News – Page 8

How OUT NT works

OUT NT is a website that is run by Rainbow Territory to provide information and community connection to LGBTQI people living in or connected to the NT. It is run by Rainbow Territory members, but operates for the community to help bring people together. A strong and connected community is an active community that can work together to achieve change. This newsletter is part of how people are connected, as well as a Facebook page to communicate between newsletters. Please tell people you know in the NT about outnt to get them connected.

If you have an event that you want to promote, or some news you want to share, or something creative you’ve been working on, please email outnt@outnt.info

Newsletter 14: Cake to share

Cake to share is a random section of the newsletter where people can share something with others. Not all cake suits all tastes, so please sample or skip as you wish. Email your cake to share to outnt@outnt.info

This month there is lots of Cake to Share, cake to have later, cake you eat with friends, cake you eat at night time. It’s not in any order!

Email through any random articles that you see to outnt@outntinfo or share directly to the OUT NT Facebook page. Get the stories you find interesting out to your community.

Homemade cake! A Darwinite in Melbourne penned this song to a well known tune to deal with discrimination at a dentist.

My dentist don’t mess around, she asks me straight out if I’m homo or bi.

Why does she need to know, how does this relate to my teeth and why?

I tried to fight the feeling but the thought of speaking out was killing me somehow

Thank God for perseverance, sticking to my morals cos some don’t know how,

Hey ya.

You think you’ve got it, oh you think you’ve got,

But clearly you don’t get it, why was that on your form?

If what they say is..’mm, oh ok, well thanks for letting us know,’

Then what makes, then what makes, then what makes you change the form?

Why you why you, why you why you why you still in denial cos you know it’s not inclusive here

Hey ya

Making the transition: Long before Caitlin Jenner came out, people who feel they have been born in the wrong body have taken steps to change what gender they’re identified as.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-weekend/audio/201785675/making-the-transition

Just Me and Allah: A Queer Muslim Photo Project
http://queermuslimproject.tumblr.com/

Marriage inequality. Briton who died on honeymoon in Australia to have same-sex marriage recognised. South Australian premier Jay Weatherill gives personal guarantee that David Bulmer-Rizzi’s death certificate will be reissued with correct status and vows to amend legislation to recognise overseas same-sex marriages
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jan/21/briton-who-died-on-honeymoon-in-australia-to-have-same-sex-marriage-recognised

Weird Questions Gay Couples Get “Are you going to have gaybies?”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/kevinmcshane/weird-questions-gay-couples-get#.irgp8mKqJ

The Chilean Ministry of Health has issued instructions to its national health sector to stop “normalising” medical interventions on intersex infants and children. This guidance is a global first: the first time that a health ministry has shown leadership in taking this step without legislation or legal action. They have done this while awaiting the development of human rights-affirming treatment protocols and legislation to offer protection from discrimination on grounds of “sexual characteristics”.

Chile Ministry of Health instructs its department of health to stop ‘normalising’ medical intervention on intersex infants and children
https://oii.org.au/30250/chilean-ministry-stops-normalising/

‘In My Shoes’ asks five transgender young people what it’s like to be them – the awesome times, the challenges and how they’ve gotten through them. This short, collaborative documentary film is an initiative of the Transgender Anti-Violence Project at The Gender Centre Inc., NSW and is produced by Tahlia Trijbetz, the Transgender Anti-Violence Project (TAVP) Officer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDuVbsg0eMo

The 6 Pack Band, India’s First Transgender Band Just Released Their First Song
http://www.buzzfeed.com/srishtidixit/speechles#.rfbxvV2Ba

Fiji turns cold. Fiji’s Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, has been quoted saying that if a woman in Fiji wants to marry another woman, “they should go and have it done in Iceland and stay and live there.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/the-prime-minister-of-fiji-wants-gay-citizens-to-get-married#.lsBJq32N8

Meet the Texas teen feminist whose body hair set the twittersphere on fire
https://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/meet-the-texas-teen-feminist-whose-body-hair-set-the-twittersphere-on-fire?utm_source=vicefbanz

What a lesbian feminist looks like
http://www.lotl.com/Lifestyle/What-A-Lesbian-Feminist-Looks-Like-846/

Chapel

by Fernanda Dahlstrom

When we relocated to Ballarat, my parents enrolled me in an Anglican school.

On the first day, the teacher announced first period was chapel. I didn’t know what that was. ‘It’s like church’, my mother explained as she was leaving. I had never been to church and did not find this comforting. The teacher watched us through hawk-like eyes, already disapproving.

We were required to form two lines outside the classroom: a line of boys and a line of girls. We were to walk, holding the hand of a boy, out of the junior school and into the senior school. Inside the chapel, we were to sit down on the wooden pews and listen to the sermon. The service was delivered to the whole school and initially, being very young, I understood nothing and the hour served as a time for my mind to wander free of the punctuation of a teacher’s instructions. Later, I observed that sometimes certain of the students would come to the front of the chapel, kneel, and imbibe something proffered by the priest. The significance of this ritual was unknown to me, but it seemed to bestow a certain dignity on those who participated.

Sometimes a student would rise to stand at the pulpit and carefully read a portion of the bible. I wondered how these students were chosen. I was an excellent reader and it seemed only a matter of time before I would be asked to step up to the pulpit and demonstrate my skills.

But as I moved up into Grade Four and then Five, my perceptions came into focus. I resented the walk to chapel in gender-demarcated lines, and the cumbersome uniform that seemed to have marched on through the ages, unaffected by the vagaries of fashion. When the sport teacher caught me abstaining from the Lord’s Prayer in assembly, and leant down so that his ear was next to my lips, I remained resolutely, obstinately silent.

I stopped being afraid.

At some point in my early childhood I must have seen a film about the civil rights movement, because I have a clear memory of an image coming into my mind during chapel one day of a black man stepping up in front of a crowd and delivering a rousing, audacious speech.

I became aware of the opportunities a microphone and an audience could bring. I imagined a teacher approaching me and marking out the chapter and verse. I saw myself nodding docilely and waiting for the moment when the stage would be mine. I could almost feel the microphone at my lips as I pictured myself stepping up and leaning forward, the whole school’s eyes and ears on me, every teacher, every student, the older kids, the younger kids all waiting, expecting to hear another dull bible story when instead – !

Exactly how I would have expressed my views, had I the chance to hijack a service, I never decided.

In any event, they never picked me.

Youth Pride Alice Springs

Youth Pride is an exciting development in Alice Springs for young people. Lead by young people with support from Headspace Alice Springs and NTAHC.

The group is a youth led initiative run from a committee of young people, we aim to challenge stigma and provide support to young people who are Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Intersex or Questioning their gender or sexual identity. We will do this through the creation of a resource pack and host monthly meetings to discuss local issues and plan the actions of the group.

Study on the well-being of Lesbians, Gay men, and bisexual individuals

Attention Lesbian women and Gay men! Researchers at La Trobe University are conducting a study on the well-being of Lesbians, Gay men, and bisexual individuals. Researchers Dr. Chris Pepping, Professor Kim Halford, Dr. Anthony Lyons, and Tim Cronin have worked in the area of Gay and Lesbian health, and are currently conducting several studies in this area.

In our online questionnaire, you will be asked a series of questions about your well-being, experiences accessing various health services, and your preferences for services delivered by health professionals. The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

If you would like to participate in this study, please follow the link below. Your opinions are greatly valued and will help to inform future research and enhance access to services for Lesbians and Gay men. Ethics Application Reference Number: S15/149.

Link: https://latrobe.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eqvfyyMCgVyetlX

Youth Pride Alice Springs

Rainbow Territory contributes to NT Domestic and Family violence law review

Rainbow Territory provided a submission to the NT Government in relation to their review of the Domestic and Family Violence Act. The submission highlighted that domestic violence exists in same-sex relationships at approximately the same rate as heterosexual relationships, and that the experience of LGBTQI identifying victims of domestic and family violence is unique and often compounded by the discrimination that many LGBTQI people experience every day. The submission also focused on the experience of many young queer people who experience violence in the home.

The submission made a range of recommendations including amending the law to make reference to forms of intimidation and harassment specific to LGBTQI people and called upon the NT government to provide funding for evidence based rehabilitation and counselling programs aimed at addressing and preventing domestic and family violence in LGBTQI relationships.

The submission was submitted on 13 July 2015 and is publicly available here.

If you want to get involved in some of Rainbow Territory’s work, please come along to the next meeting or if you are outside of Darwin email Rainbow Territory to work out how to get involved. New members are always welcome

Events September

Darwin

Queer beer at The Cav every Thursday
Rainbow Territory meeting Tuesday 8 September (fortnightly)
NTAHC fundraiser, film night: Holding the Man Saturday 12 September
Books Gone Wilde LGBTQI community library – every second Sunday of the month Sunday 13 September
Books Gone Wilde social event & fundraiser Sunday 13 September
Darwin Pride festival starts! Wednesday 30 September

Alice Springs

Recovery time after Pride Carnvale :)
Nurnakah – Our Show. Radio show on CAAMA. Every Friday from 9-10:30am, 100.5 in Alice Springs or through www.caama.com.au
Youth Pride, Tuesday 8 September

All upcoming events: http://www.outnt.info/calendar/

Cake to Share – Newsletter 12

This cake to share is quite exciting. There are lots of stories from the NT and around our region (and Malta!) about activism, change, speaking out, and staying strong.

Cake to share is a random section of the newsletter where people can share something with others. Not all cake suits all tastes, so please sample or skip as you wish. Email your cake to share to outnt@outnt.info

Strong voices speaking out from Central Australia against the bark petition

Que Kenny, an Arrernte transwoman, said the petition did not speak for her.

“I’ve never had anyone from my own region come up to me or the sisters and brothers in the Northern Territory to talk about same-sex marriages,” she told NITV News…

Tanya Quakawoot said that the petitioners had been influenced by the Christianity of Britain.

“Colonisation and Christianity has pretty much shaped Indigenous culture today,” Ms Quakawoot said. “In particular, it has hidden the voices of Indigenous lesbians and gays, and downplayed the importance of their relationships in traditional culture.”

Another way to speak out about marriage equality, is to pop the question. As one Darwin lady did to another via the NT News. Print version only

A great article from Tiwi Islands Sister girls “I am a lady of the community and I am accepted as that. This is my home and I love it.”

Gayby Baby is the film that the NSW Education Minister thinks shouldn’t be shown in schools. It is rare that a decent documentary gets made about anything, let alone about kids raised by same sex parents in Australia. Every cloud has a silver lining. Want to make something seem really attractive to young people, banning it is the first step to increasing popularity, this doco is now more popular than ever.

A night in my shoes, from The annual Adi Senikau Pageant, Fiji’s biggest transgender pageant is staged every August coinciding with the Vodafone Fiji Hibiscus Festival.

Watch “Adi Senikau: Opening Messages” on YouTube
https://youtu.be/z9LHV1iuWGo

No pride in prison, hunger strike started for trans* inmate

Fijian President H.E. Ratu Epeli Nailatikau launches Pacific UN Free & Equal Campaign

Get paid for Pride! in NZ

Malta makes it better for people born intersex

Cake to share is a random section of the newsletter where people can share something with others. Not all cake suits all tastes, so please sample or skip as you wish. Email your cake to share to outnt@outnt.info

This month there is lots of Cake to Share, cake to have later, cake you eat with friends, cake you eat at night time. It’s not in any order!

An email list has been created to allow a more personalised contact to the lesbian community as well as a way to continue to connect with each other. To sign up email darwinlesbianconnection@gmail.com

All upcoming events: http://www.outnt.info/calendar/

This cake to share is quite exciting. There are lots of stories from the NT and around our region (and Malta!) about activism, change, speaking out, and staying strong.