By Marina Cameron
The Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney prompted an article in the Sydney Morning Herald on March 3 to pose the question, "What's the point of being gay?". Increased acceptance in some workplaces, more mass advertising aimed at gays and lesbians and more use of gay and lesbian images are presented as evidence that "gays are dangerously close to being absorbed into the mainstream of society. So is there any point any more in being gay — or, at least, being a gay rights activist?"
Green Left Weekly spoke to Resistance member and trade union activist JENNIFER CROTHERS and KEN DAVIS, a member of Gay Solidarity, which organised the first Mardi Gras in 1978, about the need for an ongoing gay and lesbian movement.
Davis believes, "There is obviously a difference in the situation of homosexuals in the late '70s and the situation of young homosexual people now. Social and political acceptance has changed, but there are still issues of inequality."
Crothers agrees. "The article itself points out that basic legal rights such as recognition of same-sex relationships, equal age of consent laws, guardianship rights for children, claims for adoption, access to hospitalised partners, are still denied.
"Gays and lesbians still live in daily fear of violence. The Anti-Violence Project in Sydney reports an increase in violent attacks over the last few months. Young people continue to commit suicide because their sexuality is not socially accepted. Coming out of the closet is not an option in most schools and workplaces if you want to avoid harassment and keep your job.
"All gays and lesbians still face some form of discrimination. In certain places, at certain times of the year, in certain ways, homosexuality is tolerated, but we are nowhere near equality and full social acceptance."
Davis claims that, since the election of the Howard government, gays and lesbians are also more aware that "the gains we have made are fragile and can be reversed".
At the Mardi Gras launch this year, he said, "Speakers made important links between homosexual rights, the election of Howard, the unleashing of racism against indigenous people and migrants, the call for Australia to go back to the family values of the 1950s, the licensing of an attack on a pluralist society".
Davis argues that many see the need for the struggle to be revived. "The most popular floats in the parade this year satirised Pauline Hanson and Amanda Vanstone. There was a much greater appreciation of the political floats by the 700,000 people watching the parade."
Crothers and Davis both raised the fact that there are differences amongst gay and lesbian activists themselves as to what the changes of the last 20 years represent and how the fight should now be conducted.
Davis argues that while"it is undeniable that many lesbians and gay men see inclusion of their sexuality in advertising as a step forward and a token of less social repression", the push by business and the media to publicise the growth of the gay commercial sector are not overwhelmingly positive.
"The Herald article said that 41% of lesbians and gay men hold professional or managerial jobs, and that income is 16% higher than the national average. These figures are based on superficial statistics by gay business researchers, who are surveying readerships of certain publications and pretending that they are representative of all gays and lesbians. People who are less educated and on lower incomes are less likely to respond to their surveys."
Davis claimed that the portrayal of lesbians and gay men as earning more than other people is deliberate and aimed at identifying and capturing a market for consumer goods, but also undermining calls for gay rights. "There is a danger in mass media portrayal of homosexuals as having economic power, in a country where millions more people in the last decade have been consigned to poverty. It establishes the basis for a scapegoating similar to anti-Semitism in the past."
Stevie Clayton, co-convener of the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, is quoted in the article as saying that while the issues activists were fighting around 20 years ago have not changed, the approach has. She asserts that the political horizons of the movement have broadened and its tactics have moved away from rowdy street protests and become more sophisticated.
Crothers responds, "The gay liberation movement of the '60s and '70s fought for and won the gains enjoyed by gays and lesbians today through street demonstrations and public campaigns involving masses of people in ongoing action. This was what forced the government and the courts to grant some legal reform, and led to increased social acceptance.
"Business has cynically picked up on this by using gay and lesbian images in advertising to reach the 'pink dollar'. Much of the change that has led to declarations that the struggle is over has simply consisted of coopting certain superficial elements of the challenges thrown up by the movement."
Davis argues against the approach of the dominant gay and lesbian political organisations, which "are telling their members to empower committees, which are mainly made up of lawyers, to negotiate on our behalf for our rights.
"This year's Mardi Gras launch announced the beginning of a campaign to agitate for equal age of consent laws and for legal and social recognition of same-sex relationships. This was not followed up by the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby. A promised mass petition campaign hasn't happened. There don't appear to be any plans for any public activities. We aren't seeing the gains that were promised from their approach of lobbying the Labor government."
Crothers states, "Many gay and lesbian groups have, unfortunately, fallen for the illusion of change, banking on presenting themselves as 'reasonable' and 'responsible' in arguing for legal equality. Without the backing of mass political action which demands full economic, social and political rights and which challenges homophobia, even formal legal equality has proved very elusive.
"If half the energy that went into Mardi Gras went into ongoing mass public campaigns for gay and lesbian rights, we would be a lot better off than we are. People like Pauline Hanson and the policies of the government are creating more space for right-wing, homophobic ideas to grow. It's time to take pride, but also protest."