Australian Gays Fear Massive Swing To Right Following Election

[Quetzal]

Australian Gays Fear Massive Swing To Right Following Election

(Sydney, Australia) Australian Prime Minister John Howard has coasted to an unprecedented fourth term on a conservative platform that has many members of the LGBT community concerned will result in the roll back of gay rights.

Howard's coalition will control both houses of Parliament signaling alarm from activists like Rodney Croome.

Prior to the election Howard's government passed legislation tightening restrictions that prevent same-sex couples from marrying. (story)

"The recent same sex marriage ban was a walk in the park compared to what's in store", Croome said Sunday.

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Australian Gays Fear Massive Swing To Right Following Election

[dogpatch]

1. this is not a good sign

what the hell happened there?

[jdj]

2. was there some fraud down under?

[Octafish]

3. Oz DUers: Do you use Diebold?

[rooboy]

8. No, we use pencil and paper and the whole system is very fair.

It's just that Australians aren't as nice as they once were. I've been saying this for at least 5 years now.

[Octafish]

15. Thanks, rooboy!

Would that we had that here. Paper ballots mean there's a record. Being the secretive traitors they are, the BFEE doesn't like record-keeping, hence Diebold and no paper-trails. Check out these crazy crooks for details:

http://www.serendipity.li/jsmill/whomakes.htm

Regarding Australia and Australians: You have a wonderful country, which I want to visit more than any place on earth. Your people are a wonderful, too. Ever one of your countrymen and women I've met over the course of my 47 years has been good-hearted.

Only you can say what's really happening, however. Today's BFEE-controlled world has divided people like at no time in history. Some of the things many have lost in the process are civility and kindness. Would that people were nicer here, as well.

[tuvor]

4. How did Howard manage to get back in?

I thought he was facing a lot of heat for joining the attack on Iraq.

[PartyPooper]

5. My God! What the fuck is wrong with this world?

How do these extreme right-wingers stay in power? Is the world population so stupid and ignorant? Or, are they simply buying into the propaganda?

:argh:

:mad:

:grr:

[jdj]

6. they say he "coasted" to re-election.

[PurityOfEssence]

11. The world is uncertain; reactionaries sell certainty

The refracted rose-colored tidiness of the past is very appealing in times of strife. The sad thing is that even a cursory look at what the past was REALLY like pulls the rug out from under this dewy nostalgia.

Look to see much more fundamentalism.

Sad.

[okieinpain]

18. the righties come out in mass, the only way to beat them is to get

out our own voters. which is why I feel good about kerry. he's our bush, sorry don't mean to offend. but he is our candidate that can pull in some of the swing voters, much like bush did in 2000. the base will be there in force, we just need to pluck some of those so-called independents.

I'm really glad that he was smart enough to make the no new taxes pledge in the friday debate. that will help keep some of the indies, he and Edward's just need to stay on message, and we will have a good shot at taking the WH.

[Neshanic]

7. I have close Australian friends. They live in a nanny state.

I have had very heated discussions with them, and another couple. They are here on work visas, and NEVER stop bitching about how fucked this country is. I let them rant about how backwards we are, how everything back in Australia is so good.

Then I tell them this. We have 260+ million people, who on an average day have to worry about not getting jack shit help from the government if they have a problem. All the energy that is expended by just worrying and trying to cope with not having health insurance alone by the average American would cause an Australian to cry.

They live in a place where they do not have to worry about the things that Americans on the edge worry about daily. Of course the gay human rights issue is not a problem for them, the past was an easy time of openness and hope. Until now.

Voting is compulsory. They all vote. They have no excuse for buying into the "Fear" generator that our government exports. They elected a Chimp playmate, and well, welcome to the big leagues now Aussies.

Gay Australians, you actually are in a worse mess than us.

[wysi]

9. Economics

Things are currently a lot better in Australia than they are in the US. The economic situation under the Howard govt has been pretty good overall. But perhaps more importantly, Howard raised the spectre of interest rate rises late in the campaign, pointing out (accurately) the very high rates under the last Labor government. Lots of people are mortgaged to the hilt (due to a big property boom recently and to govt incentives to build new homes). I think that pretty much sealed the deal.

[BillZBubb]

10. I used to have a good opinion of Aussies.

No more. Any people who would elect a guy like Howard knowing what they know about him are beneath contempt.

[anakie]

12. I hope this statement doesnt come back to bite you in the bum

in November. We really are just small fry down here. You guys are the main gain. And god help the world if you folks re elect Bush and his cronies.

To say that the outcome of the election down here is disappointing is an understatement. The worst part of the whole election is that a party that is the political wing of the Assemblies of God in all likelihood will control the balance of power in the Senate. We on this board all hoped (probably) that the Greens would hold the balance of power and keep in check the outrages the Howard govt will now deliver to us. Gays will become an issue, so will abortion.

The world by and large has called this a referendum on the Iraq war. In actuallity the Iraq war was barely mentioned for the whole campaign. It was more on domestic issues and Howards scare campaign about interest rates rising should Labor have been elected. Of course any economist will tell you that is a crock of shit. But it worked. And Labor in the end ran a pretty poor election campaign; they just couldnt land a punch on Howard.

Like everyone else on this board dont blame all of us for his re election. That is just like me blaming you for the last 4 years and should shrub get back in, for the next 4.

[BillZBubb]

19. Nonsense, Shrub didn't win his election.

He stole it. The American people did not elect Bush*. If they do so in November knowing what they know now, my contempt for my fellow Americans will also grow.

FWIW, I have more disgust about American voters than for just about any others. Maybe it's a grass is greener thing. Americans can be absolute sheep too many times.

[foreigncorrespondent]

13. Please...

...don't lumber all Aussies into the same boat. I never voted for Howard. Being a lesbian I swallowed my pride and voted for Latham, even though the ALP supported Howard's bigoted ban on recognition of same sex marriages in Australia.

Thanks to both those bastards I am now a second class citizen in my country, but I realized the importance of this election and tried my damndest to oust Howard.

[foreigncorrespondent]

14. Yeah! This lesbian is fearing the worst as well.

I can just see the pittence of rights I have right now, are not gonna be with me for much longer.

The thing that worries me the most is my being able to sponsor Sapphocrat for immigration here. Currently we do have immigration rights, but I am fearing Howard will put a stop to that quick smart. And then when Sapph is able to move here, we won't have the interdependant visa available anymore. :(

Sapph and I have been together (even though we have been living apart for almost three years now) for almost five years, and it is pretty damn scary to realize just how much Howard has us by the short and curlies.

Every night since Saturday's election I have cried myself to sleep, because I do worry that once Sapph and I are able to begin our life, this big hurdle of Howard stopping same sex immigration is gonna get in our way.

[GreggDem]

16. Australian economy is booming and Aust conservatives

believe in Gun Control,Public health and medicare etc.


There is no comparision with US politics,Gays in Australia have many rights (apart from marriage) and Aust conservatives make Ted Kennedy look like a Conservative.

[foreigncorrespondent]

17. Oh please!!!

Before you make such absurd remarks I think you need to do some fact checking first.

Howard is going to destroy the Medicare system we have here, which the ALP first began.

Public health basically falls under Medicare.

As for gay rights, we have more rights CURRENTLY than our brothers and sisters in the U.S. but all will be lost in the comings months/years. Howard is a member of the Lyons Forum (a Christian lobby group), there is no separation of church and state in Australia any longer. Most of us in this thread should know, we bloody well live here.

Welcome back to 1950's Australia!