Against Equality was invited to participate in the “After Homosexual: The Legacies of Gay Liberation” conference in Melbourne, Australia. The two-day conference begins on February 3, and Ryan Conrad is flying there as you read this.
The gay marriage (GM) debate is heating up in Australia, and a great deal of it reflects the kind of mainstream politics you might see in the US, as evidenced in that gag-inducing video which went viral a few months ago. If you ever needed proof that GM was a vast right-wing conspiracy, set in place by an international cabal of “messaging” experts who got all their training at Human Rights Campaign, this is it.
But there is dissent, and our Facebook Page has become the site of some astonishingly vibrant discussions by and with our increasing number of Australian members who have made it clear that gay marriage is not exactly a desirable option for everyone. I write all this with the caveat that I am by no means assuming that either the video or our page signify the full picture of the state of matters in Australia. If you’d like to join in the discussions, feel free to drop by (and do read our description first).
For those in Australia, here’s a look at AE’s schedule:
Thursday, February 2:
11:00 a.m: Radio Interview with 3CR, Emma Russ
2:00 p.m: Radio Interview with JOY, Dean
Saturday, February 4:
2:15 Level 11, Room C1105, Panel: “Equality and Its Discontents”
Sunday, February 5:
5 p.m: Hares and Hyenas Bookstore, Book Release. They even gave us the best title: “Pride Is Not for Everyone: Queer Challenges to the Politics of Inclusion.”
We also have a couple of print appearances scheduled, and are working on more. I’ll keep updating this post with details, so check back in.
All of this is part of our ongoing book tour for our newest anthology, Against Equality: Don’t Ask to Fight Their Wars! and we’ve been busy with interviews on the North American continent. In January, we returned to KBOO radio and talked to Denise Morris, on the “Old Mole Variety Hour,” about our “Equal Opportunity…To Do What?“
The Montreal Mirror published a feature article, “Saving Himself from Marriage.”
We were on Vancouver’s CKNW Radio’s Bill Good Show. The link takes you to their audio vault; in the drop-down menu, choose “Tuesday, January 17, 11 a.m,” starting at 33:00:00 The link will be off in about a fortnight, but we’ll archive it in our upcoming “Media” section on the AE website.
We were also on Montreal’s CKCUT Radio, on “Queercorps” program; the interview starts at 18:50.
Xtra, Canada’s popular gay media hub, published an interview with Ryan, “Not The Marrying Kind,” which set off the usual venom against us in the comments section.
Someone there insisted that Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore (who wrote the brilliant introduction to Against Equality: Don’t Ask to Fight Their Wars!) and I were the puppetmasters behind Ryan.
Silly, silly humans. Why would I want to be a puppetmaster when I can be an awesome doll?