Equality bulletin #65
This Equality Bulletin was issued by the TGLRG on November 19th, 2006.
Hi Everyone,
This Equality Bulletin is about two Tasmanian issues.
The first is the Law Reform Institute’s public consultation on a state Charter of Rights. There will be two LGBT community consultations on a Charter in the next two weeks. Details are included below.
The second issue is the broadcast for two weeks from Monday, November 20th of four anti-homophobia ads on commercial radio stations across Tasmania. Details of the ads are also included below.
Rodney Croome.
0409 010 668
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A Tasmanian Charter of Rights
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The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute is conducting a public consultation on a state Charter of Rights. The consultation’s co-ordinator, Terese Henning, is keen to hear the views of Tasmanians most affected by the absence of human rights guarantees including LGBT Tasmanians.
Terese Henning will be at both of the following forums to outline options for a Charter of Rights and obtain feedback on the need for a Charter and what form it might take.
Forum One
When: 1-2pm, Friday November 24th
Where: Raincheck Lounge, Elizabeth St, North Hobart
Who: organized by the Tas Gay and Lesbian Rights Group and open to all interested LGBT community members
Forum Two
When: 6-8pm, Thursday November 30th
Where: University Law School, Sandy Bay
Who: organized by the Coming Out Proud Program and open to all interested LGBT community members
What are some of the key issues?
~ why are human rights protections important to LGBT people?
~ should a Charter of Rights explicitly list grounds upon which there should not be discrimination including sexual orientation and gender identity?
~ is there a tension between freedom of speech and protection from hate speech and if so how can it be resolved?
~ should a Charter of Rights be changed by a majority of politicians or by a referendum?
~ should individuals have the right to enforce the Charter in court, or should it simply be a standard against which government measures its policies?
For more visit the TLRI Charter of Rights webpage
http://www.law.utas.edu.au/reform/Projects/Human%20Rights.htm
check out the brochure at
http://www.law.utas.edu.au/reform/TLRIBrochure.pdf
or download its discussion paper from
http://www.law.utas.edu.au/reform/Tasmanian%20Charter%20of%20Rights%20Final%20version%20A4%2023%20August%2006.pdf
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Anti-homophobia radio ads
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From November 20th four anti-homophobia advertisements will be broadcast on commercial radio around Tasmania.
The four ads highlight how homophobia hurts everyone; families, businesses and local communities as well as LGBT people themselves. The ads’ catch lines “Names will always haunt us” and “Homophobia stops with you”, point to both the deep pain inflicted by derogatory words and the action people can take to stop such prejudice.
The ads have been produced by Hobart’s Sea FM, together with LGBT education and support organization, Working It Out, and the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group, in response to an Australia Institute survey which found that Tasmania remains Australia’s most homophobic state despite its ground-breaking human rights law reforms.
They will be broadcast several hundred times on the Macquarie Regional Radio Network’s nine stations around Tasmania over a period of two weeks, making this campaign the largest of its kind ever on Australian commercial radio.
The ads will be discussed on Charles Wooley’s Across Australia program on Sea FM 107.3 Monday 20th at 10.30am, in an interview TGLRG spokesperson, Rodney Croome, with a follow-up press conference at Working It Out at 2pm with young people who have experienced homophobia. The ads are funded from an anonymous donation.
The effect of the advertisements will be magnified if those people who support equality and oppose prejudice are informed about the ads and prepared for their broadcast.
For example, following the ads’ broadcast you may find yourself involved in conversations they spark, you may overhear others talking about them, or you may simply notice changes in the attitudes and behaviours of others.
In all these circumstances you may be able to make a positive contribution to tackling homophobia by understanding what the ads aim to do, and deploying some simple strategies to encourage others to reflect on the damage prejudice causes.
More information about homophobia, as well as audio copies of the ads, can be found at www.workingitout.org.au/Homophobia_title.html
Also enclosed is a list of talking points which you may find useful.
If you have any questions about the ads and the issues they raise please contact WIO on 6231 1200.
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Homophobia stops with you: talking points
How have these ads come about?
A national survey conducted last year by the Australia Institute found Tasmania to be Australia’s most homophobic state, despite its ground-breaking discrimination and relationship laws. Some regional areas returned results showing high levels of prejudice. An anonymous donation has allowed the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group and Working It Out to team with Sea FM and its affiliates in the Macquarie Regional Radio Network to develop ways to challenge homophobia through radio advertising.
How does homophobia hurt everyone?
An increasing number of academic studies point to the serious harm that homophobic prejudice causes. In schools it limits educational outcomes. In workplaces it compromises productivity. In families it causes conflict. In sport it limits team cohesion and success. Entire societies can suffer culturally and economically from the divisions created by homophobic prejudice, as Tasmania did in the 1990s. Just as everyone suffers at the hand of homophobia so everyone benefits when it is successfully challenged.
Why the focus on derogatory words and the reference to suicide?
Words that seem innocuous or a joke to some people can deeply wound others. Often those who are hurt do not or cannot speak up for fear of being labelled and further abused. We know from recent studies that derogatory words can have an impact on self esteem that is at least as dramatic as discriminatory acts. Names do haunt us. As a result, young gay and lesbian people are three to five times more likely than their heterosexual peers to seriously consider suicide, and to act on those suicidal thoughts. Of all the ways homophobia hurts everyone, the suicide of a young person is obviously the most traumatic.
What impact do you hope to have with the ads?
The ads are designed to have a two-fold impact. Firstly, on the majority of people who may not have realised that their own prejudices or the prejudices of those around them cause serious harm, the ads give cause to pause and reflect. Second, on those who are aware of the harm homophobia causes, the ads give encouragement to take action and a pointer to more information on how to do this. We know that some people will not respond to the ads’ message. Our aim is to the reach the people who will, and through them begin to change broader community attitudes.
Why radio advertising?
Many people wrongly feel that homophobic prejudices, like homosexual people, are not part of their lives. When listening to radio, audiences have the freedom to create their own images drawn from their experience, giving whatever is being described an immediacy and relevance it is hard to obtain through other media.
What stations will be the ads be broadcast on?
The ads will be broadcast several hundred times on all stations affiliated with the Macquarie Regional Radio Network in Tasmania. These are Hobart: Heart FM 107.3 & Sea FM 100.9. Launceston: 7LA AM 1098. Burnie: Sea FM 101.7 & 7BU AM 558. Devonport: Sea FM 107.7 & 7AD AM 900. Scottsdale: Sea FM 99.7 & 7SD AM 540.
Has this happened elsewhere?
Anti-homophobia ads have been broadcast in Australia before but never so widely on a commercial network. This is the first example, nationally, of LGBT community organisations and a commercial radio network working together to combat homophobia. It is the first time such ads have been broadcast in Tasmania.
Are there plans for more ads?
If the advertising campaign is successful there will be opportunities to apply for funding to extend and develop the ads. Reducing levels of verbal and physical abuse of gay and lesbian people is part of the Tasmanian Together social plan to which the State Government is committed. The unique collaboration between community organizations and commercial radio that brought these ads into being is something which we hope will also spark the interest of potential funding bodies.