The name may seem like a joke, but the Australian Sex Party is serious - serious about sex, according to their slogan.
The country's newest political party is also serious about a number of other issues: quashing a government proposal for a national Internet filter that would block 10,000 Web sites; instituting a national sex education curriculum; and pushing for the legalization of gay marriage.
The party - launched Thursday at Sexpo, an annual sex exhibition in Melbourne - has already gathered the required 500 members and plans to register with the electoral commission next week.
While most of its members are drawn from Eros - Australia's national adult industry association- the Sex Party believes it can attract a broader base.
"We're concerned about the Australian government becoming a nanny state, and about this conservative creep in politics," party convener and Eros head Fiona Patten told The Associated Press by phone.
Patten said she had expected Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose center-left Labour Party took power nearly a year ago, to be "reasonably socially progressive."
But she was surprised when Rudd called a May exhibit of photographs of nude teenagers "revolting." Critics said the Sydney show constituted obscenity, but the artwork was eventually cleared by Australia's Classification Board as non-pornographic.
Patten called the federal government's proposal for an Internet filter "the last straw" and said the party's first goal is to alert voters to the "unprecedented censorship of legal material" encompassed by the filter.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy told Parliament earlier this month that his mandatory Internet filter would block 10,000 Web sites on a government blacklist of "unwanted content," including sites showing child pornography, excessive violence, drug use or instructions in criminal or terrorist acts.
But Patten said the filter targets a far wider range of sites.
"If they were aiming to block child pornography, no problem," she said. "But they've identified any adult site, things like playboy.com, a site that shows material that you can buy in a news agency or rent or buy in an adult video shop. It was an incredible shift back 30 years."
The party's platform also includes support for an age-appropriate national sex education curriculum, gay marriage and opposition to a government policy that bans overseas aid to any organization that provides abortion information.
The Australian Christian Lobby has already condemned the Sex Party "for its inappropriate views about women."
"Pornography and prostitution do enormous damage to women and children, and the idea of mainstream political parties giving this trade seats in our nation's parliaments ... would offend the sensibilities of most Australians who believe women should be respected," the lobby's Managing Director Jim Wallace said in a statement. "The last thing we need in Parliament is a Sex Party pushing for governments to put more sex in ours and our children's faces."
But Patten believes the Australian Sex Party offers a new voice to many Australians.
"We feel we really have hit a nerve," she said. "I'm kind of blown away by the response. People appreciate our policies of education, gender equality. They are taking us seriously."
The party, whose slogan is "We're serious about sex," plans to run candidates in Senate and state upper house elections.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Gays, bisexuals, transgenders still discriminated against: Rights body
The government is failing to respect and protect those who identify as homosexual, bisexual or transgender, despite their equal rights as citizens, says the official human rights body.
Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group continue to face discrimination, marginalization, torture and harassment, with the government denying them their rights as citizens, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said Tuesday.
"Under the Constitution the government must protect all citizens, so why do LGBTs still suffer ill-treatment in this country?" Komnas HAM member Yosep Adi Prasetyo said at a seminar titled "Taboo Sexuality: Challenges on Differences", co-hosted by the Finnish Embassy and women's group Kalyanamitra.
"There are even still police officers who discriminate against and harass this group of people," he added.
Yosep cited several cases of homosexual couples who were arrested by police in Banda Aceh, Aceh.
"They were instructed by local police to remove their clothing, or worse, they were ordered to re-enact their sexual activities in front of officers, who were mocking them," he said.
Siti Musdah Mulia, a moderate Muslim scholar from the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace, gave another example of discrimination that she encountered while involved in selecting new Komnas HAM members.
Siti, who was the secretary of an independent committee for the selection, said the committee was subject to a lot of criticism from various groups, including the media, when it accepted the nominations of two people from the LGBT group.
"This is proof that people are still discriminating against LGBTs. The two LGBTs were recruited because they had good visions and skills. We did not choose them for any political reasons," she said at the seminar.
Siti said there was no reason for the public and authorities to discriminate against this group.
"Pluralism is not a deviation but a blessing from God as a social investment in life," she added.
Lukas Mangindaan, a psychiatrist from the University of Indonesia, said homosexuality was no longer categorized as a mental illness or sexual deviation, as declared by the World Health Organization in 1990 and the Indonesian Health Ministry in 1983 and 1993.
"LGBTs do not suffer from any mental illness or dysfunction," he said at the forum.
Lukas said human behavior could not be considered abnormal as long as it did not display any mental dysfunction.
"What makes people think that someone is not normal is when they find that person to be different from the majority. It's no problem being heterosexual or homosexual; the important thing is they take responsibility for their choices," he said.
Yosep further said that in dealing with the LGBT issue, the government should address three points: respect, protection and fulfillment.
"Respect means the government must enforce the law to stop discrimination and violence by authorities against LGBTs, and protection means the government must take action to prevent ill-treatment by non-state actors," Yosep said.
"Fulfillment means the government must guarantee the rights of LGBTs as humans by allocating resources to understand the LGBT issue in government agencies."
Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group continue to face discrimination, marginalization, torture and harassment, with the government denying them their rights as citizens, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said Tuesday.
"Under the Constitution the government must protect all citizens, so why do LGBTs still suffer ill-treatment in this country?" Komnas HAM member Yosep Adi Prasetyo said at a seminar titled "Taboo Sexuality: Challenges on Differences", co-hosted by the Finnish Embassy and women's group Kalyanamitra.
"There are even still police officers who discriminate against and harass this group of people," he added.
Yosep cited several cases of homosexual couples who were arrested by police in Banda Aceh, Aceh.
"They were instructed by local police to remove their clothing, or worse, they were ordered to re-enact their sexual activities in front of officers, who were mocking them," he said.
Siti Musdah Mulia, a moderate Muslim scholar from the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace, gave another example of discrimination that she encountered while involved in selecting new Komnas HAM members.
Siti, who was the secretary of an independent committee for the selection, said the committee was subject to a lot of criticism from various groups, including the media, when it accepted the nominations of two people from the LGBT group.
"This is proof that people are still discriminating against LGBTs. The two LGBTs were recruited because they had good visions and skills. We did not choose them for any political reasons," she said at the seminar.
Siti said there was no reason for the public and authorities to discriminate against this group.
"Pluralism is not a deviation but a blessing from God as a social investment in life," she added.
Lukas Mangindaan, a psychiatrist from the University of Indonesia, said homosexuality was no longer categorized as a mental illness or sexual deviation, as declared by the World Health Organization in 1990 and the Indonesian Health Ministry in 1983 and 1993.
"LGBTs do not suffer from any mental illness or dysfunction," he said at the forum.
Lukas said human behavior could not be considered abnormal as long as it did not display any mental dysfunction.
"What makes people think that someone is not normal is when they find that person to be different from the majority. It's no problem being heterosexual or homosexual; the important thing is they take responsibility for their choices," he said.
Yosep further said that in dealing with the LGBT issue, the government should address three points: respect, protection and fulfillment.
"Respect means the government must enforce the law to stop discrimination and violence by authorities against LGBTs, and protection means the government must take action to prevent ill-treatment by non-state actors," Yosep said.
"Fulfillment means the government must guarantee the rights of LGBTs as humans by allocating resources to understand the LGBT issue in government agencies."
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