The rise of vampires in popular culture being used as an analogy for homosexuality or alternative sexuality can often be looked upon favourably but can it lead to homophobic conclusions?

Photo by nulus

Vampires in literature and film at the moment come in a variety of forms stretching from the traditional dark and evil vampire to the new, romantic, sexy vampires that you sympathise with.

I’ve been particularly interested in one strand that’s emerged that sees Vampirism as an analogy for homosexuality, the obvious example being the TV series, True Blood.

I’ve only watched a few episodes but I’m already enjoying the strong characters and am impressed with the plot pulling no punches with its political references. You can quickly see the resemblance to various civil rights struggles including that for gay rights.

And on a superficial level, I think this works. The portrayal of the anti-Vampire bigots works quite well, as do the people sympathising with them.

But I’ve run into doubts after trying to extend the analogy further in some of my own work. I had an idea for a piece of short fiction centring on a vampire that’s forced to hide his vampirism, get married and dissolve into normal society.

The main problem I find is that LGBTI people don’t eat people. We don’t suck people’s blood. We might bite, if you like it that way, but we don’t go about to cause harm.

So much of the analogy is about hiding your vampirism, suppressing innate desires in order to fit into society. The conclusion could be drawn that this lifestyle is harmful, preditorial, and in order for equality to be achieved you have to push aside these innate feelings and become normal.

I feel that delving into the analogy too deeply can lead to conclusions that there is something wrong with homosexuality, but it just needs to be tolerated or controlled, not that it is a perfectly natural and positive lifestyle that people should be free to explore and be open about.

It’s for this reason that I feel my piece of short fiction might not work, but it doesn’t mean that things like True Blood fail in what they’re trying to do, just that I think there are contradictions that if explored, present problems.

I’d be curious to hear people’s thoughts but bear in mind that I’m not saying vampirism is always an analogy for homosexuality but this is in specific reference to some cases like in True Blood.

This is a poem I wrote mostly about voting with reference to the current election. I’ve read it a couple of times at some open mic nights and might do a voice recording of it, hopefully before it kind of expires on Saturday. Let me know what you think.

—

3 Minutes

Just 3 minutes of
democracy
Give me more than that

Mop it right up
we need to start again
with a fuck load more than
3 minutes of
democracy

Apologies for the late reports and no photos but I still have no internet at home so have to do this from work.

On the weekend, I was part of two demonstrations in Melbourne one week before the federal election – for refugee rights and same-sex marriage rights.

These were important to cut against a campaign that has been about personalities rather than policy, and of what policy has been discussed, it has been a long way from the kinds of policies that maintain human rights and dignity for ordinary people.

On Friday night, around 500 people marched under the banner ‘Stand Up for Refugees’ which you’d have to call a success given the tide of racism is pretty high at the moment and the aim was to get a concerted minority out to cut against that.

During the Howard years, the refugee campaign started from such small numbers and ended up representing a majority against the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers.

And then I was up again on Saturday morning to protest for same-sex marriage rights. 5,000 gathered at the State Library at the same time as thousands of others around the country in what represents the majority opinion in Australia.

The highlight was when Cath Bowtell, Labor’s candidate for Melbourne, spoke and was booed from a large portion of crowd. In recent weeks, both Julia Gillard and Penny Wong have answered questions regarding same-sex marriage and gone on to defend Labor’s support for the ban. Bowtell echoed this and so it’s not surprising that someone who defended the ban on same-sex marriage received a hostile reception at the rally.

These protests and the act of getting out on the streets side by side with other people who agree with me on these positions felt for more empowering than when I turned up to the polling booth on Friday afternoon to cast my early vote.

It took me three minutes or less to number some boxes for candidates that are horribly underwhelming. I find the act of delegating decisions for the next three years to someone who won’t represent what I’d like to see, or the majority would like to see, extremely disempowering.

One day I’d like to live in a society where democracy is a reality and people can really decide on things that benefit ordinary people. I’m fighting toward this and in the meantime, I’ll take a demonstration over the polling booth any day.

In the lead up to the election, and more importantly, Saturday’s National Day of Action for same-sex marriage rights, two usually irrelevant parties have (justifiably) pissed people off with their comments in regards to homosexuality and same-sex marriage rights.

Wendy Francis' Twitter comments that were later deleted (click for enlarged view)

Family First candidate Wendy Francis started it all by claiming that same-sex marriage was child abuse because children have the right to a mother and a father. This was followed up by a One Nation candidate backing her up and tweeting that he was up for some ‘poofter bashing.’

These kinds of comments are rightly condemned and really come from the extreme end of homophobia, but it must be said that both mainstream parties are responsible for creating a climate where these kinds of views are seen as acceptable in society, just like discrimination from the top of society gives a green light to homophobes on the street that want to bash gay and lesbian people.

The Labor Party try to hide their discrimination and legitimisation of more explicit homophobia behind tiresome bullshit about how equal they’ve made all these other laws – except for marriage. They can’t even justify why, other than the lie that the community doesn’t support it.

But after the Rooty Hill forum last night, Phillip Ruddock was quizzed about this on Sky News and basically echoed what Wendy Francis said, claiming that children have the ‘right’ to be raised by a mother and father and marriage is for nurturing children.

Not only is this an example about how our society tries to enforce strict gender roles on society through the family, they miss the fact that not every married couple has children. This ideology of the monogamous heterosexual family is becoming further from the reality of peoples lives but remains an ideal to aspire to which leaves those outside of this norm feeling less legitimate.

With both parties refusing to lift the ban on same-sex marriage, they’ve given a voice to fringe opinions like that of Family First of One Nation and ignored majority opinion in favour of full equal rights. If you want that voice to be heard, if you want to put it beyond doubt that there is mass support for same-sex marriage, then you need to lend your voice and your body to march on the streets on August 14, on the sixth anniversary since Howard explicitly banned same-sex marriage.

Demonstrations are happening all around the country and you can find more information by visiting http://equallove.info.

Young people feel increasingly disengaged with politics. There was a real push to get them to enrol to vote in time for this election. And with this election coverage being swamped in spin and about nothing of substance, it is not surprising that young people aren’t engaged. But why?

The general thrust of this election campaign so far has been boredom. The election has been about nothing much at all. Both Gillard and Abbott seem to be talking in terms of spin, without any real debates or conflict. The real debates and alternatives seem to be happening outside of the two major parties so it’s not surprising that not even just young people are disengaged from the election at the moment.

Those debates are ones predominantly of concern to the younger demographic.

The issue of same-sex marriage is a prime example. With poll after poll showing that the majority of the population support same-sex marriage, it is polls amongst young people that show a greater majority and the rallies around the country in the past year are made up mostly of young angry high school students.

By Kables

These people show that the issue is not just about marriage, but about homophobia. They’re not getting married anytime soon but are concerned with rampant homophobia as studies show that school is one of the most unsafe places for gay and lesbian youth. To them, the issue is one of equal choice so that their relationships can be seen as just as legitimate as relationships amongst straight peers.

And yet, the issue has been largely absent from debate between the two major parties because both are in agreement that the ban is going to stay. And Penny Wong’s defence as it being a religious, cultural and historical shows that the Labor party are not interested in moving forward but holding things back.

And then we look at other issues. Education is under attack, underfunded and being turned into just a means to get people into the workforce rather than enriching young people’s minds. We’ve all seen the empty promises of promising more schools and we all know neither Labor and Liberal will actually deliver any noticeable change on this front.

Exploitation in the workplace is much more harsh on young people who have little knowledge of their rights at work, are desperate for employment so are forced to accept worse conditions. No one is talking about this in any real way. Fair Work Australia is barely distinguishable from WorkChoices.

And the debate about climate change is cloaked in mumbo-jumbo about carbon taxes and the market.

The message seems to be that older people are the experts and young people should just leave it to people like Gillard and Abbott to fix.

This is on top of a society that disempowers and controls young people. My own experience of politics and that of friends when we were young was that older family members patronised and belittled our ideas, with things like “When you’re older, you’ll learn.”

Young people aren’t encouraged to think for themselves. What a dangerous idea!

I’m not much interested in discussions about the generational divide as older working class people don’t benefit from this either, but the push toward making younger people disengaged with politics is about holding back change.

This election is full of empty promises to ‘move Australia forward’ but I can’t see it anywhere and neither can young Australians. But if there were movements and alternatives outside of the realms of electoral politics, then young people might feel that they can actually make a difference when they feel like their 3 minutes at the ballot box isn’t much to look forward to.

I haven’t said much about politics since the election campaign until now, mainly because it’s been sterile and boring, the debate being the pinnacle of politicians waffling on without actually saying anything of substance. But the defence of Penny Wong’s position on same-sex marriage really needs to be countered.

Penny Wong has enraged advocates of same-sex marriage, including myself, for defending Labor’s position that maintains the ban on same-sex marriage because it’s a cultural, historical and religions norm (just like women being unable to vote, Blacks having no rights and gay sex being a crime.)

It all came to a head on Monday night on ABC’s Q&A when someone from the audience asked her to justify her position. Penny talked about how she’d suffered discrimination and how much the laws Labor introduced made things better for LGBTI people in Australia. She didn’t answer the question, whether or not she really does support same-sex marriage. And she defended not having a conscience vote on the issue.

This all made me pretty sick to my stomach. It’s clear Wong puts her own political career ahead of the rights of all LGBTI people. You can’t be a little bit equal so it is a lie to say there’s equality when we don’t have full marriage rights.

And then the worst thing was when Graham Richardson claimed that progress in Australia came from people like Penny Wong fighting within the Labor party for change.

The idea that you can change things from within this party is ridiculous. It’s the same party maintaining the ban on same-sex marriage, kicking refugees, moving to the right on smashing unions, for bombing Afghanistan, supporting Israel down the line. This party is not a party of progress. It’s holding things back.

We have a majority of people in this country that support the simple right for people to marry, regardless of gender. The Labor party don’t want to listen to the majority. And Penny Wong refuses to publicly come out and defy this position.

How we get real change

Things change from the mass of people getting out on the streets and fighting for it. That’s how we got women the right to vote, how we got troops out of Vietnam, how LGBTI people got sodomy off the criminal code and how Blacks got basic civil rights in the United States.

It didn’t come from politicians through parliament – but the history books give them all the credit because they have to sign the things we demanded in law because their rule and their legitimacy was at stake.

That is why, if you want same-sex marriage rights, it is more important to come out on August 14 to the next same-sex marriage protest than it is to vote in the election the week after.

We make change, not them, and we need enough of us out on the streets to make that change.

The Age is running a story this morning around the banning of zombie film LA Zombie mostly on the basis of the ‘sexual content’ of the film. This is outrageous, but beyond just the problem of censorship it’s a clear example of how society views sex as more offensive than violence.

by ARNO ROCA

The film was banned for its sexual content and was described as ‘gay zombie porn’ because the main character walks around looking for dead bodies and gay sex, though the penises in the film are meant to be clearly fake and a lot of it happens off screen.

It seems that sex, and particularly gay sex, is seen as this absurd taboo in our deeply conservative society which reeks of hypocrisy given all of the violence that gets through (not that I’m for censoring violent films) and not to mention the violence the Australian state perpetrates overseas.

The director, Bruce LaBruce, said that “they pass so many mainstream films that have the most extreme violence, with brutal treatment towards women, and torture and dismemberment, but because they didn’t show a penis, they can be screened with impunity.”

I do wonder if the zombie was looking around for straight sex whether or not that film would’ve been banned. Sexism and the objectification of women in the media is seen as perfectly fine and I can think of many movies, with no artistic merit, that are just frat boy outlets for sexist fantasies.

So the taboo around sex doesn’t extend to these frat boy movies, just movies that might talk about the reality of people’s sex lives and contradict norms, such as homosexual sex and teenage sex.

LaBruce points out that LA Zombie is a metaphor for healing with the zombies coming back to life. This film sounds like it has a strong message far deeper than the media will admit so it’s a real travesty that this film is being censored.

Julia Gillard’s appointment as Prime Minster has been followed by policies and rhetoric that indicates she’s not as great as commentators seem to think she is. She’s made it clear she does not support same-sex marriage rights, she’s backed down on the mining tax and now her comments in regards to asylum seekers show that she’s not about to stop racing to the right with Abbott in a desire to win the racist vote.

Both Rudd and Gillard in speeches around the spill made appallingly false comments saying they weren’t interested in a race to the right with Abbott on the question of arrivals by boat. Current policy says otherwise and Gillard’s comments yesterday indicate further a shift to the right, at least rhetorically, on the issue.

Attacks on ‘politically correctness’ have always been a dog whistle to the right to be confident about whipping up racism. It reeks of the scaremongering that Howard and the Liberals used when they were locking up refugees in barbarous conditions.

Gillard even went as far to defend Howard against claims he was a racist which I find astounding and an indication of how far we’ve shifted back to the right considering Howard couldn’t get away with these kinds of comments leading up to when he got kicked out of office.

It’s probably too early to predict a shift to the right in terms of policy just yet but Gillard needs to announce whether or not she’s going to extend the freeze on Tamil asylum seekers when that expires tomorrow.

Labor are making every indication that they intend to neutralise the racist debate by becoming just as racist as the Liberals with Gillard saying she empathised with racist hysteria in the community about a measly number of people arriving by boat to seek asylum, that is perfectly legal, in a country that is responsible for them needing to flee in the first place.

When people on the left of Labor defend voting for them on the basis that they’re the lesser-evil, that they’re not as bad as Abbott, or when they refuse to mount a serious attack on Gillard and Labor, they leave the door open to Labor shifting further and further to the right.

Labor doesn’t need to court the Left vote because there’s no left alternative to go to and everyone is too willing to still vote for them, to not criticise them, to not fight them. Since when is the bar so low that not being the Liberals is some how good enough?

When Labor can rely on getting votes from the left no matter what they do, they are then left to compete with the Liberals for those votes to the right and that means maintaining the ban on same-sex marriage even when the majority support equality and it means racist hysteria about asylum seekers.

The asylum seeker debate is useful for both sides of politics and for the rich and powerful in Australia more generally, because it’s a divisive distraction away from real problems. The hysteria that says a paltry amount of people arriving by boat are somehow a threat aims to divert attention away from the fact that it’s the government that’s attacking your rights at work and the companies, like the miners, that are reaping untold profits at your expense.

If there was a left alternative that didn’t fight with both hands behind their backs by defending Labor on the basis that they’re not the Liberals, and actually mounted a serious campaign that said both parties weren’t good enough, then there would be more pressure on Labor to swing back the other way.

And one way that this pressure from below can have much more effect is within the unions. The unions are connected to the Labor party and if they actually went back to their roots and stood up for worker’s rights and social justice then they could force Labor to shift. The problem wasn’t the unions influencing the spill, the problem was that the unions were right-wing and influenced it in the wrong way.

But I think this alternative and pressure from below needs to go beyond just electoral alternatives like the Greens and needs to mount a whole criticism of parliamentary politics and capitalism in general.

It’s clear that parliament does not represent the views of the majority when most want troops out of Afghanistan and most want same-sex marriage. When it is becoming increasingly apparent that there’s little difference between the two major parties, then it is understandable why people shy away from politics, feel powerless, and disconnected from voting.

I think we can do much better than ‘not the Liberals’ and we’re only going to get anything much better if we’re uncompromising in who we criticise and that means mounting a serious opposition to Labor and Gillard.

Heading into June, the main thing on my mind was getting things done and preparing before I started writing my Chinese Whisperings short story. I mentioned that I was using Google Calendar and Tasks more but I went into overdrive with it and planned spaced out deadlines and steps along the way to each goal. It’s slightly obsessive but it really paid off.

My tasks set out (Click image to enlarge)

June Results

1. Read all The Yang Book stories before the 20th – I spaced it out to roughly read a story every two or three days with some hiccups along the way and read them all in time to begin writing on the 21st.
2. Write the first draft for Chinese Whispering’s The Yang Book and begin the editing process – I was pleased that I got out a 3,800 word draft in the two days working full-time on it. I wish I had time to do that with more first drafts of shorts. Over the next couple of days, I did a rewrite via retyping it up and rewording things but haven’t done a major edit yet.
3. 2,000 words toward All Fascists are Zombies! – I wrote Chapter 6, which was like 1,800 words in about a week and then didn’t write another 200 words beginning Chapter 7 until yesterday but I’m finding the voice with this piece slowly.
4. Analyse the story of Abused Mind and either rewrite it or move on to editing the writing – I went through the piece with red pen and decided that it was sound and I could just go on to editing. Part way through though, I rewrote the ending and now it’s edited, with a new ending and a new title, Playing with the Big Boys.
5. Edit From Persecution to Persecution and finalise – I really went through this one and with the help of some critiques, tightened it up a lot, gave it a new title – The Same Place – and I’m really happy with it. It’s all ready to go into the zine. I think it’s one of my strongest pieces.
6. Edit The Red Pen stories that aren’t at the ‘copy editing’ stage – There were mainly two that needed editing and I managed to edit one of them but the other still needs to be worked on.
7. Copy edit ‘Flash fiction’ section of Sanity Juxtaposed – I compiled all of the flash fiction into one document and went through it and didn’t find too many typos or errors, but I’ve handed it over to someone else for a more objective proof read.
8. Read 3 short stories (Cultural Goal) – I read a piece from Kill Your Darlings, a piece from Voiceworks and a piece from Overland and enjoyed all of them. This really shouldn’t be a chore and would probably be less so with an eReader.
9. Watch a documentary on airport security and/or the war on terror (Political Research Goal) – I couldn’t find any documentaries that fit my criteria. I was looking for an episode of Morgan Spurlock’s series 30 Days on being a Muslim but couldn’t find that. I ended up watching episodes of Border Security for a contextual understanding as reactionary as the show is. It made me boil up too at the racial profiling which was useful.
10. Write a series of post on short fiction, publishing and reading (Blogging Goal) – I think I should have thought through the series a bit more because I felt like some posts were thin on argument and the main post was the last one which seemed to get the least response. I did it anyway and think they’re a useful way to expand further on a topic.

So aside from one or two things, it was a pretty good month for writing. I’ll definitely be doing the Tasks and Calendar planning again in July.

This month I’m thinking the main thrust of my goals will be around finishing up some ongoing projects such as Sanity Juxtaposed, the proverbial demo tape of all my old writing that I put on this website, as well as The Red Pen, the zine I’ve been working on with some other socialists.

July Goals

1. Release Sanity Juxtaposed as an eBook

Yes, that’s right. I want the whole thing done and released at least as an eBook by the end of this month. That means: cover finished, forewords written, pages put together, and eBook compiled and loaded onto Smashwords. And just maybe, it will be ready to be bought as a POD paperback as well on lulu.com.

2. Finish ‘dress rehearsal’ copy of The Red Pen

With most of the pieces finalised and ready to print, I’d like to tie up the loose ends and get a finished version together ready to launch in early August. That means finalising the unfinished pieces, writing a short editorial, getting together the cover, laying it out, putting it together and printing out a dummy version – as well as work on the website and get a launch date and venue.

3. Continue refining Somewhere to Pray, my Chinese Whisperings short story

Refining and editing this piece is an ongoing task and so I will doing a lot of it this month, working with editor Jodi Cleghorn to make it the best story it can be.

4. Write 2,000 words toward All Fascists are Zombies! and come up with a new title

This is pretty self-explanatory but I really need to keep plugging away with this. It might require me bringing my Mac to work as well. And the title has been bugging me for ages.

5. Edit Playing with the Big Boys (formerly Abused Mind), add new ending and post it on critique group for feedback

After rewriting the ending, I came up with a new and improved one. I need to add that in before offering it up to a horror crit group to be torn into so I can get this to a publishable level.

6. Revise Evicted and resubmit

I received a rejection from EveryDayFiction.com a few weeks ago and there were some glimpses to how to improve it along with a generally more objective view of it due to it being out there for so long.

7. Write a new short story or rewrite an older one

Writing a complete, brand new, first draft of a short story in two days was really fulfilling and something I haven’t done for a while. I want to do it again or at least in a few sittings, if not one.

8. Perform a new poem at a new venue

Open mic poetry has been inspiring me to write new poetry. I have a poem brewing that I need to go get out. I’m also looking for new open mic venues to try and have a few in mind.

9. Organise paperwork, books and journals and clean desk

This might seem like not much of a goal but my paperwork, organising personal/financial documents, political documents and writing paperwork are disorganised and all of my writing journals and magazines are all over the place so I need to get this all together. It also provides a good chance to procrastinate i.e. think.

10. Finish Princesses and Pornstars (Political Research Goal)

I need to finish this book. It fits in with an idea for an old short story to be rewritten about sexism from the first person perspective of a woman.

11. Finish Let the Right One In (Cultural Goal)

I’ve neglected this novel in the interests of reading short fiction, but it’s really good and I’m enjoying reading it when I can but I’ve been taking too long so I need to get it out of the way. It’s horror too which will be good inspiration.

12. Launch alternate theme for the blog (Blogging Goal)

I’ve been meaning to work on an alternate theme for this blog to give readers the option of reading my posts in black text on a white background. WordPress 3.0 was launched last month with a really good default theme that’s going to be the basis of the new theme once I make some tweaks and add in the plugins etc.

This is going to be a packed month but it will be satisfying to get some things out of the way that I’ve been working on for too long.

Apologies for the really long post once again. But these posts are primarily for myself and about making a public declaration of my progress so thanks to people who read this far.

Has anyone taken on using Google Calendar and Tasks to organise their goals? Or are you planning to?

Just in case the numerous quotes and inaction hadn’t convinced your idealistic dreamy little heads that thought because our new Prime Minster, Julia Gillard is a women and/or an atheist she might be for progressive things such as removing the ban on same-sex marriage rights – she’s gone and proved you wrong again.

She said pretty clearly that Labor’s position and her personal position is that marriage is between a man and a woman.

“That is my personal view, and that’s also where we are at in our community and it’s important in these sensitive issues, that we reflect community views.”

Her statement, that she wishes to reflect the community is an utter lie considering that numerous polls prove time and time again that the majority of Australians support legalising same-sex marriage. Gillard wants to, like Howard and Rudd did, appease the most right-wing, bigoted and backward sections of the population in order to shore up votes against a Liberal party that keeps dragging them further and further to the right.

And as much as everyone’s going on about her being an atheist, it just shows that this isn’t only about the influence of the Christian church on politics. Homophobia doesn’t just come from the church.

The upcoming election is giving you the choice between a party that will continue the homophobic ban on same-sex marriage or a party that will continue the homophobic ban on same-sex marriage. Isn’t democracy great?

This is why we can’t sit on our arses and wait for some politician to do things for us. We need to fight. We need to protest, and the next one is on August 14 all around the country. I’ll be putting the banner for the next rally up soon and will try to post further on it leading up to the middle of August.

I finally got around to watching Paranormal Activity last night. There was a lot of talk about it when it was released in cinemas, and I really wanted to go then but never got the chance. Opinion is so divided on this movie. People either think it’s fucking scary or fucking shit. I tend to lean toward the former.

A lot of the film is from one camera angle in the bedroom and I felt myself tense up as soon as it went to this shot.

It’s about a couple who begin using a camera to try to capture the unexplained things that happen in their house, only to see it get worse. Katie has a history of hauntings before in her childhood and they work out whatever it is, is probably attached to her.

Micah, the boyfriend, is a frustrating character who’s sexism and possessiveness over Katie pissed me off throughout the whole movie. Though it was interesting in that the usual gender roles in horror – dumb woman saved by smart man – is reversed with this dynamic as Micah’s macho confidence tends to get them into more trouble.

Whilst the style was to make it like a home movie, with the home camera and the poor sound, I could find this annoying at times, and sometimes found it hard to hear what they were saying. It didn’t ruin the overall movie though.

Generally, the ‘scary bits’ in the movie were mostly based on suspense and shocks. I do like jumpy bits in movies and it tends to contribute to the overall feeling if it’s backed up by genuinely scary bits in the end. I was scared in parts, especially toward the end.

But I tend to be scary and enjoy horror movies more than others, despite watching a lot of them. It makes me think I enjoy horror because it actually effects me, where as some people would watch this and not be scared at all.

With a campaign against homophobia within AFL still in some people’s memories, it’s enraging that Jason Akermanis confirmed that homophobia is still a long way from being gotten rid of in AFL, sport and wider society.

Akermanis has responded to calls for gay AFL players to come out with comments that they should stay in the closet, because AFL is not ready and that coming out might make straight players feel uncomfortable.

The encouraging thing has been the response in the media, on Facebook and Twitter. Akermanis’ ignorant and homophobic comments have almost been universally condemned, except for cases like The Herald Sun where they’re all too willing to spread his message, with “Stay in the closet” brandished on advertisements for their paper and as a banner on the News Corp homepage.

There can be no doubt that there are gay players within the sport and Akermanis’ comments only contribute to them feeling less comfortable to come out. It basically fuels the homophobia in wider society.

The alternative would be to encourage players to come out, support them and make the homophobic people within our society step back and realise it is not ok to attack people on the basis of who they choose to fuck.

The most bizarre part of what he’s said is the idea that due to all the homoeroticism within AFL, it would make players feel uncomfortable if one of their teammates were to come out. I’m not exactly sure how this proves his point because it sounds as if he’s admitting that players have these desires and bonds with their teammates but that they then don’t want people to interpret this as being gay.

The suppression of sexuality outside of the tightly confined heteronormative box is clear with these comments. I even wrote a flash fiction piece drawing on these themes last month.

Recently out swimmer, Daniel Kowalski has responded really well to the comments saying “I’m disappointed, I’m mad, I’m angry, I’m sad.” He went on to point out that Akermanis’ comments only make it harder for players to come out and for homophobia to be put on the back foot.

It’s a step backward for these comments to be interpreted as mainstream views within the sport, because as the recent campaign against homophobia within AFL showed, many AFL players support their closeted teammates – but it’s always that minority of bigots that seem to be the loudest and get the most attention.

Those that are opposed to homophobia in AFL, in sport, in Australia and in general need to counter this homophobic minority by being loud and confident. I would love to see a group of AFL fans turn up to the next Western Bulldogs, waving big rainbow flags and brandishing placards in support of players coming out.

It is also why the campaign for same-sex marriage rights is so important. People might wonder what marriage rights have to do with players coming out of the closet, but Howard’s ban on same-sex marriage that’s been carried on by Kevin Rudd is the form in which state-sanctioned homophobia takes at the moment.

It is a legal statement that says gay and lesbian relationships are not equal to straight relationships and these homophobic ideas filter down to the rest of society; it gives players like Akermanis the backing to say these things to gay AFL players and it gives the violent homophobes on the street the green light to attack same-sex couples walking down the straight if they dare to show affection toward one another.

Out players, the removal of homophobic laws like the same-sex marriage ban, and people on the streets, in our workplaces, schools, universities or any other public place countering homophobic ideas contributes toward getting rid of homophobia, smashing divisions in society and reveals that ordinary working-class people have a lot more in common with each other regardless of who we choose to sleep with.

Almost 5,000 people rallied in Melbourne on International Day Against Homophobia to call for same-sex marriage rights as we head closer to the federal election. Once again younger people kept the atmosphere energetic with numbers buoyed by the appearance of actor, Ian McKellen.

The announcement that McKellen was speaking, alongside the rest of the cast of Waiting for Godot, really lifted the anticipation in the week leading up and I think added a bit of legitimacy to the significance of this campaign. He’s known as a vocal supporter for gay rights, particularly in Britain and has not been shy about using his high profile as part of his work with Stonewall, a LGBT campaign group.

It was awesome to see him hold the 100,000 signatures up high in triumph as he handed them to Greens Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young.

Other speakers included an official from the Firefighters Union who made the link between getting rid of discrimination in the workplace and the need to extend it to federal marriage laws.

But National Union of Students National Queer Officer, Kath Larkin really summed up the most important part of the rally, the thousands of people that came out to show their active support, representing millions of other Australians who make up the majority of the population that support same-sex marriage.

The crowd was full of creative placards such as “I really shouldn’t have to be here,” “Jesus had 2 Daddies” and “I may never marry, but at least I have a choice.” These were thrust in the air for all to see backed by a soundtrack of chants.

One of the favourites started with the Equal Love convener, Ali Hogg screaming into the megaphone, “I say same-sex, you say marriage – Same-sex!” and the rest of the crowd responded with “Marriage!”

The next rally will take place once again all over the country on August 14 on the sixth anniversary since Howard imposed the homophobic ban on same-sex marriage and people will hopefully heed the calls from the stage for everyone to return and bring friends to make the crowd even bigger.

Link collection posts aren’t anything particularly new. I feel slightly guilty as it really is heavily based on Lisa Dempster’s ‘linktown’ posts. Think of my ‘linkshouts’ as me standing on the street corner of the blogosphere and shouting out what I think worth’s reading on current issues and debates around the web.

Jessica Au tackles the question of originality at Spike, the Meanjin blog which answers some of my own questions or poses them more clearly, especially in light of trying find someone who will published My Boss Sucks despite it rehashing certain themes.

Anna Barnes reviews Emily Maguire’s new book Your Skirt’s Too Short at Killings, the Kill Your Darlings blog. It’s a modern book on feminism and women’s sexuality which seems to be an update of her previous book, Princesses and Pornstars which I’m reading at the moment.

On The Guardian Books Blog, Stuart Evans ‘What’s Happened to political fiction?’ but what’s missing in his answer is how someone’s approach to political fiction is based on the political context. James Campbell then speaks to Tariq Ali about how he has turned to fiction in a period where struggle is at a low.

Ryan Paine asks some pertinent questions about the ethics of publishing and argues that young people in the field are naturally conscious of social justice issues and this reflects choices they make in both the production and consumption of literature and published material. I don’t really have too many answers myself but it is worth thinking about.

One of the major political questions in the world at the moment is the British elections, the hung parliament, coalitions and the stability of those in power. Whilst we now know a fucking conservative is the Prime Minster, Lenin’s Tomb raises the controversial argument that a stable government is not necessarily a good thing in the context of all parties wanting to carry out cuts.

Of course, the other major question is Greece and the European debt crisis. There’s numerous stuff around the media to link to, but I won’t link to everything. Are there rules with these link things? Can I link to things that aren’t blogs? I’d like to link to a blog post on Greece but I haven’t read anything that good. Ben Hillier on Socialist Alternative though looks at it from a socialist perspective.

Have a read of those. I’d also remind you to read (and perhaps comment) on my post regarding Margaret Atwood breaking the cultural boycott of Israel; and to attend the rally for same-sex marriage rights if you’re able to get to an Australian capital city this Saturday – Ian McKellen is speaking at the Melbourne rally and there’s more info at Equal Love.

I’m also working on a piece around the questions of political fiction, whether or not they are powerful enough to convince people of a world view, inspire people to action or in the end, change the world. I’m still discussing and thinking it over so I’ll be happy if I get it up sometime next week.

While it seems Rudd has copped a fair amount if criticism in the media over his latest attack on refugees, I’ve noticed a worrying trend in the way writers have tackled the issue, claiming Rudd is just capitulating to racist voters.

It is undeniable that Rudd’s timing is everything to do with the election. The comparison between now and Howard’s stand against the Tampa in 2001 is appropriate. But to say Rudd is caving in to the ignorant and xenophobic outer suburbs really lacks any critical analysis of where the racism toward refugees comes from.

The first thing to point out is the sparse number of previous examples where governments have changed policy according to the will of the people. There are plenty of thing voters want and don’t get.

Same-sex marriage is one of them, as well as a whole range of economic benefits that working-class people in the suburbs want. Rudd is all happy to attack refugees though because it fits in with his own agenda, chiefly to distract voters from other issues.

But the main point to make is that the Rudd government, the previous government under Howard and the media have all contributed to a one-sided, right-wing, mythical hysteria that passes for commentary and facts about boat people, immigration and the rights of refugees.

Bernard Keane in Crikey on Monday said, “There is constant talk from asylum seeker advocates about “educating” and leading the electorate on the issue. That ignores that a lot of voters have no interest in being educated or led about asylum seekers coming here in boats.”

I think this is incorrect. Toward the end of Howard’s reign as Prime Minster, the Liberals had to make concessions to their racist and inhumane refugee policy precisely because the terrain had been shifted by refugee activists and protests that I was involved in.

In this latest episode, until recently, the Liberals and The Herald Scum were the main parties crowing on about boat people, shifting terrain to the right and Rudd was only too willing to follow along instead of taking a lead.

I think part of the problem has been sections of the Left that were all too willing to attack Howard, have been until now unwilling to criticise Rudd, arguing to give him more time but whilst the Left has been silent, we’ve left the field to the right to shift the terrain unopposed.

The fact that there is only a very small group of people willing to confidently defend refugee rights compared to the noise we made in the Howard era points to the need for return to that era, to cohere more people to confidently defend refugees and swim against the tide of racism.

To borrow a chant from the old refugee rights protests, “Say it loud; say it proud; refugees are welcome here!”

I’m returning to the blogosphere after four inspiring and non-stop days at the Marxism 2010 conference, with a public holiday yesterday in which I was letting my brain rest and relax before heading back to work today.

The Marxism conference always triggers a multitude of thoughts, inspiration, motivation to learn more about politics, and to become more involved in political activity. This year, with a project connected into this world of politics, literary inspiration exists side by side to some extent.

So whilst planning April’s writing goals six days into the month, I’m excited to make the most of this month.

March Results

Whilst neglecting some goals, I think March was relatively productive in the other areas. Looking back, I think words and submissions took precedence over research and practice.

1. Do [Fiction] Friday twice

I did [Fiction] Friday once and the other Fridays afterward didn’t lend themselves to writing. This is not really an excuse but there is only a narrow window for hitting this goal.

2. Do something with My Boss Sucks

I was seriously considering rewriting this short due to frustrations with editing, and perhaps over editing but I decided to finish the current edit, took out the new ending, and submitted it to Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.

3. Submit something

Before submitting My Boss Sucks, I was already on the submission wagon. I finally got around to editing the flash piece Evicted and submitted it to the online market, Flashes in the Dark.

4. Write 1,000 words toward All Fascists are Zombies!

I wrote over 1,000 words early on in the month and did a little more toward the end. As I’m working through this second draft, I’m becoming much more comfortable with the characters.

5. Begin to proof read and edit pieces for Sanity Juxtaposed

I didn’t do as much of this as I would’ve liked. I got through one piece, my first short McSean, but after doing that have been reconsidering what to include in the collection which led to it being a bit stalled.

6. Read 5 short stories (Cultural Goal)

I didn’t read any, not one. I had shorts to read, but was reading other things more. I don’t even know why I just neglected these but reading an existing novel is usually much easier because you’re familiar with the voice and characters.

7. Finish Sexuality and Socialism (Political Research Goal)

I finished this early on in the month, and felt good for doing it. I reviewed it which sparked some discussion and has built a bit of momentum for reading political books again.

8. Have two guest posts published

I had one guest post published in March, a piece on rewriting/redrafting for the writing blog, Write Anything, but whilst I had a political guest post written and some ideas for others, I didn’t do the work to find an outlet, unlike the post for Write Anything where that was already open to me.

April Goals

I’m focussed on particular projects this month buoyed by submitting two pieces last month and wanting to get that continued rush of finishing things. Posting on the status of my projects last month really helped so I’m going to do that again this month too.

1. Finish Chapter 3 of All Fascists are Zombies! – This is a complex chapter and probably one of the most important to the novella. I think finishing it would spur me on to keep going so finishing the chapter is the minimum I want to achieve with AFAZ this month.
2. Announce and start discussion on a secret political/literary project – This project isn’t so secret now but I haven’t made any formal announcements. The other people involved seem more excited now and after Marxism 2010, there’s more time to work on it and lay plans.
3. Discuss content for Sanity Juxtaposed, collect blog posts and perhaps copyedit some pieces – It’s essential that I clarify my doubts about what to include and what to leave out of the collection and that I keep moving forward with this.
4. Read three short stories (Cultural Goal) – Three seems easier than five, less daunting I guess especially given I’m reading a novel at the same time. Given most of my projects at the moment involve the shorter form; it seems silly to not be reading the shorter form too.
5. Research Case Studies of Homophobia (Political Research Goal) – Often when researching politics, like I am now with numerous books, it can be around theory or very broad scopes of history but for a story dealing with homophobia, I need some detailed stories to help me contextualise and in a way, colour in the experiences on a more personal level.
6. Post a political post at least once a week (Blogging Goal) – A lot of this month’s goals intersect with blogging, like announcing my new project and discussing Sanity Juxtaposed so in order to maintain a balance and take advantage of the political thoughts going on in my head, I’d like to maintain some political content as well.

I’m conscious that some of the goals are less concrete and specific than usual but the main thing I want to get out of this month is a focus on particular projects.

Question: Are there any annual or regular events that tend to inspire and motivate you in the time following?