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| Down Under |
| ’Male lesbians’ barred from Lesfest event |
| 2003-10-01 |
| Though lesbian activists have traditionally fought against discrimination based on sexual orientation, it is homosexual women who now are being accused of insensitivity by wanting to exclude from an upcoming event a specific group of people – transsexual lesbians who used to be males. (Huh
.OUCH!) Transsexuals are protesting an Australian lesbian festival because an advertisement for the event mentions that only "female-born" lesbians are welcome. Festival organizers obtained an exemption from local equal-opportunity laws before going ahead with the controversial ads. According to the report, those in charge wanted even the event’s caterers to be traditional lesbians. Offended by the slight, transsexuals appealed the exemption, the news service reports, and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal yesterday overturned its earlier ruling. The transsexuals complained the festival failed to recognize lesbians who came by their gender surgically. (Boo Hoo) Anna Holland-Moore, a spokeswoman for Lesfest 2004, however, said there was a difference between lesbians brought up female and those brought up male. (And they are????) "It’s not about excluding, it’s about affirmation of our identity," Holland-Moore told the news service. "We just wanted a week together to consolidate our culture and discuss relevant issues." (and have wild ’pure’ lesbian sex!) The group sought to exclude not only male-born lesbian transsexuals, but also boys over 8 and non-lesbian girls over 15. (Hmm I wonder why?) Karen Gurney of WOMAN, a group that lobbies "for the rights of Australian women with transsexualism," hailed the decision by the tribunal. (see there is a group for everyone!) "The strong support we received from the mainstream GL community for our full acceptance as the women we are was particularly appreciated by people with transsexualism," she said in a statement. The report said the organizers of Lesfest have yet to decide what their next move will be. They might do away with public advertising and simply send private invitations to the January festival. (To keep those nasty boy/girls away!) To summarize: A group of Lesbians that used to be males (oops!) wants to attend a lesbian festival. The lesbian festival organizers want to exclude this group because they are ‘converts’ rather than ‘natives’. Anyone get the idea that God is either testing us or maybe smoking some herb? I live in California but I think that Australia just used the ‘weirdo’ trump card on this one. |
| Posted by:Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) |
| #6 Remember those '80s bumpersticker that asked "Is it weird enough for you yet?" I'd like to find someone with one of those, grab him by the collar and scream, "YES, IT'S ENTIRELY FUCKING WEIRD NOW! KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!" |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2003-10-1 9:51:45 PM |
| #5 banning "non lesbian girls over 15"? God, they better make up their minds early, huh? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-10-1 7:49:51 PM |
| #4 Guess there's not enough room in the rainbow for every color... |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-10-1 1:57:48 PM |
| #3 Sounds like every in this story needs desperately to get their ashes hauled. |
| Posted by: badanov 2003-10-1 1:44:39 PM |
| #2 Tip of the iceberg, I'm afraid. The Aussies seem to have an overabundance of idiots. Check this out: http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/wackiest.html |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-10-1 11:25:55 AM |
| #1 Nice summary. I'm curious if they would truly notice some of the used to be males (oops) if they attended. I've seen some pretty butch lesbians in my day, but perhaps they were oops and I didn't know it. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-10-1 11:03:40 AM |