Doug PollardFreshly Doug Thursday October 29
VGLRL & THE ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT
First up today, we’ll here from VGLRL co-convenor Hayley Conway about the Anti-Violence project. Once a regular on the Rainbow Report, Hayley has yet to make her debut on Freshly Doug, an omission we rectify this morning. Just what is the Victorian Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby up to nowadays?
EQUAL LOVE NOV 28
On August 1 there was a massive turnout across Australia for the Equal Love rallies – up to 5000 people here in Melbourne, according to some estimates. And the momentum behind the push for same sex marriage continues to build, with the Senate Marriage Enquiry due in Melbourne soon, and both pro- and anti- petitions in circulation.
On November 28 there’ll be another round of rallies nationwide to keep the momentum going: Liam Byrne of the National Union of Students joins us to talk about why, and what you can do to help.
GLBTI HEALTH IGNORED - AGAIN
The closer you look, the clearer it becomes that health services for our community are, to put it mildly, patchy. Anything to do with HIV is pretty well covered, but outside that protected area, things get a bit grim.
We’re still pushing hard, for example, for youth services to commit adequate funding to address the dreadful suicide and self-harm rates among same-sex attracted young people, and we have had the odd token gesture in return. But much remains to be done.
And last week in my column I wrote about the lack of support for a same-sex couple, one of whom is struggling with cancer. The problem isn’t confined to Victoria – I’ll be talking to a couple from Sydney who’ve also run into problems.
SMS 0427 JOY 949, 0427 JOY 949, or Twitter @freshlydoug, to join in the discussions.
LOST IN SPACE WITH BRENTON GEYER AKA STELLA CONSTELLATION
As always between 10 and 11 I spend an hour with someone special and today’s guest is someone who seems to be flying below the radar a bit these days, but as Stella Consteallation he made quite a mark, and he’s been one of the driving forces behind Misdumma for longer that he cares to count. Brenton Geyer joins me at 10.
SLEAZE WITH DOGS
The use of sniffer dogs at Sydney’s Sleaze Ball continues to be a contentious issue north of the border: Andrew Potts from the Sydney Star Observer has the details.
GREEN ROOM & GREEN RENTERS
Plus our usual look at the world of theatre with Will Conyers and Kate from the Green Renter, who’s taken on the 30-day Vegan Challenge.
As always, feel free to join in, 0427 JOY 949. SMS 0427 JOY 949 (repeat). You can also Twitter @freshlydoug.
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Just a clarification - the Anti Violence Project of Victoria Inc and the G&L Rights Lobby are both individual and separate organisations though, speaking from the AVP's perspective, we are very supportive of the VGLRL's role in our community and support and encourage continued growth in the relationship between the VGLRL and the many community groups and individuals needing action that can only come from lobbying activity. That said, we've received a small number emails from people who listened to your program who were left a little confused so I though its time to apply a little "botox" to the "wrinkles" behind the confusion.
The AVP is in its 13th year and activity levels have never been as high nor has the positive gains for the GLBT community from the AVP's work been as strong. We have had a range of successful broad campaigns addressing violence within and against our community including the "Stop Homophobia Today!" campaign for the International Day Against Homophobia (May 17th) earlier this year with our primary community partners Victoria Police, ALSO, JOY 94.9 and the VGLRL and our additional community partners the City of Melbourne, the Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Family Planning Victoria, VAC/GMHC, TGV and others.
The Community Safety Month partnership between the Anti Violence Project, JOY 94.9 and Victoria Police continued this great work with a month-long focus on violence within and against the GLBT communbity, its impacts, causes and effects, solutions etc. - great radio programming all the way through the month.
Ongoing work of the AVP's current strategic plan has continued all the way through the year - the online violence reporting service grows, mapping of reported violence continues, participation in reference groups, steering committees, panels, focus groups, discussions in the mainstream media on GLBT violence related isses, development of responses to violence, work with Victoria Police, building ownership of solutions to violence amongst young and senior GLBT individuals etc etc...
Simply put YOUR state-based GLBT Anti Violence Project is alive and well and the fire in its belly is growing stronger and stronger.
Now lets look at the VGLRL's "anti-violence project" and the confusion its name has created.
Firstly, some history: the VGLRL were established by a steering committee comprising a range of individuals and organisational reps including the ALSO Foundation, VAC/GMHC, the AVP and others to provide an organisation with the focus on "lobbying" for gay and lesbian issues where other groups had a primary focus on education, community development and service delivery. Most of us were unable to maintain "lobbying" as a primary activity focus, and the "Lobby" was to do their work pressuring governments on behalf of and in partnership with the other G&L orgs. In the set-up process a majority decided that the "Lobby"'s focus would be G&L and there would need to be a separate transgender lobbying force... hence the evolution of the TGV.
Now down to the confusion... to set things straight, the AVP started responding to a small number of violence reports in the Brunswick area which managed to defy the trend in our community of "silence around violence" where between one and three out of ten people experiencing violence doesn't report it.
We attended a meeting with the GLLO Gabby Tyacke at the Victoria Hotel with the proprietors of "Bambi", "Orlando" and other individuals from the community where their concerns were discussed and community driven solutions (posters, stickers etc.) were canvassed. The AVP then went one step further and incorporated the Moreland discussions into an evolving strategy to respond to violence against the GLBT community in and around licensed venues in a number of inner-urban venues, and eventually into outer urban areas. The framework for this strategy also includes discussion with government, state and local, and with police and licensing authorities. It involves an "all-in" approach to venues becoming responsive to violence against GLBT and supporting and encouraging the reporting by patrons of incidents, through training of staff and community partnerships.
Now the confusion in some people's minds seems to come with VGLRL's discussion of work they want to undertake around problems they perceive people have with reporting violence to police, and this links to the Brunswick area and the issues mentioned earlier. This work has been described as the "anti violence project" in gay print media, in Doug's blog and on his "Freshly Doug" show on JOY 94.9.
The VGLRL's "anti violence project" is not the State-wide GLBT community organisation called the Anti Violence Project of Victoria Inc. and yes, both orgs are addressing this issue from different angles. But its easy to see how the confusion has arisen.
To try to bridge the communication gap creating this confusion, I met with the two co-convenors of the VGLRL and I am assured that the two organisations will continue to work well together and share information that reinforces the outcomes for all of us.
The AVP are looking forward to the VGLRL becoming more active in lobbying government of all levels for systemic change needed to support diversity in and around licensed venues in Victoria - certainly broader than the Brunswick area of Moreland Council, and broader than the Stonnington Council area in which the AVP is expanding its venues violence reporting pilot.
The AVP welcomes too the opportunity for the VGLRL to use its lobbying expertise to ensure that there is a State government commitment for ongoing funding to support the Anti Violence Project of Victoria's work addressing violence within and against the GLBT community - work which commenced in 1997 and has continued through to today. One thing is NOT confusing in this discussion... the need for the AVP's work continues!
Doug, people are most welcome to check-out the AVP web-site at http://antiviolence.info and become involved in the many activities we have currently underway. They might also like to contact the VGLRL if lobbying to support the activities of the many GLBT groups, such as the AVP, ALSO, VAC/GMHC etc etc, is closer to their interests.
Warm regards,
Greg Adkins
Executive Director
Anti Violence Project of Victoria Inc.