Category Archives: Uncategorized
Hands off ACT Marriages! National Day of Action November 23
In a blow to the forces of bigotry, the Australian Capital Territory legalised same sex marriage on 22 October. The Marriage Equality Same Sex Act 2013 is the result of the efforts of thousands of people around the country.
It shows that protesting and making a fuss can have an impact; it will only fuel our determination to keep pushing for full equality for all people.
Outrageously, head grinch and homophobe Tony Abbott lodged a constitutional challenge to the legislation less than 24 hours after it passed. We now have to fight to defend these newly gained civil rights.
Abbott has asked couples not to marry before the federal government’s High Court challenge concludes. Hilarious! Many will be getting married in Canberra in defiance of the prime minister – who describes homosexuality as “threatening”. The first legally recognised same sex marriages in Australia will go ahead in December.
If the ACT laws withstand challenge, it won’t be the end of the campaign. The ACT government’s eleventh-hour decision to change the wording of the legislation – from encompassing all people not recognised by the federal Marriage Act to recognising only same sex marriages – has understandably created ill-will and mistrust among a number of transgender people. And intersex people are systematically discriminated against by requirements to nominate a sex and gender.
Our campaign has always demanded that marriage rights be extended to all people, wherever they live, regardless of their sex and gender identities. So while we defend the step forward represented by the new laws, we call on the ACT government to fulfil its promise to expand the scope of its legislation. And we will have to keep fighting until we get federal change that eliminates all vestiges of discrimination.
Share the protests in your city via Facebook
Sydney
Melbourne
Brisbane
Perth
Canberra
Fight Pyne’s attack on education
Australia has some of the best universities in the world. They are open to everyone, of high quality and contribute to the productivity and future of our country.
The new Federal Minister for Education Christopher Pyne has announced his intention to radically change our university system, potentially disadvantaging students and young people on Australia’s university campuses.
Minister Pyne wants to:
- Abandon the demand driven model for student enrolments, meaning hundreds of thousands of students will miss out on tertiary education
- Scrap the Student Services and Amenities Fee, which will see important welfare and education support services cut, campus clubs and societies dry up and student representation suffer.
- Abolish the target that would see 40% of Australians with a tertiary degree by 2025
Send Minister Pyne a message to tell him that we won’t stand silently by while he winds the clock back on education reform over here.
Update on Trans* Awareness Campaign
Someone has posted the NUS Trans* Awareness Campaign to Tumblr after seeing it at the University of Sydney and it now has over 50,000 notes on it. Seems like people were just waiting for something like this! Let us know if you have not yet got stickers up at your uni campus and we will send some out to you, email us at queer@unistudent.com.au
Check it out over here: http://meowtardis.tumblr.com/post/61902573422/cheerful-cynic-withfiendfyre-these-posters
Post-election Equal Marriage rallies
cUnlock Your Vote ‘Tweet-Up’
We’re excited to announce that The Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne is joining the #unlockyourvote campaign, giving you an hour of her time to respond to your Twitter questions.
Join us live on Twitter between 4-5pm on Tuesday 27August using @SenatorMilne and #unlockyourvote, or if you can’t make it then, submit your question at http://bit.ly/16ly0WU
Stay tuned for more #unlockyourvote Twitter debates, as we continue to push for Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd and Labor to answer your questions about what matters to you.
Chelsea Manning is a Hero
Today’s big news story is that Wikileaks leaker Pfc. Manning would like to live out the rest of her life as Chelsea, and is no longer Bradley, he or him.
Cue barrage of ignorant comments.
Jezebel has kindly put together a guide for How Not to React to News That Bradley Manning is Transgender, which catalogues the most common mistakes made by those in the news media today.
http://jezebel.com/how-not-to-react-to-the-news-that-bradley-manning-is-tr-1182604480
It ends with, “Don’t read any comments on anything today. Trust me on this.” Well actually, go ahead and read. Those idiots can’t put a dint in what Chelsea’s courageous actions have proven today –
1. Yes, trans people exist
2. They’re gonna live their lives how they want
3. They can be as rad as Chelsea fucking Manning.
“I look forward to receiving messages from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.”
Post yours letters to:
Bradley E. Manning
89289
1300 Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth
Kansas 66027-2304
United States of America
Presumably so that letters reach her, she has requested that post be mailed to her male name, but you should respect her new name and pronoun elsewhere. It is still not allowed to be transgender in the US military. Manning will be held in an all-male jail, and will be denied access to the transitioning medical technology that she wants.
Manning is the truest kind of hero, a person of conscience who saw what was around her and having her illusions in the US army’s mission shattered resolved to do what she knew was right, so that the world could know what was happening. She released perhaps the biggest leak in history, an enormous trove of data from the US military, most memorably the video footage known as “Collateral Murder”.
She is the hero of all those who aspire to live in a free society.
Trans* awareness campaign
Here is a campaign to be launched by the National Union of Students Queer Department to take up a serious aspect of trans* people’s lives – finding safe and harassment-free access to public bathrooms.
We are about to roll out these stickers to university campuses across Australia, and we are asking for your help in getting them up. The first is intended to go next to the Male / Female signs on bathroom-entrance doors, the second to be put up on bathroom mirrors and next to washbasins for people to read (and think). If we could make this a seriously visible campaign on campuses and get university students talking positively about the issue it would be a rad way to get people thinking about their assumptions on sex and gender, and to reducing harassment of trans* people. Once we have distributed stickers around the country we will be launching a media campaign to highlight the issue and the efforts at creating positive spaces on university campuses as a model for others to adopt.
Please contact catherinerose87@gmail.com if you are able to help, and answer these questions:
1) What university do you go to?
2) How many stickers would you like? We have 4,000 of each printed to give you an idea. You can leave this open if you don’t know.
3) Would you like to be a contact point for other people at your university who would like stickers? Postage costs make this the most viable way of running the campaign, so if you are a Queer Officer or otherwise want to stick up your hand for the job, give me your phone number for people to contact if they want stickers at your campus. We will also be sending out information packs on trans* and intersex inclusion for queer officers and queer collectives, so let me know if this is something you can make use of.
4) Would you like to provide a quotable quote for a press release? This is really for trans* students to have their voice heard. The stickers however can be put up by anyone and we definitely want to enlist supporters of trans* people’s rights.
Protests for Marriage Equality before the election
The first election debate saw Kevin Rudd announce that he will bring on marriage equality legislation within 100 days of a new parliament. He also had this to say:
“I’ve been thinking about the meaning of marriage for a long time – and I won’t hide the fact that this has been a journey for me. It is a difficult discussion, and I won’t force this on anyone. It will be a free vote for members of the Labor Party.”
Interesting words for someone who forced this legislation on us to begin with!
But this is something real to fight around. A renewed vote with a key figure having changed sides since the last vote will put significant pressure on people in parliament to take the chance to join the switch and end the debate once and for all.
Get to (and share) these protests before the election to get the legislation passed.
Melbourne: 1pm, Sat 17 Aug, State Library
www.facebook.com/events/132966940183586
www.facebook.com/events/479692975437391
Newcastle: 1pm, Sat 24 Aug, Civil Plaza
www.facebook.com/events/610967415594740
Sydney primer event: Sunday 25 August, 2pm Hyde Park North for a drag wedding
http://www.facebook.com/events/431058517010443
Perth: 1pm, Sat 31 Aug, Stirling Gardens
www.facebook.com/events/647186011963319/
www.facebook.com/events/417335171718343
www.facebook.com/events/456061231155384
Illawarra train ride to Sydney protest
www.facebook.com/events/625587094140729
National Day of Action 20 August – No Cuts, More Funding, Education for All!
August 20 will see students demonstrating around the country in protest against cuts to higher education funding. In an election period totally devoid of any conversation about human rights, we want to put the issue of education funding and equal access to higher education back on the agenda. The National Union of Students along with local education campaign groups is asking everyone to get the word out about the protest near you. Banners are being dropped, sidewalks are being chalked, poster boards are being covered, info tables are being staffed, uni clubs are being contacted and much much more to make this day big. Please think about how you can help to get people there, whether they are in your class, club, friendship group or whatever. And set the day aside to show Labor and Liberal that students are determined to stop their $2.3 billion of cuts from coming through, and fighting for it.
See our previous post for why queer students (and any disadvantaged students) lose out from these cuts. https://nusqueer.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/why-queer-students-lose-out-from-tertiary-education-cuts/
Queers are organising for this! There will be a Pink Bloc in Sydney, and Perth is getting theirs organised at a working bee on Saturday 17 August, see here http://www.facebook.com/events/208835439240465
There will be central demonstrations in capital cities that are the major cities, along with feeder events at several universities. This list will be updated as events pop up.
NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION 20 AUGUST
National Day of Action: Fight for Our Education
National Facebook event
http://www.facebook.com/events/222932901188222
MELBOURNE
Semester 2 NDA Melbourne: Fight for Our Education
2:00pm State Library of Victoria, Melbourne
http://www.facebook.com/events/140477939493674
La Trobe University Rally Against Funding Cuts!
12:00pm La Trobe University Student Union
http://www.facebook.com/events/183491385162656
Monash NDA Rally Contingent 20 August
1:00pm Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash Clayton
http://www.facebook.com/events/545177302186515
SYDNEY
Rally: National Day of Action (NSW) – Fight for Our Education!
1:00pm University of Technology, Sydney
http://www.facebook.com/events/1403323099880793
– with a Queer Bloc! http://www.facebook.com/events/503091936434165
Sydney Uni Strike and Pickets!
7:00am onwards, City Road entrance, Sydney University
http://www.facebook.com/events/410456795741138
Sydney Uni Feeder March for NUS National Day of Action
12:00pm, City Road entrance, Sydney University
http://www.facebook.com/events/341872852611005
PERTH
National Student Protest – Stop Cutting our Education!
1:00pm Forrest Place, Perth
http://www.facebook.com/events/561499497245688
BRISBANE
National Day of Action Brisbane: Fight for Our Education
2:00pm Brisbane Square, George St, Brisbane
http://www.facebook.com/events/1403132566567527
ADELAIDE
3:00pm Ligertwood Court, North Terrace, Adelaide
CANBERRA
National Day of Action Pollie Crawl
12:30pm Union Court, Australian National University
My Future, Our Voice: Unlock Your Vote
The Australian federal election is coming up fast and its result will shape the future of the country.
Right now, politicians are talking about policies that will affect our future. We must not be locked out of the conversation.
No one is asking what matters to us.
Should we legislate equal marriage? How should we treat asylum seekers coming to Australia? Do we keep a price on carbon? What is the alternative to the national broadband network? Which is the best party to deliver the best funding schemes for our education system?
Will we be a smart, compassionate country?
You have answers to these questions. It’s time to unlock your vote. We’re challenging you to help us set the agenda. We’re going to do it on our terms, for our future. And you can do that with your vote.
Here’s what you can do:
1. Enrol to vote
It is too easy to be cynical about politics, but voting gives you a voice on the issues that matter to you. It’s vital that as many students and young people as possible vote. You can now conveniently do so online: http://www.aec.gov.au/enrol/ The rolls close on Monday 12th August at 8pm!
2. Tell us your top issues
NUS is challenging you to help set the election agenda in 2013. Log onto www.myfutureourvoice.com.au and tell us what top five issues matter to you this election.
3. Join the campaign
Keep up to date on the campaign and what the pollies are saying about the policies that matter to you.
4. Take action
As the election date nears, stay tuned for the release of the youth agenda (as voted by you) and your chance to send a message to Canberra with our Instagram action.
Queers Support Refugees – Protests Continue!
People are not taking Rudd’s refugee policy lying down. Within 17 hours, 1000 people were sitting in on George St Sydney, within 7 days 5000 people were protesting in Melbourne, while hundreds and hundreds converged each in Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra, then another 2000 in Sydney the next day. These protests have been loud, angry, defiant and young.
This page is going to be continually updated for the rest of the year with every refugee protest in the country. If there are any omissions please email me at catherinerose87@gmail.com – but this list should be complete enough to help you join your local protest and spread the word.
Queer students are organising for this! If you are in Perth come to the working bee on Saturday 17 August http://www.facebook.com/events/208835439240465
Scroll down for information on the amazing level of queer support for refugees in the campaign so far.
SYDNEY
Rally4Refugees – Sydney University
10:00am Friday 16 August
Outside MacLaurin Hall, Sydney University
www.facebook.com/events/420085068109415
Pre-election rally: Welcome the refugee boats
1:00pm Saturday 24 August
Town Hall, Sydney
http://www.facebook.com/events/559158827481841
MELBOURNE
Stop Racism, Not the Boats: How can we rebuild a grassroots refugee movement?
6:30pm Friday 16 August
Trades Hall, Melbourne
http://www.facebook.com/events/368597879935400
RAC 2013 Election Debate: Opposed to the PNG “solution”? Sick of refugee bashing in elections?
6:30pm Wednesday 23 August
Trades Hall, Melbourne
http://www.facebook.com/events/384249948342148
TELL RUDD, TELL ABBOTT – NO PNG “SOLUTION” – LET THE REFUGEES IN!
1:00pm Saturday 24 August
State Library, Melbourne
http://www.facebook.com/events/545163988866871
BRISBANE
National Day of Action Against Rudd’s PNG Plan – Brisbane
1:00pm Saturday 24 August
Brisbane Square, Brisbane
http://www.facebook.com/events/501625773252776
PERTH
National Day of Action: Refugee Rights Rally Perth: Not Manus, Not Nauru, Refugees are Welcome Here
1:00pm Saturday 24 August
Murray St Mall, Perth CBD
http://www.facebook.com/events/768130646539128
The Pink Triangle
Queer Support
See our previous post for why queers are supporting refugees – https://nusqueer.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/queers-support-refugees-urgent-protests/.
So far there have been queer blocs at refugee protests in Melbourne and Sydney – we hope there will be more! People made placards and banners, and others pinned pink triangles made from felt to their shirts.
During the Holocaust homosexual men were made to wear downwards-facing pink triangles as badges to mark themselves out in the concentration camps. The UN Convention on Refugees was a result of the world’s shame at having turned away refugees of the Holocaust. The pink triangle reminds us that the right to seek asylum is a queer issue, one that is ongoing as queers are still forced to seek asylum from homophobic persecution, a right that is denied by sending people to Papua New Guinea where homosexuality is yet to be decriminalised.
What can you do to spread the word about upcoming protests?
Organise a pink bloc, make your own event to bring people with you, paint a banner and bring pink triangles for people to pin on. Gay Marriage Rights in Australia, a Facebook advocacy page, will be encouraging queer people and their friends to do this at refugee protests around the country, with the support of a number of Equal Love groups. Details of any existing pink blocs and queer support will be added here.
Invite ALL your Facebook friends, there’s even a script to make it easy – http://www.facebook.com/selectallfriendsmozilla/info
Share the event on your wall, post it to every Facebook group you are in, ask the event organisers for posters to put up and leaflets to hand out, start a mass text, email to any lists you are on, share it through your student union, student club, Student Rep Council and all of their departments (education/welfare/queer/women’s/ethnocultural/international etc etc).
Ask your student unions and trade unions to endorse the protest, bring a contingent and advertise it to their networks.
Get your friends to repeat the above!
We need to show that this is more than letting off steam, and that we are serious about stopping this humanitarian disaster from going ahead.
My Pink Triangle
Here are some photos of support for LGBTI refugees at one of the Sydney rallies. If you have more you would like to share send them to me at catherinerose87@gmail.com
And from the queer bloc in Melbourne:
10 ways to engage with the NUS Queer Department
Welcome back to uni for semester 2! If you’ve been looking for ways to engage with the NUS Queer Department and take part in national action on queer student issues, here’s a handy (but not exhaustive) list of some ways to do so:
Get connected
1. Like our Facebook page, follow on Twitter, and check out our WordPress blog for updates. If you’re a queer student representative or collective organiser you can also be added to our email list and Facebook group, just email us at queer@unistudent.com.au to be added.
2. Add your local queer student and queer ally events to the national queer student event calendar for free promo! Email the details to queer@unistudent.com.au
3. Find your local queer student representative or collective and chat with them about how they can also get more involved nationally. If your rep or collective isn’t on the list or needs updating email us at queer@unistudent.com.au
Take action
4. Submit a photo or video message for the Pride Not Prejudice campaign on why you’re proud to be a queer student or ally and/or why you challenge queerphobia and prejudice. Submit to queer@unistudent.com.au
5. Grab some posters and stickers to put up around your campus. We have posters and stickers for the Pride Not Prejudice campaign that we can post to you for free, and will soon distribute materials for an Intersex, Sex and/or Gender diverse student campaign for gender neutral bathroom around the country. Email queer@unistudent.com.au to have some posted to you.
6. Run an event on your campus. Examples include a stall to collect Pride Not Prejudice photo and video messages, a collective sticker or poster blitz, a visibility event in public or a speakout for queer student rights, an educational workshop (such as trialling our ‘Inclusive Queer Spaces’ workshops, email queer@unistudent.com.au for details of the trial), or a social/networking event, the possibilities are endless. Send your photos to queer@unistudent.com.au we would love to share what other queer students are doing around the country.
Have a say
7. Write a post for our blog on your experiences as a queer student and strike up a national conversation. Submit your ideas or pieces to queer@unistudent.com.au
8. Join the resource-writing working group to help write and design resources and info packs for queer students around the country. To join up email queer@unistudent.com.au
9. Register to take part in a feedback phone link-up to help design and provide feedback on our Semester 2 campaigns. Email queer@unistudent.com.au to express your interest in participating.
10. Let us know about what issues you’re facing at your campus and seek support by emailing us at queer@unistudent.com.au or calling us on 0434 848 064 (Hiba) and 0405 770 302 (Cat).
As you can see, there’re a wide range of ways for you to get involved in the queer student activism nationally. The NUS Queer Department’s strength, though, comes from our individual queer students, allies, collectives and clubs coming together to work on common goals so the department is what you make of it, please take part!
Queers Support Refugees – Urgent Protests!
So… Rudd wants to send all asylum seekers who arrive without a visa to Papua New Guinea, and not have them resettled in Australia.. ever. What in the actual fuck!? What kind of human-hating government is this? It is not one that we will accept, that’s for sure.
The National Union of Students Education Department and Queer Department will be endorsing all upcoming protests for refugee rights – this endorsement comes on behalf of Clare Keys-Liley (National Education Officer), Hiba Casablanca and Cat Rose (National Queer Officers). We want to get students, queer people and everyone out into the streets and to stop this humanitarian disaster.
Is this a queer issue? Well… it needn’t be. Solidarity for human rights is always important. On the other hand – you bet it is! Read on to find out why…
But first – we want to ask all student unions plus queer and education representatives and collectives (and everyone in Australia) to get these events out to your networks. Facebook, twitter, email lists, texts, go for it. This is urgent! Some of these are super soon so don’t leave it til later.
In Melbourne and Sydney there will be queer blocks at their protests on Saturday and Sunday – why don’t you do this kind of thing?
Melbourne Queer Block: http://www.facebook.com/events/1394862500731154 Contact Hiba0434 848 064 for more info
Sydney Queer Block: http://www.facebook.com/events/1401964886684242 Contact Cat 0405 770 302 for more info
SYDNEY
Snap RALLY FOR REFUGEES at ALP love-in! Protest Immigration Minister Tony Burke!
5:30pm Friday 26 July
Deloitte, 225 George St, Sydney
www.facebook.com/events/1398224947059780
SUNDAY: SYDNEY EMERGENCY RALLY: No to Rudd’s criminal refugee policy!
12:00pm Sunday 28 July
Town Hall, Sydney
www.facebook.com/events/278006302340255
Rally out West: Don’t turn away refugees
12:00pm Sunday 28 July
Mount Druitt Hub
www.facebook.com/events/608435285855996
Rally4Refugees – Sydney University
10:00am Friday 16 August
Outside MacLaurin Hall, Sydney University
www.facebook.com/events/420085068109415
MELBOURNE
PROTEST REFUGEES NOT DREYFUS
8:00am Friday 26 July
BMW Edge Federation Square, Melbourne
www.facebook.com/events/166079800244054
MELBOURNE – RALLY AGAIN FOR REFUGEES!
1:00pm Saturday 27 July
State Library Lawn, Melbourne
www.facebook.com/events/477281122362480
BRISBANE
BRISBANE EMERGENCY RALLY: No to Rudd’s criminal refugee policy!
1:00pm Saturday 27 July
King George Square, Melbourne
www.facebook.com/events/369138653211928
PERTH
Refugee Rights Rally WA: Oppose Rudd’s Deportation Plan
1:00pm Saturday 27 July
Murray St Mall, Perth
www.facebook.com/events/174379272741423
ADELAIDE
EMERGENCY RALLY – Kevin Rudd in Adelaide
5:00pm Thursday 25 July
Chianti Classico Ristorante, 160 Hutt St, Adelaide
www.facebook.com/events/181832455323629
Protest again against Rudd’s racist crackdown on refugees
1:00pm Saturday 27th July
Parliament House, North Tce, Adelaide
https://www.facebook.com/events/542392592463685/?fref=ts
CANBERRA
Refugees are welcome HERE!
12:00 Saturday 27 July
Wodon Square, Canberra
www.facebook.com/events/197298980432759
HOBART
Snap Rally: Tasmania: Don’t turn away refugees
6:00pm Friday 26 July
Franklin Square, Hobart
http://www.facebook.com/events/240322436092607
CAIRNS
Cairns for Refugees: Rally for humanity, to say no to Abbott-Rudd policies
DARWIN
Rally for refugees – let them land let them stay!
1:00pm Monday July 29
Outside DIAC
40 Cavenagh Street Darwin
https://www.facebook.com/events/496729270411267/
WOLLONGONG
Wollongong Supports Refugees
Wollongong people are organising through their own Facebook event page to attend Sydney’s rally for refugees
12:00pm Sunday 28 July
Town Hall, Sydney
www.facebook.com/events/672807569401684
IT’S A QUEER ISSUE!
Rudd wants to send all asylum seekers to Papua New Guinea for processing and resettlement – a country that has laws making homosexual male sex punishable by up to 14 years jail. The draconian policy ignores the rights of sexual minorities to flee from homophobic persecution, and settle in countries, like Australia, where homosexuality has been decriminalised.
This is a humanitarian disaster. Australia has resettled a number of gay refugees who have arrived on our shores (I’ve met and worked with them – Cat Rose), recognising the reality of danger that homophobic persecution has put them in in their home country.
It was bad enough when they were locked up, interrogated and challenged about their sexuality by our government. But now they are going to have to plead their case as refugees in a country that can imprison them for the reason they give for fleeing. The Australian government has been more than happy to prop up a reactionary and homophobic government as it continues to act as PNG’s colonial master, it should take full blame for the situation there.
Lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people report difficulty finding employment and facing societal stigma in PNG, where illegality forces homosexual life underground. To make matters worse PNG has a high prevalence of AIDS, but people live in fear of seeking testing due to the illegal status of their sex lives.
Rudd’s support for marriage equality will mean little if he banishes those of us unlucky enough to be born in countries that persecute us to this kind of life.
GET INFORMED:
What will happen to gay asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/23/gay-asylum-seekers-papua-new-guinea
How bad is PNG for gay asylum seekers?
http://www.samesame.com.au/news/local/10030/How-bad-is-PNG-for-gay-asylum-seekers.htm
Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney takes queer publications off LGBTI asylum seekers
Queer Collaborations workshops
Queer Collaborations Conference, an annual national queer conference, is coming up soon this July 7th-14th. If you have a skill or an area of interest that you’d like to share with other conference attendees, please register to run a workshop! It’s a great way to take part in peer-education and connect with other queer people from around the country.
Check out further details on how to register over here or email queercollaborations2013@gmail.com
Querelle Magazine submissions closing soon
Do you have art, prose, poetry, or other writing that you would like to share with the world? “Querelle”, an annual national queer student publication, is still taking submissions! Please email them at submissions@querellemagazine.com by June 27th to be immortalised in the print version, or be included later in the online version.
“Pride Not Prejudice” Sticker Campaign
NUS “Pride Not Prejudice” stickers have been distributed around the country and are going up on campus walls, bathroom doors, bus stops, you get the drift. At UTS a group of evangelical Christians has been covering over Querelle (queer student mag) posters with heterosexist stickers. You know the rest.
Would you like stickers for your campus? Please email me at catherinerose87@gmail.com and I can post some out to you.
See here: http://critical-discipleship.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/evangelism-by-bullying-credo-youre.html
Happy IDAHOT!
Today is International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), a global day of action to end discrimination and violence against queer people. Uni campuses around Australia are hosting events and actions today: http://www.facebook.com/events/534295923278611
Please take a few minutes out of your day to think about what makes you proud to be a queer student or ally and why you challenge prejudice and queerphobia, and send us a photo or video message at queer@unistudent.com.au
Why queer students lose out from tertiary education cuts
This was written by my friend, she is a queer woman, 21-years old and a student in Sydney. She is on Youth Allowance under the ‘unreasonable to live at home’ provision.
The government’s plan to fund Gonski does more than rip money out of universities, although it sure does that. Much of the costs will be directly laid onto those who come to university with the most disadvantage. The Gonski review of the Australian education system concluded that all schools should receive funding at a base level, and then additional funding for schools that teach students from low socio-economic or disadvantaged backgrounds such as Indigenous students, students from language backgrounds other than English and students with disabilities. It argued that $5 billion should be spent on funding schools per annum. This money is desperately needed in the public school system.
But on May 14 the federal government’s budget is set to come down with wide ranging cuts to the tertiary education system in the name of funding these reforms. These cuts include cutting $900 million out of the core operating grant given to universities over 2 years, reducing the threshold of self-education expenses that students are able to claim on their tax return, and converting the Student Start-up Scholarship (a payment of $1025 given to students on Youth Allowance, Austudy or Abstudy each semester), into a loan.
The last point means that students on welfare who study a four-year degree will have an extra $8,200 or so added to their debt. This equates to years more paying off their student debt, which is already worse for those who enter a low-paid professional such as social work, and women, who suffer a significant gender pay-gap.
The Student Start-up Scholarship is something students of low socio-economic backgrounds who are on welfare use, not to buy books or equipment for their courses as was intended, but to pay for everyday expenses associated with living independently. When you have bills to pay, text books are not the highest priority. Youth Allowance is not indexed to the cost of living, so each year the amount students receive looks more and more like a joke for those expected to live on it. The introduction of the Student Start-up Scholarship compensated for this to a degree, but now that it has been converted into a loan it will only entrench the ongoing attack on student welfare.
These change will hit students from the queer community hard. It puts unnecessary pressure on many young queer people who already have to deal with homophobia and its effects on their lives (including from the government). Many queer students are on Centrelink’s welfare payments because an independent income helps them to live away from hostile and homophobic home environments. Homelessness is a known side-effect of being queer. It is already hard enough for queer students to prove to Centrelink that they cannot live at home; being queer and having homophobic parents is not enough. If your parents say you can live with them if you promise to be straight, Centrelink will tell you to go back home. Students who manage despite this to prove that they really cannot live at home then suffer from the unreasonable pressure of being forced to live away from home on a payment that is well below the poverty line. To put them into more debt than those who have the fortune to avoid such problems is deplorable.
What makes it worse is that the government could so easily acquire this funding through other avenues, which would not include attacks on disadvantaged students. The public will have lost $60 billion over 10 years because of the scrapping of Kevin Rudd’s version of the mining tax, money that could have been used to fund welfare and education. Oh and did you notice that Gillard is spending $3 billion on a fleet of drones? That figure is just over what is being taken out of tertiary education.
That the government thinks nothing of such sums but freely attacks students on welfare and funding for tertiary education indicates how little our problems seem to concern them. It will be up to us to reassert what our priorities are.
On May 14 there will be a national student strike held by NUS with demonstrations around the country.
Please join your local action:
Sydney: 1pm, Victoria Park, cnr City & Parramatta Rds
Melbourne: 2pm, State Library, march to Federation Square
Brisbane: 12pm event at UQ, 2pm rally in Queens Square and 5pm, Brisbane Square, top of Brisbane Mall, opposite Treasury Casino
Adelaide: 12-1pm,Ligertwood Plaza, University of Adelaide
Canberra: 12.30pm, ANU Union Court
Hobart: 12:45 pm, University of Tasmania (Sandy Bay Campus)
Perth: 1pm, Edinburgh Oval, Curtin University
Month of Marriage Equality Marches in May
Hey everyone,
Here is something I wrote on behalf of the Queer Department on why the campaign for marriage equality is so important, with a month of protests happening around IDAHOT this month. Particularly I wanted to take up the conservative arguments around this demand serving “family values”, the denigration of polyamory, and the cynical Conservative politicians who now feel like supporting marriage equality.
Cat
http://www.samesame.com.au/features/9752/Opinion-Lets-make-marriage-matter-all-through-May.htm
Submit your writing!
Our blog is open for submissions by queer students on topics that relate to queer identities, queer issues, or experiences as queer people. We’d love to get a dialogue happening and channeling queer student voices on a national level, so please submit! If you have written a piece or are interested in doing so, please email us at queer@unistudent.com.au
IDAHOT: International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia 2013
IDAHOT is a global day of action against homophobia, transphobia, biphobia and other forms of discrimination, marginalisation and violence that queer people experience. In addition to raising awareness of queerphobia and being a rallying point for people around the world to take action to combat it, May 17th also commemorates the day that the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases.
During the week of May 17th 2013 queer students, staff and allies around Australia will be holding events and actions at their universities that aim to raise awareness of queerphobia on campuses and challenge it.
More more details check out the NUS IDAHOT Week Facebook event page.
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY (ANU), CANBERRA
Friday 17th May: http://www.facebook.com/events/157832324390610/
DEAKIN UNIVERSITY, MELBOURNE
– Monday 13th May: http://www.facebook.com/events/366740366764279/
– Wednesday May 15th: “Make a Badge and Make a Statement”
The Deakin Allies have organised a badge making machine and everyone is invited to come along and make a badge against homophobia. A photo will be taken of the badge and a collage poster will be put together of all the statements.
– Friday May 17th: “Deakin’s Rainbow Walkway”
Rainbow chalk, fairy floss and popcorn! Contribute to the rainbow walkway in solidarity of the one taken down in Sydney. http://www.facebook.com/events/123661887837542/
EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY, PERTH
– Friday 17th May 11.00am: http://www.facebook.com/events/173039099500816/
– Friday 17th May 12.00pm: http://www.facebook.com/events/347459505350827/
– Friday 17th May 12.30pm: http://intranet.ecu.edu.au/student/news/overview/2013/05/an-invitation-to-attend-the-international-day-against-homophobia-and-transphobia
FLINDERS UNIVERSITY, ADELAIDE
Friday 17th May: http://www.facebook.com/events/450958568329665/
GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, BRISBANE
Friday 17th May: https://www.facebook.com/events/301826823280552/
LA TROBE UNIVERSITY, MELBOURNE
Friday 17th May: http://www.facebook.com/events/450885005004331/
MURDOCH UNIVERSITY, PERTH
– Tuesday 14th: “Chalk Rainbow day”
Starting around 11:30 in the Queer room, then heading up towards Bush Court to cover both of our locations. http://www.facebook.com/events/520617307995981/
– Thursday 16th: IDAHOT bake sale
If you have any good recipes you’d like to bring along, that would be awesome, if not, just make sure you bring along some friends with a sweet tooth and a fat wallet. https://www.facebook.com/events/319846794804295/
– Friday 17th: “Fight the Homophobia Web Virus”
If you’re feeling supportive, post something on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Tumblr, Instagram, or anywhere else you can that will have a big impact. https://www.facebook.com/events/125333550996425/
– Friday 17th: IDAHOT party http://www.facebook.com/events/277988125671849/
QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (QUT), BRISBANE
– Friday 17th May 10.00am-3.00pm: Kelvin Grove Campus, outside C Block.
Queer Collective stall featuring performers and visual spectacles.
– Saturday 18th May: http://www.facebook.com/events/130545270472658/
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
– Monday 13th May to Friday 17th May: http://union.unimelb.edu.au/queer/international-day-against-homophobia-transphobia-week
UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND, ARMIDALE
Friday 17th 12.00pm-2.00pm at the Central Courtyard
Free BBQ and poster-making for the “Free To Be Me @ UNE” campaign (all supplies will be provided)
UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, BRISBANE
– Friday 17th May 12.00pm: Queer Collective meeting, Carden Room.
– Friday 17th May 2.00pm: Visibility Picnic by the lake.
UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA
Friday 17th May: http://www.facebook.com/events/114768045391939
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY (UTS):
– Wednesday 15th May: http://www.facebook.com/events/157554601084602/
– Friday 17th May: http://www.facebook.com/events/484700818268758/
UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG
Friday 17th May 11:30am-2:30pm on the McKinnon Lawn
BBQ, bake sale, performers and free customised IDAHOT wrist bands to give away. Contact Andy Hogan on 0406904118 or alh804@uowmail.edu.au
(Please email the details of your local events to queer@unistudent.com.au or post on the page below.)
Queer Collaborations Conference 2013
Registration is now open!
(Please note: the Queer Collaborations Conference organisers have changed the dates and their conference will no longer be held on the 3rd-9th July, it will now be taking place on the 8th-14th July. This now clashes with NUS Education Conference being held in Adelaide on 10th-12th July, and the Queer Collaborations Conference organisers sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this causes.)
Equal marriage rallies
France & NZ have passed equal marriage in the past week joining a list of now 14 countries to do so. When will Australia catch up? Join the rallies happening around the country in May to speak up:
Melbourne: facebook.com/events/519903788054877
Perth: facebook.com/events/412951355446528
Brisbane: facebook.com/events/126094367567780
Canberra: facebook.com/events/499719386757196
Sydney: facebook.com/events/152245068265493
Adelaide: facebook.com/events/125463857631337
Snap actions against funding cuts!
The recently announced cuts to higher education will affect all students, including queer students. $900 million will be cut in addition to students being required to repay government scholarships meaning up to 37% more debt and more than a decade of student loan repayments once we finish our studies.
Don’t take these cuts quietly, speak up and join your local actions happening today and in the coming weeks around the country!
Adelaide: http://www.facebook.com/events/189846024497645/
Melbourne: http://www.facebook.com/events/183158695166935/
Sydney:
http://www.facebook.com/events/597602173585296/
Hobart:
http://www.facebook.com/events/295588857241429/
Perth:
http://www.facebook.com/events/533388560047437/
Brisbane:
http://www.facebook.com/events/235832399890527/
Canberra:
http://www.facebook.com/events/300507650082122/
Don’t pay more for less. #NDA2013 #InvestInUnis
Pride Not Prejudice
What Makes You Proud? Why Do You Challenge Prejudice?
The NUS Queer Department is seeking photo and video messages from queer students and allies around Australia on what makes them proud to be queer or an ally and why they challenge prejudice and queerphobia.
Please send your photos and video messages to queer@unistudent.com.au!
NUS Queer Department 