Dan Makovec’s blog

Onya Johnny

I’ve had a few conversations, on IM, the phone and over coffee, with various people about my earlier posting about the federal government’s continuing discrimination against gay and lesbian folk, and what I have picked up is that many people out there who don’t quite understand what all the noise is about.  Actually, having seen the media reports that have been coming out lately, I can understand why.

Much has been made about the issue of “gay marriage”.  As I’ve pointed out, those two words strung together, combined with media images of a butch bear and effeminate queen standing at the alter in matching tuxes saying “I do” while their bearded bridesmaids and leather wearing best men watch on stirs up feelings of disgust in the Australian community.  Perhaps it gives the conservative-minded, good christian folk the impression that these people are attempting to take the piss out of an institution as old as time itself.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Let me explain.

OK, I accept the fact that in this sport dominated, beer swilling, David Koch loving society that we call home, two blokes exchanging wedding vows is too much for us to handle.  Let’s then consider the case of civil unions.  It is civil unions after all, and not “gay marriage” (mainly for the reasons I outlined above) that the ACT government were trying to introduce  Civil unions permit a concept of entitling a committed relationship to be legally recognised.

So, what does this mean?  Why can’t straights just get married, and gay folk just live together and be happy? Let’s break it down in terms of simple rights.

Let’s start with tax.  An individual is is taxed at a certain rate.

If you are married, other considerations come into play, and your taxation calculations are different, and other rebates  (two examples off the top of my head, the dependent spouse rebate, medicare levy adjustments) can be used (no, gays are not recognised as de factos).  One of the couple earning more than the other and wanting to make spousal superannunation payments?  Forget it.  I could go on but I’m no accountant.

How about citizenship rights?  Come on, what am I thinking, let’s not even start there.  How about basic rights for a professional to bring their partner into the country after being recruited to an “area of need” role (see page 4 of this article)? Sorry, no luck there.

OK, let’s say I’ve had a good life till the age of 100, made a few million, living with my partner of 30 years or so.  I have a heart attack and go.  Still, at least (since my family are all well gone before me now) I can rest in peace knowing that my partner is being looked after after inheriting everything.  Right?  Sorry, not the case.  Hey it’s not all bad though - not having our relationships recognized is great in terms of money if one of us is a student or unemployed.  Just as long as we’re not productive members of society.  Note that this is determined on a state by state basis, so it depends which town you live in.
Last but not least, my favorite.  Next of kin rights.  What rights? Well.. umm.. you ain’t got none (unless, possibly, you live in Victoria) I’m afraid. If my partner of the last umpteen years gets sick and is incapable of making decisions for himself, I best start packing my bags.  His family, who may not be particularly fond of me or our relationship, have the full right to come into our house of X years and deny me access to him - at least in the ACT or South Australia.

So hearing this week’s news that after the previous debacle, Howard and Ruddock have banned government departments from making submissions to the human rights equal opportunities commission on financial discrimination faced by same sex couples, it only backs up my claim further that this government has to go.  Maybe if Harry Kewell or Don Bradman were gay, Howard would give a damn.

In the meantime we have an interesting situation coming up.  Speaking of marriage, Myk’s getting married in Singapore next year, and we’re flying over to participate.  At least I think we are.  While it’s not technically illegal to be gay in Singapore, it is illegal to have gay sex, even if it is in your own hotel room, with your long term partner.  The options are to either remain celibate the entire time in the country, not go, or break the law.  Still, life’s not much fun without breaking a few laws, is it?  Oh yeah, don’t you straightees think you’re off the hook their either.  Take a closer look at that link: a blow job (even if it is from your new wife on your wedding night) could land you in the clink too.

Happy camping!

Cute tidbit of aeronautical information

I’m probably the last person in the world to learn this, but I was playing with the lastest Google Earth this morning and finally figured out how they label airport runways, and it’s so simple!

Basically, runways have a pair of numbers, that represent the angle of the runway on the compass divided by 10.  If your runway points due east/west, your runway designation is 09/27.  If it’s north-east/south-west facing, you’ll have something like 4/22, or maybe 5/23.

If you’ve got two or three parallel runways, they’re further labelled with an L (left), C (center) or M (middle).  So when you land your plane, you are instructed to land on 4R if you’re landing on the right hand runway coming in from the north-east, or 22L for the same runway if you were approaching from south-west.

Simple!

Fed govt to overturn gay civil union laws

You know, I’m having a hard enough time attempting to assimilate again into this nation of backward thinking, money hungry pontificating bigots as it is without stories like this appearing in the press.

People ask me why I’m so down on Australia since my return from Europe, and why the hell I don’t just go back there. Well let me answer that question in two parts:

I’m a good citizen. I’ve never had so much as a speeding ticket in my life. I pay my taxes in full every year. I work my arse off around 50 hours a week to earn a living. I’ve never taken a doll cheque in my life and I’ve never been in debt. I live a relatively quiet life in a completely monogamous relationship with a similar hard working person that I love dearly.

So how the hell is it that the federal government has the nerve to tell me that my relationship is any less valid than that of some dole bludging petrol sniffing junky who gets married and pops out a kid for the baby bonus then leaves them to grow up on the streets? It makes me sick to my stomach and ashamed of being a citizen of this country.

We get looked down upon by the “moral majority” as fornicators whose only aim in life is to go out at night looking for the next bit of meat to conquer, corrupting the nation’s youth with our sleazy morals. Yet when we try to express the fact that we are capable of and indeed do have loving long term relationships, we’re told “that’s not the same as marriage - you can’t both have penises or it doesn’t count”.

Why? Are you people so unhappy with your own lives that you need to have a group to look down upon in perpetuity? Given that it’s so un-PC to discriminate against foreigners or aboriginals, are we the last minority that you can still feel good about yourself by treating like dirt?

Is it any wonder that I spent 18 years hiding my identity from the society around me? Is it any wonder that suicide rates amongst gay teenagers are amongst the highest of any group of people?

The answer to the second part of the question is simple: we’re working on it. We’re stuck here because Brian’s 2 year working holiday visa to the UK expired and he had to come back. Of course I came back with him - that’s what people in loving, committed relationships do for each other.

I have however now filled in the paperwork to obtain full citizenship rights to the UK and EU, and once I’ve achieved that, we will be applying to have whatever applicable residency rights are available to monogamous partners of four years in that region granted to Brian.
Once we’ve achieved that, we’ll be looking at our options for relocating to a country that doesn’t regard us as second class citizens.

Now, just in case you think I’m going off at the deep end about Australians being a bunch of homophobic, bigotted cro-magnons, I have one thing to say to you:

This country is (last I heard) a democracy. You voted for this government on the basis that they were better for your bank account - no more, no less. The bigotry and intolerence demonstrated by them therefore does, whether you like it or not, represent you and the society you live in.

You were willing to overlook their stance on immigration detention, gay rights, the environment, Iraq, education cuts, health and workplace relations simply for the fact that a vote for them meant more money for you. The government’s stance on all of these issues was well documented, so if you voted for them you either agreed with them or voted without bothering to research what your vote stood for.
Therefore all of this is your doing, and hence my perception about your state of mind and society.

Your chance to correct this situation comes at next year’s election. My bet is that, without the miracle of enlightenment, you as a nation of white hetero anglo-saxxons without any disabilities who have never experienced discrimination of any form in your life will once again vote for the easy option involving bribes of more money to put up with less tolerance - just like they do in our new fatherland, the good ol’ US of A. I dare you to prove me wrong.