A new dawn or more of the same..?

I can't say when I've been more engaged and emotionally involved in an election.

I vaguely remember the 1992 British Election and disbelievingly watching John Major elected as Prime Minister. I know that at the time, I was ineligible to vote - the election was scheduled for the Monday before my 18th birthday - man was I pissed. I was more annoyed afterwards that the British electorate had been stupid enough to buy into five more years of Thatcherism, though with hindsight the Tories had probably put forward a better case for managing the economy at the time and Neil Kinnock was clearly deemed to be too Far Left to be palatable. The next election was the first I was able to vote in and while the magnitude of the rise of New Labour wasn't lost on me, it was seen as a forgone conclusion and although I voted it wasn't with any great sense of anxiety. By '97 I was living in Australia and a postal vote certainly disengaged me from another election that seemed inevitable.

This last year in Chicago I've felt more involved in an election than ever, despite the fact that I'm ineligible to vote! Anyone who has seen my FaceBook profile will tell you that I'm constantly gleaning articles from the NY Times and The Independent and posting them for their enjoyment (no, honestly I am!). I've donated money to Obama's campaign, posted countless articles, had debates with strangers and friends, bought & worn T-shirts, watched the debates and Saturday Night Live skits, displayed bumper stickers and watched the forecasted results online changing slowly each day as if the outcome of the election would have a profound effect on my life.

Yet to be a citizen of Earth means that America's election results WILL have a profound impact on your life.

In discussion with friends on Tuesday night I mentioned that of all the countries polled, only three - Georgia, Israel and The Philippines wanted McCain as the POTUS. My friends were surprised not at the outcome of that particular poll (no surprise at all there), but that countries around the world would care at all - that such polling would even take place. They cited the fact that no-one in the States was bothered whether Gordon Brown continued in power or Cameron got in (not that any of them knew who Cameron was - pictured) and that most people wouldn't have a clue who was up for election in Canada on the USA's doorstep earlier this year, let alone the outcome of the Italian election in April - which might as well have been on a different planet (both returned right wing governments).

The fact of the matter as anyone not living in the USA will know, is that America has a great deal of influence in the world, reaching into everyone's lives - the current economic crisis, a perfect example, has been cited as the responsibility of Wall street and has reached around the world with disastrous consequences. An article in the Independent this week talked about the 'what if presidents' (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/what-if-the-presidents-we-never-had-989509.html) and that had Gore been elected, he would have been likely to go into Afghanistan in pursuit of al Qa'ida after 9-11, but would have stopped short of attacking Iraq and as such the bombings in Madrid and London in July 2005 may not have occurred.

The outcome of this election therefore will have a massive effect on the world: America's stance on the environment, the global economy and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as demonstrated by their choice of President will go on to affect how the world perceives the US for the next four and hopefully eight years. Whether the world is ready to trust a country that has weilded its influence with blind disregard for the impact on its neighbours for the last eight years will be massively influenced by its choice of leader. I for one am filled with a new hope.

Obama's campaign was supported with a massive swell of grass roots activism with people from all generations involved in what is in American politics a massive shift from right wing, militarily aggressive and in terms of the wealthy in America, fiscally self serving policies to a more left leaning, socially minded both at home and abroad and egalitarian approach. The fact that this change came about because of a groundswell of ordinary people, who dedicated their time and money (Obama's campaign was funded primarily by ordinary people not corporations and lobbyists) to a stance that they felt better represented their own views, rather than the NeoCons that had been mismanaging their country and misrepresented Americans to the rest of the world, only made his victory sweeter. Obama's victory was a victory for the everyday American.

As a gay man, my heart swelled with emotion to hear our inclusion in his speech "It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states, we are, and always will be, the United States of America". (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-full-text-of-barack-obamas-victory-speech-993008.html)

The fact that proposals to ban Gay Marriage were passed in three states with a fourth banning Gay Adoption is neither here nor there: America has come a long way in the past two years even if there is some distance left to go before it can live up to it's promise of justice and liberty for all.

All I can say is that standing in my local gay bar, surrounded by my friends and seeing CNN call for Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States (were you wondering what POTUS stood for?) was one of the most emotional moments of my life. There was a palpable sense of a new dawn approaching. I'm not a hundred percent sure what the weather for tomorrow will be, but I know that it will be better than the grey rain of the last eight years.

Come and take a stand...

I almost blogged on this a month or so ago, but was asked not to due to the timeliness of the piece and the event in question. Unfortunately with the rash of homophobic attacks in and around Oxford Street in Sydney I'm beginning to see a bigger picture and the subject rears it's ugly thuggish head again.

Let me start at the beginning...

A couple of months ago a friend of mine, Louise, related a conversation she'd had with her flatmate - we'll call her Waynetta. They were discussing the results of the Australian election.

The conversation centered around Waynetta's voting Liberal (Conservative in the UK, Republican in the US) and what policies she was inadvertently voting for.

Despite Louise demonstrating their anti-women policies regarding single parenthood etc Waynetta was adamant they were the party for her. "After all," Waynetta said, "I'm not a single mother".

Louise's next tack was to try and point out the Liberal party's discrimination against other groups that Waynetta may feel for, such as Gays and Lesbians.

Here again, Waynetta responded with "But I'm not Gay", whereupon Louise, thinking she had her at last said, "no, but several of your friends are!"

This was nothing to Waynetta who clearly couldn't see why that would make a difference and later in the discussion when confronted with Australia's general lack of equality for Gays retorted with "well I'm not sure they should be entitled to the same rights as us!"

Now if Waynetta had only met a couple of Gay Boys in her local pub and had no further contact, I could kind of understand her stance. After all, her family are conservative and right wing and I'd felt myself bristle in conversations with her Father around race for example. However, Waynetta was not some country hick with little exposure. She'd worked, socialised and even shared Xmas with gay people, myself included and as another Sydney orphan had been welcomed as part of our extended family, a family that is very much 50/50, Gay/Straight.

So how did Waynetta become like this and why did she remain so?

Waynetta is a bigot because she "was raised this way"- her words not mine and she fails to see how her attitude harms herself and her society. By her own statements if she could perceive why her position jeopardises her own safeties, she might change her position, for example is she herself were gay. She's not, but she is however, in a state of ignorance. She doesn't know why she feels the way she does, can't verbalise it, but feels it instinctively: She fears the unknown.

She continues to be this way, because nobody until Louise, had ever challenged on it, shown her how misguided she was, or held a mirror up to her face to show her what a dirty, little bigot she is. Sorry Waynetta, but your position is not acceptable in the modern world, you're a 50's reject, a product of your small minded parents and in need of a wake-up call. It's 2008 and you're expected to use that brain between your ears, rather than following blindly in your Father's footsteps. And if you can't verbalise your opinions in a way other than "I just do that's all" then maybe Australia needs to re-think it's mandatory voting stance.

I'd decided not to post on this topic, based on Louise's feelings about the subject and my own inability to write dispassionately and rationally on it. While none of that has changed, I can't help but feel it's linked to a bigger problem and that I fail myself and my peers by not taking some sort of action, even if all that is, is blogging here.

So why now?

Fiction: Sydney: Gay Mecca of the Southern Hemisphere. While people in the States tell you San Francisco is no longer the hedonistic place of sanctuary of the 70's, they look with longing eyes to the Harboured City of Homos. Everyone is treated equally, it's the most gay friendly place on the planet and to be gay here is the norm.

Fact: Oxford Street (Sydney's Castro, Christopher Street or Old Compton Street) has been taken over as the Hen Party destination of Sydney, the Gay bars being seen as lacking the male predators of straight bars and therefore "safe" for groups of straight women - this despite the fact that the straight boys follow. Coupled with the increase in straight venues in the area, Oxford Street and Darlinghurst are no longer the safe spaces they were. Gay bashings are on the increase and you only need to walk past a straight club to have abuse hurled - I know because it happened to me several times in the month or so before I left last August.

Why is this happening? Aren't we talking about clubbers? Generations X and Y? The more liberal and tolerant generations? Shouldn't the two communities be able to sit side by side?

Well you'd think so. But while people with attitudes like Waynetta's remain unchallenged and go around thinking their bigoted mindset is permissible, thugs on Oxford Street will continue to bash.

The worst thing is that there appears to be no penalty for their behaviour.

While John Howard was busy perpetuating the idea that Gays and Lesbians didn't deserve the right to equality, the police force in Sydney dithered over the incidences of Homophobic crime reported to them.

As reported in the SMH only today, a victim of an attack occurring last December (Craig Gee - see pic) where he was able to identify his attackers on CCTV, has still yet to receive further communication from the Police. I'd blame the Xmas holidays for the Police's lack of response, but an attack on another victim in January of 2007 sees the victim still waiting for a return phone call from his Liaison Officer assigned to his case. In his own words "Every time I call, the officer is sick or doesn’t ring back.”

It seems like a victim of Homophobic abuse has a long wait for any sort of justice.

To be fair, the police have identified key areas where they can impact, education in schools being one of them, but greater police presence is not one of their options. The sad thing is, that without an arrest, without a visible penalty for these attitudes and these actions, there is no deterrent for the homophobic thugs.

So what can we do? Well you can attend the march in Sydney on Australia Day for a start (details below) and you can stop taking those deep breaths when you hear someone spouting their right wing values. Waynetta is your best friend, your sister, your colleague; which only means you have more responsibility to tell her where she's going wrong. If there's one person in your world who may be affected, it's you. Because today it's the Gays, tomorrow the Jews, the Blacks next week and on and on. It's time we stopped pussyfooting around and pretending we're so close to equality we don't want to rock the boat. There is no partial equality - you're either equal or you're not. Making your society the best it can be is hard work and it's your job and mine. Are you equal to the task?

WHEN: 26 January 2008, starting 4pm

WHERE: Harmony Park (next to Surry Hills Police Station)

BYO: Rainbow flags, friends & family, seating, drums/instruments, peaceful determination, sunscreen, snacks/water