In a fantastic show of support from Melbourne’s Jewish community, over 13 community groups and 100+ participants danced their way down the length of Fitzroy Street St Kilda for the Midsumma Pride March.
Following months of planning the day came together without a hitch, not taking into account the 38 degree weather forecast.
The sound system had been boosted with extra speakers, to bring more of our exciting Jewish and Israeli music mix to the street, and the ute was more vibrantly Jewish in appearance.
As with previous years, the crowds cheered us from the sidelines, loving our Jewish solidarity for LGBTIQA+ diversity.
Poignantly, placards of the late David Zyngier were flown especially high to commemorate his participation in the contingent over recent years and his commitment to LGBTIQA+rights.
One long-standing participant of the Jews of Pride contingent told us that being part of the march this year was really important to them and made them even more proud, a sentiment reflected by many others.
We are especially grateful to both Midsumma Festival and Victoria Police LGBTIQA+ Liaison for their assistance in keeping us safe, and to CSG Victoria for their additional assistance.
The Jews of Pride contingent at the 2023 Pride March. Photo: Peter Haskin
I recently attended the 70th anniversary celebration for Hashomer Hatzair, as a friend of the movement.
It was a fabulous event, full of ritual, tradition, community and celebration. The day was tinged with sadness though, as they announced they were entering a period of hiatus due to leadership uncertainties.
My connection with Hashy is mainly through the “Jews of Pride” contingent at the annual Pride March in St Kilda. Each year they attend dressed in their chultzot, bring their flags, dance like crazy, fill my heart with joy and bring tears of happiness to my eyes. I know they will continue to join us, one way or another.
I left the party at Bet Anielewicz, their home in East St Kilda, just as the Israeli dancing was starting. I wanted to stay on but had to be elsewhere. Od Lo Ahavti Dai started playing.
I took a moment to soak in the music before getting into my car. It did something to me. I was transformed to a time when I was learning Israeli dancing. I don’t remember when, but it was powerful. I felt so connected to my Jewish upbringing by this simple but catchy tune.
Right now, the Jewish community is struggling. We are in a world where we hear the footsteps of less friendly times. Those echoes seem to grow louder by the day and we don’t know if we can be ourselves as easily as we could yesterday.
We aren’t alone in this struggle, but our struggle is not a new one, and we know that eternal vigilance is required to fend off the antisemitism.
Since October 7 I have witnessed a new phenomenon. Many people and organisations familiar to me have been swept up with efforts to support Palestinian people. I can understand this, as the humanitarian response to the destruction in Gaza is sizeable.
What I can’t understand is why many of the same people and organisations have chosen to stay silent on or minimise the terrorism that Israel faced, along with Hamas’ plan to erase Israel.
My LGBTIQA+ community has in parts become increasingly hostile towards Jews and Israel. Yet those who enable this juggernaut claim not to be antisemitic, despite supporting initiatives that are nothing but. This saddens me deeply.
However, through my commitment to my Jewish community I know I can help bring a sense of hope, peace, love and optimism. Sunday, February 4 is when “Jews of Pride” comes to life at Melbourne’s Midsumma Pride March. A raft of new and returning community organisations will coalesce in force to show their support for rainbow diversity, amid a burst of Jewish culture and identity.
We are an unstoppable force of unity that is undeniably and unashamedly Jewish. We convey pride in standing for inclusion and acceptance, and pride in who we are as a people.
Fitzroy Street will resonate with familiar Jewish tunes and Israeli music that calls to a solidarity with our families and friends in Israel. Together with fellow contingent organiser Colin Krycer, we urge you to come along and show your support.
Be strong. Be proud. Be there.
Michael Barnett is co-convenor of Aleph Melbourne.
Aleph Melbourne sends a hearty Mazal Tov and congratulations to Co-Convenor Colin Krycer OAM on receiving a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the LGBTIQ community.
Colin has been an amazing contributor to Aleph Melbourne since 1997 and the wider LGBTIQA+ community since the late 1980s.
Within Aleph Melbourne Colin has committed himself to supporting LGBTIQA+ people in the Jewish community. The Jews of Pride contingent in Pride March would never have been the success that it is without Colin’s amazing skills.
Most notably, Colin has selflessly dedicated many years and countless thousands of hours to supporting people living with HIV/AIDS initially through the Victorian AIDS Council and ongoing volunteering efforts through Thorne Harbour Health, along with additional past associations with the AIDS Memorial Quilt Project and Candlelight Vigil.
Colin also has a long and proud association with JOY Media since it launched on World AIDS Day in 1993.
We are so proud of our Colin. He is a quiet, behind-the-scenes kinda guy. He doesn’t seek or want attention, and just gives of himself, tirelessly.
Thank you Colin for your commitment, passion, enthusiasm, guidance and sense of humour. We are so much richer for what you do and who you are.
END
MEDIA CONTACTS Michael Barnett OAM (Co-convenor) | michael@aleph.org.au | 0417-595-541 Colin Krycer OAM (Co-convenor) | colin@aleph.org.au | 0411-441-691
On the afternoon of October 7 Susie Danziger and I arrived at the JOY studios in St Kilda to record interviews with Demetra Giannakopoulos for her show Life is a Disco.
We spent a good couple of hours in the studio at the back overlooking the huge peppercorn tree. The tree captivated me because it was full of birdlife, most notably a wattlebird and a currawong.
Demetra was a delight. She asked the most thoughtful questions and was congenial, sensitive and refreshing. We were at ease, and our conversation happened naturally.
I went first, Susie followed. We gave the JOY audience our all.
Following the interview I dropped Susie home and we went on with our day.
It was only a matter of hours later that the terrorist organisation Hamas perpetrated an unforgivable able act of evil upon innocent people in Israel.
Our interviews were edited and they aired over the subsequent two weeks.
The world had changed yet again. War had broken out.
It was very challenging, knowing that we had recorded interviews before the terrorist attack, with them going to air afterwards. It’s hard to say if we would have even done the interviews after October 7, just because of the way everything panned out.
Despite that, it was a privilege being part of Demetra’s show and having the opportunity to tell our stories.
From 27 July to 8 September 2023, the ABS undertook phase two of the 2026 Census topic consultation. This consultation invited feedback on proposed changes to Census topics.
During this consultation, the ABS specifically sought feedback on topics where further information was required to help inform our assessment and recommendation. These topics included:
Ancestry and Ethnic identity
Labour Force status
Main language other than English used at home
Number of children ever born
Number of employees (employed by owner managers)
Number of motor vehicles
Religious affiliation
Status in employment
Unpaid work – domestic activities
Published responses
Only answers from respondents who gave permission are published. However, all responses are included in the analysis of this activity.
Aleph Melbourne was established in 1995 to provide a safe place for gay and bisexual Jewish men in Melbourne. Since then we have expanded to include LGBTIQA+ people, families and allies.
In all the years of the group’s existence we have lived in relative harmony with the wider LGBTIQA+ community.
However in recent weeks, since the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas and the ensuing war, many of our members, their family members and their friends have contacted me regarding reports of feeling unsafe in the LGBTIQA+ community.
These people have reported being scared of presenting as Jewish in public and on social media. There have been reports of antisemitism and calls for boycotting Jewish organisations by LGBTIQA+ people. There have been reports of feeling unsafe in LGBTIQA+ venues.
Aleph Melbourne’s purpose has always been to stand up for LGBTIQA+ people on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Now I am finding I need to support our members on the basis of their Jewish identity. This takes a personal toll on me, as it means I need to spend many more hours of my personal time fighting a different sort of intolerance.
I ask you, my friends, my community members, the leaders of the LGBTIQA+ community, to think of the ramifications of taking sides, especially when it has direct impact on the very people you care most about.
If LGBTIQA+ people are hurting in Melbourne or elsewhere in Australia because of antisemitism, or Islamophobia, or any sort of intolerance, then we are no longer a cohesive community. Together we stand. Divided we fall.
Please think hard before you take any side, especially if it’s going to cause division amongst your peers, friends, family (chosen or otherwise) or community.
From co-ed camp rooms to degendered Hebrew, non-binary inclusion is becoming a high priority for some Jewish youth movements. RUBY KRANER-TUCCI reports.
Attending a youth movement is a rite of passage for many Jewish Australians. Finding a like-minded tribe, connecting to community and creating memories that last a lifetime – youth movements are often bonding experiences.
For those who identify as non-binary, finding safe and welcoming spaces to explore one’s identity is particularly important. Thankfully for them, Jewish youth movements in Australia are responding in spades, prioritising inclusion in all areas of programming, policy and leadership.
Federal Chairperson of Netzer Australia Avishai Conyer, 21, believes his generation is leading the way. Jewish youth movements “should serve as an example to the rest of the community on inclusivity”, he said.
“Youth movements are such special places for young Jews to build their identity, so it is our role to create safe spaces for kids to be themselves, feel included and grow to become active and passionate values-driven members of our community,” Conyer told Plus61J Media.
For Netzer Australia, this comes in the form of queer programs including LGBTIQ+ sex education; asking participants and leaders to introduce themselves using their preferred pronouns; and co-ed camp bunks for those in year 11 and above.
“As we do not split chanichimot [campers] by gender in any other aspects of our programming, it no longer made sense to do so with rooming arrangements for our older participants,” Conyer said.
“[We] will support kids below that age with different rooming preferences to find an arrangement that everybody is comfortable with.
“We have found that this leads to fewer social splits based on gender, promotes dignity and increases respect between kids of different genders, and supports non-binary participants to feel more included in Netzer spaces.”
“I’ve never felt at odds between my Jewish identity and my non-binary identity at Netzer. If anything, it’s celebrated.”Theo Boltman
Theo Boltman, 17, has been attending Netzer since grade five and identifies as non-binary. They say the offering of co-ed bunks for older participants “makes it easier” – an experience that differs from other circles of their life.
“When I go on school camps, I have to send a list of girls’ [names] I’m comfortable sharing a room with, and then the school has to get approval from those girls’ parents,” Boltman said.
“While at Netzer, it’s never an issue. I never have to worry about being uncomfortable because I know everyone is in the same boat, it’s been amazing.”
Raffy Blay is personally aware of the impact of inclusive leadership in Jewish youth groups. Blay started attending Hashomer Hatzair – affectionately termed Hashy – at 13 years old and “instantly found connection and purpose”.
Almost a decade later, Blay is now its Central Coordinator and identifies as non-binary, helping to represent gender diversity in Hashy’s upper echelons.
“[It is] a huge privilege to be the leader of the movement and non-binary, and to take up space in the community holding this identity,” Blay said.
Like Netzer, Hashy runs a number of initiatives to promote inclusivity, from using gender neutral Hebrew suffixes to permitting co-ed rooms on camps.
While on the whole, the youth group has experienced little pushback about its welcoming agenda from the broader Jewish community, Blay identified some negative engagement on social media when endorsing Hashy’s annual Queer Night event. Thankfully, Blay said “nothing eventuated from it”.
“Letting kids be kids and not emphasising their gender as a point of difference works to build respectful relationships,” they added.
“The years spent in a youth movement are incredibly formative and important, and everyone should have the opportunity to have that experience.”
The visibility of non-binary leaders resonates with Boltman, who says embedding inclusion from the top down has helped to form an “incredibly supportive” environment for participants at Netzer.
“The whole point of Jewish youth groups is that it’s the space where Jewish people can find each other in a sea of, for lack of a better word, goys – a sea of people who aren’t like you,” Boltman said.
“It can be so hard, especially for Jewish kids going to public schools, to find [other] Jewish kids in the first place and for them to be non-binary too. It’s so important that their identities be prioritised.
“I’ve never felt at odds between my Jewish identity and my non-binary identity at Netzer. If anything, it’s celebrated.”
While co-ed bunkrooms have been accepted as a standard offering by some Australian youth groups, the US scene has been slower to embrace them. Only a handful of Jewish camps surveyed in the US have non-gendered bunk rooms as an option, let alone a standard offering.
Hashy campers (supplied)
Of 153 Jewish overnight camps surveyed recently in the US, 90 say they welcome transgender and nonbinary campers. Most allow them to choose the bunk that best fits them but don’t offer a non-gendered option.
Another way inclusion is expressed is through changes is language, an issue that is even more potent in the heavily gendered Hebrew language than in English.
Netzer’s global parent movement, Netzer Olami, recently implemented a gender-inclusive form of Hebrew through an Israeli-led initiative that aims to de-gender language.
Conyer uses the mixed gender term chanichimot, a blend of chanichim (male campers or student) and chanichot (female), where previous generations would have followed the language convention of subsuming females under male language and ignoring those who didn’t fit.
But when it comes to prioritising other forms of inclusion, such as disability, youth groups are still struggling.
Netzer has policies around choosing physically accessible campsites and spaces for activities, but Conyer says its volunteers lack much-needed practice and understanding.
“While disability inclusion is very important to us, our young volunteers do not have much experience working with kids with disabilities,” he said.
“We try to provide as much training as possible and would like our programming to be accessible to all, [but] our lack of professional experience means there are some people we do not yet know how to fully include, despite our best efforts.”
Blay said many members of Hashy have been active in vocalising their desire to increase disability inclusion by making its building more wheelchair accessible and hiring Auslan interpreters for events, in addition to the camp sensory room and fidget toys already on offer.
“No one should miss out on Hashy if we can help it. We work hard to find ways to include everyone in our activities and accept everyone for who they are.”
Photo: Hashy campers with a rainbow version of the youth group flag (supplied)
Panellist, The Making Homes series, MPavillion – Architecture Commission.
There was a time in the not-too-distant past, when a woman could not get a bank loan on her own without a man to sign for her and a father could be granted custody of his children simply because their mother was a lesbian.
“In the past I had to be closeted if I wanted to keep my job” Anneke Deutsch told J-Wire.
While these days life is more open and accepting for lesbians, the largest marginalised group in Australia are still older women.
Anneke Deutsch founded Matrix Guild of Victoria in 1972 as a charity to help older lesbians. She is proud that WINC – older women in Cohousing – has bought land in rural Victoria where it is hoped they will be able to build 32 dwellings.
She explained that cohousing can mean common facilities like community gardens and a different range of mixed tenure, a different way of giving ownership to women of limited means.
