ࡱ> +-,` :bjbjss .: $  8J$d h *UUUFUUUU ޤ U0U 5 U UDZ@U>4rgK 888$\$888\ I am currently in a same-sex relationship and would like to share in this submission some of my experiences of being in wonderful relationship not widely affirmed by my society. I live in a small country town commuting distance from Brisbane. I would first like to say that my neighbours and local community are welcoming and accepting of a wide variety of diversity encompasing, sexual preference - but also religious belief, class, differences in wealth, country of origin, ethnic background as well as generational and age differences. Born in far western Queensland, sometimes I have found country towns can be hard for incomers in same sex relationships - but it is also a joy to know this varies from place to place. So I have many priviledges - I am white and middle-class and able to be open about my partnership at work and at home and within my family. But still I smack up against exclusion in my everyday life. Being straight is everywhere natural, given by god, normal and beyond question. Being gay is seen as a 'choice' that might have been otherwise. I love Deborah Kelly and Tina Fiveash's artworks: HEY HETRO! because it highlights heterosexual choices which exclude me: Hey Hetero - get married - because you can Hey Hetero - membership has privileges Hey Hetero - when they say family - they mean you Hey Hetero - have a baby - no national debate Hey Hetero - Gays target straights in 0.005% of hate crimes Hey Hetero - You can do it with your eyes closed - no danger Hey Hetero - You can kiss in public - no fears This year I have confronted everyone of these exclusions and have felt unwelcome in my own land. From national debates as wide as John Howards statements on Federal regulation of marriage; recent conservative politician statements about gays having the right to choose to be gay but if they make this choice they have to wear the consequences of their lifestyle choice; recent tax reforms which ignore my partner's struggle access to my superannuation but reward the super rich and compensate 'nuclear families'; Howard's statements on gays being excluded from overseas adoptions; To my personal daily experience of the careful measured way I judge the situation before holding my partner's hand in public or kissing her goodbye - There are unearned privileges of heterosexual choice which befall you if you love someone with different genitals but exclude you if you do not. These rules are not given by nature or ordained by god - they are social norms which reward some and punish others and these exclusions still matter. Fel Dr Felicity Grace [Details removed]  0 2 _ a  (9: hF|h}hpOJQJ hF|hUhF|hUOJQJ::,1h. A!"#$% @@@ NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH DAD Default Paragraph FontRiR  Table Normal4 l4a (k(No ListHH F| Balloon TextCJOJQJ^JaJ:  "&: < ,r < 0< h0: : : _43 _t___4_t11  < ;;  < 9*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsplace8*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsCity9*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsState:*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsStreet;*urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttagsaddress  q|MV  < " ' < :( 9 < <   VPPKCn ay}pU9F|@`: `@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z Arial] sans-serifTimes New Roman5& zaTahoma"qhlۦFlۦFv-v-!24d9 9 2QX)?U2Oh+'0d   , 8DLT\ Normal.dot4Microsoft Office Word@@@웙@@웙v՜.+,0 px  -9   Title  !"#$%(Root Entry FO *1TableWordDocument.SummaryInformation(DocumentSummaryInformation8CompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89qRoot Entry FP=ﺙ/1TableWordDocument.SummaryInformation( .DocumentSummaryInformation8pCompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q՜.+,D՜.+,< px  -9   Title4 $,