from the ABC

"Labor Party circles always include in Australia a component of people from the Irish Australian background and therefore often from a Roman Catholic upbringing ... a cohort in the Labor Party which generally supports confining marriage to people of the opposite sex," Justice Kirby said.

"That's where we stood at the time of the 2007 election.

"My partner and I have discussed the issue and probably would not get married if there were such a law because we have stuck it out for 41 long years and the idea of getting married we haven't fully embraced."

But he said he understood why other homosexual partners wanted the right to marry because it represented equality of citizenship.

The conference, being held at the Queensland University of Technology, finishes on Saturday.

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Gus: and good on Enrique Martín Morales...

Obama extends hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners of gays

President Obama mandated Thursday that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and respect patients' choices about who may make critical health-care decisions for them, perhaps the most significant step so far in his efforts to expand the rights of gay Americans.

The president directed the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation in a memo that was e-mailed to reporters Thursday night while he was at a fundraiser in Miami.

Administration officials and gay activists, who have been quietly working together on the issue, said the new rule will affect any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding, a move that covers the vast majority of the nation's health-care institutions. Obama's order will start a rule-making process at HHS that could take several months, officials said.

Hospitals often bar visitors who are not related to an incapacitated patient by blood or marriage, and gay rights activists say many do not respect same-sex couples' efforts to designate a partner to make medical decisions for them if they are seriously ill or injured.

"Discrimination touches every facet of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, including at times of crisis and illness, when we need our loved ones with us more than ever," Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement praising the president's decision.

Mr Emerson said while the issue was important to many Australians, the Government was focusing on more pressing needs of Australians, such as cost-of-living pressures.

"It doesn't mean that the issue of gay marriage is an unimportant issue, but there are some priorities here and we are dealing with those priorities," he said.

MPs of both sides of Parliament spent much of last night debating a motion put forward by Greens MP Adam Bandt which urges MPs to consult with their constituents on the issue.

Labor has agreed to support the motion despite not supporting a change to the Marriage Act.

Newly-elected Labor MP Stephen Jones has broken ranks with his party to express his support for gay marriage.

This morning he told Radio National there is a case for change.

"When I reflect upon the arguments that have been put against a change to marriage equality laws ... I can't help concluding that the objection is not to marriage but to the relationship itself and that's something I can't agree with," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/16/3067459.htm

see toon at top.

Hollywood star Portia de Rossi has been accused of hypocrisy after Sunrise host David Koch revealed she refused to be interviewed by him because he is a man.

The Australian-born actress appeared on the top-rating Channel Seven morning program on Tuesday to publicise her new memoir, Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, but would speak only to Koch's female co-hosts, the network said.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/de-rossi-accused-of-sexism-after-refusing-male-interview-20101118-17yct.html

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Gus: Aaaaaaahhhhh the power of the little scream (I meant screen)... may I remind you of this as well...

Gus: A few years ago, four or five at the most, a professional woman was told (sternly warned — on the record) by a refugee/migrant Muslim (Pashtu) that his role here was to change this nation's beliefs to those of his faith. One could laugh at this. But his words were not said with malice, nor humour, but with ingrained enlightenment and powerful determination. In his words and others like him, women had to be "put back where they belong" — where god wanted them to be...

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Gus: Koshey is a nice broad-minded bloke but not everyone knows that... And "he may have his limits".... And women can be assured he would ask some 'embarassing" pertinent questions... Thus some might chose to be labelled sexist rather than having to confront things they are not equipped to fight against, yet. Only a Germaine Greer thick-skinned woman can hold against a full-on male assault after having been diminished for so long in the eyes of all by those who don't want them-females as "equal" or better....

Ricky Martin would like to make one thing completely clear. The show he is bringing to London this month is "erotic", he says, leaning towards me. "Very erotic," he lowers his voice meaningfully.

There'll be fetish play, whips, chains, nudity (on film), he tells me, and an onstage orgy involving him and his eight dancers. He predicts the 18,000-strong audience will want to join in. And it's this that worries me. When I go to his Madrid show the next day, the temperature outside is 33C. Inside, in a stadium heaving with heavily perfumed women and heavily muscled men, the temperature is anyone's guess. When the fiftysomething woman beside me stands up, howling, at Martin's first appearance, a slug of her sweat hits me, and I suck my teeth nervously. It's a bacterial breeding ground, I think. When this orgy gets under way, veruccas will be spreading like wildfire.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jul/03/ricky-martin-hated-force-come-out

see toon at top...

Retired High Court judge Michael Kirby has told a senate inquiry into gay marriage that despite the heights he reached in his career, he remains a second-class citizen because he cannot marry his partner.

Justice Kirby today appeared in Sydney before a committee which is examining a bill from Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, one of three before the federal parliament which seeks to legalise same-sex marriage.

Mr Kirby said he was there as a private citizen of Australia and a homosexual man, who believed the law should be changed.

Barack Obama has become the first US president to say publicly he is in favour of same-sex marriage.

In what supporters have hailed as a historic moment in civil rights history, Mr Obama reversed his position on the controversial social issue just six months before the November election

"I've just concluded, for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Mr Obama said in an interview with ABC News America.

Mr Obama, who had previously backed strong protections for gay and lesbian couples, said his position had evolved partly after talking to his daughters Malia and Sasha, who had some friends with same-sex parents.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-10/obama-backs-same-sex-marriage/4001992?WT.svl=news2

GOOGLE has launched an international campaign for gay marriage rights around the world.

The "Legalise Love" campaign officially started in Singapore and Poland at the weekend, with the tech giant planning to team up with companies and grass-roots campaigners in countries that discriminate against homosexuals.

“We want our employees who are gay or lesbian or transgender to have the same experience outside the office as they do in the office,” Google executive Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe told a global GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) Workplace Summit in London.

“It is obviously a very ambitious piece of work.”

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/legalise-love-google-backs-glbt-marriage-rights/story-e6frfro0-1226421768000#ixzz207bbqvJd