Ridiculous stereotypes

The latest outburst from my homophobic stepfather is that I must be a lesbian because I go to university...followed by the announcement that he saw a lesbian couple that day. We need to end this idea that same sex couples are a freak show or a novelty, and have the same rights as heterosexual partnerships.

We need to show up to the National Day of Action with all the friends we can muster, and let the government know that we refuse to accept their religion-based homophobic laws!

Students battle VSU

A national delegation of queer students will assemble this week in Melbourne at the Queer Collaborations 2008 conference to discuss the direction of services for queer students and the importance of a collective movement. The discussions precede the Rudd government's upcoming policy announcement on university services funding, three years after the Howard government introduced Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) which has seen resources for university services dwindle. Speaking to bnews, Minister for Youth and Sport Kate Ellis said the government is mindful of the damage done on university campuses due to VSU. "We are concerned about cutbacks right across the board in the stripping back of services and we think it's of great concern that students don't have representation." "We've spoken with [student services] and the role of the queer or sexuality office is very important. I'm sure that it's a place a lot of people come out, and there needs to be support and a network for people. Universities need to be a welcoming place for people regardless of race, age or sexuality," said Ellis. Continuing to rule out scrapping VSU, the minister said the government is currently considering a combination of three funding avenues to prop up university services from government, universities and students themselves. Minister Ellis said the policy was still a work in progress, citing the end of the year for a policy announcement. National Union of Students Queer Officer James Vigus says university queer departments are suffering from serious underfunding since the introduction of VSU. "I think it's a tragedy with youth suicide so high and people arriving on campus for the first time - if you're young and queer, it used to be easier before these new laws came in [VSU] to access basically anything you wanted on campus to do with issues that concern young queer people." Vigus says that past queer office bearers used to receive payments and were able to study part-time. This funding is no longer available, leaving queer officers juggling the elected position with their study and paid employment. Some universities, such as Swinburne University, do not have a specific queer officer at all. Sarah Rogan, co-founder of gay and lesbian trade union group Union Pride, renewed calls for the Labor government to scrap VSU. "Howard put a whole bunch of restrictions on the activity of union organisers such as myself and VSU obviously went hand-in-hand with union-busting tactics. We can only hope that the Labor government acknowledges its roots and completely scraps VSU like they're trying to do with Work Choices." "It's through activists and really committed people in the LGBTI community that they've managed to keep queer issues on the agenda within universities," said Rogan. The Queer Collaboration conference will commemorate 30 years since the first Mardi Gras, with guest speakers, workshops on queer health issues, local issues on campus and history lectures. By ANDIE NOONAN