Category — Australia

Join the efforts in Australia to bring marriage equality to this beautiful country. Visit the Equal Love website for more information.  I have to ask, why the hell isn’t same sex marriage legal here? The country is overwhelmingly liberal, with more than 60% of the population supporting the idea. Trust me, that’s far more than Iowa!

Check out some of the Equal Love video campaigns:

        

At private Xavier High School in New South Wales, a former student called for gays to be eliminated from the world, and the high school fucking printed it:

A NSW Catholic private school has come under attack for publishing an “anti-gay letter” in its newsletter which activists say calls for the murders of homosexuals.

Xavier High School in Albury printed the letter, written by former student Matt Price, in the latest edition of its alumni newsletter Xavier.

Mr Price said he was “trying to make the world free of homosexuals”, who live lives devoted to “sex and drugs”.

“The gay side of life, all it’s ever been is going out and doing that sort of stuff … the world just really doesn’t need that,” he said.

Mr Price said he was a “cured” homosexual and now lived in Noosa working as a registered nurse.

Anti-discrimination campaigner Garry Burns blasted Xavier High’s decision to publish the letter, saying he understood Mr Price’s letter to mean that gays and lesbians should be killed.

“It says he wants the removal of homosexuals from the face of the earth and there’s only one way to interpret that,” Burns told ninemsn.

“There are people out there who will express that endorsement through bashings, murder and all sorts of things … they’ll go out and say the Catholic Church is right: ‘let’s get a poof and kill him’.”

The 52-year-old, who last year sued 2UE presenter John Laws after he called gay men “pillow-biters” on-air, said Xavier High officials “ran away and hid like Burmese kittens” after he asked them to apologise and make a $5000 donation to gay and lesbian support group Twenty10.

What the fuck is this shit?  I am surprised this happened in Oz, it seems more suited to Alabama.  Imagine if you were gay and 14, figuring yourself out and your high school published this letter?  Whoever did should be ashamed.

I would love to hear from anyone who knows Matt Price.

        

Look, I love the big city.  I really really do.  However, I also love wild animals. I will live only in world cities or in Papa New Guinea.  Well, that’s not totally true but you won’t find me residing in some lifeless, mall driven suburban place because I would waste away like the Amazon.  Believe me.

So, Sydney is fantastic and big, but I will always miss my NYC.  That isn’t the point here though.  The point is, there are the most fantastic fucking animals just right outside of the city.  And the most AMAZING land and beaches.  And the weather is STUNNING 90 percent of the time.  Oh yeah, and you feel extraordinarily good living here.

Anyways, I still miss my smog and gangbangers like you wouldn’t believe.  Gimme me bling, east village, Brooklyn boom boxes, and drug delivery services any day(I’ve since stop using, but the idea is nice).  CHEERS.

Check out some of our amazing animals.

This is a dingo.  How goddamn cute is it?  I just want to bury my face into its fluffy hair and snuggle it.

Now look at the beautiful kangaroo!  They live everywhere. They are like white tailed deer on the east coast in the states.  They get hit by cars all the time and walk through your backyard and what not girl.

But look at what this dingo did to this kangaroo!  BAD dingo.  How cute is it now? Bitch is mad skinny too!  Shouldn’t she be eating some carbs, not just meat?  Why are all wild animals on the Atkins diet?

Now these animals are just being inappropriate.   Excuuuuuse you!

        

That is a great number.   The prime minister Kevin Rudd does not endorse same sex marriage though, and I can’t figure out why.  The people support it!  Anyhow, from the Sydney Star Observer:

A new poll showing about 60 percent of Australians support same-sex marriage has prompted a new push for changes to the Federal Marriage Act.

The Greens will next week introduce a private member’s bill to alter the Act so it no longer outlaws gay marriage.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said, with the changing community attitude, same-sex marriage deserved to be put back on the parliamentary agenda. [Read more →]

        

Australia’s unemployment rate soars to 5.7%!  Wait, am I hearing something wrong here?  5.7%?  America wishes they were so lucky (with a 9.2 unemployment rate).

I realize this is an increase, from the previous measure of 5.5%, but it’s also another example of Australia being one of the peak performers in this GFC, if not the healthiest economy on Earth.  Even though this is “bad” news in Oz, if you think about it, its actually really great news too!

        

And I needed it. I spent the weekend with a group of seven gay Australians high up in the mountains. I enjoyed myself at a cabin in Mount Buller in Victoria on the side of a ski resort.  Let me tell you I need a solid deep sleep before work tomorrow!   

Anyhow, it snowed the entire time! That was pretty fantastic, as Australia is not thought of as a snowy place. However, it does snow in Oz and there are a few ”alpine” destinations.    Hope everyone is doing fantastic and feelin’ all sexy.

        

Australia actually grew .4 of a percent in the last quarter.   This is amazing.  Over the last year, while the vast majority of economies have contracted at rates not seen in decades, Australia hasn’t even had mild recession.  In fact, though very minimal, Australia has actually grown.  Unemployment is still below 6 percent!

Anyhow, to the management of the country and prime minister Kevin Rudd’s preemptive strike against impending financial gloom, I have to say good work.   Someone is doing something very right here.

Here’s two photos I took of the land here.  It is totally Super Mario world.   Stunning.  Now picture that sky in the evening with dog sized bats flying around.

        

I went to a shopping center in Sydney this weekend called Bondi Junction.  It was absolutely teeming at the hinges with voracious and eager shoppers tackling eachother to get that must have pair of designer socks.  It felt like christmas.  I was thinking, where the hell is this global financial crisis?

Apparently  my thoughts have some basis in truth.  A recent survey of business people worldwide shows that Australia comes in first place as the country doing alright despite the global economic meltdown:

Australia stands out as an island of calm amid the global economic storm despite pessimistic government and media responses, an international business confidence survey shows.

One in five international businesspeople cited Australia as the country best surviving the recession in a survey of 7,500 people in more than 24 nations.

Australia placed first in the survey, ahead of China, with India [Read more →]

        

The story below is quite sappy.  However, it is absolute reality, incredibly similar to my situation and frankly quite fucked up.  My partner is Australian and I have left my friends and my family to live here in Sydney, coming from the US.   I love the guy and I shouldn’t have to give that up.   However, because he isn’t American and we have absolutely zero federal rights as a couple, I cannot sponsor him for immigration purposes.  I LOVE the opportunity to live overseas, but I do miss my family, friends and city.    I found this story about a lesbian couple and it really sums up my own situation; the major motivating reason that I want some federal recognition.

Additionally there is a bill introduced this year that could change this.  It is called the Uniting American Families Act, of the UAFA.   The bill would allow American same sex couples the opportunity sponsor their partner for immigration purposes.   I am not overly optimistic this bill will even make it out of committee, but if you want more information about this bill and all information about immigration equality CLICK HERE.

        

That’s right.  I spent time in the Potts Point police station today in inner Sydney, Australia.  However, I was not getting arrested!  YAY!  I was there to get my fingerprints done so I can send them off to the FBI, so in return, they can send me my USA police clearance.   I will use that information to launch my visa here with my man Brady.  

I guess going to the police station to get fingerprints is kind of like going to the courthouse to get married, but for gays!   Doesn’t the government hold us in high regard?!!

Anyhow, I must admit, being innocent of everything and heading into the police station, on business, is kind of fun.  There is none of that pressure like when you go to “traffic” court.   It is just a simple and leisurely visit to converse and do business with nonhostile police people.  With Australian accents no less!  Raaaar.

Wish me luck people, my entire life depends on this visa which I will be launching as Alan Brady’s partner in about two months!   Same sex and hetero couples have the same rights in Australia in terms of sponsoring people for immigration, and I am grateful for that.