Socialist Alliance response to TGLR survey
Marriage equality
Does your party support an amendment to the Marriage Act to allow same sex
couples to marry? If so, what will your party do to ensure this reform occurs? If not, why not?
Yes, absolutely. From our policy page -
http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=895
"The Socialist Alliance supports the right to marry regardless of gender or sexual orientation. In other countries civil unions have been offered to the LGBTI community to placate the movement for equal marriage rights. This is not the situation in Australia, where even civil unions have been suppressed by the federal government because they "mimic marriage". It is for this reason that the Socialist Alliance supports civil unions but will continue the campaign for marriage . Civil unions are not a substitute for marriage rights.
The Socialist Alliance stands for:
1. Immediate equal marriage rights for LGBTI people.
2. Civil unions legislation in each State and Territory, as well as on the federal level. Civil unions legislation should allow official, legally recognised ceremonies, and it should be open to everyone regardless of gender or sexuality. "
Anti-discrimination and anti-vilification legislation
Is your party committed to the enactment of Commonwealth legislation to prevent
discrimination and incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation and
gender identity? Is your party committed to ensuring that this legislation has no
exemptions for private clubs or religious or religious-based institutions which allow
discrimination or incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation and
gender identity?
Yes. Absolutely. From our policy http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=219
"In government the Socialist Alliance will:
" Enact enforceable anti-discrimination legislation to protect lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, people living with HIV and trans and intersex people. We will remove existing exemptions from anti-discrimination legislation in relation to employment for private schools, religious organisations, the insurance industry, the tax system, superannuation etc. The Socialist Alliance will legislate for the right of trans and intersex people to be issued with passports, drivers licenses and other documents specifying the gender (or non-gender) of their choice.
" Legislate full social, legal, trade union and industrial recognition of same sex and gender variant relationships. This would include extending to same sex relationships equal status with heterosexual de factos in superannuation, immigration, taxation, family law, industrial relations and any other laws and regulations; ensure the right of gays, lesbians and gender variants to choose to marry if they so wish; provide independent incomes [Newstart, Pensions, etc] for all regardless of relationship status - this will end state-enforced economic dependency."
Education
Is your party committed to the development of national benchmarks, policies
and programs to eliminate homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools?
Yes, absolutely. From our policy http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=219
" All public funding for education, youth, aged, health, employment and welfare to be directed though non-discriminatory government and/or secular non-profit community organisations. Education in schools to incorporate positive material on homosexuality, trans and intersex peoples.
Health
Is your party committed to the development of national benchmarks, policies and
programs to reduce the higher levels of health-related problems faced by lesbian
faced by LGBTI people because of continued legal and social discrimination and
prejudice against them.
Yes, very important. From our policy http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=219
"Provide full state funding for gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans people and intersex youth programs including refuges and housing services, health services, coming out, self-esteem and suicide prevention programs;
" Support Pride Marches, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, film and video festivals and other queer community events; defend and extend gay, lesbian trans and intersex programming on the ABC, SBS and community broadcasters; work vigorously for an end to the vicious and destructive portrayal of gay men, lesbians and trans people people in some sections of the media."
Violence
Is your party committed to a funded national strategy to tackle homophobic
and transphobic violence and hate crime, including appropriate research on the
nature and extent of this hate crime, the gathering of relevant statistics by all
Australian police services, and the inclusion of domestic violence experienced
by same sex families within existing domestic violence policies and programs?
Yes, very important. From our policy - http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=219
Legislate against use of non-violent homosexual "advance" as a defense of "provocation" in violent crime.
" Mandatory sensitivity training and refresher courses for the police force in how to deal with LGBTI issues. This education and training must be developed with and by the LGBTI community. The selection of LGBTI liaison officers should be under the control of the LGBTI community and recallable.
" Support gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans and intersex workers; promote strong policies within unions to defend gay, lesbian, trans and intersex workers; support the establishment of gay and lesbian caucuses within trade unions.
Transgender policy From our transgender rights policy
http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=897
"Governments have to ensure that services and laws are in place that provide for those who do not fit prevailing ideas of sex and gender binaries and by unshackling the community from the need to conform to and enforce those ideas, allow each individual to participate in society as themselves. Trans people are a diverse group of identities, including transsexual, transgendered, crossdressers, gender queers, and gender variants of all kinds. Their common ground is that they do not conform to society's expectations of how someone of their physiological sex assigned at birth is supposed to be in the culture they live in. Most trans people do not seek sex reassignment surgery, although many seek hormone therapy. Trans people suffer hate crimes, murder, being sacked from jobs, discrimination in renting and buying houses, and high rates of suicide because of the bigotry they face.
In Australia, trans people face barriers in changing their sex. To access any medical transition technologies, such as hormone therapy or surgeries, on Medicare they have to be diagnosed with "gender identity disorder". This is a psychological disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV). This pathologising terminology is rejected by the trans movement.
Free, quality surgery is unavailable in Australia. Therefore trans people are forced to access expensive surgeries in the private sector. Hormone therapy is only free to people on the pension. Otherwise, it is very expensive.
Trans people are not granted legal recognition of their gender without surgery. This is a major problem for many trans people who either cannot afford surgery or do not want it. Potential loss of sexual function is one reason why some people do not want surgery. A major problem with the requirement of surgery is that it coerces trans people into sterilisation.
Even after hormones and operations trans people are not granted automatic government recognition of their sex. Expensive passport and birth change processes add to the trauma and humiliation trans people are forced to endure. The Socialist Alliance supports the work of transgender and transsexual rights organisations in their campaigns.
The Socialist Alliance stands for:
1. Free access to hormones, if requested, without being diagnosed with 'gender identity disorder'.
2. Free, quality sex change operations and access to other medical needs such as electrolysis.
3. Full legal recognition of gender identity regardless of whether or not a person gets surgery. This includes but is not limited to passports and birth certificates. A person's legal identity should be "male" or "female" as they choose, or they should also have the option of marking an "X" or "trans", or something else, if they choose.
4. Anti-discrimination laws that support trans people in fighting off discrimination in jobs, housing, schooling.
5. Affirmative action in public housing and employment, including crisis accommodation to cater specifically for the needs of trans people.
6. Anti-bigotry campaigns in schools and wider society that teach people about trans rights.
7. The repeal of all legislation discriminating against trans people.
8. Government funding for services run by and for the trans community, such as Gender Centres. There should be a Gender Centre in every capital city at least.
9. Specific units in hospitals to cater to the needs of trans people."
Suicide
Is your party committed to a funded national strategy to reduce the currently-high
rates of suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and intersex people, as
well as the inclusion of homophobia and transphobia as an important causal factor
within existing anti-suicide programs?
Yes indeed! http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=219
"Education in schools to incorporate positive material on homosexuality, trans and intersex peoples."
Foreign Affairs
Is your party committed to multi-lateral and bi-lateral advocacy against
discrimination and persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender
identity? Do you personally support a UN resolution on sexual and gender identity
discrimination?
Yes.
Transgender issues
Is your party committed to implementing the recommendations of the Australian
Human Rights Commission's "Sex Files Report", including the recognition of the
sex and gender identity of transgender and intersex Australians on relevant official
documents including passports.
Yes. And Intersex issues. Please look at the above trans policy. And intersex policy here
"Intersex people are people born with physiological differences that may be seen as being both male and female at once, not wholly male or female or as neither male nor female.
Intersex people are subjected to discrimination in employment, in housing, in the provision of medical services, and the provision of government services.
There are no laws preventing discrimination against intersex people.
Intersex children may be subjected to non-consensual surgery so that their bodies conform to dominant ideas of what constitutes a 'male' or 'female' body. Non-consensual genital surgery is particularly controversial and where there is little debate against prohibitions on female circumcision, similar procedures on intersex people happen with little community comment.
The Socialist Alliance rejects pathologising definitions of intersex such as "disorders of sexual development". The difficulty for Intersex is not differences in anatomy but rather how those differences are perceived by the community.
Social prejudice against non conforming bodies such as intersex, are the issues that needs attention. Intersex people should not be compelled to change their bodies, their behavior, or themselves to meet mainstream social expectations.
The Socialist Alliance stands for:
1. All non-consensual surgery on children, where the child is denied the informed and cognizant right to consent or reject) ceasing immediately save for those cases where surgery is life preserving.
2. Children being able to declare their sex, even if that is none, when they are fully informed and able to understand those concepts.
3. Any individual having their passport marked with X rather than sex or gender if they so desire.
4. An affirmative action policy in public housing, work opportunities, education, and the provision of medical and government services.
5. Education campaigns to be conducted in schools and wider society to debunk the myth of sex and gender binaries, informing individuals about sex and gender diversity, and opposing bigotry because of perceived sex and gender differences.
6. Intersex athletes like Caster Semenya not being publicly outed. That there are no compulsory sex testing procedures in sport.
7. Legislation that provides protection against discrimination and vilification and promotes equal opportunities for intersex people.
8. Access to appropriate medication and surgery when and if required based on the needs of the individual and not on the expectations of diagnostic protocols. This includes the abandonment of the diagnosis of "gender dysphoria" for those intersex who reject their birth assignment.
9. All people, particularly legislators and medical professionals, acknowledging that sex and gender is more than men and women , male and female."
http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=896
Commonwealth Government funding and consultation
Is your party committed to funding of, and consultation with, lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgendered and intersex peak bodies on the same basis as other organisations
representing disadvantaged minority interests?
Yes, such a national body would be a benefit. But it would be prudent for a functionary on such a national body to be only paid an average workers wage.
