“I went from being an outsider at AFL games, to an insider at the Essendon Football Club, all because I’m gay,” says Jason Tuazon-McCheyne.
An Essendon member for over 30 years, Tuazon-McCheyne attended a Bombers game in 2012 with his partner Adrian, and their friend David.
Sitting in the grandstand at Docklands’ Etihad Stadium, Tuazon-McCheyne thought to himself, ‘enough is enough’.
Continue reading “Essendon Football Club- red, black & purple”
The Eurovision Song Contest is more than just a singing and dancing spectacular thanks to a unique undergraduate subject offered at The University of Melbourne.
Since 2015, the Faculty of Arts has offered a subject called Eurovisions to first-year students.
The subject forms the beginning of a European studies minor.
Co-ordinator Professor Alison Lewis said she uses the Eurovision Song Contest, “as a platform to teach European culture, history, gender and politics.”
The creation of Eurovisions coincided with Australia’s first entry into the Eurovision Song Contest. Continue reading “Queer club, Eurovision & University”
The LGBTIQ spectrum is comprised of six identities. Lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex and queer.
Intersex is a general term used for a variety of conditions, where a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t conform to typical definitions of male or female.
A socially constructed category, intersex can be likened to the racial colour spectrum.
Social necessity at times necessitates making distinctions that are incorrect, for example, when we call certain people ‘black’ or ‘white’, when they are neither especially black or white.
Intersex people face the same conundrum, of being neither totally male nor totally female.
The inaugural Coming Back Out Ball will treat over 300 LGBTI elders, “like kings and queens,” artistic director Tristan Meecham said.
The ball will be held on Saturday the 7th of October at the Melbourne Town Hall and hopes to empower LGBTI elders to assert their social value and worth within the broader community.
“The event will have a party atmosphere, but will be more than just a party,” Mr Meecham said.
“It will create a community and enable conversations about social issues which LGBTI elders face,” he said.
In part one of this two-part series, we explored law reform and healthcare issues faced by trans people, with expert input from Sally Goldner, founder of Transgender Victoria (TGV).
In part two, we examine the issues of legal discrimination, social stigma, and education for trans people. Continue reading “Discrimination, social stigma & education for trans people”
In 1999, Sally Goldner and Kayleen White founded Transgender Victoria (TGV).
Their goal was to achieve justice, equity and quality health and community outcomes for trans and gender diverse people, their partners, families and friends.
TGV came to be after the disbandment of the Gays & Lesbians Against Discrimination (GLAD) activist group in the late 1990s.
In less than 20 years, TGV has achieved great success in its campaign for equality for trans and gender diverse people.
In part one of this two-part series, law reform and the healthcare needs of trans people in Australia will be explored.
Continue reading “Law reform & health care for trans people”
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Anthony Wallace cuts a charismatic figure, overlooking the crowd who swarm to his bar, preparing his DJ tables for another Friday night instalment of ‘Fellas in Frocks’.
As work in the performing arts grew increasingly difficult to find, Mr Wallace opened the 86, a cabaret bar in Fitzroy.
“I shook a lot of cocktails in my time, but had very little cabaret bar experience,” he chuckles.
Nearly six years later, the 86 is a roaring success, with handfuls of drag queens rotating through the bar’s popular ‘Fellas in Frocks’ Friday night spectacular. Continue reading “The arts and activism”
For nearly 20 years, Bi Visibility Day has been celebrated globally to raise awareness and celebrate bisexuality.
Bi Alliance Victoria was formed in 2010, dwarfing its predecessor, Bi Victoria, which was a social group running through the 2000s.
As a volunteer organisation, Bi Alliance Victoria provides networking opportunities and advocacy for bisexual Victorians.
“Our advocacy for bisexual people gets us a seat at the board whenever there are advisory panels for government,” according to Bi Alliance Victoria treasurer Sally Goldner.
One in three Australians will need donated blood in their lifetime.
Its uses range from treating cancer patients to severe bouts of the flu, and we’re told it’s always in short supply.
In the month of August, the Australian Red Cross estimated a need for an additional 3000 donations to meet demand.
Yet when Adam Rustov, a 22-year-old Melbourne man recently went to a Red Cross Blood Centre to donate blood, he was denied the opportunity to do so.
Darebin Council in Melbourne’s north is attempting to take heavy-handed action to silence ‘No’ voters on the issue of marriage equality.
Independent councillor Susan Rennie and her colleagues are set to vote on an emergency motion next week to ban ‘No’ campaigners from using council facilities.
On the 15th of August 2017, in an interview with Neil Mitchell on 3AW, Cr Rennie said: “We won’t allow council spaces to be used by groups campaigning against marriage equality.”
Continue reading “Darebin Council bans ‘No’ same-sex campaigners”
Exploring LGBTIQ 