Ruddock - Gays don't want to pay the price for equality
Phillip Ruddock has told The Australian newspaper that some gay couples would not want full equality because it might mean reductions in some kinds of government benefits, "Some people would say 'I don't want my relationship taken into account if it means that I can no longer get a single pension and I am going to be forced to take a married rate pension' - they might say that 'nobody has consulted us on that but nobody told us that is what the impact would be'”
"When you move in a lot of these areas where it relates to benefits and superannuation and so on, it has very significant potential for budgetary outcomes adverse in some cases to individuals and positive in other cases - and those are complex issues which you don't address easily."
His comments come as he confirmed that the Prime Minister’s office is looking into possible reforms in eight different areas of Federal Law that impact negatively on gay couples.
Those named in the interview with The Australian’s Patricia Karvelas included aged care, taxation, the Medicare safety net and superannuation.
It is unknown what the other four might be.
The long awaited move towards reform has been pushed by the Warren Entsch lead group of Liberal MP’s who want to see greater equality short of marriage or civil unions enacted before the next election.
These others include NSW MP Malcolm Turnbull, and the Parliamentary Secretaries, Peter Lindsay and Greg Hunt.
However, Ruddock also recently told ABC Radio that he was reluctant to tackle changes that would see any substantial budgetary implications, such as equal access to war widows pensions- “if you change the eligibility criteria to include same-sex partners, it adds to the money that has to be found”.
The Australian Government was ordered to give same sex partners of war veterans in this area by the United Nations after Australian man Edward Young took the Howard Government to the UN’s Human Rights Committee.
The government refused to implement reforms at that time so now another man, Jiro Takamisawa is repeating the exercise, in the hope that a second victory will spur the government to action.
This all comes as the HREOC is due to hand the results of its study into discrimination at a Federal level to Mr Ruddock later this month.
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Virus linked to cervical canser in women may effect gay men
An American study has found that the Human Papilloma Virus, known to cause Cervical cancers in women, may also cause throat cancers in gay men.
Other studies had already shown it to play a roll in causing anal cancers in gay men.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore studied 100 men and 100 women who had been recently been diagnosed with throat cancer and compared them with 200 healthy patients.
They found that people who were already infected with the Human Papilloma Virus were up to 32 times more likely to develop this kind of cancer.
The evidence showed that the HPV-16 strain of the virus was found in 72 per cent of tumours.
HPV-16 is the same strain that causes Cervical cancer in women.
The results of the study have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, America’s most prestigious journal for peer reviewed medical research,
HPV-16 is related to the virus that causes genital warts, but unlike that strain, HPV-16 is more persistent and may show no external symptoms.
HPV-16 can eventually cause death in people with HIV as a secondary infection.
It is transmitted by skin-to-skin contact and thus condoms are ineffective in preventing its transmission.
In April of this year some doctors in San Francisco began recommending anal pap smears for their gay male patients to screen them for anal cancers.
Earlier this year the Australian Government announced it will make the Gardasil HPV vaccine free for all women and girls aged between the ages of 12 and 26 from the beginning of July this year as part of a national immunisation program against the virus.
The vaccine is not available in Australia for gay men at any cost.
It has only been approved for use in males for boys between the ages of 9 and 15, and even then must be purchased at full cost.
No plans for extending access to the vaccine for males in Australia have been announced, and the Australian Government is yet to call for pap smear testing for gay men in Australia.
Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil has yet to test it for use in adult males, but the company has announced that it intends to explore its use in that area.
Gardasil is also effective in treating the genital wart producing mundane strains of HPV.
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Riverina Baptist minister - Gay marriage is "evil unleashed"
The Rev Kevin Webb, a Wagga Wagga Baptist minister, has used his column in the Riverina’s Daily Advertiser newspaper to attack gay couples and their relationships.
In the article, titled “Same-Sex Marriage Is Another Evil Unleashed” Webb wrote that, “Same-sex marriage, when achieved, will be yet another milestone for evil. I don’t care what names you choose to call me, or what labels you opt to stick on me.”
“Marriage has legitimate strong religious associations which teach that same-sex relationships are intrinsically disordered, immoral and even evil.”
“Where these disintegrate, society disintegrates. Where true family structure is replaced with pseudo ones, we have no future to look forward to. When we have a warped sense of right and wrong, we can be sure our kids will never understand the concept and what we regard as abhorrent today, will become acceptable tomorrow.”
“The slippery slope is easy to slide down but is impossible to ascend when it’s too late.”
Even the limited recognition granted by the relationship registry proposed by the Victorian Government is too much recognition for Rev Webb, which he incorrectly stated were “civil unions” throughout the article.
Webb quoted Victorian Premier Bracks on Southern Cross radio explaining the rational behind the registry- “It operates in Tasmania already, it is a register system where you apply through births, deaths and marriages with a statutory declaration for a register for your relationship,”
“It eases the pressure on continual proof, for example if you have an accident and somebody is in intensive care obviously those proof arrangements are difficult.
“I think this step removes any legal impediments and makes sure the law works equally no matter what your situation.”
Webb states that even this would make Australia, “so neutral spiritually that we will be of no earthly value and certainly have no heavenly value.”
“Society is based on ethics, values and morals. Where these disintegrate, society disintegrates. Where true family structure is replaced with pseudo ones, we have no future to look forward to.”
However Webb does not believe his stance to be homophobic, “I am tired of the deafening roar of “homophobia” in my ears. If gay people want to live their lifestyles, go ahead and do that, but stop trying to change foundational societal structures in the process.”
This is despite his calling gay and lesbian relationships “abhorrent”, “intrinsically disordered”, “immoral” and “evil”.
Webb claims the institution of marriage only exists for the raising of children, “Same-sex couples do not have children by natural biological means, therefore marriage, by definition, excludes same-sex couples. It does not take a rocket scientist to tell you that it is not a natural process – it should be obvious to all. Unfortunately, we have chosen to think differently on moral issues, and we will still reap the rewards of that choice.”
However Webb does not go on to explain why infertile heterosexual couples may marry or why couples should stay married once their children have grown up and left home.
Webb’s comments were greeted with resounding criticism by the Advertiser’s readers, making it the most commented article on the paper’s website for the month of April.
Only two readers posted comments supporting the Rev Webb on the paper’s website.
As a result two letters were published in the newspaper criticising Webb’s comments and Tasmanian activist Rodney Croome was allowed to publish a retort, published by the Advertiser this month, titled “Same-Sex Marriage To Benefit Aussie Values”, which puts most of the Rev Webb’s misassumptions to rest.
However, despite the extreme nature of his comments, the Rev Webb still remains a regular columnist with the Daily Advertiser.
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Bush to vote gay hate crimes bill
US President George W. Bush has announced plans to veto new anti-homophobia hate crime laws just passed by the House of Representatives.
The bill, named the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act in memorial for the young man who’s murder brought the issue home for many Americans, would have included crimes committed with a motive is homophobia under the definition of “hate crimes” for the first time under national laws.
Previously hate crime legislation only protected people on the grounds of race or religion at a national level.
Investigations granted “hate crime” status may be given assistance from Federal law enforcement agencies.
This meant that until now the FBI was effectively barred from involving itself in investigations into criminal acts of homophobia.
This lead to the ludicrous situation last year where the FBI had to drop out of an investigation into a Tennessee cross burning incident when it determined the motivation had been homophobic rather than racist.
Cross burnings are usually carried out by far right white supremacist groups like the Klu Klux Klan against non-whites, but these groups are also virulently homophobic as well.
25 members of Bush’s own Republican Party voted in favour of the new laws, as did 212 Democrats.
Only 14 Democrats and 166 Republicans voted against it.
However Bush signalled his intention to veto even before voting had begun.
He had already announced plans to veto another hate crimes law, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R. 1592.
Another gay friendly bill, the Uniting American Families Act, which will allow same-sex partners of American citizens to be granted residency in the United States in the same way as heterosexual spouses will also be voted on soon.
The Bush Administration has yet to announce what action it will take if the bill passes but if recent events are anything to go by, another veto is likely to be on the cards.
Another law, which would end the US Military’s controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” laws which ban openly gay and lesbian personnel from serving in the US Armed Forces is also expected to be brought through Congress later this year.
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