Shocking News: A Vagina Means You’re Female

ABC (Australia) – A Sydney transsexual man who wants his birth certificate amended has lodged a sex discrimination complaint against the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Conor Montgomery, 50, was born female.

But a few years ago he borrowed $15,000 to have what transsexual men call top surgery – a double mastectomy and a chest reconstruction. He has also taken male hormones.

However Mr Montgomery has not had a hysterectomy or genital surgery because of health and financial reasons.

Australia: Free Housing For Everybody

The Age – Under the charter, a person has the right ”not to have his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence unlawfully or arbitrarily interfered with”. Unlike private landlords and property owners, the Director of Housing is a public authority and is legally obliged to comply with the charter.

The charter provisions mean that even people living in public housing illegally may cite human rights concerns when challenging the government’s move to evict them.

The Human Right To Cut Your Balls Off And Pick A New Handle

3 News – The first Australian person recognised as neither man nor woman has complained to the Human Rights Commission after the State Government ruled against the decision.

Earlier this month, Norrie was granted a “sex not specified” certificate by the registry of births, deaths and marriages.

But it’s been cancelled for legal reasons.

Norrie was born a boy, but had sex-change surgery and no longer identifies as male or female.

…And We Can’t Have That

CBS – The website Encyclopedia Dramatica has been targeted by the Australian Human Rights Commission, a government agency, for containing racist content.

In January, Google Australia pulled down links to an article on Australian Aborigines contained on the site at the government’s request, and now the commission may file charges against the site’s American owner.

For the unfamiliar, Encyclopedia Dramatica is like Wikipedia, except instead of striving for a neutral point-of-view, contributors aim for an offensive and adolescent one.

Human Rights Is Big Bucks #12

WSJ – BRITISH expats living in Australia are anxiously awaiting a decision in the European Court of Human Rights tomorrow that could give them an extra $300 million in payments, after the British government froze their pensions.

Aussie Town Set To Feel The Power Of A Fully Operational Human Rights Commission

The AGE – NEW powers for Victoria’s human rights watchdog will allow it to launch its own investigations, even though it has not received complaints about discrimination…

From July next year, the commission will be empowered to make members of an organisation appear before it to answer questions, and to come up with a plan to eliminate discrimination. This will be enforceable by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal if the organisation refuses to comply.

Australian Writer: Public Should Be Ashamed At Curtailing Prisoners’ Human Rights

[Courier Mail] HUMAN rights are likely to be reeled back in our state prison system this week, an event which should cause all Queenslanders concern and shame.

If, as Mahatma Gandhi said, a society’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members, ours is on the fast track to insignificance.

The Queensland Parliament has before it a Bill that delays the rights of prisoners, parolees and those on probation to complain about sexual harassment, vilification and discrimination at the hands of any government employee.

Australian Sex Commissioner: Equal Rights Act Discriminates…Against Men!

[The Australian] THE Sex Discrimination Act actually discriminates against men and urgently needs to be fixed to give them the same rights as women.

Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick yesterday admitted elements of the 25-year-old legislation favoured women at the expense of men and should be overhauled to give both sexes equal rights.

In the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s submission to the Senate Committee Inquiry on the effectiveness of the act, Ms Broderick argued that men didn’t have access to the same rights and entitlements as women if they believed they had been “indirectly” discriminated against in a workplace situation.

Liberal Aussie Politician Laments Canada’s Freaky Star Chambers

More international bad press for Canadian human rights commissions.

[The Australian] All this is frighteningly reminiscent of the situation in Canada, where official agencies of the state prosecute citizens for the thought-crime of political incorrectness. Canada’s federal and provincial human rights commissions were established to fight discrimination in housing and employment. But these quasi-judicial bodies have metastasised into partisan star-chamber tribunals that selectively file charges against those who espouse conservative political or religious beliefs.

Aussie Attorney-General Asks UN To Monitor Human Rights…In Australia

More from the Who’s In Charge Around Here? file.

[HeraldSun] ATTORNEY-GENERAL Robert McClelland said Australia will end the “hypocrisy” of lecturing its neighbours on human rights without always setting a good example of its own.

The Federal Government yesterday issued a standing invitation to the United Nations Human Rights Council to visit Australia to monitor and report on human rights in the country.

It is part of a broader move by Labor to re-engage Australia with the UN after a strained relationship between the former Howard Government and the international body.

Canadian Ex-Pat: Thank God I’m Back In Australia

More international bad press for Canadian human rights commissions.

[The Australian] You see, these mickey-mouse pseudo-judges have now moved on to prosecuting a fellow named Guy Earle, a stand-up comedian. Apparently during the course of his act he offended a couple of lesbians. They complained that he responded to their heckling of him in a hateful manner.

So endeth the update of the wonderful state of free speech in my native Canada. I think I need a drink, or I’d have to cry.

Aussie Writer: Australia Must Boycott Durban II

[SMH] The United Nations is planning a global anti-racism conference that is destined to encourage racism. Known as Durban II, and to take place in Geneva next April, it follows the notorious anti-semitic hatefest held in Durban seven years ago.

Canada has already decided not to attend. The United States and Israel are planning to boycott too. Australia is, therefore, faced with an important challenge and opportunity. By refusing to participate, Australia can help deny legitimacy to a global platform for intolerance and deal the voices of hate a blow.

The rest.

Aussie Mag: When Are We Finally Going To Be Like Europe?

[The Age] It is no accident that Europe, one of the most powerful regions, and certainly the most peaceful and prosperous, in the world, comprises a community of states with a shared commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights and to robust regional institutions. The legitimacy and ability of Australia to promote human rights and good government internationally and in the region is significantly compromised by the lack of a charter of bill of rights at the national level.

Aussie Justice: Kids Need More Human Rights Education

It’s becoming a common theme on the international human rights scene: get into the schools and teach ‘em while they’re young.

[ABC] A conference in Byron Bay has been told that Australian children should be taught more about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in schools.

The event is sponsored by the Southern Cross University and timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the signing of the declaration.

…

“It is a charter, if you like, for activism. Activism shouldn’t be a nasty word. Activism means getting off your bottom and doing something for people who are less well looked after in the world,” [Justice Michael Kirby] said.

The rest.

Aussie Human Rights Award Winner: All Non-Violent Prisoners Should Be Set Free

Note: Kilroy is an ex-con, and her daughter is currently facing a fraud and theft rap.

[The Age] “We need to start talking about prison abolition. The prison system is a failure. Prison generates violence and institutionalisation. We need to stop people going into prison and stop them from returning to prison,” [Debbie Kiroy said].

The first former Australian inmate to become a lawyer, she called for the redirection of resources – including the Victorian government’s recent budget pledge to increase spending on prisons by $591 million – to social policies for “people on the ground” for education, health and housing.

“We pour money down the throats of prisons to prop them up when we should initially be (freeing) all non-violent people and supporting them safely in the community,” she told The Age.

The rest.

488 Discrimination Complaints Being Investigated In Victoria, Australia Schools

A PRIMARY school teacher accused of calling a pupil a “dumb blonde” is among those to be hit with discrimination complaints.

The teacher, accused of repeatedly making demeaning comments in class about the girl being blonde, was counselled. The pupil was transferred to another class.

A confidential payout and apology was made after the girl’s furious mother consulted Victoria’s discrimination watchdog.

The rest.

Australian Politico: Taxpayers Should Help Move Climate Refugees

[The Age] AUSTRALIA has an ethical responsibility to accept “climate change refugees” from neighbouring regions and pay for their relocation, says former state deputy premier John Thwaites.

In a speech last night, Mr Thwaites said many universal human rights, such as the right to adequate water, food and health, are threatened by the impact of climate change, which has largely been caused by developed countries such as Australia. “As a signatory to these human rights instruments, Australia has an obligation to ensure human rights are protected when responding to climate change.”

The rest.

Middle Class Youth Rise Up In Anger Against The Grave Threat Of…Scientology

[Times Online] Then, earlier this year, something odd happened. Simultaneously and apparently without warning, in London, Toronto, Sydney, New York and other cities worldwide, young men and women began protesting en masse. They wore strange clothes, spoke their own dialect, distributed cake and operated under the name of Anonymous. They returned the next month – and the month after.

…

It all began as a running gag. The default name for new members on message boards is often “anonymous”, and someone suggested that maybe anonymous could be a real person. People began acting as one and the idea went viral. “We are the hive mind, the anger that leaked from the computer screen,” explains a long-haired twentysomething with an eye patch, standing in the June sunlight last week. “The cult failed to understand how things arise out of a mass consciousness, and now they have kicked the hornets’ nest. What you are seeing here is the emergence of a new kind of democracy.”

The rest.

Aussie Cerebral Palsy Patient: Toilets Are A Human Right

We have no problem with the guy suing for negligence or malpractice. But this is another case of the human rights’ “twin legal system.”

Message to the rest of us: Grounds for a suit or trial look shaky? Go with the human rights charge.

[The AGE] “Surely everybody has the basic right to access a toilet, don’t they? To be tranquillised is an outrageous response,” he says.

The rest.

Aussie Sex Commish: One More For The List

[AAP] Paid maternity leave is a basic human right, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick says.

A national scheme was long overdue and a pressing issue for the two-thirds of working women not able to access paid leave, she said.

The rest.

Aussie TV Drama Written By Bigots

The Seven Network’s All Saints program has sparked controversy after implying that Down Syndrome is brought on by incestual relationships.

An episode of the medical drama aired on May 27 and showed a brother and sister couple being warned their child was likely to have down syndrome due to their relation.

However child lobby groups say this was an outrageous slur against those suffering Down Syndrome.

…

Down Syndrome Australia is understood to be lodging a formal complaint with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

The rest.

Just Accept It And Give Us The Money

[ABC, Australia] “Women will pursue termination regardless of the law. All the law does is determine whether the high cost, whether they will pay a high cost or a low cost for doing that,” she said.

“So we need to just acknowledge that terminations happen and we need to ensure that for the majority of reproductive people, they’re able to make that decision for themselves.”

The rest.

Australia Gets Ready To Screw Itself

[Frank Brennan] Now is the time for all Australian jurisdictions to be considering the benefits of a bill of rights, whether it be constitutional or statutory, whether it include open textured rights such as freedom, equal protection, and due process or be confined to more restricted rights, and whether judges be required to interpret future statutes according to the usual principles of statutory interpretation or so far as possible in a way compatible with the defined rights. Law Week provides the opportunity for all citizens to engage in dialogue about the pros and cons of a bill of rights.

The rest.

Deaf Australia To Aussie TV: Gotcha

COMMERCIAL television networks face the possibility of potentially embarrassing discrimination lawsuits by the deaf after failing to renew an agreement that covers the captioning of programs.

Under a five-year deal signed with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in 2003, the networks committed to increase the captioning of their content to 70per cent in exchange for an exemption from claims of discrimination.

The rest.

Different Country, Different Spin

“This is a historic and landmark day for those who value fairness and opportunity. The court’s decision today upheld the highest ideals of equality that are embodied in the California Constitution. There is no more important and deeply personal decision than whether to take on the commitment of marriage. With today’s ruling, the California Supreme Court declared that lesbians and gay men have an equal right to make that cherished commitment.”
–Shannon Price Minter
Lead counsel for same-sex couples and Legal Director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who argued the case before the California Supreme Court

vs.

So, if Australian gay men are in no rush to form stable, long-term relationships, and certainly don’t form unions of the kind most Australians would recognise as having the marks of marriage, who is behind the push for gay marriage, and the idea that it is a key issue for gay Australians?

Certainly not ordinary, same sex-attracted Australians.

Most of us would agree with gay rights pioneer Professor Dennis Altman, who recently criticised a few activists’ fixation on “gay marriage” and described the whole push as “self-indulgent crap”.