Love Court Love

Margret Court Vs love

 Margret Court is a former Australian tennis player and a "christian" minister. She had a distinguished career as a tennis player, she was awarded an Order of British Empire and an Order of Australia which she still has despite her actions since retirement.  She has had show court one at the sports and entertainment complex in Melbourne park renamed to Margret Court Arena in her honor, this has remained the name despite her attacks on Innocent Australians.

 Unfortunately she has a horrible track record when it comes to her morality and decency.  Through her after- tennis life she has fought against the Australian constitution, and LGBT rights. She has supported the Australian (anti-) Family Association which can only reasonably be describes as a hate group. She even attacked Qantas after the CEO came out in support of human rights.

 Some of the ridiculous comments she has made are that 'Tennis is full of lesbians that take children to partys', she claims that transgender children were the work of the devil, She falsely equated sexual education to Nazis and communism, She has railed against an anti bullying program that helps LGBT children make it through their school years alive, She claims LGBT people are unable to love and only exhibit a lust for flesh, She has also claimed that Australia is a theocracy, Her views are obviously homophobic, racist and inaccurate. It is also important to note that she amazingly still claims to not be homophobic, despite her devotion to denying the rights (and even existence) of LGBT Australians including children.

 She has claimed that any effort by people with knowledge of LGBT issues to merely correct her misconceptions or to rename the arena after a non-racist and non-homophobic person are ironically bullying.

 Despite promising the LGBT community that Australia would have no place for homophobia or hate speech, Malcolm Turnbull supported her views, and keeping the Melbourne park named after her. 

 ...or its at Margret Court Arena of course.

 

 A lot of the media handled Courts deplorable views a bit dangerously.Very few news stories pointed out that her views were not supported by facts, and were inaccurate to say the least. Any attempt to correct the record on the dangerously inaccurate things she was saying was often reported by right wingers as preventing her free speech, despite her very public platform. I also don't think i seen any calls for all christians or women or tennis players to own her actions and to publicly denounce her disgusting views.
 Attacks on LGBT children are horrible as it is, and her evil comments show how important programs like Safe Schools anti-bullying programs really are. But now that the government has kowtowed to the vocal minority that doesn't want LGBT kids to survive through their school years, such homophobic comments become even more dangerous. 
 I really do feel that public figures have a responsibility to fact check what they say before they go public, especially when kids lives are at risk.

 If homophobia is effecting you as a victim of it or even as a perpetrator please get help. 

 It looks like the petition to re-name the arena is still active. 

Sign the petition

 

Marriage Equality should not remian in closet

Marriage Equality 

 The Coalition through Peter Dutton singled out one gay executive Alan Joyce after 20 executives from high profile company's came out in favor of supporting the Australian constitution and ending marriage discrimination against LGBT people. Dutton and other right wingers, went on a rant railing against free speech and against business doing community enrichment programs. Qantas the company specifically targeted by Dutton does such things as;

Assisting Australians in natural disasters

Transporting medical supplies and patients

Supporting the arts

Indigenous reconciliation

Sponsoring sporting events and organisations 

Charitable donations 

Taking steps to prevent modern slavery

 Now admittedly Dutton and other right wingers were targeting the company's support for equal rights but we must assume they want business to stop all social responsibility or else we would be calling them homophobic bigots, and we wouldn't want to do that.

 Duttons claim that company's are being bullied into supporting equal rights are bizarre. In related news a bigot attacked this very same CEO who Dutton had targeted for the exact same "reasons" Dutton had proclaimed. This homophobic attack however was a physical assault, The bigot was deemed to have mental issues and was given a slap on the wrist fine with no record of conviction. Perhaps mandatory treatment for his violent homophobia might have been in order but we can only hope he gets the professional help he needs. This shows too how important programs like Safe Schools are, so people don't grow up with such irrational hate in their hearts. This man was a member of a Christian church, and a former candidate for the nationals. It has been reported that he is at least a member of two "christian" organisations, which have hopefully since been investigated for any terrorism or hate crimes planning. I also didn't hear many in the right call on all Christians (or whites, or men) to condemn this attack...

Dutton attacks free speech

Business that support Australian values 

Homophobic hate crime fueled by right wing 

Coopers "debate" is homophobic

                         Coopers Fake Debate

 The Bible society is a right wing religious hate group that advocates for teaching the bibles in schools, is against the Australian constitution, and opposes equal rights for LGBT Australians, they even have a book "that celebrates impact of the Bible on Australia’s First Nations People!".

 THAT'S PROBLEMATIC

 This bible society has teamed up with Coopers (a brewery that is a heavy donator to the Coalition) as part of a "creative campaign" they have place bible verses on a light Coopers beer's labels and are hosting light discussions on heavy topics. 

 The campaign started with a "debate" on marriage equality. 

And oh my it is a disingenuous bit of rubbish. So we have two coalition politicians siting around a cafe table with the "debate moderator". We are told that one of the politicians is pro-equal rights and the other is for discrimination.
 But that's really where the problem begins they don't call it marriage equality they call it same-sex marriage, and they don't call it pro-discrimination they call it pro-traditional marriage. So right from the start they are phrasing the "debate" in a biased way. And lets just look at that claim of traditional marriage a little bit,

 It is a fact that same sex couples have been getting married since at least 3100 BCE, please observe that this is long before the invention of Christianity which was around 355CE.

  In Australia we see that our marriage laws were changed in the marriage act in 2004, marriage was re-defined to specifically and unconstitutionally to exclude same sex couples. 

 So which is more traditional? 

Being a radical christian group its possible The bible society meant biblical marriage instead of traditional marriage. But that would lead to more problems check out biblical marriage here.

 Firstly the Bible Society claims that "Australia's national conversation has become fraught with shallowness and contempt for those who have a differing opinion,". I would agree that the homophobes excuses for denying LGBT Australians equal rights are often shallow, i would also add nonsensical. I would also agree that homophobes including those using the religion of Christianity as an excuse for their bigotry  have shown contempt for innocent homosexuals for over 200 years and continue to do so. 

 But as to a differing opinion, well that putting it very mildly, the pro-equality side is simply asking that LGBT Australians are given the constitutional rights they should have while the other homophobic side is fighting to keep a 2004 law that actively discriminates against LGBT Australians, i think that's a bit more then a differing opinion. And the only real reason the bigots have for this pro-discrimination stance is they hate gay people, and i don't think that's a good enough excuse to deny equal rights.

Now that that's out of the way i will just correct some of the misinformation presented in the "debate".

 Anyone who opposes Homosexual people having equal rights is by definition homophobic. 

 Equal rights is not a "light" subject, Not when a hate group endorsed by Coalition politicians has recently praised ISIL for killing gay men. Not when homophobes protesting an anti-bullying school program call LGBT children pedophiles and incite others to hang them. Not when up to 17% of male suicides would be prevented by simply allowing marriage equality.

 To suggest the two positions one wanting their constitutional rights and the other wanting discrimination are equal is ridiculous. Whats next a "debate' about racial equality with racists where the two positions are treated as having equal merit?

   

 It is impossible to have a real debate with homophobes. The first thing the homophobe said was a lie.Marriage has not always and is not even currently between one man and one woman, to say otherwise means he is ill informed and therefore shouldn't be forwarding a position on the matter or he is active being actively deceitful. As marriage between same sex couples have been happening since around 3100 BCE then that too predates the Australian state, but look it also predates Christianity. The moderator should have corrected this misinformation, or a better pro-equality speaker should have been given the opportunity to do so. But as it stands now it might look to the uninformed viewer that the homophobes argument was accurate and had merit, while in reality it did not.

 Suggested Bible Verse 01:

 The simple fact is that there is no valid argument against marriage equality. The current laws which re-defined marriage in 2004 to specifically deny same-sex couples the right to marry is immoral, unconstitutional and discriminatory. It should also be noted that the marriage laws are not supposed to reflect one religions current definition of marriage, civil marriage and religious marriage are supposed to be two separate things. Correcting the legal definition of marriage will not effect any religions homophobic definition of marriage at all.

Suggested Bible Verse 02:

What you can do:

Fax your MP and demand they uphold the Australian constitution and embrace Marriage Equality.

A lot of decent people are also boycotting Coopers brewery for this homophobic act.

UPDATE: 

 Coopers brewery have responded to the outcry of disgust by decent Australians. Their first press release defended the "Debate" advertisement, and went so far as to falsely claim the "debate" in the advertisement was balanced! They went on to childishly claim that those offended by the fake debate advertisement were not mature, and that Australia needs to debate if innocent people should have equal rights or if we should continue to allow discrimination against them. 

 They also made the demonstrably false claim that by participating in this joint campaign with the bible society they were not trying to spread any religious messages, this despite the fact that that is the bible society stated purpose for the campaign.

 In this press release there was no apology to the LGBT community of Australia, and there wasn't even mention of the LGBT community. They also didn't commit to doing the Australian thing by standing up for the underdog and making sure LGBT Australians have a fair go at marriage.

                                Awkward Moments Children's Bible a great source for verses

After the backlash from that first obnoxious press release Coopers Brewery released another. This one also repeated the insulting falsehood that they were not pushing any religious message. 
 But remarkably they now claimed that they had nothing to do with the fake debate Coopers advertisement claiming further that their brand was used illegally without their permission. 
 Now if this is true they will obviously try to sever all ties with this horrible bible society and at the very least will sue them in order to protect the Coopers brand. If its true.
 Again no support of equality, LGBT Australians equal rights were mentioned. They didn't identify how they were going to try to mend the damage to the LGBT Australians, or there brand identity.

 #boycottcoopers

 Its not just decent individual Australians who are boycotting Coopers, many clubs and pubs have shown their support for human rights by boycotting Coopers! Careful or you might rekindle our faith in humanity. 
 And wouldn't this be another great opportunity for Prime Minister Trumble to show he has a backbone and actually give LGBT Australians their equal rights?

 VIDEO

* Our video guy is recovering from surgery, he will make a YouTube version of this story when he can, sorry for any inconvenience.

Terrorism in Australia

Terrorism in Australia

Melbourne CBD 

 In a recent terror attack in Australian city of Melbourne, 37 people were injured and 5 people tragically died. Pauline Hanson happened to be having one of her numerous media events at the time. You can see an advisor whispers in her ear and she looks stunned for a second and then turns and says smugly (note the look on her face!);

"Iv just been told there's a terorrister (sic) attack that's just happened in Melbourne."
"People don't look right! That their not going to assumeulate (sic) into our society, Have a different ideology, different beliefs, don't probide (sic) by our laws, our culture, our way of life, don't let them in!
Make this country safe for our future generations!"
She went on to falsely claim that 
"all terrorist attacks in this country have been by Muslims!"

 It should be noted that this was another homophobic terror attack, with the man having stabbed his gay brother and vowing 'I’m going to kill all gays and poofters and lesbians'.
Now if we ignore her targeting Muslims and pretend she had directed her comments against the homophobia of the terrorist we can actually see she would have been justified in making them. So lets fix that for her to make her comments relevant and factual, lets direct them at the proper targets.

'Homophobes are not going to assimilate into our society. Homophobes have a different ideology, different beliefs, they don't abide by our laws, our culture, and our way of life. Homophobia should not be tolerated! We need to make this country safe for our future generations.'

 Of course she will never admit her 'mistake', it doesn't further her political career to actually fight the causes of terror. She still has not apologised for trying to straight-wash the homophobic Orlando attack and she i cant find anywhere where she has corrected her misinformation about the Melbourne attack, she certainly hasn't changed her homophobic policies.

 Terror Organisation:

 Earlier in February the Q-society held a fund raising event. I hadn't previously heard of the Q-society but its apparently a right wing group that opposes freedom of religion and the Australian constitution. Larry Pickering (who may be trying to win Australia's most disgusting cartoonist award from Bill Leak) attended the event where he said;

 "I can't stand Muslims…[but] they are not all bad, they do chuck pillow-biters off buildings." 

 For those who don't know "pillow-biters" is a derogatory term for homosexuals, and Larry here is referring to the terrorist group ISIL policy of murdering gay men by throwing them off tall buildings. Obviously this support of terrorism should have been immediately condemned he should have been booed off the stage and escorted out of the building to a waiting police car, where he could receive a psychiatric evaluation before his trial on charges of hate crimes, advocating violence and supporting terrorism. But that didn't happen. instead we had right -wing, homophobic, science denying, anti-constitutional, pro-child bullying Cory Bernardi attended the event and thus provided his own support for this group. But he wasn't alone, George Christensen who shares many of Cory's reprehensible views and actually advocates for the death penalty for convicted terrorists. 
 None of us are layers specialising in anti-terrorism legislation, but it seems clear to us that praising the terrorism of terrorists is an act of terrorism as it creates a serious risk to the health and safety of the public. As this event was a fundraiser and this organisation appears to be a terrorist organisation all those in attendance have also funded terrorism which is a crime. The Q-society appears to be eligible for categorisation as a terrorist organisation as it seems to meet the criteria:

• is engaged in preparing, planning, assisting or fostering the doing of a terrorist act
  or
• advocates the doing of a terrorist act.

• counsels, promotes, encourages or urges the doing of a terrorist act
• gives instruction on the doing of a terrorist act
• directly praises the doing of a terrorist act, where there is a substantial risk that this praise might lead someone to engage in a terrorist act. 

 The enforcement of our anti-terrorism legislation seems unlikely as the perpetrators were white, non-Muslims, the proposed victims were gay men, also the categorisation as a terrorist organisation is at the discretion of the attorney general.
 But you can do something, if you remember Malcolm Trumble promised to protect us from homophobia and hate speech, lets at least ask him to do the bare minimum and condemn George Christensen for attending the Q Society's fundraiser!

One Nations* parade of clowns:

One nation* is a minor political party that relies on fear and misinformation to spread homophobia and racism. You will remember their candidates have shown and generally weird and often disgusting alternate views on reality. And I'm not just referencing the standard climate denial, anti-science, homophobic, anti-constitutional, racist, sexist, anti-worker, sexist, rubbish. One i missed was the outrageous alternate reality of Peter Rogers who claimed that poor Syrian refuge child on the beach was faked. Link to story here, but be warned it has that graphic photo, though it is slightly blurred.  

 So after all the other inappropriate candidates One Nation* gives us; Michelle Meyers, not to be confused with Michael Myers, who come to think of it might make a better candidate. Michelle Meyers claims to believe such insane things as "abortions create cannibals', 'gays are indoctrinating children, 'gays are confused', 'trans people are broken'. and that 'two dead Harvard graduated Norwegian homosexuals (who are also apparently somehow Nazi's) are using a well known mind control to make marriage equality and holographic (?) families more acceptable'.

 While this should alarm everyone, what is possibly more distressing is that the government is giving her its preferences!
 I am not going to comment on this further except to say that she is obviously unfit for government and i hope she receives the psychiatric help or education she evidently needs.

  
 *excepts apply. 
 

 

Bigot Point: "Marriage is about procreation."

Bigot Point: "Marriage is about procreation."

 Some bigots want to argue that marriage is about creating children and not about love. 

 This argument implies that marriage is currently about procreation and that marriage equality will change that. The thing is the current marriage laws in Australia are not about procreation at all, there is no fertility test before you are allowed to marry, there is no contract requiring the creation of children. Those saying this as an excuse to deny equal rights are lying and sowing discord. 

 Worse still they are spreading homophobia that leads to the kind of violence we experienced in the Orlando homophobic terror attacks. We all must stand up against these bigots that support such terrorism.
 Even if you agree with these bigots, to hold these barbaric opinions, there is no valid reason we should be enforcing there discriminatory views in our laws.

 Bigots arguing this are saying that they want to prevent marriage by those who do not want to or are incapable of producing children. One would assume that those who are "too old" to safely have children would be included in this ban.

Malcolm Turnbull has said Australia now has zero tolerance for homophobia, and yet there are still hate groups active today spreading this hate speech.

 Please let your local government representatives and your churches know you stand against terrorism and homophobia. 

 Please support marriage equality.

"Children need both a biological Mother and Father."

"Same sex marriage isn't biblical marriage."

"homosexuality is a choice."

"Same-Sex marriage isn't Traditional Marriage"

"Homosexuality is Unnatural"

 "Marriage Equality threatens religious freedom"

"Same-sex marriage isn't natural marriage."

 "Marriage equality will destroy free speech"

 "Same-sex marriage will be forced on everyone."

  
Further Reading:

Marriage Act 1961

 

ACL Leader equates equal rights movement with rise of Nazis.

 Hate Group Leader equates equal rights movement with rise of Nazis.

Lyle Shelton of the ACL hate group has linked the fight for gay rights to the rise of Nazis in Germany.

 The ACL (Australian "christian" lobby) is a hate group that is for bullying children and against LGBT rights. They are a group of lying, bigoted, hypocritical, anti- constitutional, homophobes.

 Those following the news may remember that these idiotic and insulting thoughts are not even his own, for when the ACL held there annual hate rally scorn was directed at the ACL for having a speaker that held those views. I did a post on it myself about my disgust that Scott Morrison our treasurer was attending the hate rally.

 So Lyle Sheldton has seen how offensive and inappropriate it is to liken gays to Nazis, he has seen the harm this caused and months later still decides that it is an appropriate thing to say.

 The fact that he had more than enough time to research the facts and still decided to mislead and vilify is disgusting. He has a responsibility to know better, and to do better.

 For the record, the Nazis were homophobic like the ACL, the Nazis persecuted an estimated 100,000 men during the Holocaust. The Nazis shut down gay groups, and destroyed literature on sexuality, not the gay men.It is the ACL and other bigots that want to shut down Safe Schools anti-bulling campaigns, not the gays. 
So bigots should really check themselves before comparing others (like  a group who were the victims of the holocaust) to the Nazis.

 Pot meet Kettle

 

 Lyle Sheldton went on to repeat some inflammatory nonsense about children being taken form a mother and father, and i just recently did a Bigot Point article debunking just such a claim. 

 Will Scott Morrison now denounce this hate group? Will the authorities finally declare this hate group a terrorist organization and shut them down? Will the ABC apologize for allowing him on the air like they have done with another radical extremist who was only in the audience and not an invited panelist?

 We all need to stand strong against these bigoted hate mongers. We need to be the guardians of what is good and right. We who choose to educate ourselves, so we don't say the opposite of what is truth, we need to oppose the spread of the kind of prejudice that the ACL encourage.
 Also if your Christian, these bigots are giving your religion and your god a very bad name, let your church know you support equality as well as your government.
 Contact Scott Morrison demand he denounce the ACL.
 Contact the ABC and demand they apologize for airing this radical extremists hate speech.

 Luckily we have a means to do so in the upcoming election. Contact your local candidates find out if they are homophobic and if they are tell them they do not have your vote.

Vote for equality this election.

Check out this helpful recourse for the four major parties.

 Again i wonder why these people don't overcome there harmful prejudices and try to do some good. Perhaps the ACL should appoint a leader that at least will follow the 10 commandments, i am especially thinking of the one about not bearing false witness.   
 But a leader with even passing knowledge of the bible might help the organization avoid such humiliation in the future.

'There are six things that the LORD strongly dislikes, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.'

                                                                                                                  Proverbs 6:16–19

We need gun control

Sensible Gun Control

First off let me start by saying, i know a lot of people get all upset when gun control is brought up, i have avoided talking about it for just that reason. However i cant in good conscience remain silent, if me writing this makes even one person safer, i must.

I am Australian and we have reasonably sensible gun laws, yes they need strengthening and are constantly under attack by pro-shooters, but they work, for the most part.
We had a mass shooting called the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, and our then Prime Minister, in what most say is the only real good achievement of his term in office, though he did raise the medicare levy to buy guns from owners. The system banned semi-automatic weapons and strengthened gun ownership laws. Deaths by guns have had a decrease over the years as a result of this legislation. We have had few mass shootings since them.
There are still an estimated 250,000 firearms unaccounted for in Australia. The Monash University shooter was provided his gun by a local shooting club, while the Sydney Siege Hostage crisis used weapons from this unaccounted for "black Market'. In both instances the gun laws were tightened slightly and loopholes closed. 

Police recently prevented a possible terror plot / mass shooting by the "United Patriots Front" hate group, when a firearm was seized from a rally bus headed for a "reclaim Australia" hate rally. The weapon was confiscated but astonishingly no charges were laid at that time. Their rally's are usually drowned out by anti-racism protesters.
Indeed more work needs to be done and the pro-shooter lobby groups continually try to water down the gun control laws we do have.

Possessing a gun makes you less safe not more safe!

Statistics show that a household with a gun if far more likely to have a family member of friend injured by that gun than for the weapon to be used in defense of that household.

10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down

Don't be fooled by the pro-shooters; guns do make it easier to kill people, "bad guys" do legally get guns, guns are more likely to be used to attack then they are to defend, there is no legitimate reason for any non-law enforcement, military person to have a gun. 

Times, and guns have changed.

I am sure if Americas constitution writers had foreseen the advancement in firearm technology and foreseen the results in mass ownership, they would have been a bit more specific. They were obviously thinking about the weapons available at the time. 
I am not a constitutional expert but it seems to me that the right to bear arms was in direct relation to maintaining a militia. I don't think the USA has a militia any more, they have an Army/navy/ air force instead, don't they? 
Also there are already exemptions to gun ownership, as i don't think guns are allowed in prisons?

Perhaps if America and Australia are unwilling to implement reasonable gun control laws, other areas need to be strengthened to protect its citizens. I am thinking in light of the probable incitement of "pro-life" proponents in the recent family planning mass shooting, we should look at strengthening anti-hate speech laws, and anti-discrimination laws.

For more information about gun control in Australia see 

Gun Control Australia.

 

 

 I have some ideas to increase gun safety for Australia:

* 18+ years old to use a gun.
* Increase gun license costs.
* Place special tax on guns and especially bullets.
* Modify all guns so that all are single shot and that  re-loading is a long and complicated physical mechanical process. (these alterations would be at owners/buyers expense).
* Mandatory advertising in local papers of persons intent to get gun license, any legitimate objections by public would ban gun ownership.
* Ban gun use in parks and public places.
* Full mental health check before weapon and gun license purchase, and yearly after that.
* Long waiting time to get gun and license, 12 months at least. 
* No gun ownership if criminal record or history of violence.
* If you "lose" your gun, you lose your license and are held accountable if that weapon is ever used in a crime.