Colouring the Rainbow
Blak Queer and Trans Perspectives
Life Stories and Essays by First Nations People of Australia
Editor: Dino Hodge
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Type: Soft Cover
Pages: 252
Genre: non-fiction
Published: 2015
ISBN: 9781743053935
This book is exactly as described on the cover, we have stories and essays about being both Aboriginal and Queer.
While some of the essays delve a little too deeply into "UNI-speak" for me personally, i still found them interesting reads.
The real gems here though are the true life stories, we see Australians fighting for basic human rights in our modern world while struggling to keep their inherent spirituality.
We hear of people who survived horrific accounts of homophobia / transphobia, in isolated outback town.
We hear gut wrenching stories of bullying, violence, discrimination and the depression and suicide that this can cause. Reading this it reminds me jut how important the Safe Schools program is, and how instead of being scraped it should become mandatory in all schools. Surely the fact that the vocal opponents of Safe Schools do not want LGBTQ children to survive until adulthood, is a perfect example of why Safe Schools is so needed. Sorry i digress.
We also find within tales of acceptance, and did you know that before invasion/colonisation at least some tribes accepted LGBTQ people as they recognised the natural diversity of human sexuality. If you want to talk about traditional marriage in Australia you would have to start here.
We hear how at least one contributor is trying to make amends for their own homophobic behavior, which they adopted at school as a way to protect themselves, yet another example of the need for Safe Schools.
One poor soul even drew the reportedly malicious attentions of the, (legally confirmed) racist and homophobic (by his own words) Andrew Bolt. you may remember Andrew Bolt from his recent major hussy-fit after he (by his own admission) violently "assaulted" someone for merely playing a prank on him. Andrew Bolt's defenders are saying that Bolt should escape charges because Bolt's homophobia runs so deep that the mere physical contact with glitter enrages him into hysterical violent attacks.
I should note that as of this writing charges of assault have yet to be applied to him, and i believe he is trying to play the victim in this encounter, it seems apparent that the mainstream media are quite willing to side with him.
But that event was only recent and is not related to the matter in this book, it would appear Andrew Bolt has a long history of seemingly attacking minority's while being a very sensitive snowflake himself.
Please for your own safety do not try and enlighten Andrew Bolt by sprinkling glitter about him or his person. In fact its best not to glitter anyone against their wishes, no matter how disgusting they are.
Every commentator on Aboriginal, or LGBTQ issues in Australia should read this book before next opening their mouths, or putting finger to keys.
Why does the media consult homophobes about LGBT issues and racists about Aboriginal issues? It just seems ass-backwards to me, why don't we instead see the opinions of scholars and the people these issues actually effect. It would be like the media getting the opinion of the Nazi groups every time a local Jewish school held a fete, no one wants or needs their opinion!
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