Proposed (In)equality legislation in NSW

A week in be-ing for a lesbian activist elder

This week I’ve been drawn into a whirl of patriarchal foreground activities. I had thought appearing before the NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Social Issues last Wednesday was going to mark the start of a well-needed break from activism. I hadn’t gone to bed until about 3 am Wednesday, after writing the CoAL presentation and then up a few hours later, in time to appear before the committee. It was Day 2 of their hearing on the NSW Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill. I was then looking forward to background fun—resuming writing in this space, while arranging for another lesbian feminist to take my place as Public Officer for CoAL (Coalition of Activist Lesbians), a position I’ve held for about 5 years.

It had been an exciting day of hearings that went well for CoAL and our allies, and I crashed into bed as soon as I got home, waking up later for the meals I’d missed. I have multiple food sensitivities and couldn’t eat any of the food on offer during the day, resorting to munching on cashews, only to discover later that I’d been caught by the camera in the hearing room, spoiling the vision of Sarah Morgan speaking brilliantly on behalf of LGB Alliance Australia. I had to laugh. SArah and the others spoke within the 5 minutes suggested, while I spoke for too long (it was a first draft of my text), but was glad to get it all in Hansard, especially my reference to the notorious Yogyakarta Principles and Dentons report—no-one else had mentioned them.

I managed a bit of a sleep-in on Thursday but had a medical appointment later that morning. It was with a neurologist, who ruled out a vestibular cause for my worsening balance problem but has sent me off for an MRI (to look for vasculopathy—don’t like the sound of that) and nerve conductance tests for the worsening peripheral neuropathy (nor that) and a referral to a balance physiotherapist (nor this, because I will be required to learn to balance standing on a foam slab and also a sloping surface). Friday was time for another INR test as I equilibrate my warfarin meds—good news there, as it’s finally back to an acceptable reading of 2.4. It’s been 50-odd years since I was diagnosed with SLE (lupus)—a good length of time to get over my adolescent needle phobia and develop satisfying relationships with health professionals (and ditch the others), medical science and technology.

Later, I would like to write feminist commentaries on science and technology (Cultural Studies of S & T was my academic area of expertise before I retired). My Masters and PhD were on ‘socioeconomic shaping of minor tranquilliser use’ and ‘an ethics of genetic counselling about prenatal diagnosis for detecting Down Syndrome in the fetus’. Please let me know if you would like to read about this, or any other particular topics.

But, still no rest! Dissident organisations like CoAL and other members of the NSW Collaboration (LGB Alliance Australia, Women’s Rights Network Australia) have been offered the chance to have another say. And perhaps others, too? An unexpected gift, probably facilitated by the ‘under cover’ gender critical dissident MP (it’s nice to have friends in high places), and a sign that at least some of the Committee members heard us. Now we are feverishly collaborating to prepare more information for the Committee, to rebut our opposition’s lies, obfuscations and omissions and to provide more evidence. We need to do this by Tuesday! A lot more work as we trawl through the opposition’s submissions, oral evidence and transcripts, etc.

We have also received invitations to apply for membership of a new NSW government LGBTIQ+ Advisory Council. This could be a huge breakthrough. At first, I wasn’t keen, thinking we would be just a few added to the existing large and hostile advisory committee. But the invitation said “new” and was sent to us as individuals. We will be responding by accepting *and* encouraging as many gender critical activist lesbian and gay GC activists to apply, in order to overcome the long-standing dominant role of TQ+ activists in controlling government policy and legislation. The other organisations are much bigger than CoAL and should be able to produce a deluge of applicants.

I had wanted to post a recording here of the Parliamentary hearing and a transcript of CoAL’s evidence but received a reminder yesterday from a Parliamentary authority threatening “Unauthorised publications are not protected by parliamentary privilege, and may be contempt of Parliament.” However, I will publish a link to the material when it becomes available on the Parliamentary website.

BUSY. BAKSON