interviewed people involved in policy, health promotion and clinical practice. Whilst they recognised gay men’s health was a legitimate area of concern, they could not identify much policy development except in very niche areas such as HIV/AIDS. This is in considerable contrast to other identi.ed ‘disadvantaged’ populations such as Maori, Paci.c, younger and older people, who are all targeted within New Zealand health policy."

The research found that there is limited discussion and concern among the gay community in New Zealand with health issues, which is quite unlike other places such as Australia where health issues for gay men, and women, are vigorously addressed. "However, the gay community has an important role to play and can’t leave setting the health agenda to the experts. Without the voices of gay men being heard, policy will continue to ignore their needs," continues Mr Adams.

Available at: http://www.msd.govt.nz/publications/journal/30-march-2007/30-

pages199-215.html

by Mike Wooliscroft

Gore Vidal is assuredly one of the most talented and multi-faceted of men. He is a novelist, playwright, essayist, screen writer, social and literary critic, political activist, US congressional candidate and actor, though he does not rate his talents in the last role particularly highly.

These are discursive and disciplined reflections from a man conscious that he is very close to "the door marked ‘Exit’". One senses his need to "put things right", to have his own say lest others present a contrary view which is not true or which he does not wish to have recorded as being true.

In this latest memoir Vidal also writes movingly yet dispassionately about the death of Howard, his partner of decades. Leto, the person brought in to help care for Howard in his final months, wept openly. Vidal envied him for he found that "the WASP glacier had closed over my head".

Interestingly Vidal and Howard were not sexual partners, though they had a devoted partnership of the heart for decades.  He further notes that "Where the British – at least Bloomsbury - never ceased to have affairs with friends, colleagues, relatives, Americans of the same sort try to separate, wisely I think, sex and friendship."  

One of the many stories Vidal tells is about the death of Pius XII who was a faddist when it came to medicine:

"The ultimate fad proved to be his embalmment by what seems to have been an amateur taxidermist. As a result, while he lay in state in the basilica, he turned, according to one reviewer, "emerald green". Then, in response to the summer heat, he suddenly exploded. This was kept from the world for a long time until someone (a Jesuit?) passed on the information.  It was also reported that many sturdy Swiss guardsmen fainted during this holy combustion."

Vidal has much to say about other authors and I relished this bit about Christopher Isherwood who was a prolific diarist with some huge volumes already published and others still yet to come:

"Since Chris seldom wakened without a horrendous hangover, the hangover diaries as I dubbed them report his morning sickness, as it were, and give no sense of what the often joyous evenings before had really been like.  With jaundiced gloom he took us all on. I had thought that between his native shrewdness and whatever Vedanta is supposed to do to heal or palliate the wounded psyche he might have written in a more generous vein. But he is often hard on those who have been good – and often more than helpful – friends…"

"After one lunch and six bottles of wine, we went back to the studio where Orson had been dubbing himself. On the screen was a picture of him with lips moving. As he entered he turned to the microphone and became Falstaff, not missing a beat. Considering what he ate and drank, it is amazing that he lived to be seventy.  When he laughed, which was often, his face, starting at the lower lip, would turn scarlet while sweat formed on his brow like sudden spring rain."

"The wrecking by Rumsfeld of Iraq and Afghanistan, two countries that had not and could not have done us the slightest harm.  Simultaneously as their cities were being knocked down at enormous expense to us, the taxpayers, contracts were being given to the vice-president’s company Halliburton to rebuild those same cities that his colleague at the Defense Department had knocked down. This is a win-win situation for the higher corruption that governs us."

Sobering indeed.

Towards the end of this memoir, Vidal also offers a plausible interpretation of the plot leading to John F. Kennedy’s assassination, but I shall leave that to you to discover.

by Sean Smith

(UK, Pocket Books, 2006)

The following is a personal response by Peter Stuart to the Kylie Minogue biography

Kylie Ann Minogue was born in Melbourne on 28 May 1968. She is one of my favourite pop star singers. She first starred on the television show "Neighbours" when she was 18 years old back in 1986 and she played an actress called Charlene.  Then, in July 1986, Kylie released her first single "The Loco-Motion" which stayed at No.1 in the UK for seven weeks. She then released another hit called "I Should Be So Lucky" which reached No.1 as well. 

Kylie is one of the best pop stars in the world. Her music is so popular and it makes me get up and dance on the dance floor all night. One of Kylie Minogue’s best hits was "Can’t Get You Out Of My Head". It went straight to No.1 in Australia and sold 140,000 copies in the first week of release. A week later it becomes her sixth UK No.1 song selling 77,000 copies on its first day of sale.

I really like Kylie’s last single which was called "Giving You Up". It has a great dance beat to it. One of my very favourite Kylie hits would have to be "Love At First Sight" - it just makes me get up and have a good boogie.

by John Z Robinson

"She was as good a fellow-traveller as always, ready to go anywhere and stay anywhere and never easily tired, quite content if I wanted to forage solo; always interested and appreciative, very knowledgable, good tempered and with a quick sense of humour, and at the same time decided, an occasional sharp turn of phrase showing her keen nose for bluff, hocus-pocus, pretence, and plain dishonesty."

The dig itself is not so glamorous, there are no big name archaeologists on site and the finds are relatively modest. Brasch delights in it all and creates a believable documentary about European scholars working amidst poor Egyptian villagers in the early 1930s.

The Middle East and archaeology turn out to be just another indirection for Brasch, and it wouldn’t be until the end of the Second World War that he would return to Dunedin and find his way as literary editor, poet and art patron. In Egypt, though, Otago was never far away:

"On still mornings in damp hollows of the sand waves out at the edge of town I found occasionally as we breakfasted small white flowers that must have been blown from cultivation; they brought back to me vividly the small waxy shell-like ngaio flowers, grainy white with a pink blush, that used to lie in similar troughs of the high sand waves beneath the cliffs at Long Beach. Then those two worlds were present to me at once and made one world in my mind."

Every gay boy traveller could do with an Aunt Agnes and every boy could do with a gay Uncle

John.

by Mike Wooliscroft

Philip Norman has written an outstanding biography of one of New Zealand’s leading composers, Douglas Lilburn. Comprehensive, copiously illustrated, with a number of annexes, first rate book design, it is a very model for what a biography should be. His task was undoubtedly made easier by the extent of Lilburn’s considerable personal papers and the number of people still alive who were familiar with the man and his music, and the number of associated archives.

I claim no expert musical knowledge so I will not comment on the chapters relating to analysis of Lilburn’s music and its profound impact on the growth and development of New Zealand musicology.

My interest in this biography was in reading it for the portrait it gives of the man, his contribution to the wider arts in New Zealand, his interactions with others exercising significant roles in cultural fields and also, given the predominant focus of the OGT, in his sexuality, for Lilburn was gay even though Rita Angus became pregnant to him (although the pregnancy miscarried).

In the 1930s a sense of alienation from New Zealand was quite common for literary and other cultural figures. Often there was a "return" to British roots and following that a developing need to exert an independence from Britain and develop an authentic New Zealand voice. As it happened in literature so, too, it happened in music and Lilburn was very conscious of this.

There was a need to develop a staunch and authentic local expression of things in response to our own landscape and history rather than to slavishly follow European movements. Lilburn was essentially of this latter mould.

In terms of his private life Lilburn had a seemingly small number of romantic, affectionate and intimate friendships with other men as well as a possibly more sustained one.

Like many artists, Lilburn was modest and very humble about his own achievements. He was always alert to promote others, to share praise with them and to direct people’s attention to the work of his colleagues and in this as in many things he was a very generous man.

In retirement he lost the will to compose and became grumpy in his lack of support for some current issues which were receiving favour even with the support of the NZ Historic Places Trust.  This in part relates to the NZHPT’s views on the little pocket district he lived in.

Lilburn also made a confidential submission on the Homosexual Law Reform Bill in 1985 from which the following is extracted:

"Thunderers about perversion might realise that many homosexuals and lesbians are quite as chaste as the best of their heterosexual counterparts. Whatever they may do in titillation of sexual pleasure is also done in countless marriage beds. And to legislate against such entirely human physical expression would be as rational as to legislate against rabbits and blackberries in hedges. But I must leave it to others to spell out more details of these matters, while trusting the humane consideration of your Committee not to make us the last bastion of Puritanism."