Shooting themselves in the foot
By Brandon Astor Jones
"As part of the struggle for equality, feminists have ... argued that ... women's physical and mental health and safety sometimes require male-free zones. There is no ... institutionalised relationship of oppression between gay men and women." — Lisa Macdonald
While reading Green Left Weekly's March 11 issue, I found myself just a little amazed that, according to Lisa Macdonald, "The Laird Hotel and Club 80 in Melbourne applied to the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal on February 26 for an exemption from equal opportunity laws so that they can ban women from the premises". At the heart of this matter, gay men want to, "socialise without feeling 'intimidated' by women".
Wow. What I am learning about many gay men's groups is that they can be amazingly accurate at shooting themselves in the foot.
Those of you who have been reading this column for the past five years will know that I have been silent on matters of homosexuality. I do not make a habit of writing about subjects that I do not know a lot about. However, I have chosen to make this time the exception because, ignorance notwithstanding, I do not have to be a genius regarding gay issues to know that this particular application was ill advised.
As far as I can tell, there are no roaming bands of homosexual or heterosexual women pouncing upon the individual gay man or groups of gay men.
Conversely, there is an endless supply of individuals or groups of extremely homophobic heterosexual men — of every social and political stripe — whose ambition is to beat the living crap out of every gay man on the face of the earth. Those are the kind of people homosexual men should be concerned about, not women.
I do not think anyone can argue with the soundness of the practice of purposely separating by gender as Macdonald so clearly pointed out regarding the "all-female gym in Melbourne". I would not want to see a woman quarterbacking for the Green Bay Packers football team. Sometimes women and men do not fit in certain situations.
Gender exclusivity can be a good thing, but there are times when gender separation is just plain dumb from a political standpoint. I think the Laird Hotel and Club 80's application fits well into that category.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G3-77, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA. Brandon and his friends are trying to raise funds to pay for a lawyer for his appeal. If you can help, please make cheques payable to the Brandon Astor Jones Defence Account and post to 41 Neutral St, North Sydney NSW 2060, or any Commonwealth Bank, account No. 2127 1003 7638.]