editorial

Welcome to the 2nd issue of the OGT for 2008. An important feature of this issue of the paper is the AIDS Candlelight Memorial which will take place on Sunday May 18. This is a time to remember those who have died from HIV/AIDS, as well as those who are currently living with the disease.

Since the Candlelight Memorial is an international event, this is also a time for us to stop and think about HIV/AIDS from a more general, world-wide perspective. Such reflection can generate many questions. For instance: Is enough being done around the world to try and reduce the spread of HIV/ AIDS? Is there anything that we as individuals can do? What can be done to ensure that the best medications become more available and/or affordable for those with HIV/AIDS? Our focus in this OGT is predominantly on HIV/AIDS in New Zealand, but I’ve also included here a short history of the Candlelight Memorial. In addition, this issue contains an interview with two local Dunedin women who lived and worked in Tanzania in 2006 and became involved with a support group for men and women with HIV/AIDS. The local AIDS Candlelight Memorial will take place at St Paul’s Cathedral in the Octagon at 7pm and

there will also be a memorial in Invercargill at Bluff Hill at 6pm.

In this OGT you’ll also learn about some interesting things that people in our community are up to, there are reviews of some books that you might like to check out over the next few months (especially as it gets colder and the nights get longer) and there’s information about upcoming events such as the Parfait queer disco, Spectrum dance parties, Christchurch’s pride week and gay ski week in Queenstown, as well as regular events such as the local youth group and the Purple Passions soccer games.

Recently many people in our community mourned the sudden death of singer-songwriter Mahinarangi Tocker. Mahinarangi was something of an icon to the New Zealand lesbian community not only because of the beautiful music she created, but also because of her openness and her honesty, her willingness to stand up tall and proud and to be who she was.

On a completely different note, I’d like to take this opportunity to say a big “thank you” to all of our advertisers some of whom have been advertising in the OGT for many years and some of whom have come on board much more recently. Please support these businesses if you possibly can because they support our local LGBT/queer newspaper. Without this advertising revenue we wouldn’t be able to produce the paper since all the funds generated from the ads pay for the printing costs. Thanks too to all our loyal subscribers. Your financial support is also greatly appreciated as the costs associated with producing and distributing the paper continue to increase. Already this year the annual cost of the post office box has gone up and I’ve just discovered that the postage rate for A4 envelopes (which we have to use when we’re mailing multiple copies of the paper somewhere) has increased from $1 to $1.50. We believe, though, that it’s important that copies of the OGT reach places such as high schools, regional libraries, other social agencies, etc. and so we will continue to post them, but we’ll need to seek additional financial support through a grant (which we did successfully in 2006 so hopefully this will work out well for us again).

Tor Devereux, Editor

Dr Khyla Russell To Speak At Oxford

by Pleasance Hansen

Dr Khyla Russell has been invited to speak to the Oxford Round Table in July 2008 on the topic of “Two Cultures: Balancing Choices and Effects Between Traditional and Mainstream Education”. She will be part of a five day “think tank” presenting and defending her point of view alongside other academics and leading thinkers. 

The Round Table Discussions, hosted at the Oxford University, were set up 20 years ago to progress academic debate about emerging issues within the academic world.

July’s topic considers whether or not Arts and Humanities have been subsumed under Science and Technology. Dr Russell will be putting forward the point of view that this is not the case and arguing that they are complementary and reciprocal. This will be demonstrated by a case study between Otago Polytechnic and the Runaka involving the use of digital media to provide digital access to oral Maori traditions.

An amusing aside is that in the initial correspondence Khyla was assumed to be male. (In fact, Khyla was quoted in the ODT as saying “imagine their surprise when a tattooed non-bloke turns up”.) Fortunately, the organisers are  now aware of Khyla’s gender, having received a photo!

A full interview with Dr Khyla Russell will appear in a future edition of the OGT after

her presentation has occurred. Dr Khyla Russell

Snapshot Of A Fellow

by Anna Chinn

“You’ll have to hunt for the detail,” Heather Straka says at one point during our interview in her studio, reserved by the university for the Frances Hodgkins Fellow. She is talking about a series of medical-themed paintings she is preparing for an exhibition in Christchurch. “They’ll kind of look quite straight on the surface, and then there will be a little quirk. See that [figure] is getting an ear tag, and it will have a bit of text on it. The tag is like refreshing the prototype, just a change from an earring ... And this one here’s going to have little heckles – you know how dogs put their heckles up when they’re threatened – so just a very faint little tuft down there.”

You’ll have to hunt for the detail. Straka could also be talking about herself. Her responses to questions are frequently based on, or return to, what work is happening in the studio at this moment and, when asked for her background, she discusses her practice, not personal influences such as upbringing, politics, outlook. In a mere half-hour, I failed to ask the right questions to extract that information – so, a search for detail.

Another comment about Straka’s art, but potentially about the artist, from T.J. McNamara of The New Zealand Herald: “She can capture an exact likeness but also has a passion for combining baroque effects with romanticism and oddity.”  Baroque.  Dressed head-to-toe in black, Straka herself  does not read as baroque, nor as romantic, but constantly dancing within her orbit are two Italian greyhounds. “They

are the dogs of the Renaissance,” she says. The Renaissance engine pulls carriages marked Baroque, Dutch Golden Age, Romanticism. The ever-present dogs, as if they have leapt from that train when it called at Straka Station, provide it all.

Oddity. From the interview tape, some unexpected facts emerge. Straka frequents Les Mills. “It’s a good gym, if you’re into that sort of thing. I quite like to go and get some exercise in the middle of the day.” Straka will model menswear for a

magazine tomorrow. “It’s kind of the clothing that I usually buy anyway, so it’s not a biggie.” These somehow seem to sit like ear tags in an otherwise straightforward portrait. They are hunted-for details, found.

A more obvious finding is that she is neither pretentious nor superstitious about her work, happy to be photographed with paintings still in progress and readily discussing art she might make in the course of her Dunedin residency. Medical science interests her at the moment and she has been spending time in the warren of the Otago Medical School. “It’s interesting - health science and art are related as you need genetic difference to continue to breed, whereas artists need mutations.”

The series she is working on has cloning and donor themes, although she says a mutation towards the theme of dissection is taking place in her head. “What I found really fascinating is, we went into a room [in the med school] and they had all these Tupperware containers which actually were used for storing bits and pieces in.” Here I seek clarification - bits and pieces of bodies? “Yeah, well, it is the medical school. And I kind of liked the everyday in that - you know, you’ve got Tupperware that stores biscuits and things, and then these bits and pieces.”

This Tupperware may be the inspiration for a series of still lifes.

“So that’s sort of what I’m working on in the back of my mind while I’m doing this. There’s always something else that I’m busy thinking about.”

WORLD WATCH

Sources: www.pinknews.co.uk , www.gay.com ,

http://biggaynews.com

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are both gay friendly

supporting same-sex domestic-partners benefits for federal

employees, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a hate

crimes law and a repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

policy. Both oppose a constitutional amendment banning gay

marriage. While Clinton supports repeal of the section of the

Defense of Marriage Act that bars federal benefits for same-sex

couples who get married or enter civil unions in their own state,

Obama would repeal the entire act, including the section of the

law that authorises states to refuse to recognise gay marriages

and civil unions performed elsewhere. Obama speaks movingly

of gay equality, and not just before gay audiences. He has raised

the issue among white farmers and in black churches, where the

message is both unwelcome and needed. Clinton, by contrast,

rarely raises the issue on her own, never does so before

unfriendly audiences and seems reluctant even to say the word

“gay”. Obama “gets it” in a way that no previous candidate for

president has. Part of this is generational, but it is nonetheless

real. While there is no guarantee Barak Obama will be a great

president for gay equality, he seems to be the better bet.

Two women have been sentenced to six months in prison and

20 lashes each for having a lesbian relationship, which violates

the tenets of Islam and the teachings of Sharia law. The women

claimed to have been married for five years, with one paying

a dowry to the other at the start of their relationship. They

denied they were members of a group or association of lesbians.

Nigeria, like many African countries, is notoriously conservative

on issues such as homosexuality which is currently banned in

the Nigerian penal code and in Muslim law.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the former leader of the Anglican

Church in South Africa and one of the most respected religious

leaders in the world, has apologised to the gay community for

the way his church ostracised them. He also expressed regret

for making them feel as if God had made a mistake by creating

them to be who they are. His speech was the highlight of A

Celebration of Courage, the International Gay and Lesbian

Human Rights Commission’s annual gala awards ceremony.

Tutu was presented with an “Outspoken Award” to recognise

his leadership as a global ally of the LGBT community whose

outspokenness has contributed substantially to advancing the

rights and understanding of LGBT people everywhere.

The Red Cross of Thailand has said it will change its screening

process for blood donors to address concerns that the system

discriminates against gays. Donors fill out a form to assess

their risk of disease, but one question, which was meant to

target people more likely to have diseases transmitted by sex

and drugs, had effectively blocked all gay men from donating

by asking only about same-sex relations. The form is to be

reworked to include more questions about all types of sexual

behaviour, gay or heterosexual, that could increase the risk of

diseases such as AIDS. In Buddhist Thailand, donating blood is

an important way of earning religious merit, which Thais believe

will help them in their next life.

One of Queensland’s most prestigious boys’ schools has told

final year students they can’t take their gay partners to the

senior formal. Several students at Churchie, an Anglican Church

Grammar School, have made it known they want to escort

boyfriends to the formal in June, but the school is insisting

they take a member of the opposite sex. The headmaster

could not recall the issue being raised in previous years, but it

was not unexpected given “the changing times”. Queensland’s

Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Susan Booth said sexuality

discrimination was unlawful and that applied to private and

public schools as well as other organisations. The school is not

alone in its stand as a spokesperson for Catholic educational

institutions said their schools would also not allow it.

The Newington Green Unitarian Church, a 300-year-old church

in North London, has stopped performing weddings [for

heterosexual couples] as a protest at what it calls “unjust”

religious marriage rights of same-sex couples. Instead, it will

conduct a ceremonial blessing for both heterosexual and gay

couples who have legally wed in a civil ceremony.

The number of “rainbow” MPs in Government increased to five in March when Louisa Wall entered Parliament as a Labour list MP.

Louisa is New Zealand’s first Maori lesbian MP and she has represented New Zealand in netball and rugby. Louisa came out publicly in the New Zealand Rugby magazine prior to the 1998 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Holland.

Louisa is currently a member of the Health Select Committee and the Justice and Electoral Select Committee.

MAHINARANGI TOCKER

On 15 April 2008 Mahinarangi Tocker, an openly lesbian Maori singer and songwriter,

died after a huge asthma attack the previous week. Earlier this year she was recognised in the New Year’s Honours List by being made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to music. Mahinerangi, who was just 52 years old, is survived by her long-term partner and her daughter.

NZAF Press Release, 16 April 2008

The New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF) is today mourning the loss of the gifted artist, Mahinarangi Tocker, a champion of diversity.  

Mahinarangi was an active supporter of the Foundation’s work in creating supportive environments for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people.

Her annual appearances at the Big Gay Out were important to us. In 2007, she told the Central Leader, “I think it’s  important for those of us who are queer to be recognised as important members of the community.”

“She will be sadly missed by the gay and HIV positive community as she was a keen supporter of such events as the NZAF Media Awards, the Big Gay Out and Candlelight

Memorial,” said Mark Henrickson, Chair, NZAF Board of Trustees.

Mahinarangi was a strong champion, in her own words, of “diversity without judgement”. “Her contribution to the wellbeing of GLBT people in Aotearoa was immense and will be felt long after her passing. We will miss her dearly. Moe mai,

kia oki oki ai e te tuahine,” says Rachael Le Mesurier, Executive Director, NZAF.

If I Buy You A Chicken...

Dunedin women Lucie and Charlotte Hood, who recently wed, spent time volunteering

in Tanzania in 2006. Lucie, a nurse, spoke to the Otago Gaily Times about her experience counselling a group of HIV/AIDS patients.

by Anna Chinn

We actually went over to teach English at an orphanage for four months, but the town had a group of women and men who had AIDS that had been going for about a year and a half - it was just counselling and like a support group. And they found out I was a nurse and were like, “God, you could be the counsellor!”, and I was like “Huh?

Que?” So I started doing it once a week, and it was really, really enjoyable.

Gay and lesbian Africans?

That’s a good question. We didn’t really find out that much. We thought there was quite a lot of males in homosexual relationships but we couldn’t find any proof - no one was willing to talk about it. We asked a few people, but it’s a touchy subject.

I’m pretty sure it’s illegal in Tanzania, so it wasn’t so great for them. We didn’t actually come out at all to any Africans, and they would just assume “Oh, you’re sisters.” Yeah, cause we look so alike! Some facts that I wrote down while I was there include that 10% of the world’s population is in sub-Saharan Africa and 6% of those have HIV, which equals 25.8 million people with HIV. So, sex

is really, really prolific. We made quite good friends with some of these women and talked to them about sex education and how much they knew about condoms and STDs.

They did, because they’d been doing this counselling for a while, but a lot of people theredon’t know. Condoms are quite expensive - the provision of condoms to men in sub-Saharan Africa is 4.6 condoms per man a year ... So condoms are expensive, and what would happen is men would say to women, “If I buy you a cellphone, will you have sex with me?” or “If I buy you a chicken, will you have sex with me?” And so a lot of the women would consent and have sex without protection. Men didn’t like using condoms because there were all these stigma rumours about them saying that

condoms make you infertile and you can’t have sex properly and it doesn’t feel so good, and so, a lot of men were really anti them. That’s what they were saying.

[It was] absolutely out there. We were in quite a little town, Mwanza, and one of the guys I was counselling, he came to my counselling session one day and he was covered in mud. And I was like, “Oh, why are you covered in mud?” - and the

translator’s like “Why are you covered in mud?” And he said he was sick of Western medicine not working - because he wasn’t taking it properly, he didn’t understand how he was supposed to be taking it. So he went to a witch doctor. Because he had HIV he had all this joint swelling and joint pain, but he couldn’t afford Panadol, he couldn’t afford Voltaren and things, he didn’t understand about resting and relaxing. He was still working on the roads and he was just getting worse and worse. And so this witch doctor had said, “If you cover yourself in this mud for a week, you will

get better.” I told him, “You’re not  going to get better. I’m terribly sorry.” I think they just get so desperate for anything that’s going to work and make them better that they’ll just do anything.

medication properly, you were able to – Educate him on how to take his medication, yeah. But then the other thing is they couldn’t afford medication.

That, and just simple things like Panadol and fungal creams for thrush – just really, really simple things that we can just go to the pharmacy and buy, they can’t afford. So it was really quite tricky. Related reading: www.globalgayz.com/g-tanzania.html

NZ’s 2007 HIV Figures

NZAF Press Release, 17 March 2008

The New Zealand AIDS Foundation is encouraged that the reduced level of gay and bisexual HIV diagnoses reported in 2006 has been maintained for 2007. Figures released today by the AIDS Epidemiology Group show that 156 new HIV diagnoses

were recorded in 2007, with 71 of these being men who were infected through sex with another man.

“Diagnoses among gay and bisexual men reached a peak in 2005, and came down in 2006, which was encouraging,” says Eamonn Smythe, Acting Executive Director of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation. “Although we are pleased there has not been an increase, it is unfortunate that we have not seen a further reduction this year. These numbers are still equivalent to one new diagnosis every five days.”

The majority of the diagnoses (75%) were infections that were reported to have occurred in New Zealand. The average age of diagnosis was 41, with most of the men being European (72%) and living in the North Island (87%), mostly in Auckland. “The type of gay or bisexual man most at risk of HIV infection has not changed now in the last several years – those being hit hardest by this epidemic are older, white and living in urban centres,” Smythe says.

“However, we mustn’t forget that – as ever – men from a wide number of age groups and ethnicities were diagnosed with HIV in 2007, including men under 30, men over 50, men of Maori, Asian and African descent. It’s not who you are but what you do that counts for HIV infection. Always using condoms for anal sex is the best defence any gay or bisexual man has against HIV.”

The AIDS Epidemiology Group has also highlighted concerns over the level of undiagnosed HIV in its latest report, emphasising the importance of HIV testing.  It is estimated that there around 1500 people with HIV in New Zealand, of whom 340 are undiagnosed. “We recommend sexually active gay and bisexual men have themselves screened for HIV and other STIs every six months,” Smythe says. “New

Zealand AIDS Foundation centres provide a free and confidential rapid HIV testing

service which will give you a result back within twenty minutes.

“However, it is important to remember that HIV is most infectious during its first few weeks, before it will show up on any test. HIV is largely a sexually transmitted virus that will infect its host unless there is a physical barrier put in its way. This is why condoms have been so effective in preventing HIV transmission for over twenty years.”

Website For Takatãpui Tane

NZAF Press Release, 19 March 2008

“Bro Online” (www.broonline.co.nz), the first website in the world specifically for takatāpui tane (gay and bisexual men of Maori descent), is to be launched on Friday

March 28.

Inspired by the popularity of social networking sites like Bebo and Facebook, “Bro Online” will allow users to register, create a profile and interact with other takatāpui tane around the country. The site will also provide access to free condoms, sexual health advice, comic strips and an online magazine which will publish stories about living with HIV and what it means to be takatāpui in 2008.

The website is an initiative of Hau Ora Takatāpui, a Maori health promotion team within the New Zealand AIDS Foundation which works to prevent the transmission of HIV among Maori men who have sex with men. One gay or bisexual man is diagnosed with HIV every five days in New Zealand, and Maori make up a proportional share of these worrying diagnoses.

“Sites like Bebo and Facebook have created huge online communities where people can meet new friends and hook-ups, but their main audiences are heterosexual and safe sex information is often nowhere to be seen,” says Jordon Harris, Kai Mahi for Hau Ora Takatāpui. “We’ve been working extensively within our communities over the last several months to put together a resource which takatāpui tane can feel they own. We want it to be a hub for meeting new people and sharing news, as well as gaining access to safe sex information and condoms where and when it’s needed.”

The site will also build on the success of the immensely popular – and controversial – Hau Ora Takatāpui poster released in 2006, “Toa Takatāpui: Warriors For Safe Sex”, which featured gay and bisexual Maori men performing a haka. The stories of these men have been incorporated into “Bro Online”.

“We want to provide an opportunity for other guys to stand up and be warriors for safe sex, to feel pride about being male, being gay and being Maori,” Harris says. “Although we may sometimes, as takatāpui tane, face prejudice by not having our maleness acknowledged, these guys have shown us that there is a way forward.

Working together, we can fight the spread of HIV in our communities.”

A Picture Of HIV Positive People In NZ Findings Released From The Largest Survey In NZ Of HIV Positive People

NZAF Press Release, 11 April 2008

The largest comprehensive national survey into the health and social experiences of people living with HIV in New Zealand was released today. The study was conducted by Dr Jeffrey Grierson from La Trobe University in Melbourne with the support of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF), Body Positive, Positive Women and a number of community groups.

The first HIV Futures New Zealand survey was released in 2002. The second survey, HIV Futures NZ2, was completed by 261 HIV positive people in 2007. “This report gives a comprehensive picture of the health and well-being of HIV positive New Zealanders. It documents the significant improvements in health and well-being from the original survey conducted six years ago,” said Dr Grierson.

“However, there are still major challenges for people living with HIV that include maintaining a good level of health and participating fully in their communities,” Dr Grierson says. “The release of this report provides a critical opportunity to reflect on the response to HIV in New Zealand and to ensure future efforts benefit all people with HIV in this country.” The use of antiretroviral medication has increased (2001:

64%, 2007: 73%) with a very large reduction in those reporting difficulties using these treatments (2001: 79%, 2007: 44%), as well as a decrease in the difficulties with drug timing (2001: 44%, 2007: 24%). This can be attributed to greater access to the newer treatments, which have reduced the pill burden and side effects. People are taking shorter treatment breaks (2001: 45 days, 2007: 28 days) and are more likely to have discussed this break with their doctor first (2001: 43%, 2007: 65%).

“It is heartening to know that the increase in availability of treatments for people with HIV has had such a positive result.  However, it is clear that there are still several social issues related to an HIV diagnosis that still need to be addressed.  Any unwanted disclosure of a person’s HIV status, with the associated stigma and even discrimination that results, is unacceptable in today’s society,” says NZAF National Positive Health Manager Eamonn Smythe.

In 2007 a higher proportion of participants reported being in paid employment (2001: 53%, 2007: 62%), particularly in full time employment (2001: 38%, 2007: 44%).  While the purchasing power of this population has increased (median weekly personal income has increased 2001: $330, 2007: $486), it remains lower than the remainder of the New Zealand population. Fewer people reported that their HIV status had been disclosed without their permission in the past two years (2001: 33%, 2007: 19%). For two thirds of these people the disclosure had negative consequences.

“Most of the results from this study show improvements for people living with HIV in New Zealand over the last six years – some of them quite considerable,” says NZAF

Research Director Tony Hughes. “In essence, greatly improved treatment options led to better personal health and well being,” Hughes says.

FOR YOU

September 2007 was memorable. I had just

returned from Adelaide and fronted up for the annual

mammogram.

What followed was a diagnosis a week later

of breast cancer. A small new primary local

reoccurrence in the same breast as seven years

previously. A day later I was in hospital recovering

from a mastectomy and awaiting the results which

would determine where to from here. The results

showed the presence of HER-2 positivity and

given that there is no particular evidence base in

the literature guide as to exactly how to treat my

malignancy as a local reoccurrence, the options were

given and the fi nal decision as to how to proceed

rested with me.

As many of you will know, I opted to go with the

FIN HER trial, which is the publicly funded Herceptin

regime. I began treatment on 10 December 2007

and completed my fi nal treatment on 26 March

2008.

Now, this might sound like it’s the beginning

of a story about cancer and chemotherapy, but it’s

not. It’s a story about the wonderful women in our

Dunedin lesbian community.

With a very grateful heart I give thanks to you …

The women who cut lawns and weeded the gardens

and helped me stack the bricks. The women who

cut hedges, cooked for me, helped with the horse

and the sheep, came to my appointments and scans

at the hospital and rang me to remind me to take

my pills. The woman who shaved my hair when it

started to fall out, the women who phoned daily to

check on me, talked to Christofer (my son) offering

him support and comfort, the women who listened to

me, who sat with me on the days I was sick, invited

me to BBQs, pot luck teas and made sure I got out

of the house. The women who walked with me, took

me to yoga, shared my tears, jollied me along and

brought the community to me when I was unable to

go out.

Recovery is not just a physical thing achieved

through medical interventions. Recovery is about

rediscovering hope, about the blessings and healing

power of extraordinary kindness, compassion and

concern.

You are all wonderful and Christofer and I thank

you from the bottom of our very grateful hearts.

What you have given us is priceless.

My words could never adequately express the

gratitude I feel for the love and support shown to me

and my family through this challenging time.

Wendy Halsey

A GLIMPSE OF THAILAND

by Barb Long

Thailand has never been on my list of must visit holiday destinations. I have always had a perception of intolerable humidity, squat toilets and mad men driving tuk tuks at rapid speeds. However, all that has changed…

There are some moments that occur in life that are either catalysts for change or affi rmation of being, and meeting Eileen Kelly was one of those for me. She delivered a humbling toast at the civil union of her sister and partner and in doing so

avowed the rationale for equality of rights that was fundamental in the civil union campaign, the commitment of the couple and their family and reminded all of the “personal is political”  mantra by which she and many live their lives. Eileen has

recently spent two years working in Thailand as the Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacifi c Alliance and I was eager to catch up with her and learn more about her experiences of lesbians in Thailand. My interest was also st imulated by the poster of photos on the wall at our friends’ house of their trip to Thailand and the variety of images that they captured while they were holidaying there.

Over a couple of glasses of wine I learnt not only snippets of what life is like in Bangkok for lesbians and the resources, bars and clubs that are there, but also about a whole identifi cation and culture that exists there within the lesbian community. It is the latter that has me wanting to explore more in relation to Asian queer studies and constructs of gender identity and now thinking about one day eventually visiting there.

Thailand is a relatively welcoming place for lesbians in that homosexuality in Thailand is largely a non-issue, although public displays of affection for any couples - straight or gay - are generally frowned upon and Eileen had been told that women could be arrested for kissing in public.  Thailand has three annual pride events in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.

Bangkok was the area we talked most about. The gay scene as a whole there is not as separated as it is in the West. While there are clearly known areas for the gay boys, often women end up knowing what is on and where things happen by connecting with other lesbians in the workplace or at the netball court. One local lesbian was so frustrated by spending hours of surfi ng looking for places to go only to fi nd outdated links and listings that she established her own

website - www.bangkoklesbian.com

This user-friendly website, written predominantly in English, was initially established

for foreigners who are in Thailand. It has a number of pages within it including where to go in Bangkok, clubs and bars, food, a foreigners’ social group, random hangouts, pride week information, chat rooms and forums. In addition to this, it has a whole page dedicated to more general tourist information which provides advice about transport options from the airport, scams and rip-offs, social don’ts and even includes instructions on how to use a squat toilet! The news page also has snippets of news from other sources and this was where I was happy to read that “The L Word” is going to return for a sixth and fi nal eight episode season. (Of course, it could take

some time for this to get to New Zealand viewers as Prime is presently screening the fourth series on Sunday evenings.)

While in New Zealand many use the terms lesbian, dyke, gay or queer to describe their sexual orientation and culture, many Thai lesbians call themselves tom (from tomboy) or dee (from lady), as the term “lesbian” in Thailand suggests pornographic videos produced for straight men. Tom and dee, by contrast, are reasonably accepted and integrated categories for Thai women, roughly corresponding to the western terms butch and femme.

Megan Sinnott, who is presently Associate Professor at the Women’s Studies Institute at Georgia State University, USA, wrote a book about the Thai phenomenon of toms and dees based on seven years of fi eldwork. Sinnott’s empirically rich study explores this growing community in Thailand moving between the lives of individual toms and dees and the larger context of social norms and political events and discourses within Thailand. Toms and Dees: Transgender Identity and Female Same-Sex Relationships in Thailand (published in 2004) includes Thai toms and dees speaking in their own voices about their identities, their relationships and their struggles over the

meanings of masculinity and femininity. (This book is available

from amazon.com)

Not all Thai lesbians confi rm to the tom and dee stereotypes and, like most countries, diversity exists within the community.  In talking with Eileen I got a sense that lesbians were generally accepted wherever they went, but that there tended to be some distinctive groupings based on how one defi ned oneself. The clubs are welcoming and friendly. There are three tried and true women-only lesbian bars in Bangkok - two of these (Shela and Zeta) are open nightly, while the third (Lesla) is open on Saturday and Sunday nights. Links for these clubs are on the

Bangkok lesbian website and maps are also included.

by J. E. Libeau

Shadows on the wall

Dance a dance for me

Watching in the moonlight

Entertained for free.

Shadows of the moonlight

Distorted by a cloud

Telling a different story

Its silence is quite loud.

Shadows of a story

I remember from long ago

How good does conquer evil

Now it does not always seem

so.

Shadows of evil

Is there such a thing

To shadow what is darkened

And not see what it’s covering.

Then the shadows of the

evening

Warmly welcome me

And my mind wanders off

With shadows that I see.

Cooking With Plonk

Review by Mike Wooliscroft

Some of you have probably encountered James Hamilton-Paterson’s writing before. For those who haven’t a treat awaits in his Cooking With Fernet Branca. Fernet Branca is a rather heady alcoholic drink which is sloshed into a number of dishes in the book and into Gerald Samper, the chief character.

Cooking With Fernet Branca tells the story of Gerald Samper, a rather eccentric gay man of “queenly” disposition who lives in Tuscany and rejoices in various dishes he has concocted such as Bustard in Custard and Mussels in Chocolate and a dish containing

prunes, rhubarb and smoked cat (off the bone).

A close neighbour of Samper is Marta, an outrageous woman from a former Soviet republic who finds Samper very attractive indeed and tries to seduce him … in part with the aid of Fernet Branca. This is farce at its finest and to Hamilton-Paterson’s chagrin it has far outsold all of his more serious books.

Cooking With Fernet Branca has since been followed by a sequel, Amazing Disgrace, where Samper is writing a biography of a onearmed grandmother whose solo yacht voyage circumnavigating the globe has made her famous. But did it really happen?

To me Amazing Disgrace doesn’t succeed as well as Cooking With Fernet Branca, but Hamilton-Paterson’s publishers have signed up for a third in the series featuring Samper which will be published very soon.

Worth reading for entertainment value and clever ironical writing, these titles may well be just the ticket to delay the glums as we cope with the change from daylight saving and head into winter.

Cooking With Fernet Branca by James Hamilton- Paterson (London: Faber, 2004)

Amazing Disgrace by James Hamilton-Paterson (New York: Europa, 2006)

Review by Mike Wooliscroft

Readers of David Leavitt’s eleven earlier books extending from Family Dancing (1984) to The Body Of Jonah Boyd (2004) need not be anxious that his latest book, The Indian Clerk, is about the rather unusual friendship which developed between G.H. Hardy, a

renowned British mathematician in the first half of the twentieth century, and Srinivasa Ramanujan, an Indian clerk who had no university education before he came to England but who was also a mathematical genius.

In fact, although the title The Indian Clerk suggests that the book might be primarily about Ramanujan, we are presented with the greatest insights into the character G.H. Hardy while Ramanujan remains something of an enigma. However, Ramanujan’s influence on the small set of Cambridge academic society in which Hardy moves is

well detailed.

Hardy was a closeted homosexual, though there is no suggestion that Ramanujan shared his sexuality. Hardy was a member of The Apostles, a group of academics who frankly discussed (within their group) “modern” liberal ideas including homoeroticism, openmindedness and evaluation of the self. The Apostles were, in part, responsible for founding Bloomsbury. Leavitt provides some delicious

insights into The Apostles through imagined conversations among the various members of the time.

Leavitt constructs the story of the relationship between the two men extremely well with some of the background to the character of Ramanujan (imagined to give a more favourable light) cast as a series of Harvard lectures 16 years after Ramanujan died.

Readers can readily ignore the few mathematical formulae which appear throughout the book. They are not critical to the story which is far more one of human passions and relationships than a mathematical formulation.

Leavitt has written “fictive biographies” before. While England Sleeps was closely based on Stephen Spender’s early life. Leavitt has been meticulous in his research for The Indian Clerk as evidenced by his section “Sources and Acknowledgements” at the end where he gives details of what is founded strictly on reality and where he has diverted from fact. This may be in response to the strife he got into when While

England Sleeps was first published and Spender threatened legal action and so copies of the first edition were withdrawn and an amended edition was published.

The Indian Clerk is available from good bookshops (such as the University Book Shop)

and the Dunedin Public Libraries.

The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt (London: Bloomsbury, 2007)

Lucky Bastard - Really?

Review by Mike Wooliscroft 

Peter Wells continues his well-crafted imaginative writing with Lucky Bastard, an intimate account of a family under stress in part owing to the residual effects of war upon the father and the favoured treatment (by the father) of his achieving daughter and the struggles of his son who is a slightly effeminate homosexual.

It might be tempting to read too much of Wells’ own life into this novel. I think that would be a mistake since Wells has already written his memoir Long Loop Home (2001).

There is currently too much of a vogue to think that many imaginative works dealing with intimate personal and family life are firmly based in reality. It may well be that the imaginative is an easy way to convey intimacy which might be too raw if written as fact. However, we must be careful not to make firm conclusions, especially in our gay society, where we might hope to draw an attractive subject into our fold. Wells is already clearly within.

So, I am treating this novel as firmly fiction rather than “fictive biography” (which The Indian Clerk, another title reviewed here, is), yet allowing that Ross, the gay son, may share some affinities with Wells.

Like The Indian Clerk, Lucky Bastard has a fairly complex structure. Even within the same chapter the role of narrator will shift from Ross to his sister Alison and vice-versa. Yet Wells is always careful to indicate within the first paragraph or two when such a change of narrator occurs.

The novel begins setting out the story of the father, Eric, in Tokyo just after World War II investigating war crimes. It turns out that this section of the story is imagined by Ross and sets the context for what follows in the remainder of the book. In this story Eric apparently has a homosexual relationship in Tokyo, yet when he later perceives his son Ross as a “nancy” he is very tough on him. 

The following sections of the book are mainly told through Ross and Alison.  Links to the first section arise throughout and intensify when an academic and a current affairs researcher determine to get to the root of the possibility that Eric may have been vindictive rather than honourable with the evidence he was dealing with in his investigations into the war crimes.

This is a compelling novel and its almost 500 pages are readily digested as the reader tries to determine reality. The tensions between the siblings, Ross and Alison, and Ross’s partner Gary are eventually played out and a measure of reconciliation is achieved.

In Lucky Bastard Wells has written a very fine novel indeed that deserves to be widely read. This book is available from good bookshops (such as the University Book Shop) and the Dunedin Public Libraries.

Lucky Bastard by Peter Wells (Auckland: Vintage, 2007)

Easter Rainbow Camp

by South

For those that don’t know, Rainbow Camp has been in existence since 1996 and has been run for 12 years since then by Alex with Cheryl joining the camp ranks in 1998 to lend a hand.

For us the day started out beautifully as we packed the car with camping gear, food and children to set out on our adventure to the Easter Rainbow Camp. As we approached the “Aromoana Welcome” sign, I looked into the back seat to see three smiling faces beaming back at me – three keen campers buried under blankets and pillows in the back. “Are we there yet?” asks Aqua. “Yip,” cries Sandra. “Look, there’s the rainbow. It’s this way.” As we pulled into the domain

we were welcomed by Alex and Cheryl and quite a few other smiling faces.

It was a wonderful long weekend and one all five of us will remember for a lifetime. Aqua (5) and Comet (11) will remember it for the friends they made, the games they played, the prizes they won, the horses they rode, the fish they never caught, the lolly scrambles and the weaving competitions. Sea aka Willie (18) will remember it for Ginger the horse that she rode so perfectly (her first time on a horse), meeting Noeleena (such a beautiful real person) and for the oh so delicious yet highly potent “Cheryl Specials” around the camp fire. Sandra will remember it for the cockle gathering and the milos in front of the fire. I’ll remember it for the catching up with old friends and the meeting of new ones. And, finally, as a family we’ll all remember it for being named “Best Camp Site” and for winning the talent competition with our family fire dancing - Comet on poi, me on wings, Sandra on staff and Aqua

dancing among us.

Alex and Cheryl had a couple of firsts too as they both learnt to fire poi and they cooked cockles in kelp bags. We all felt kind of down on Monday as we packed to leave, especially since this was to be the very last Rainbow Camp.

So, thanks Alex for fathering the camp, making sure everyone was

okay and arranging all the games and prizes. To Cheryl, a huge thanks

for mothering us all, making sure we were all fed and happy and for